1. Reading a Shakespearean Play

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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 
V. i. 364 

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

6. 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

7. 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.

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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.

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

13. 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.”

14. 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.

15. 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.

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