Romeo and JulietIntro, Prologue and Act I

Identifying the difference between the speech of nobles versus lower class characters

Language is used to reflect differences in social standing and education.

Shakespeare’s upper class educated characters such as royalty, speak in verse while people of lower social status or limited education such as servants and comics speak in prose.

Sometimes, however, upper class characters speak in prose if their conversation is all comical (Romeo, Mercutio, and Benvolio in Act 2, scene 4) and some characters speak in verse such as when the Nurse speaks to Lady Capulet who is an upper class character.

What’s the difference between verse and prose?

Verse• Poetic language with

varying line lengths • Some verse will have a

rhyme scheme (end rhyme)

• Written in blank verse (unrhymed iambic pentameter)

• Not full sentences

Prose

• Regular everyday language

• Written in full sentences with no rhyme scheme or rhythm

• Written in paragraph form (like writing in short stories)

What is blank verse and iambic pentameter?

• Lines written in blank verse are written using a “five beat” rhythm (metre) called iambic pentameter

• Each line has five iambs (feet), each with one unstressed (x) and one stressed syllable (/)

• This rhythm was meant to mimic the beating of the human heart (da dum, da dum…)

• For example: x / x / x / x / x /

But soft, what light through yonder window breaks?

The Characters

Prince Escalus (Prince of Verona)

Lady Capulet + Capulet parents Lady Montague + Montague

| |

Nurse - Juliet - Paris (suitor) Romeo – Friar Lawrence

(mother figure)| | (father figure)

Tybalt (Juliet’s cousin) Mercutio & Benvolio (Romeo’s cousin and friend)

(friend)

Sampson and Gregory Balthasar (Romeo’s servant)

(servants of the Capulets)

Time flies when weddings are planned in haste…

• The plot of this play takes place over the course of five days: Sunday to Thursday of the same week

• The events happen quickly and there is really no time to stop the unraveling of the plot that leads to the tragic ending of this play

Summary of Act I, scene i

• Play begins with conflict between Capulet servants Sampson and Gregory and Montague servants Abraham and Balthasar. As Gregory says, they are part of the Capulet-Montague feud

• However, the Capulet servants try provoking the Montagues to attack first so the Capulets will be blamed for starting the fight

• Benvolio (good natured man) tries breaking up the fight, but when Tybalt arrives, he doesn’t believe that Benvolio has good intentions since he has his sword drawn. Tybalt tells Benovlio that he hates all Montagues. They fight.

• Citizens begin to get involved. Lady Capulet and Capulet arrive, the latter wanting his sword so he can get involved in what has become a riot.

Summary of Act I, scene i continued

• Montague approaches and Capulet moves toward him, but Prince Escalus arrives and puts the disturbance and bad behaviour in public to a stop

• The Prince orders them to stop and says “If ever you disturb our streets again,/Your lives shall pay the forfeit of peace” (lines 94-95).

• Benvolio tells the Montagues that he was trying to stop the fight.

• The Montagues tell Benvolio they are concerned about Romeo’s depressed behaviour, and Benvolio vows to find out what’s wrong

Summary of Act I, scene I

• Romeo tells Benvolio that he is heartbroken since he is in love with Rosaline but she does not return his love

• The way that Romeo talks about his love shows his love for Rosaline is superficial (not deep, meaningful romantic love)

• Benvolio’s advice is for Romeo to forget about Rosaline, and that he will make sure that Romeo does or he’ll die trying: “I’ll pay that doctrine, or else die in debt” (236).

Oxymorons!

An oxymoron is a literary device that places two or three contradictory words side by side

Working in pairs, identify examples of oxymoron that Romeo uses in his passionate and pained speech to Benvolio about how he feels (see lines 168-180 on p. 11/49).

Oxymoron Examples!

• Examples from the text: • “brawling love…loving hate” (line 174)

• “heavy lightness, serious vanity” (line 176)

• “Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick health,/Still waking sleep” (178)

Go over answers to Act I, scene i questions from handout

Summary of Act I, scene ii

• Paris, a nobleman, inquires about marrying Juliet to her father, Capulet

• Capulet is reluctant at first, and suggests that Paris wait two more years since Juliet is only thirteen years old

• He agrees that if Paris can win Juliet on his own at his party that evening, he will allow Paris to marry her

• Romeo and Benvolio are asked by an illiterate servant of the Capulets if they can help him read the guest list given to him by Capulet.

• This is how R + B learn that the Capulets are having a feast/masquerade party, which they decide to crash with Mercutio

Summary of Act I, scene ii, continued

• Romeo wants to attend because Rosaline is on the list, while Benvolio hopes that attending this party and seeing other beautiful women will make him forget all about Rosaline

An example of prose: The Capulet Servant’s lines

• “Find them out whose names are written / here? It is written that the shoemaker should meddle / with his yard and the tailor with his last, the fisher / with his pencil and the painter with his nets…” (lines 38-44).

Go over answers to Act I, scene ii questions from handout

Summary of Act I, Scene iii

• Lady Capulet discusses marriage with her daughter, Juliet, and tells her that Paris is interested in her, and asks her to see if she’s interested in him, as he’s attending the banquet

• What is significant about this scene is how Juliet’s character is established. What kind of person is she? Is she respectful to her parents?

• Read the following quotes and respond: Lady Capulet: “What say you? Can you love the gentleman

[Paris]?” (line 79).

Juliet: “I’ll look to like, if looking liking move; / But no more deep will I endart mine eye / Than your consent gives strength to make it fly” (lines 97-99).

Act I, scene iv

• Benvolio, Mercutio, and Romeo are headed to the masquerade party at the Capulets

• Romeo: They discuss love and its weight: “Is love a tender thing? It is too rough, Too rude, too boistr’ous and it pricks like thorn” (24-26)

• Playing with words: Puns play on the fact that many words have more than one meaning

• Romeo “Give me a torch. I am not for this ambling [dancing]. Being but heavy, I will bear the

light” (11-12).

Act I, scene iv

• Mercutio’s advice: “If love be rough with you, be rough with love” (27).

• See excerpt about Romeo and Mercutio’s discussion of dreams

Act I, scene v

• In small reading groups, read scene v out loud

• When finished discuss what is happening in this scene with your group

• Answer questions

Act I Scavenger Hunt!

• But first, two definitions:

1. Extended Metaphor: A metaphor (comparison) that continues throughout a poem or a longer section of a literary work

2. Contrast: Putting together different or opposing images, ideas, or both to heighten or clarify a scene, theme, or episode.