Shakespeare’s writing style is not always iambic. Kim Ballard claims that a combination of these two compositional formats is not common in literature. However, it is common among Shakespeare’s plays, and the dramatists who lived in Shakespearean times. Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream features different writing style for each character. The nobles usually use verse while the commoners prefer prose. Titania’s and Oberon’s styles vary depending on the circumstances. Shakespeare uses prose to convey the mood, setting, and character of Titania, as well verses that rhyme.
The reader first meets Titania with Oberon in a dispute over a boy Titania had taken under her care. Titania asks, “What’s up, Oberon? Fairies, skip here:/I’ve forsworn his company and bed,” Oberon replies, “Tarry! rash wanton, am I not thy Lord?” (2.1.63-65). Oberon, Titania and other fairy royalty would most likely use poetry to express their nobility. But the style of writing must be appropriate to the situation. Both characters use unrhymed poetry. The two characters are establishing their character and social status by using unrhymed verse.
Oberon uses a magic potions to make Titania love the first thing she sees in 2.2. As he drops a potion onto her eyelids, Oberon says: “Whatever it is that you see,/Take it for the sake of your true-love./Love and lament for him./Be an ounce or cat, or a bear./Pards, or boars with bristled horns./In thine eye it shall appear/When I wake. It is my dear./Wake me when some vile object is near.” (2.2.33-40). Oberon now uses rhymes. He is trying to enchant the girl with a potion of love. He wants to distract her to have the baby, so he is speaking sweeter.
Titania’s language changes when she awakens and falls for Bottom. She says to Bottom: “I love you: go with me. I’ll send fairies to watch over you. They will fetch jewels from deep./And sing to thee while on pressed flower dost thou sleep …” (156-61). Titania is using rhymed verses to show her love. This is a common way for characters to express their feelings. Titania has been hypnotized by Oberon, and so she talks sweetly to Bottom.
These scenes use different writing styles to differentiate between situations, characters, and scenes. Although all three of the scenes use verse in some way, their subtle differences convey very different messages. The rhyming poems convey gentleness and affection, whereas blank verses can be used to convey anger or impulsiveness. It is crucial to note these differences in order to fully understand Shakespeare’s plays.
