Romeo and Juliet

By William Shakespeare

Shakespeare

• Baptized April 26, 1564• Lived in Stratford-upon-Avon

– Living in the popular port town introduced him to gigantic world around him.

• Began as an actor, then started writing• Built Globe Theater with business partners

in 1605

The inside of the modern Globe Theatre

Shakespeare

• Died April 15, 1616• To this day, questions arise

about actual authorship of Shakespeare’s Works.

SummaryRomeo and Juliet is a story about two teenagers who fall in love but are forbidden to see each other by their parents. They meet one night at a party (Romeo is actually there to check out another girl, Rosaline) and quickly fall in love. Unfortunately, Juliet’s parents already have a husband picked out for her. So, the two decide to get married and enlist the help of Juliet’s nurse to act as a messenger between the two and Friar Laurence who agrees to marry them. However, plans go awry after Romeo is banished from Verona and doesn’t get filled in on the plans that Juliet has for them to live happily ever after…

SettingThe story is set in the late 1500’s 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.

Timeline

Wednesday – Act OneThursday – Act TwoFriday - Act ThreeMonday – Act FourTuesday – Act Five

The Feud

Romeo’s family, the Montagues, have a long standing feud with Juliet’s family, the Capulets. While the audience never learns about the source of the ancient quarrel, we do learn that it has recently grown stronger.

Comedy and Tragedy

Elements of a tragedy

• Must have a tragic hero/heroine

• Ends in the death of many of the main

characters

Romeo and Juliet begins as a comedy but ends as a tragedy

Elements of a comedy

The shift from comedy to tragedy is what sets Romeo and Juliet apart from the rest of Shakespeare’s plays

• A struggle of young lovers to

overcome difficulty that is often presented

by elders • Separation and

unification • Heightened tensions, often within a family

Themes

• Love– How does love show itself not only in our love for significant others, but friends and family as

well?

• Hate– How does Hate intrude on the outcome

of our lives? What do we do out of hate that we would otherwise never do?

Themes Cont.

• Fate– How much control do we haveover the course of our lives? Canwe fight our destiny?

• Youth against Elders– Does time always make us wiser or does

it set us in our ways? Do we need the vision of the young to open our eyes?

Writing StyleParts of Romeo and Juliet are written as a

sonnet, a poem of 14 lines written and rhymed in iambic pentameter. Each sonnet ends with a couplet. In a Shakespearean sonnet the rhyme

scheme is ABAB CDCD EFEF GGA couplet is two consecutive lines that rhyme.

Iambic pentameter refers to the rhythm of each line. It is an unstressed syllable followed

by a stressed one. “Bŭt sóft! Whăt líght throŭgh yóndĕr wíndŏw

bréaks?”

Iambic Pentameter

Two households, both alike in dignity…becomes

x / x / x / x / x /Two house | holds, both | a-like | in dig | ni ty

Iambic Pentameter

Diana dyes her hair. I’m sure she does.Becomes

x / x / x / x / x /

Di-an | a dyes | her hair | I’m sure | she does.

Plagiarism!?Shakespeare did not invent the story of Romeo and Juliet. A poet named Arthur Brooks wrote the story of Romeus and Juliet as a long poem that was itself not original, but rather an adaptation of adaptations that stretched across nearly a hundred years and two languages. Many of the details of Shakespeare’s plot are taken directly from Brooks’ poem, including the meeting of Romeo and Juliet at the ball, their secret marriage, Romeo’s fight with Tybalt, the sleeping potion, and the timing of their suicides.

Interesting…

“Star-crossed lovers” refers to two people who are in love but have conflicting astrological signs. In Shakespeare’s times, people believed the course of their lives was determined by the exact second they were born.

The Italian city of Verona, where Romeo and Juliet lived, receives about 1,000 letters addressed to Juliet every Valentine's Day.

Verona TodayToday, Verona has an incredible amount of graffiti, which is legal, provided that you are writing about your love for someone.