# 3 I N T R O D U C T I O N T O R O M E O A N D

J U L I ET1 . TA K E C O R N E L L N O T E S

2 . C O P Y D O W N A L L B O L D E D W O R D S

3 . W R I T E A S U M M A RY W H E N YO U A R E F I N I S H E D

E X . S O M E T H I N G T H AT I S B E C O M I N G C L E A R T O M E A B O U T S H A K E S P E A R E A N D R O M E O A N D J U L I E T I S . .

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

THE EARLY YEARS

• Born in April 1564in Stratford on Avon

• Seven brothers and sisters

• His father - a fairly rich merchant

STRATFORD ON AVON

SHAKESPEARE‘S SCHOOLING

• Grammar School from age 7 to 13

SHAKESPEARE’S FAMILY

• Married Anne

Hathaway in 1582

• Anne was 26, he was 18

• 3 children

• The youngest,

Hamnet (only son) died

at the age of 11

SHAKESPEARE IN LONDON

• went to London at 21

• joined a travelling company of actors called Lord Chamberlain‘s Men

• worked both as an actor and a writer

THE GLOBE

• Open-air octagonal amphitheater that could seat up to 3000

• No artificial lighting so plays were shown during daylight hours only

THE END OF HIS LIFE• Returned to Stratford in 1610

• The Globe was destroyed in the 1613 Great Fire of London

• In 1616 Shakespeare died on April 23rd (His birthday ) after a night of

drinking with his friends

SHAKESPEARE’S TIME PERIOD: ELIZABETHAN ERA

Early Modern period or the English Renaissance

(rebirth)

Queen Elizabeth I was an anomaly (strange, out of

place) of the time period. She was strong, intelligent, and a

well-respected ruler.

Women during this time had little or no power and

were seen as less than men, so her power was not typical

By refusing to marry throughout her 45 year reign as

queen, she retained her own power

Women, once married, had practically no rights

SHAKESPEARE’S TIME PERIOD: THE GLOBE• Wealthier people would pay more to sit

in the balcony. Others had to pay more to sit

on benches even.

• The working class stood in front of the

stage (groundlings).

• Brought together social elite and

common drunks

• Only men could act (Juliet was performed

by a boy!).

SHAKESPEARE’S TIME PERIOD: LOVE

• During this time, young women (like Juliet) were controlled specifically by

their fathers. They were expected to marry within their own class. This play is a

reflection of the time in which it was written.

• The women’s say so in whom they wanted to marry was only a mention. Juliet’s father

says “My will to her consent is but a part” [I.ii.15].

• Many marriages were arranged and there was nothing that could be done about

it.

• Love in marriage was not common, or it did not matter. Marriages were

arranged in order to promote status and wealth within families, like the

Capulets.

WHO WAS SHAKESPEARE?• Bard of Avon = poet of Avon

• 37 plays are attributed to him, but there is great controversy over the authorship. 154 Sonnets.

• Some claim many authors wrote under one name.

• In Elizabethan England, one could spell their name any way they wished, including changing it from day to day, which led to much confusion.

• Shakespeare’s name has been spelled in over 80 different ways including Shagspeare, Shaxpere, and Shakestaffe.

TYPES OF PLAYS

• Shakespeare wrote:

– Comedies: light and amusing; usually with a happy ending and

people married

• Midsummer Night’s Dream

– Histories: involve events or persons from history

• King Henry VIII

– Tragedies: serious dramas with disastrous endings

• Romeo and Juliet

THE PLAY

• A PLAY is not a BOOK. A play shows while a book tells.

• To help you understand try and picture the actions in your mind.

• Stage Direction: tell the actors when they should be on stage and what they should

do on stage

– Directions are usually in italics or brackets

• Ex. [They Fight]

– Stage directions are not read out loud

THE PLAY

Shakespeare Plays are divided into 5 acts (like chapters in a book)

Acts: short performances that are part of a longer story

Acts are broken down into scenes

Scenes: help break down the story into even smaller pieces

Ex. Act 1 Scene 2 or Act I Scene ii

ACT I

Exposition

ACT III

Turning Point

ACT IV

Falling Action

ACT VClimax & Resolution

ACT II

Rising Action

Shakespeare’s plays can usually be divided into five parts,

and follow the same pattern that looks something like this:

(Copy down this graph)

THE PLAY

ELIZABETHAN ENGLISHIn order to better understand Shakespeare’s plays, it is

good to understand some of the terminology Shakespeare

uses in the writing of his plays. The language is called

Elizabethan English, named after Queen Elizabeth the I.

ere ~ the old English word for before

hence ~ the old English word for here

swear’st ~ the old English word for swear

thee, thy, thou ~ are old English words for you

thine ~ the old English word for your

wert ~ the old English word for were

wherefore ~ the old English word for why

SHAKESPEARE REFERENCES

• Shakespeare is known to have invented

dozens of words and phrases, such as:

– Laugh it off

– Hint

– Lonely

– Excellent

– Fair play

– Catch cold

INSPIRATION FOR R+J

• Shakespeare’s play is based off a 1562 poem called The Tragicale Historie of Romeus & Juliet by Arthur Brooke.

• It has French, Italian, and Greek origins based on a Greek story called “Pyramus and Thisbe”

• Shakespeare wrote R+J ~age 30

SHAKESPEARE’S R+J

• Shakespeare made the story his own by changing the time frame from 9 months to 5 days. This was designed to emphasize the passing of time & add intensity to the story

• He also decreased Juliet’s age from 16 to 13, to highlight her youth and immaturity

• Finally, he set the play in July, rather than in winter as it was originally written

• Focused the language on puns (plays on words)

– In puns, words have more than one meaning. This focuses the audience’s attention on surface meanings & deeper meanings

DRAMATIC IRONY• Shakespeare uses dramatic irony: the audience or reader knows something

important that a character in a play or story does not know

• Creates tension.

• At times Shakespeare “layers” the dramatic irony, making it harder and harder for Romeo and Juliet to escape their untimely deaths.

• Some of the most poignant moments in the play come from the knowledge that we cannot share with the characters.

LANGUAGE IN R+J• Soliloquy-an unusually long speech in which a character who is on stage alone

expresses his or her thoughts aloud

• Aside-words that are spoken by a character in a play to the audience or to another

character but that are not supposed to be overheard by the others onstage

• Monologue – like a soliloquy, is a lengthy speech. However, a monologue is addressed

to other characters on stage, not to the audience.

LANGUAGE IN R+J• Allusion -references to well-known people, places, or even from myths or literature.

– Shakespeare’s characters often allude to figures in myths or popular stories to add meaning to their

speeches.

• Pun-a play on the multiple meanings of a word, or on two words that sound alike but have

different meanings

– Mercutio is one of the most witting and intelligent characters

LANGUAGE IN R+J• Comic relief - a short comic scene that releases some of the built-up tension of the play -

giving the audience a momentary “relief” before the tension mounts higher.

– Mercutio and his puns

– The nurse’s low-end humor (sexual punning); Being a servant she has no social etiquette

• Example: “I would say thou hads’t suck’d wisdom from thy teat” [I.iii.76]

• In the best tragedies, comic relief also provides an ironic counterpoint to the tragic action.

The Story of

Romeo & Juliet

has been retold

throughout the

centuries

SUMMARY

• Something that is becoming clear to me about Shakespeare and

Romeo and Juliet is…

– 2 sentences