Romeo

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Romeo Juliet
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William Shakespeare 1564-1616

• Humble Beginnings born in Stratford-upon-Avon
• Known as the Bard
• Attended Stratford Grammar School until he was 14
• Then he married Anne Hathaway and entered the
  lost years.
• Wrote about 37 plays and 154 sonnets
• Shakespeares sonnets all featured a male speaker
  and focused on the theme of love. Other common
  themes time, death, and poetry itself.

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More about Shakespeare!

• Left his family to arrive in London and joined
  the theater company, Lord Chamberlains Men.
• Earned his money by doing the following
• 1.) Part owner of the Globe Theater
• 2.) An Actor
• 3.) A Playwright
• Generally wrote 3 types of plays
• 1.) Tragedy- Ex. Romeo Juliet
• 2.) Comedy- Ex. The Taming of the Shrew
• 3.) Historical- Ex. Henry VIII

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The Time Period

• Elizabethan Era
• The Renaissance
• Actors were men only
• Men even played female
• roles!
• Plays were one of the main source of
  entertainment

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The Globe Theater

• Roofless Open Air
• No Artificial Lighting
• Plays were performed in the afternoon to take
  advantage of the sunlight.
• Plays were written/produced for the general
  audience
• Courtyard surrounded by 3 levels of galleries
• Spectators
• Wealthy- got benches
• Groundlings- poorer people stood and watched
  from the ground (the pit)
• All except for the wealthy were uneducated/ poor
• Burned down during a production of Henry VIII in
  1613. Rebuilt the following year.

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The Globe Theater

• Differences to todays theater productions
• No Scenery
• Settings were all referenced through dialogue
• Elaborate Costumes
• Plenty of props
• Fast-paced productions
• Only MALE actors
• would perform

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Shakespeares 5 Part Storytelling Pattern
Act III Crisis/Turning Point A series of
complications
Act IV Falling Action Results of the turning
point characters locked into deeper disaster
Act II Rising Action A series of complications
Act I Exposition Establishes setting,
characters, conflict, and background
Act V Climax/Resolution/Denouement Death of the
main characters and then the loose parts of the
plot are tied up
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Comedy and Tragedy
Romeo and Juliet begins as a comedy but ends as a
tragedy
Elements of a comedy

• Elements of a tragedy
• Must have a tragic hero/heroine
• Ends in the death of many of the main characters

• A struggle of young lovers to overcome difficulty
  that is often presented by elders
• Separation and unification
• Heightened tensions, often within a family

The shift from comedy to tragedy is what sets
Romeo and Juliet apart from the rest of
Shakespeares plays
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Tragic Hero

• Qualities of a Tragic Hero
• Possesses high importance or rank
• Exhibits extraordinary talents
• Displays a tragic flaw- an error in judgment or a
  defect in character that leads to their downfall
• Faces downfall with courage and dignity

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A Pair of Star Crossed Lovers
My only love sprung from my only hate! Too
early seen unknown , and known too late!
Juliet Act I, Scene V
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Literary terms to look for...

• 1.) Puns- a humorous play on words
• Romeo Not I, believe me. You have dancing
  shoes / With nimble soles I have a soul of
  lead (Act I Sc. 4)
• 2.) Allusions- a reference to a well-known work
  of art, music, literature, or history
• At lovers perjuries, they say Jove laughs.
  (Act II, Sc. 2
• Jove is another name for Jupiter, the Roman King
  of the Gods.

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• 3.) Metaphor- A direct comparison between two
  unalike things.
• Romeo- But soft! What light through yonder
  window breaks?/ It is the east, and Juliet is the
  sun. (Act II scene 2)
• 4.) Oxymorons- Two juxtaposed words have
  opposing/ very diverse meanings
• Juliet Beautiful tyrant! fiend angelical!
  (Act III Sc.2)
• 5.) Personification- Occurs when an inanimate
  object or concept is given the qualities of a
  person or animal.
• Juliet For thou wilt lie upon the wings of
  night / Whiter than new snow on a ravens back. /
  Come, gentle night, come, loving, black-browd
  night (Act III Sc. 2)

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• 6.) Paradox- a statement that seems to contradict
  itself with two elements that are incompatible
• Juliet O serpent heart, hid with a flowering
  face! (Act III Sc. 2)
• 7.) Foreshadowing- a reference to something that
  will happen later in the story.
• Juliet Give me my Romeo and, when he shall
  die,Take him and cut him out in little
  stars,And he will make the face of heaven so
  fineThat all the world will be in love with
  nightAnd pay no worship to the garish sun. (Act
  III Sc. 2)

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3 Key Themes

• 1.) Light and Dark
• Look for References to light words ex. the
  sun and references to dark wods ex. night
  and gloom
• 2.) Time
• Look for References to the passage of time or if
  things seem to be rushed
• 3.) Destiny
• Look for Instances where events are blamed on
  destiny or the stars

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MONTAGUE vs. CAPULET

• Romeo
• Lord Montague (his dad)
• Lady Montague (his mom)
• Mercutio (friend)
• Benvolio (cousin)

• Juliet
• Lord Capulet (her father)
• Lady Capulet (her mother)
• Tybalt (cousin)
• Nurse

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Setting
The story is set in the late 1500s mostly in the
town of Verona, Italy. However, there are a few
acts set in Mantua, Italy a smaller town just a
few miles away.
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Interesting
The Italian city of Verona, where Romeo and
Juliet lived, receives about 1,000 letters
addressed to Juliet every Valentine's Day.
Star-crossed lovers refers to two people who
are in love but have conflicting astrological
signs. In Shakespeares times, people believed
the course of their lives was determined by the
exact second they were born.
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Verona Today
Today, Verona has an incredible amount of
graffiti, which is legal, provided that you are
writing about your love for someone.
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Prologue

• Two households, both alike in dignity,in fair
  Verona, where we lay our scene,from ancient
  grudge break to new mutiny,where civil blood
  makes civil hands unclean.From forth the fatal
  loins of these two foesA pair of star-cross'd
  lovers take their lifeWhose misadventured
  piteous overthrowsdo with their death bury their
  parents' strife.The fearful passage of their
  death-mark'd love,and the continuance of their
  parents' rage,which, but their children's end,
  nought could remove,is now the two hours'
  traffic of our stage.