Why do characters speak in prose

The language spoken during this period is often referred to as Elizabethan English or Shakespearian English. The differences between the two are mainly the loss or change in meaning in Modern English of some words that were common in Early Modern English.

Elizabethan English Modern English obviously has 26 letters in the alphabet rather than 24 in Shakespearean English.

There is about 2, words in Modern Commoners English. Modern English also has a lot of Elizabethan words left that are still used today.

The most significant characteristics of Modern English is its extraordinary receptive and adaptable heterogeneousness. The ease and readiness with which English borrowed words from French, Latin, Scandinavian, Greek, Indian and other sources is really striking. English has more phonemes than many languages, with around 44, depending on which variety of English you speak.

It has an unusually large set of vowel sounds—there are around How does it differ from verse? The difference between them is central to appreciating Shakespeare's writing, but understanding prose vs. Shakespeare moved between prose and verse in his writing to vary the rhythmic structures within his plays and give his characters more depth. So don't be mistaken—his treatment of prose is as skillful as his use of verse.

Prose has characteristics that make it distinctly different from verse. They include:. On paper, you can easily spot dialogue written in prose because it appears as a block of text, unlike the strict line breaks that are a result of the rhythmic patterns of verse. When performed, prose sounds more like typical language—there are none of the musical qualities that come with verse.

Shakespeare used prose to tell us something about his characters. For example, the porter in "Macbeth" speaks in prose:. However, this should not be treated as a hard-and-fast rule. In some longer speeches, Shakespeare used prose to help the audience identify more closely with his characters by using the everyday language of the time. Some of Shakespeare's low-class comic creations aspire to speak in the formal language of their superiors, but do not have the intelligence to achieve this and therefore become objects of ridicule.

If Shakespeare is consciously using verse and prose, line structures and the words in them to signify differences and move actors, and the act of speaking verse automatically plays on both the actor and audience, what does the choice whether consciously or subconsciously to use verse of verse give us and how can it shed light on the characters given circumstance or phycology?

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Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. Today, we apply the adjective poetic to words that are elegant and beautiful, even if they are not in verse.

By contrast, a text that we describe as prosaic is rather boring. But this is a modern definition, and Shakespeare would have thought differently. In fact, the explanation for the mix of forms in Much Ado lies in the nature of what is being said, and in the qualities that Shakespeare understood to be carried by verse and prose.

Instead, he used the differences between prose and verse to suggest various things to the audience about the characters in the scene. One way to think about prose is that it is the language of wit and amusing conversation — of which there is plenty in Much Ado. Another way of thinking about the distinction is that prose represents a language of logical thought, while verse is the language of emotion and self-reflection.

Things are different today. Analysing the text in this way helps us to make sense of two key moments in the play. In parallel scenes, first Benedick and then Beatrice are tricked by their friends into believing that each is in love with the other. Both overhear their friends make fun of them, and their surprise and embarrassment seem to prompt a change in their feelings for each other.

But the way they express this transformation is not the same. Let us start with Benedick. This can be no trick. The conference was sadly borne.