Two or More Characters, Shakespeare

Easy MLA Citation

You need to block quote the citation.

STEPS:

Introduce the quotation in your paragraph.
INDENT twice to start copying the quotation. Include the character's name before his/her dialogue. For each line of the quotation, indent twice.
Copy the quotation exactly as it appears in the text, copying the line breaks exactly as they appear in the original text.
When you get to the end of the quotation, include the information about where the quotation occurred in the text. Here's the formula for that:

Open parentheses + author's name + Act # in Roman Numerals + period + Scene # + period + line number(s) + Close parentheses

Example: (Shakespeare II.3.2-4) = Shakespeare's play, Act 2, Scene 3, lines 2-4

5. Place a period at the END of the quotation after the close parentheses.

6. Continue your paragraph with analysis of the quotation, but DO NOT INDENT. What you say next should be at the LEFT MARGIN of the page.

See below for an example.

When Macbeth heard that Banquo’s children would inherit the throne, Macbeth was not pleased. Macbeth did not want Banquo’s sons having the throne because he wanted his kingship to be passed down to his own sons. So, Macbeth makes a plan to kill Banquo with some hired assassins:

Murderers: We are resolved, my lord.

Macbeth: ... It is concluded. Banquo, thy soul’s flight,

If it find heaven, must find it out tonight (Shakespeare III.2.159-162).

Thus, Macbeth goes through the extreme measure of killing Banquo, by ordering the assassins to ensure that Banquo is killed that same night.