Since you specifically asked about the use of blank verse
in A Midsummer Night's Dream, I have moved this
question.
Essentially there are three worlds in the play:
the world of the court, the world of the workers, and the world of fairy land. In both
in the court and fairyland, blank verse is spoken while Bottom and his mates speak
prose.
Since both the court and fairy land are formal
worlds, the language is formal. Bottom and his mates are workers. They speak prose to
show there are of a lower class. It also shows that these men are friends and they
speak an informal language. Even when Titiana speaks verse to him, Bottom speaks in
prose.
Shakespeare often used prose to show lower class
characters against the higher class ones. This is not always the case. For example
the play Much Ado About Nothing is about 60%
prose.
As stated by cldbentley, blank verse is a rhythm.
From the time it was first used by Christopher Marlowe, it became the standard for
Elizabethan theatre. (It is easier to memorize and most closely resembles everyday
English speech rhythms.)
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