ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the Shakespeare's plays contain both prose/poetry and verse. In prose text each line uses up all the space available and just runs on to the next line continuously until the end of the speech. In poetry each line begins with a capital letter, and the length of the line is determined by the type of poetry being used. Shakespeare was using these two forms of speaking to show the difference between the attitudes of the two characters, and he went on to give more clues about Olivia when she suddenly starts speaking in poetry. The change from prose to poetry shows the change in the inner attitude of the character. The instruction to the actors when speaking in poetry is that their character is a heightened person, or a heightened state. The character is then very much the actor brings to it, and a personality-based performance is what Shakespeare intended when he wrote in prose.
