Why did Shakespeare choose to write this play in the meter of iambic pentameter?

Answer 1

besides the fact that everyone used it so it was natural, the @p3x answer is, "He wanted it to have a more natural, lyrical flow that is pleasing to the ear."

Answer 2

That's like asking "Why do you choose to wear a shirt over your torso?" Why? Because everyone does it. ALL playwrights in Shakespeare's day wrote in a mixture of prose and verse, and when they wrote in verse, it was almost always iambic pentameter. Iambic pentameter is a rhythm really well-suited to the natural rhythms of English, as had been demonstrated long before by the play Gorboduc which was written at about the same time Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe were being born.

Answer 3

In the prologue at the very beginning of Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare uses iambic pentameter.

"Two households, both alike in dignity,

In fair Verona, where we lay our scene, ...."

He uses ten syllables in both lines. The first line is clearly iambic pentameter, but it may be a bit hard to see because it starts with four strong syllables (a pair of spondees) in "Two households, both". "Alike in dignity" returns to a more obvious iambic rhythm (a-LIKE in DIG-ni-ty). The last two syllables are pyrrhic (meaning neither syllable gets much emphasis). Spondaic pairs and pyrrhic pairs are allowed in Shakespeare's iambic pentameter. Trochees are permitted under certain circumstances. "In fair Verona where we lay our scene" is more easily recognizable as iambic pentameter.

Romeo and Juliet is over 85% iambic pentameter. If you read a printed edition, the print layout can help you tell if a line is iambic pentameter. Verse lines will look like this:

"O, she doth teach the torches to burn

__bright.

It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night

Like a rich jewel in an Ethiop's ear;

Beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear!"

If a line will not fit on one line, it will get a hanging indent as the first line does here. If these lines were not intended to be iambic pentameter, then the line would wrap like a regular prose paragraph.

"O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright. It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night like a rich jewel in an Ethiop's ear; beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear!"

The basic rules for writing iambic pentameter are complicated. For a description of how Shakespeare structures his iambic pentameter lines, search for the article "How Iambic Pentameter Works."

Answer 4

it had five metrical feet that each contain an unstressed syllable immediately followed by a stressed one.

Answer 5

Almost the entire play is written in unrhymed iambic pentameter, but here's a sample, from Act III, Scene 1:

ROMEO

This gentleman, the prince's near ally,

My very friend, hath got his mortal hurt

In my behalf; my reputation stain'd

With Tybalt's slander,--Tybalt, that an hour

Hath been my kinsman! O sweet Juliet,

Thy beauty hath made me effeminate

And in my temper soften'd valour's steel!

Note that the lines are all ten syllables long, with alternating stressed and unstressed syllables, but the end words do not rhyme.

Answer 6

"Two households, both alike in dignity". If you count them, there are ten syllables here, which if divided into two-syllable feet, would make pentameter. That's a good start. The line can be said in strict iambic rhythm, "two HOUSE-holds BOTH a-LIKE in DIG-ni-TY", although it seems a bit forced. It actually seems more natural to make the first foot a spondee rather than an iamb, "DUM DUM" rather than "ta-DUM". The line would then read "TWO HOUSE-holds BOTH a-LIKE in DIG-ni-TY". The first line is a bit irregular, but the second, "In fair Verona where we lay our scene" is perfect iambic pentameter. Why did Shakespeare use this rhythm? All writers of the time did it, especially for sonnets, which the Prologue is. It is a rhythm which has dignity and measure, but also approximates the natural rhythms of the English language. It proved extremely effective in communicating ideas and emotions in a powerful way.

Answer 7

Just about all of it. Take any line from the prologue except "From ancient grudge break to new mutiny" which contains a trochee in the middle ("Break to").

Answer 8

But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks?

(Iambic pentameter is a line with 10 syllables)

Answer 9

it had five metrical feet that each contain an unstressed syllable immediately followed by a stressed one.

Answer 10

I don’t know