How to quote and cite a play in an essay using MLA format
In other words, while a creation myth enjoyed by the Prince of Wales and by elite gatherings in Aspen may tell us that Shakespeare creates and we merely copy, we might want to rethink that idea. We hear ourselves in the language of the Bard not so much because we quote him, as because he so often quoted us–or rather, our intellectual ancestors: speakers of traditional folklore and everyday English.
If claiming that we are quoting Shakespeare is an understandable bit of myth-making on the one hand, on the other it reinforces a view of the world in which cleverness consists of asserting (without evidence) that items of folk speech are borrowed from an intellectual elite, and then subtly mocking ordinary speakers for not knowing this. The essay becomes a vehicle of this cultural hegemony: folk speech is appropriated by the elite and attributed an origin that only the elite are clever enough to know. Then this largely spurious origin is “taught” to ordinary people with “tut-tuts” inserted for maximum effect.
But part of the explanation goes deeper, I think, involving class. Although Shakespeare was himself what we would call middle-class, he is one of the English authors most favored by the wealthy and intellectually elite today. Knowing quotes from Shakespeare is associated with being intellectually impressive. After all, as Cole Porter’s song goes:
How To Cite Shakespeare In MLA ~ Format With Examples
Finally, Shakespeare is one of the few authors with a large number of full-time professional advocates. Well-funded organizations like the Royal Shakespeare Company, Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, and the Folger Shakespeare Library engage in professional advocacy for Shakespeare’s works at a level most authors will never experience. This means that people with little experience at tracing the early history of words and phrases have a vested interest in claiming honors for Shakespeare—a sure formula for erroneous or spurious claims. All of these organizations have promoted versions of the Levin essay, either by displaying and selling it on a poster or by including it in their educational materials.
We'll learn how to make a Works Cited page in a bit, but right now it's important to know that parenthetical citations and Works Cited pages allow readers to know which sources you consulted in writing your essay, so that they can either verify your interpretation of the sources or use them in their own scholarly work.
One of Levin’s phrases turns up in Old English: The useful website , as a way of describing humankind. As a synonym for “family,” which is how Shakespeare uses it, the OED tells us the phrase goes back to about 1300, or about 300 years before Shakespeare used it.
Let’s begin with the phrases in Bernard Levin’s popular essay “On Quoting Shakespeare,” which I quoted at the beginning of this post. Levin’s piece first appeared in , and has since been republished many times. On the internet, it is posted in thousands of locations, , , as , and in many It exists as a reading for theater workshops, in which many readers alternate in declaiming the various quotations (), and it exists as .
How to Cite Shakespeare in MLA: Tips and Examples
To cite, or not to cite – that is the first question. But many referencing systems have special rules for citing , so the second question might be “How do I cite it?” Here, then, we look at how to cite Shakespeare in an using .
How to cite a Shakespeare play from a collection
The current system is based on a few principles, rather than an extensive list of specific rules. While the handbook still gives examples of how to cite sources, it is organized according to the process of documentation, rather than by the sources themselves. This process teaches writers a flexible method that is universally applicable. Once you are familiar with the method, you can use it to document any type of source, for any type of paper, in any field.
How to cite Shakespeare within MLA format
Utilizing Shakespear’s poetry, you should obligatorily know how to cite Shakespeare play MLA and place it in your reference list. Also, to express the original text as a background for research, it is necessary to quote a verse or a part of dialogue. We have presented the general formulas for citing the writer's works above. It is essential to keep those rules as it helps you avoid plagiarism in your research paper.
How to quote and cite Shakespeares sonnets
If you use one play or several plays from Shakespeare’s collection of works, MLA citing Shakespeare helps you place a correct entry in references. When alluding to several plays, you should cite every play in your paper separately. Thus, an entry includes information about an individual work and title of collection. The general formula of play citation from collection is as follows:
How to Cite Shakespeare in APA Referencing
When citing Shakespeare in MLA, you should be aware of presenting reference to the source used: plays from a collection or single ones with separate editions. These two options have differences in citation.
Single play typically consists of acts and scenes and is cited much like a book. By referring to a particular scene or dialogue, you should point out a number of an act, scene, and line, separated with periods. The general formula is reflected in the table below. Keep in mind punctuation used after each entry element and .