Citing Shakespeare MLA Format

Step 1 List the abbreviation for the title of the play you are citing. The MLA guide lists abbreviations for all plays. The abbreviation for the title of the play should appear in italics. Oth. = Othello Rom. = Romeo & Juliet Ham. = Hamlet R3 = Richard III Son. = Sonnets

Step 2 List the act, scene and lines that you are referring to. These should be separated by periods. Enclose your citation in parentheses. For example: (Mac. 1.3.14-17) refers to Act 1, Scene 3, Lines 14 to 17 of "Macbeth."

Step 3 Omit the abbreviation for the title if the play you are referring to is clear from the context of your paper. In this case, the citation would simply appear as follows: (1.3.14-17)

Step 4 Format your reference list entry in the following format: Author. Title of Play. Name of Editor. City of Publication, Publisher, Year of Publication. Medium of Publication. For example: Shakespeare, William. Macbeth. Ed. James Smith. Boston, English Play Press, 2010. Print. Be sure to italicize the name of the play. Don’t forget to alphabetize and use a hanging indent!

Format - Prose If a prose quotation runs four lines or less, put it in quotation marks and incorporate it in the text. The immensely obese Falstaff tells the Prince: “When I was about thy years, Hal, I was not an eagle’s talon in the waist; I could have crept into any alderman’s thumb ring” (2.4.325– 27).

Format - Verse If you quote all or part of a single line of verse, put it in quotation marks within your text. Berowne’s pyrotechnic line “Light, seeking light, doth light of light beguile” is a text-book example of antanaclasis (1.1.77). You may also incorporate two or three lines in the same way, using a slash with a space on each side [ / ] to separate them. Claudius alludes to the story of Cain and Abel when describing his crime: “It hath the primal eldest curse upon’t, / A brother’s murder” (3.3.37–38).

Format - long Verse quotations of more than three lines in length need to begin on a new line. Indent each line one inch (two tabs) from the left margin and double space between the lines. Do not add quotation marks unless they appear in the original text. The parenthetical citation, located at the end of the verse quotation and after the end punctuation, will include the author's last name and the line numbers (unless previously mentioned in text). Example Othello again displays his calm and control when he speaks to the political authorities and to Desdemona's father in act one scene two: Most potent, grave, and reverend signiors, My very noble and approved good masters, That I have ta'en away this old man's daughter, It is most true; true I have married her. (78-81) Note: this quotation is from a classic work that has been identified in text through the title character, the act and scene numbers have been identified in the text, and only the line numbers need to appear in the parenthetical citation.  Since the quotation is over three lines long, the parenthetical citation appears after the end punctuation.

Format - dialogue If you quote dialogue between two or more characters in a play, set the quotation off from your text as described above. Begin each part of the dialogue with the appropriate character’s name indented one inch from the left margin and written in all capital letters. Follow the name with a period, and start the quotation. Indent all subsequent lines in the character’s speech an additional quarter inch. When the dialogue shifts to another character, start a new line indented one inch from the left margin. Maintain this pattern throughout the entire quotation. A short time later, Lear’s daughters try to dismiss all of their father’s servants: GONERIL.                         Hear me, my lord.      What need you five-and-twenty, ten, or five      To follow in a house where twice so many      Have command to tend you? REGAN.                                   What need one? LEAR. O, reason not the need! (2.4.254–58)

Format – Numbers/General Italicize the titles of plays. Richard III or Othello. Place a parenthetical reference after each quotation containing its act, scene, and line numbers separated by periods. Do not use page numbers. Cite line-number ranges under 100 like this: 34–37. Above 100, repeat only the last two digits of the second number: 211–12 (but of course, 397–405 and 96–102). Place an en dash [ – ], not a hyphen [ – ], between the range numbers. Twelfth Night (1.5.268–76). Use arabic numerals for all reference numbers. (Some older texts used roman numerals for act and scene references — like this: III.viii.7–34 — but modern scholars use arabic numerals.)

Format - General You may refer to a scene in the text with the act and scene numbers — in arabic numerals — separated by a period. In 3.1, Hamlet delivers his most famous soliloquy. Do not say: “In Act III, scene i, Hamlet delivers his most famous soliloquy.” Periods and commas always go inside quotation marks: “Periods and commas,” says Dr. Womack, “always go inside quotation marks.”

Remember! You need a Works Cited Page (especially if you use secondary sources MLA format – including heading Interesting title (not the name of the essay prompt)