What is capitalized in the script of one of Shakespeare's plays?

Answer 1

It depends on the editor. However, there are certain places where we can expect to find capital letters:

1. At the beginning of the characters' names.
2. At the beginning of the first word of sentences.
3. At the beginning of stage directions, usually the word Enter, Exit or Exeunt.
4. The main words of the titles, usually. The 1600 Quarto of Merchant of Venice is entitled "The comicall History of the Merchant of Venice." We might expect "comical" to be capitalized but it isn't.
5. Where the characters speak in blank verse or rhyming verse, the first word of each line is capitalized.
6. In older copies, other words. I'm looking at the first three speeches in The Merchant of Venice, by Antonio, Salerino and Solanio. In the first quarto of 1600 we find, apart from the first words of each line, Ocean, Argosies, Signiors, Burghers, Pageants and Maps to be capitalized. In the First Folio, apart from the first words, Want-wit, Ocean, Argosies, Signiors, Burghers, Pageants, Traffickers, and Maps are capitalized. In modern editions, none of them are.