Romeo and Juliet

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Romeo and Juliet
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Great love stories from different cultures times

• Films
• Gone with the Wind
• Anna and the King
• The Bridges of Madison County
• Sixteen Candles
• Titanic
• Ghost
• Love and Basketball
• Poetry
• Tristan and Isolde

• Legend
• King Arthur and Lady Guinevere
• Fairytale
• Cinderella
• Plays
• Antony and Cleopatra
• Real Life
• King Edward VIII and Mrs. Simpson

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Identifying Common Structures

• Who are the main characters in love stories?
• What are the problems or complications that these
  characters deal with?
• How do these love stories usually end?

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Modern Love Stories

• Why does tragedy seem to be less popular in
  modern love stories, particularly in film?
• Why are some of the most enduring love stories
  tragedies?

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ShakespeareFacts

• William Shakespeare Born 1564 Stratford-Avon in
  England. Died 1616.
• Around 1568, William would have attended a small
  private school, from the age of four, to learn to
  read and write. He would have left school when he
  was fifteen.
• When he was 18 years old, Shakespeare married
  Anne Hathaway, who was the daughter of a local
  farmer and 8 years older than Shakespeare. Their
  first child, Susanna, was born in 1583, followed
  by the twins, Judith and Hamnet, in 1585.
• Wrote Rome and Juliet in about 1591
• Based on Arthur Brooke's The Tragicall History of
  Romeus and Juliet

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Shakespeare's Plays

• Grouped according to whether they are
• comedies
• histories
• tragedies.
• These types of plays have existed for centuries
  in literature from many different cultures.
  Shakespeares plays draw on some of the
  conventions or rules from earlier Greek, French
  and Italian literature.

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Shakespeares Plays

• The comedies
• Comedies are plays that have a strong humorous
  element and end happily for the main characters.
  These include Loves Labours Lost and A
  Midsummer-Nights Dream.
• You can find other examples of Shakespeares
  comedies by looking in the index of a complete
  works of Shakespeare.
• The histories
• Histories, as the name suggests, are plays that
  deal with important historical events and
  individuals and often feature wars and political
  intrigue. Examples include King Richard III and
  King Henry IV Part 1.
• You can find other examples of Shakespeares
  histories by looking in the index of a complete
  works of Shakespeare.
• The tragedies
• Shakespeares tragedies do not all follow exactly
  the same pattern or conventions, but they have
  many characteristics in common. A Shakespearean
  tragedy is a play that has a serious theme and a
  main character or protagonist whose life ends due
  to their own actions as well as the forces of
  fate.
• The main character is focussed or obsessed by one
  aspect of their life, such as revenge, power or
  love, to the point that this is all they focus
  on. This leads to the character becoming isolated
  from their family or friends or society. The main
  characters actions and choices during the course
  of the play lead them to disaster. There is a
  sense that the disaster cannot be avoided. The
  main character or characters usually die near the
  end of the play. Romeo and Juliet, Antony and
  Cleopatra and Macbeth are examples of
  Shakespearean tragedies.

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Focus Terms

• Characters
• Setting
• Plot
• Conflict
• Fate
• Free will
• Tragedy
• Resolution
• Themes

• Allusion
• Oxymoron
• Paradox
• Personification
• Metaphor
• Foreshadowing

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Puns
A pun is a humorous play on words. Mercutio
Nay, gentle Romeo, we must have you
dance. Romeo Not I, believe me. You have
dancing shoes / With nimble soles I have a soul
of lead (Act I Sc. 4)
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Allusions
An allusion is 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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Metaphor
A metaphor is a direct comparison between two
unlike things. Romeo But, soft! what light
through yonder window breaks? / It is the east,
and Juliet is the sun. (Act II Sc. 2)
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Personification
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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Oxymorons
An oxymoron describes when two juxtaposed words
have opposing or very diverse meanings. Juliet
Beautiful tyrant! fiend angelical! (Act III
Sc.2)
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Paradoxes
A paradox is statement or situation with
seemingly contradictory or incompatible
components. Juliet O serpent heart, hid with
a flowering face! (Act III Sc. 2)
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Foreshadowing
Foreshadowing is 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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Themes

• Light and dark
• Time
• Fate

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Light and Dark

• Look for references to light and dark
• References to light words, such as torches,
  the sun, adjectives that describe light
  (bright)
• References to dark words, such as night and
  gloom

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Time

• Look for references to time
• References to time words, such as hours
• References to the passage of time, especially if
  it seems rushed

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Fate

• Look for references to fate
• Look for instances where events are blamed on
  fate, destiny, or the stars

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Prologue

• What is a prologue?
• Why does the play have a prologue?
• What does the prologue tell the audience?
• What is the role of the chorus in the play?

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Sonnet

• The Prologue is a sonnet.
• Shakespearean Sonnet Derived from Petrachan
  sonnet.
• Constructed from Three (3) four line stanzas
  (quatrains) and a couplet composed in iambic
  pentameter.
• Follows rhyme scheme of abab cdcd efef gg

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Sonnet Continued

• Petrachan sonnet made by Italian Francesco
  Petrarca
• Usually refer to concept of unattainable love
• Petrarchan Sonnet first eight lines create an
  octave, with the rhyme scheme a b b a a b b a.
  The last six lines make up a sestet and may
  consist of following rhyme schemes 1) c d d c d
  d 2) c d e c d e 3) c d c d c d 4) c d d c e e

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Meaning of Two

• Focus on word Two
• Circle each time the word two appears in the
  prologue.
• What are the concepts of two that are
  reinforced?

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Two households
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Both alike in dignity
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In fair Verona, where we lay our scene
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From ancient grudge break to new mutiny
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Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
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From forth the fatal loins of these two foes,
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A pair of star-crossd lovers take their life.
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Overview

• What have we learned from the prologue?
• Why do you think the audience has been told the
  ending at the start of the play?

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Montagues
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Capulets
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Others
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The End