Before We Read

What do you already know about Romeo and Juliet?

Tragedy Characteristics of a Shakespearean Tragedy

Deals with mainly one person, the

tragic hero Story is about suffering

leading to the death of the

hero. Person of great importance, affecting a

whole nation or empire

Tragedy: other usual elements

Hero experiences a sudden reversal of fortune.

Fate of hero is triggered by a tragic flaw.

Much of plot seems to happen by “chance”

Feels as though something was wasted in the story

Sad ending, but there is something good at the end.

As you read Romeo & Juliet you will be reading both poetry and

prose

The common people—and sometimes Mercutio, when he is joking—speak in prose.

Most of the other characters speak in poetry.

What is prose?language that

is not poetry: writing or speech in its normal continuous form, without the rhythmic or visual line structure of poetry

“As soon as we had finished eating, Doodle and I hurried off to Horsehead Landing. Time was short, and Doodle still had a long way to go.”

What is poetry?

literary work written in metrical form, a rhythmical composition, verse

“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?

Thou art more lovely and more temperate.

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May

And summer’s lease hath all too short a date.”

iambic pentameter• Iambic is a two syllable

unit following an unstressed/stressed pattern

• Pentameter means each line has 5 units/feet of iambic rhythm

iambic pentameter•For example:

I know the way to go is over there.

•How many syllables are in this sentence?

•What does iambic mean again?

u

• So how many units or feet are there in this sentence?

Iknow theway togo iso verthere. *

syllable2

syllable1

UNIT

iambic pentameterShall I compare thee to a summer’s day?

Thou art more lovely and more

temperate.

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of

May

And summer’s lease hath all too short a

date.

quickwrite:

• What is your idea of your perfect boyfriend/girlfriend?

• What is your parents’ idea of your perfect boyfriend/girlfriend?

• How are they similar? Different?

• You may bullet point or draw a Venn Diagram.

The Prologue

• Introduces the play:

•Characters

•Setting

•Ending

First Quatrain: Two families who are both respected have an old grudge against each other. The feud is violent and citizens of Verona are killing each other.

Second Quatrain:

The families’ children fall in love and kill themselves. Their deaths are what end the feud between the two families.

Third Quatrain:For the next two hours we will watch how they fall in love and their families feud (which only their deaths could end).

Final Couplet

Listen carefully and the actors will show you the whole story.

What is the tone of the prologue?

•The tone is dark and ominous or gloomy.

•“Civil blood” “death” “rage” “star-cross’d” “foes” “unclean” “ancient grudge”

Pun

• Joke made by playing with the meanings of words.

• Can be words that are spelled the same but have different meaning like “battery”

• Can be words that sound the same but are spelled differently like “no” and “know”

Pun example

• I used to be a doctor, but then I lost patients

• This duck walks into a bar and orders a beer. "Four bucks," says the bartender. "Put it on my bill."

• Two peanuts walk into a bar. One was a salted.

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