To quote Shakespeare in MLA, cite by act, scene, and line numbers instead of page numbers, and preserve the verse line breaks. A citation looks like (Hamlet 3.1.56-58): act 3, scene 1, lines 56 to 58, separated by periods. Short quotations of up to three lines run into your sentence with forward slashes between lines; four or more lines are set off as a block quote. Because the plays are verse, the formatting rules for poetry apply, with the added layer of act and scene.
How do you cite Shakespeare in-text?
Use arabic numerals for act, scene, and line, separated by periods, in parentheses: (Macbeth 1.3.38-40). Older sources use roman numerals (I.iii.38), but current MLA prefers arabic. Name the play in the citation if your paper discusses more than one; if it is clear which play you mean, you can cite the numbers alone. Cite line numbers, not pages, so any reader can find the passage in any edition.
How do you quote a few lines of verse?
For up to three lines, run the quotation into your text and mark each line break with a forward slash: Macbeth calls life “a tale / Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, / Signifying nothing” (5.5.26-28). Keep the capital letters that begin each verse line, since they are part of how the text is set. The approach matches quoting a play generally.
How do you quote four or more lines?
Set the passage as a block quote: start on a new line, indent it half an inch, keep the original verse line breaks, and drop the quotation marks. Put the citation after the final line’s punctuation. The block format is the same one covered in how to block quote; the difference with Shakespeare is that you keep the line divisions rather than reflowing the text.
How do you quote dialogue between characters?
When two or more characters speak, use a block quote and begin each part with the character’s name in capitals, indented, followed by their line. Set the name flush with the block’s indent and hang any runover lines a bit further in. This keeps stage dialogue readable and shows who says what, which a run-in quotation cannot.
How do you handle prose passages?
Not all of Shakespeare is verse, comic characters and some scenes are in prose. Quote prose passages as you would quote any prose: no forward slashes, and use a block quote only when the passage runs longer than four lines of your text. You still cite by act, scene, and line. Deciding which lines to quote directly and which to summarize follows the same judgment as paraphrasing a quote. For leading into the quotation, how to introduce a quote covers signal phrases.
FAQ
How do you cite Shakespeare in MLA?
By act, scene, and line in parentheses, using periods: (Hamlet 3.1.56-58). Cite line numbers rather than page numbers so the passage can be found in any edition.
Do you use roman or arabic numerals?
Current MLA uses arabic numerals (3.1.56). Roman numerals (III.i.56) are an older convention still seen in some editions.
How do you quote more than one character?
Use a block quote and start each speaker’s part with their name in capital letters, indented, so the reader can tell who is speaking.
How do you quote three lines of Shakespeare?
Run them into your sentence in quotation marks with a forward slash between each line, then cite the act, scene, and lines: (5.5.26-28).
Leave a Reply