Reading Shakespeare: Verse vs. Prose

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Identifying Verse and Prose

Verse - another name for poetry - and prose sound different, and they look different on the page, too.

Before discovering what Shakespeare's use of verse and prose can tell us about his characters, first find out what they both are and how to identify them when reading Shakespeare.

Remember that verse and poetry are the same things while you watch the video below.

As the video explains, verse is poetic and structured, while prose is structure-free, like a passage in a novel. While verse is poetry, remember that it does not have to rhyme.

When trying to decide if a passage is verse or prose, look for the following clues.

How is the passage laid out on the page?

• Is all the text crammed into the left-hand side of the page, or does it look like a solid block of text in the same way a novel does?

Because verse only has a certain number of syllables per line, it will be crammed to the left, whereas prose will sprawl out.

Where are the capital letters?

If every line starts with a capital letter, whether or not it starts a new sentence, you're probably looking at verse.

What Verse and Prose Mean for Shakespeare's Characters

Shakespeare didn't randomly decide when to use verse and prose. There are specific reasons why he shifts from one to the other, and whether a character speaks mostly in prose or verse says a lot about them.

Think of verse as the default mode for most of Shakespeare's plays. If a character breaks out of Shakespeare's usual pattern of verse, it likely says one of these things about them.

They are of a lower social class.

Most of Shakespeare's lower-class characters speak in prose. Servants, drunks, jesters, and the poor will rarely use verse. Verse sounds more polished, and these characters are not meant to sound that way.

In Elizabethan England, there were strict social class divisions, so it makes sense that Shakespeare would give lower-class and upper-class characters different styles of speech.

They are a comedic character.

Often, Shakespeare uses his lower-class characters for comedic relief, especially in his tragedies. But in some cases, an upper-class character may speak in prose, most often in comedic plays.

For example, in Much Ado About Nothing, Beatrice and Benedick become lovers even though Beatrice initially hates Benedick and men in general. This feisty courtship is full of wit and humor, and this comedic pair often speak in prose even though they are of a high social class.

Prose can easily sound more like natural banter, one reason Shakespeare uses it for comedic characters.

They are under severe stress.

When a character is under emotional or mental stress, especially going crazy, they sometimes go from verse to prose.

In Hamlet, for example, Hamlet speaks in verse at the beginning of the play. However, when he later starts to act insane, he switches to prose unless he is with his trusted friend, who knows he is only pretending to be mad.

Hamlet is signaling his madness to the other characters by breaking from verse, which he usually speaks in as a high-class character.

Review the difference between the two as you watch an example of Hamlet speaking in prose to Ophelia in the video below.

When you've watched the video, move to the Got It? section to test your knowledge of verse and prose!