That is, when one character spoke a full line to another character, the second character responded with a full line. For example, he used more enjambment, mid-pentameter line breaks, and caesurae to break down the blank verse paradigm McDonald Such devices help the verse avoid monotony, and in long speeches, the enjambment often helps propel the reader into the next line Come, you spirits[.
In fact, this particular example demonstrates the most common sort of metrical pause—one following a caesura and replacing an unaccented syllable. Line 42 has two possible scansions, both of which have a similar effect but one of which demonstrates another kind of metrical pause.
Make thick my blood[. If one chooses the former scansion, then the line is a standard iambic pentameter, but if one chooses the latter scansion, the line contains a metrical pause which replaces the third accented syllable in the line.
The scansion utilizing the metrical pause is the more mimetic of the two—it emphasizes the break more and thus makes the second half of line 42 calmer and more ominous. Line 53 contains only two feet before a pause during which Macbeth enters the stage. Beginning with the second line, they speak in rhyming couplets of trochaic tetrameter.
The falling rhythm and insistent rhyme emphasize the witchcraft they practice while they speak—boiling some sort of potion in a cauldron. When Hecate enters the scene 39 , she speaks just five lines before singing a song with two new witches and then exiting the scene. But she completes the tetrameter with two iambs and maintains iambic tetrameter throughout the rest of her brief speech.
During the song , Hecate speaks in a strange blend of iambs and trochees. Her metrical inconsistency indicates a shift in her role—instead of evaluating the other witches as a superior, she now has lowered her status and joined in their witchcraft, helping them form the potion. His rising rhythm is smoother than the falling rhythm which dominates the beginning of the scene, and his unrhymed lines sound much more human than the incantatory rhymes of the witches.
The first apparition speaks just one heroic couplet Thus the prosody underscores what the witches already stated—this apparition is a master of some sort, a new level of dark power altogether. The second apparition speaks three lines; the first two rhyme, but the final—which is a fraction of a line—does not. Metrically, the second apparition falls into the same category of character as the first apparition since it, too, uses rhyme, iambs, and pentameter as its baseline.
Shakespeare adds or removes feet as necessary, yet because the second apparition maintains an iambic rhythm, the speech pattern fits the scene in an audibly pleasant way. The third apparition blends the speech patterns of the first two apparitions. Specifically, this spirit speaks five lines rhymed aabbc. The first four lines are perfect iambic pentameters, while the fifth line is an iambic dimeter with a feminine ending. The rhyme and meter of this brief speech maintains the above-mentioned character differentiation for the third apparition, too, while continuing to demonstrate the above-mentioned metrical flexibility.
This theory of character differentiation yields an interesting result in the last speech before the witches exit the scene. Play Shared Line Video. A shared line tells us a lot about the relationship between two characters. Prose The style of writing you might find in a book. Structure Another word for organise or lay out. Iambic This words comes from the Latin word iam meaning beat.
Take another look at the iambic pentameter definitions. Take another look at the definition of iambic pentameter. Dark The total opposite of light. Take another look at the definition of antithesis. Couplets Another word for when two lines are coupled together. Take another look at the definition of rhyming couplets.
Iambic Pentameter The name for the rhythm Shakespeare writes in. Sound Another word for something you hear. Starting with Sonnets The activity can be found on page 3 and takes approximately 20 minutes.
We use cookies on this website. This particular couplet has power as it sets up our expectations for what is to come. Macbeth ends with:. The Porter is neither royal, noble, or otherworldly - how is this reflected in his speech?
He speaks directly to the audience at first and there is a definite change of tone to provide light relief after the murder. His speech has a lively and engaging rhythm along with repetition to enhance the humorous content. The Porter begins a succession of jokes about who might be at the door:. He uses repetition. When Macbeth learns that his wife has died, he says:. In Act 4 Scene 1, the Witches are preparing a horrible potion and throwing revolting things into a bubbling cauldron.
But what kind of creepy nursery rhyme would describe a hell-broth that was made up of dead body parts? Can you list some of the disgusting things that are thrown into the cauldron?
Here are just a few of them:. What lines do the Witches repeat as a kind of chorus?
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