Form

This chapter explores four elements of Shakespeare’s use of form, shape, texture, pace, and breakages of the frame, arguing that each works towards the construction of ambiguity by implying a gap between manner and matter. The discussion begins by looking at two aspects of dramatic shape, five-act structure and the grouping of plays in parts, then turns to the texture of Shakespeare’s writing, focusing on versification and wordplay. The third section is on pace—timespan covered, how the passage of time is represented, and how rhythm and repetition militate against chronology—and the fourth considers various ways in which Shakespeare breaks the frame, including topicality and self-conscious doubling. Each of these elements helps construct Shakespeare’s authorial voice and each also shows that form itself takes different forms: it is a property of the text as read or heard, but also a question of whether the audience receives the play as diegetic or extradiegetic entity.