Where is prose used in romeo and juliet

Lower status characters such as servants usually speak in ordinary prose, which comes across much more like ordinary speech. You can see a good example of characters speaking in prose in Act I Scene 1 where the servants have their quarrel:. Contrast these lines with when Benvolio and Tybalt, the higher status characters make their entrance:. Benvolio: Put up your swords. You know not what you do.

Tybalt: What, art thou drawn among these heartless hinds? Bevolio: I do but keep the peace. Characters also often end speeches with rhyming couplets , which are two lines written in iambic pentameter that end in the same sound , or a rhyme. Shakespeare also writes sonnets which combine iambic pentameter and rhyming couplets to great effect. The following activities are great ways to introduce iambic pentameter and antithesis in Romeo and Juliet to a group of students.

They also look at how language can be used as a weapon in the opening scenes. Exploring Language There are three activities in the pack. Each of them takes approximately 30 minutes. Please note video clips are no longer available from the production. Help us by taking a short survey — it will only take a few minutes and will help us make the Shakespeare Learning Zone even better for everyone.

Main Site Menu. Play Iambic Pentameter Video. Iambic pentameter is used almost all the time in Romeo and Juliet. Count the syllables in this line where Romeo describes Juliet at the balcony. Play Prose and Verse Video. You can tell by looking at the page in the script. Where it looks like a poem, Shakespeare is using verse. When it looks like writing in a book that goes the whole way across the page, he is writing in prose. Prose is often used by servants or characters with lower status in the play.

Play Rhyming Couplets Video. Many characters use rhyming couplets to finish thoughts and speeches in Romeo and Juliet. When he first sees Juliet In Act 1 Scene 5 his speech is written entirely in rhyming couplets: 'O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright.

The play also ends with a rhyming couplet. Why did Shakespeare use blank verse? Blank verse was a relatively new development in the late 16th century. As Shakespeare wrote more plays, he used rhyme more and more sparingly in favor of blank verse. In Romeo and Juliet, blank verse is sometimes juxtaposed with rhyming iambic pentameter and prose to emphasize differences in characters and class.

What is poetry in English? Poetry is a type of literature based on the interplay of words and rhythm. It often employs rhyme and meter a set of rules governing the number and arrangement of syllables in each line. In poetry, words are strung together to form sounds, images, and ideas that might be too complex or abstract to describe directly.

Are all of Shakespeare's plays in iambic pentameter? Is Shakespeare a poetry? William Shakespeare bapt. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon" or simply "the Bard".

Is Hamlet written in Old English? But that sense of the word probably had nothing to do with Shakespeare's naming of the title character in The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Does Juliet speak in iambic pentameter? The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet is written in both prose and poetry. For the majority of the play, the common people speak in prose. The poetry in The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet is written in blank verse, poetry which is written in unrhymed iambic pentameter.