Shakespeare’s
Conventions
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Language Conventions
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Blank Verse (Iambic Pentameter); Rhymed Verse
Prose
Soliloquy
Aside
Invectives (back and forth insults)
Bawdy Banter (double meanings - often sexual
undertones)
 Malapropism
 Oxymoron
Plot Conventions
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Form
Setting
Play-within-a Play
Doubling
“Star-crossed Lovers”
Deliberate Misunderstandings
Blank Verse: Iambic Pentameter
 Blank Verse = text written in measured lines that
do not rhyme
 The dominant writing form of Shakespeare's plays
is Iambic Pentameter:
 A type of verse that has 5 poetic “feet” per line
 Each foot is an “iamb” = one unstressed syllable
followed by a stressed syllable
 “(A horse), (a horse), (my king)(dom for)( a horse).”
 Richard III
Verse: Rhymed Verse
 Text written in measured lines which do rhyme
 Typically used as a special effect for:
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Creating a chorus of voices (song qualities)
Prologues - the start of a play
Epilogues - the end of a play
Plays-within-plays
Showing the supernatural or spiritual world
§ Example:
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“Two households, both alike in dignity
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.”
Romeo and Juliet
Prose
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Unrhymed/unmeasured regular speech
Typically used to show:
 Seriousness and/or official documents
 Insanity
 Everyday life/class divisions
 “Low” comedy (dumb humor)
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“To be, or not to be--that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles
And by opposing end them. To die, to sleep-No more--and by a sleep to say we end
The heartache, and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to.”
§ Hamlet
Soliloquy
 A character is thinking out loud to
his/herself on the stage
 Speaking only to themselves
Aside
 A character “breaks the 4th wall” and
speaks directly to the audience
 Other characters are typically not aware of
this
 Used to make the audience a part of the play
- often times employs dramatic irony
Invectives
 Fast paced insults thrown back and forth between
two or more characters
 Shakespeare was a master at crafting passages
where characters really insulted each other in a
mean and/or humorous way while using poetic
techniques like rhyme and alliteration
 It was the equivalent of using our modern swear
words - but way more creative and insulting
 Thou are a churlish, lily-livered canker-blossom!
Bawdy Banter
 Language filled with double entendres (2 or
more meanings)
 These usually involved sexual undertones
 Used as a way to keep the audience engaged
and entertained
 “I wooed thee with my sword.”
 MSND
Malapropism
 a confused use of words in which
an appropriate word is replaced by
one with similar sound but (often
ludicrously) wrong meaning
 a form of irony
Oxymorons
 A deliberate pairing of two contradictory
words or phrases
 Examples:
 “Parting is such sweet sorrow”
 “Oh brawling love! Oh loving hate!”
Form/Setting
 Shakespeare wrote 37 plays and each of
them has 5 acts
 The settings are very loose - characters and
directors are not bound too tightly to a
specific time/place. This allows for constant
re-interpretation. Example: Romeo and
Juliet: 1996
Play-within-a-Play
 Plays in which the characters rehearse and
act in their own play inside the “larger play”
 Used to highlight a major plot point or
theme inside the “larger” play
Doubling
 Characters act as doubles or mirror images
of each other
 Often, these characters are from different
groups or classes within the play
 Example: The Capulets and The Montagues
from Romeo and Juliet
“Star-crossed Lovers”
 Fate has decreed that the two lovers cannot
be together
 They face insurmountable obstacles and
their relationship usually ends in tragedy
Deliberate Misunderstandings
 A form of dramatic irony
 The characters are often confused and make
large mistakes: wrong identity, wrong
directions, poor assumptions
 The audience knows the truth and this is
used as a way to engage the audience
Why is Shakespeare still so
popular?
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1. Illumination of the Human
Experience
 Shakespeare’s ability to summarize the range
of human emotions in simple yet profoundly
eloquent verse is perhaps the greatest reason
for his enduring popularity.
2. Great Storytelling
 Shakespeare was not known as a great inventor of
stories; many of his most famous plays are based
on plot lines taken directly from other work or
actual history
 What we remember him for is his ability to tell or
re-tell all different genres of stories so well:
histories, tragedies, comedies, adventure, romance,
fairy-tales
 The plot is just the vehicle for his language and
story-telling ability - it is the “shell” that his art is
packaged in
3. Compelling Characters
 Shakespeare’s characters have remained popular
because of their complexity and/or uniqueness; for
example, we can see ourselves as gentle Hamlet,
forced against his better nature to seek murderous
revenge
 For this reason Shakespeare is deeply admired by
actors, and many consider playing a Shakespearean
character to be the most difficult and most rewarding
role possible
4. Ability to Turn a Phrase
 Many of the common expressions now thought to be
cliches were Shakespeare's creations. Chances are
you use Shakespeare's expressions all the time even
though you may not know it is The Bard you are
quoting.
 He acted as a chemist with language - combining
words and phrases into a huge blender with amazing
results
 Some famous words/expressions:
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Critical, dwindle, extract, excellent, eventful, assassination, lonely,
one fell swoop, vanish into thin air, be in a pickle, won’t budge an inch,
foul play, be cruel to be kind, and countless others (including the word
countless).