Shakespeare and MLA Citation Style
When you cite quotations from one of Shakespeare’s plays, identify the quotation by the
act, scene, and line numbers.
If the section is in prose, you will cite it just as you would a novel or a short story; if it's
in verse, cite it as you would a poem. (See examples below.)
The following definitions are taken from Dr. Deborah Schwartz's class notes (full citation at
the end of the page). Following these definitions, I've included examples from the text itself.
According to Dr. Schwartz,
Prose refers to ordinary speech with no regular pattern of accentual rhythm. Lines
of text do not all have the same number of syllables nor is there any discernible
pattern of stresses. If you are unsure if a passage is in prose or in blank verse, look
for the following visual clue: a long passage in prose is typically printed in your text
like an ordinary paragraph with right and left justification. The lines of print extend
from left to right margin with no "hard return" in the middle of a
sentence. Standard rules of capitalization are followed: only proper nouns (names
and place names), the pronoun "I" and the first letter of a new sentence are
capitalized.
Examples from Much Ado About Nothing:
1. If you have only one speaker, just cite a line of prose like any other text.
E.g. In one of her verbal sparring matches with Benedick, Beatrice exclaims, “Is it
possible disdain should die while she hath such meet food to feed it as Signior
Benedick? Courtesy itself must convert to disdain if you come in her presence”
(1.1.118-121).
2. If you have more than 4 lines of text, use a block quote.
When he overhears his friends swearing that Beatrice loves him in secret, Benedict's
perception of both Beatrice and matrimony change very quickly:
I may chance have some odd quirks and remnants of wit broken on me
because I have railed so long against marriage, but doth not the appetite
alter? A man loves the meat in his youth that he cannot endure in his age.
Shall quips and sentences from these paper bullets of the brain awe a man
from the career of his humor? No! The world must be peopled. When I said I
would die a bachelor, I did not think I should live till I were married. Here
comes Beatrice. By this day, she’s a fair lady. I do spy some marks of love in
her. (2.3.237-248).
3. If you have multiple speakers, indent all lines .5" and preserve the original
formatting.
Dogberry's character serves as a satire of those who try to use impressive words to
project authority and intelligence, yet whose pretensions are deflated by the fact
that they use this language incorrectly. In this scene, however, Dogberry's
malapropisms are also tragic because they cause Leonato to dismiss him even
though he has important information to share:
DOGBERRY: Goodman Verges, sir, speaks a little off the matter. An old man,
sir, and his wits are not so blunt as, God help, I would desire they were, but,
in faith, honest as the skin between his brows.
VERGES: Yes, I thank God I am as honest as any man living that is an old man
and no honester than I.
DOGBERRY: Comparisons are odorous. Palabras, neighbor Verges.
VERSE: Although many lines are written in prose, Shakespeare also uses blank verse in his
plays. According to Dr. Schwartz,
Art elevates and distills the everyday; writing in blank verse helps sharpen that
distinction. Blank verse, as opposed to prose, is used mainly for passionate, lofty or
momentous occasions and for introspection; it may suggest a refinement of
character. Many of Shakespeare's most famous speeches are written in blank
verse: Macbeth's and Lady Macbeth's plotting; the great soliloquies of Henry V and
Hamlet; Caliban's complaints and Prospero's farewell to magic in The Tempest.
And here is a definition of blank verse:
Blank Verse refers to unrhymed iambic pentameter. Blank verse
resembles prose in that the final words of the lines do not rhyme in any regular
pattern (although an occasional rhyming couplet may be found). Unlike prose, there
is a recognizable meter: most lines are in iambic pentameter, i.e. they consist of ten
syllables alternating unstressed and stressed syllables (there may be some
irregularities, such an occasional troche mixed in with the iambs or an extra
unstressed syllable at the end of a line). (Schwartz)
You can tell that a monologue or scene is written in blank verse if each line has
approximately ten syllables and alternating unstressed and stressed syllables; however,
since we haven’t covered meter in this class, the best way to tell if something is written in
blank verse is to check the right hand margins. If the lines “break” in a very specific place—
forming a jagged right hand margin—those lines are probably blank verse. If you read them
aloud, you’ll also start to notice a specific rhythm.
Here’s an example from the text:
Hero and Ursula scheme to make Beatrice fall in love with Benedick by praising him and
accusing her of being too proud of her own wit:
HERO:
O god of love! I know he doth deserve
As much as may be yielded to a man,
But Nature never framed a woman’s heart
Of prouder stuff than that of Beatrice.
Disdain and scorn ride sparkling in her eyes,
Misprizing what they look on, and her wit
Values itself so highly that to her
All matter else seems weak. She cannot love,
Nor take no shape nor project of affection,
She is so self-endeared. (3.1.49-58)
Note: I do find it interesting that in this scene, in which Hero and Ursula are so selfconsciously “acting” for Beatrice, they are also speaking in blank verse.