Lesson Overview

Students will define prose and verse, understand how the forms differ, and learn how to identify passages of each in William Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing. Students will understand that prose and verse are used to express different types of speech, situations, and emotional states. While this lesson can be completed at any time, note that cited examples could reveal plot points.

Materials

  • Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare
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Lesson Objectives

1. Students will understand how prose differs from verse in Shakespeare’s plays and how to identify prose passages. 

2. Students will learn why Shakespeare uses prose or verse for different speeches in Much Ado About Nothing. 

3. Students will discuss and analyze examples of prose and verse in Much Ado About Nothing.

Instructional Sequence

1. Define prose and verse and examine the use of each in Shakespeare’s plays.

William Shakespeare uses two different types of writing in his plays: prose and verse. Write the definitions of prose and verse on the board and review them with students.

Prose is a piece of writing that has no regular pattern of rhythm, or meter.  

Prose sounds like ordinary speech and appears on the written page in blocks of sentences that form a paragraph. Prose relies on literary devices to give it a sense of movement; in Shakespeare’s writing, these include puns, lists, alliteration, and assonance. 

Verse is a piece of writing that has a set rhythm.  

Verse refers to a single line or group of lines that forms a poetic composition. When characters speak in verse, they are expressing themselves in poetry. Shakespeare usually wrote in blank verse, which means the lines have no rhyme scheme but do have a pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables.  

Provide examples of prose and verse using short quotes from other Shakespeare plays with which students are familiar. This example comes from Romeo and Juliet. Write the prose and verse versions of the quote on the board and read aloud for students to hear how each sounds.

Verse: What’s in a name? That which we call a rose / By any other word would smell as sweet. (No Fear: 2.2.43–44) 

Prose: You can call a rose by a different name. It would still smell as sweet. 

All of Shakespeare’s plays contain a mixture of prose and verse. Tell students to be aware of the two forms as they read. Not only do they sound different, but on the page, prose looks like a paragraph while verse looks like a poem. 

2. Examine the language in Much Ado About Nothing. 

Much Ado About Nothing contains the most prose of any of Shakespeare’s plays — almost 75 percent of the play. In many of Shakespeare’s plays, lower-status characters speak in prose while higher-born characters are more likely to speak in verse; however, Much Ado About Nothing does not follow these distinctions. Don Pedro, for example, speaks in both prose and verse. 

Copy the following lines from Much Ado About Nothing on the board. Tell students that this exchange, written in prose, takes place between the high-status governor of Messina and a low-status messenger. The passage opens the play, setting the tone for equality of language among members of all social classes. Read the passage aloud. 

Leonato
I learn in this letter that Don Pedro of Aragon comes this
night to Messina. 

Messenger
He is very near by this. He was three leagues off when
I left him.  

Leonato
How many gentlemen have you lost in this action? 

Messenger
But few of any sort, and none of name. 

Leonato
A victory is twice itself when the achiever brings home full
numbers. I find here that Don Pedro hath bestowed much
honor on a young Florentine called Claudio.

(No Fear: 1.1.1–9) 

Ask students: Did this exchange sound like an ordinary conversation or like a poem? 

3. Explain that prose is the language of realism and wit. 

Prose was considered a more practical, realistic form of language than verse; thus, it suits a play like Much Ado About Nothing, which mainly focuses on common daily concerns. Prose also serves Beatrice and Benedick well since they reject the fanfare of marriage in favor of agile verbal sparring. The quickness with which they riff off one another signifies their cleverness and ability at wordplay; thus, prose also serves as the language of wit in Much Ado About Nothing. 

Read the following aloud for students. 

Beatrice
Against my will, I am sent to bid you come in to dinner. 

Benedick
Fair Beatrice. I thank you for your pains. 

Beatrice
I took no more pains for those thanks than you take pains to
thank me. If it had been painful, I would not have come. 

(No Fear: 2.3.206–209)

Ask students to provide a summary of the exchange. Then discuss how Beatrice seizes upon Benedick’s use of the word pains, turning it back on him as an insult. Also point out that this conversation reflects eating a meal, which is a daily, practical matter.

Then, share this example from Beatrice: 

Beatrice
“Then” is spoken. Fare you well now. And yet, ere I go, let
me go with that I came, which is, with knowing what hath
passed between you and Claudio. 

Benedick
Only foul words, and thereupon I will kiss thee. 

Beatrice
Foul words is but foul wind, and foul wind is but foul
breath, and foul breath is noisome. Therefore I will depart
unkissed.

(No Fear: 5.2.33–39) 

After ensuring students’ comprehension of the excerpt, ask what words are used repetitively and how this repetition makes the exchange humorous. Then ask them how this exchange signifies practical, realistic matters. 

Beatrice and Benedick’s quick wit also shines when they are speaking with others: 

Claudio
Benedick, didst thou note the daughter of Signior Leonato? 

Benedick
I noted her not, but I looked on her. 

(No Fear: 1.1.126–127)

In this exchange, Benedick makes a pun out of Claudio’s words: Claudio uses note to mean “notice,” but Benedick responds that he did not notice her — implying she (Hero) wasn’t noteworthy — even though he looked at her.  

Further, prose represents the language of logic as when Benedick muses over learning of Beatrice’s supposed love for him. 

Benedick
This can be no trick. The conference was
sadly borne; they have the truth of this from Hero; they
seem to pity the lady. It seems her affections have their full
bent. Love me? Why, it must be requited!  

(No Fear: 2.3.183–186) 

Here, Benedick uses logic and reason to evaluate the news he has overheard. Beatrice must love him because his friends, who learned about it from the virtuous Hero, spoke earnestly. When he decides to return Beatrice’s love, he is following his mind, not his heart.  

Most of the characters speak in prose at various points in the play. This conversational tone helps drive the narrative, particularly in Act 1 through Act 3, where little dramatic action takes place. 

4. Explain that verse is the language of emotions and formalities. 

When verse is used in Much Ado About Nothing, the language signifies strong emotion, formalities, and artifice. Copy this instance when Benedick speaks in verse on the board: 

Benedick
Your answer, sir, is enigmatical.
But for my will, my will is your goodwill
May stand with ours, this day to be conjoined
In the state of honorable marriage—
In which, good Friar, I shall desire your help. 

(No Fear: 5.4.27–31) 

Put the text in context: Benedick is asking Leonato for permission to marry Beatrice. Discuss with students why in this serious moment, Benedick reverts to verse. 

Then share Beatrice’s reaction to overhearing that Benedick loves her: 

Beatrice
What fire is in mine ears? Can this be true?
Stand I condemned for pride and scorn so much?
Contempt, farewell, and maiden pride, adieu!
No glory lives behind the back of such.
And Benedick, love on; I will requite thee,
Taming my wild heart to thy loving hand.
If thou dost love, my kindness shall incite thee
To bind our loves up in a holy band.
For others say thou dost deserve, and I
Believe it better than reportingly.

(No Fear: 3.1.113–122) 

Ask a volunteer to summarize Beatrice’s soliloquy. Then discuss with students why Beatrice responds to this revelation in verse, while Benedick responds to a similar revelation in prose: Hearing that she is too full of pride, Beatrice reacts in an emotional, not logical, manner. 

Ask: What are the main differences between prose and verse? 

5. Give students a chance to apply and practice what they have learned. 

Pass out the Prose in the Play Worksheet and have students complete the worksheet individually or in pairs.

Differentiated Instruction

This activity can be modified to help all students access learning.
Decrease difficulty

Provide ways to determine whether text is prose or verse. Encourage students to recite passages aloud, listening for a conversational sound or a poetic sound. Have them practice with one another or in small groups. Then, using the text, point out the visual clues that can help. In prose, the lines of text extend all the way to the page margin and are usually justified; the first letter of each line is often lower case, just like in a sentence; and the lines do not all have the same number of syllables. In verse, the lines of text are usually shorter, and the first word of each line is capitalized regardless of standard rules of punctuation.

 

Increase difficulty

Provide students a choice of these follow-up activities: 

Some critics believe that prose is used in Much Ado About Nothing to show Beatrice and Benedick upending social norms. Have students consider this critical viewpoint, determine whether or not, and write a short response, justifying their point of view with textual examples. 

In Act 2, Scene 3, lines 16–19 (No Fear edition), Benedick says of Claudio:  

He was wont to speak plain and to the purpose,
like an honest man and a soldier, and now is he turned
orthography; his words are a very fantastical banquet, just
so many strange dishes.  

Have students analyze Benedick’s explanation for Claudio’s switch from prose to verse, and then find examples to determine if Benedick is correct.

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