WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

Romeo & Juliet

CHILDHOOD

Parents: John Shakespeare and Mary Arden

Birthday: April 23, 1564

Born and raised in Stratford upon Avon

YOUNG ADULTHOOD

Married Anne Hathaway in 1582

Children:• Suzanna• Judith• Hamnet

IN THE BEGINNING

Shakespeare started as an actor for the Lord Chamberlain’s Men (London Theatre)

He was the principal playwright for them

1599 LCM built Globe Theatre where most of his plays were performed

SHAKESPEARE WROTE:

Comedies

Histories

Tragedies• Wrote 37 plays• About 154 sonnets• But started as an actor

THE GLOBE

THE THEATRE

Plays produced for the general public

Roofless or open air

No artificial lighting, meaning all plays were performed during the day

There was a courtyard surrounded by 3 levels of galleries

The actors were only men and boys• Young boys whose voices had not yet changed would

play women’s roles.

SPECTATORS

Wealthy got benches

Groundlings were poorer people that stood and watched from the courtyard (“pit”)

All but the wealthy were uneducated/illiterate

STAGING AREAS

Stage was a platform that extended into the pitDressing & Storage rooms in galleries behind and above the stageTrap door: in bottom of stage, where “ghosts” entered and exited“Heavens” where angelic beings entered and exitedNo scenerySetting was referenced in dialogElaborate costumesPlenty of props2 hours

GLOBE CONTINUED

The theatre was often closed by Queen Elizabeth I due to disease that was spreading through London.

1613: A cannon shot during a showing of Henry VIII consumed the theatre in flames

1614: Theatre was reopened

1643: Theatre was closed by Puritans who thought that theater was unholy

1644: Theatre was lit aflame and completely destroyed by those Puritans

The Flag:• Black=Trage

dy• Red=History• White=Come

dy

Blank Verse• Unrhymed verse• Iambic (unstressed

and stressed)• Pentameter (5 “feet”

to a line)• 10 syllables

WRITING

Prose• Ordinary writing

that is not poetry, drama, or song• Only characters in

the lower social classes speak this way in Shakespeare’s plays

• This was to show how the lower social class in uneducated

Written about 1595

Considered a tragedy

West Side Story (movie and musical) based on R&J

ROMEO AND JULIET

Drama where the central character/s suffer disaster or great misfortune

In many tragedies, downfall results from

• Fate• Character Flaw/fatal flaw• Combination of two

Tragic Hero: the main character of a tragedy

TRAGEDY (SHAKESPEAREAN)

Dynamic Character: character that changes somehow during the course of the plot. They generally change for the better.

Static Character: Character within a story who remains the same. They do not change. They do not change their minds, opinions, or character throughout the play.

NEED TO KNOW VOCAB

Round Character: character who has many personality traits, like real people.

Flat Characters: one-dimensional, embodying only a single trait

• Shakespeare often uses them to provide comic relief even in a tragedy

Character Foil: a character whose purpose is to show off another character

• Benvolio for TybaltProtagonist: the main character in the story to which the theme in centered, “good guy”Antagonist: the force working against the protagonist, “bad guy”

Monologue: One person speaking on stage; however, there may be other characters on stage too

Soliloquy: Long speech expressing the thoughts of a character while alone on stage

LITERARY DEVICESDitrect Address: words that tell the reader who is being spoken to

• “A right fair mark, fair coz, is soonest hit.”

Comic Relief: Use of comedy within literature that is NOT a comedy to provide “relief” from seriousness or sadnessAside: Words spoken, usually in an undertone not intended to be heard by all characters

WORD PLAY: ANY CLEVER USE OF THE DOUBLE MEANINGS OR

MATCHING SOUNDS OF WORDS

Pun: Humorous use of a word with two meanings sometimes missed by the reader because of Elizabethan language and sexual innuendo

Shakespeare LOVED puns!!

Allusion: a reference within a work to something that the audience is expected to know

DRAMATIC IRONY

When the audience knows something that the characters do not.

Died April 23rd, 1616

52 years old

Cause of death is unknown

HIS DEATH