1. Language in Shakespeare

2. There are three types of language: Rhyming Verse Blank Verse Prose

3. Rhyming Verse RHYMES
It USUALLY – but not always – has 10 syllables per line in the form known as IAMBIC PENTAMETER
This is expressed as 5 PAIRS of syllables:
Quiet/Loud/Quiet/Loud/Quiet/Loud/Quiet/ Loud/Quiet/Loud
This emphasising the last syllable to bring out the rhyme

4. Examples of Iambic Pentameter:
My horse, my horse, my kingdom for a horse – Richard III
A full rhyming version:
Hear it not Duncan, for it is a knell
That summons thee to heaven, or to hell - Macbeth

5. Blank Verse
Blank Verse has the same rhythm as rhyming verse (10 syllables, Iambic pentameter) but it does not rhyme
For brave Macbeth (well he deserves that name)
Disdaining fortune, with his brandished steel

6. Prose Has NO Rhythm and NO Rhyme
It is usually reserved for LOW Status Characters:
Comic characters
Servants
Fools
Drunkards
And USUALLY comical – but not always
It can also be used by HIGH STATUS characters if they are agitated or lose their emotional control in stressful moments

7. Blank Verse is usually for HIGH Status Characters

8. Rhyming verse is often used between lovers, or in moments of plays that are “magical” or supernatural – like a chant:
Fairies in A Midsummer Night’s dream
Witches in Macbeth
It is also often used to bring a scene to a climax and “wrap it up”, telling audience scene is finished:
Hear it not Duncan, for it is a knell
That summons thee to heaven, or to hell - Macbeth