Reading a Shakespearean Play

Every Shakespearean play has 5 acts: Act I: Introduction Act II: Rising Action/ Development of conflicts Act III: Climax Act IV: Falling Action Act V: Conclusion

Each Act has a number of scenes to develop the plot Acts and scenes are written in Roman Numerals Scene: i ii iii iv v Act I Act II Act III Act IV Act V vi vii viii ix x

Every line in a Shakespearean play is numbered; Most plays have the numbers written in the margins; every 5th line is numbered. Find who is speaking on the following lines: I. iii. 49  IV. i. 16-17  V. i. 364 

Word Power Shakespeare created his own vocabulary (or is credited for having written it down for the first time)

Word Power Used unfamiliar word order in his sentences to create rhythm or rhyming pattern Ex: I wish every weekend were three days long. Every weekend were three days long, I wish. Three days long were every weekend, I wish. I wish three days long were every weekend. As you read try changing the order of the words in sentences you don’t understand

Word Power Shakespeare often omitted letters at the beginning or end of a word. Sometimes an apostrophe signals missing letters He did this so that the rhythm of each line would work. Example: And pity ‘tis you liv’d at odds so long.

Word Power Many words and phrases will be unfamiliar simply because we don’t use them any more. Think of the modern words we have that Shakespeare would not be familiar with. For help, look at the footnotes on the sides of the text Use the summaries at the beginning of each scene Read the introductory information in the first few pages

Prose Vs Poetry Prose: every day speech or writing Only a few of Shakespeare’s lines are in prose Lower classes or servants spoke prose in Shakespeare’s plays

Prose Vs Poetry Verse: poetry, rhythmic, flowing, full of imagery, often rhymes Most of Shakespeare’s lines are in blank verse Verse is used by nobles or upper classes

Blank Verse Shakespeare wrote in blank verse. Blank verse is poetry that doesn’t rhyme but it has a regular number of beats per line.

Iambic Pentameter The type of blank verse that Shakespeare used was iambic pentameter. It is a poetic pattern with a specific rhythm or beat

Iambic Pentameter Iambic: first syllable in a word is unstressed and the second syllable is stressed Ex: “If music be the food of love, play on.”

If music be the food of love, play on. Iambic Pentameter Pentameter: means a series of five Each line has five sets of feet: each set of feet has an unstressed and a stressed syllable This means that each line in Shakespeare’s poetry has ten syllables: five sets of unstressed and stressed syllables (5 times 2 equals 10) If music be the food of love, play on.

Iambic Pentameter Every line in Shakespeare’s plays (with some exceptions) is written in iambic pentameter Sometimes Shakespeare had to create words; eliminate parts of words or move words around to meet the strict requirements of iambic pentameter.

Iambic Pentameter Shakespeare used iambic pentameter because it most resembles our natural speech pattern (which follows the beats of our heart)