Speech Prefix: The indication of the identity of the speaker of the following line or lines. Early editions of Shakespere's plays often use different prefixes at different points to designate the same person. On occasion, the name of the actor who was to play the role appears in the place of the name of the character.

We thank the Norton Shakespeare for giving us the permission to reproduce terms from the glossary at the end of the Norton Shakespeare, ed. Stephen Greenblatt (New York: W.W. Norton, 1997).