How does Shakespeare use prose and verse to differentiate between the types of characters in the play?
Henry IV part 2 is written partly in prose and partly in blank verse. Generally speaking, the characters from a higher social class, including all the rebel leaders and the King and his party, speak in blank verse. It is a more dignified form of utterance, appropriate for their social status. In contrast, the characters from a lower social class, such as the crew in the Boar’s Head, speak prose, as do the Country Justices Shallow and Silence, and Sir John Falstaff. Falstaff, although he is a knight of at least moderate social standing, always speaks in prose, even when he is addressing Prince John (Act 4, scene 3). He makes no attempt to vary his manner of speech according to whom he is addressing, and nor would we expect him to. Falstaff always is what he is, and he cannot be anything else. Similarly, Prince John does not lower himself to speak prose when he addresses Falstaff. This is in contrast to the practice of Prince Hal. Whenever the Prince is with Falstaff and the other low ch
