ShakespeareRomeo & Juliet

William Shakespeare

1564-1616

The Bard

Influence and Importance

William Shakespeare ranks as the most popular author in the English language.

In 2000 British citizens voted him the Man of the Millennium —the most important person since 1000 A.D.

Influence and Importance

Influence and Importance

His poems and plays are the most quoted pieces of writing other than the Bible

Shakespeare is credited with 37 of the world’s most heralded pieces of drama and literature, including:

Romeo and JulietJulius CaesarHamletOthelloKing LearMacbeth

Shakespeare’s Time1590’s

Queen Elizabeth I ruled

English explorers were crossing the ocean to the New World

And travelers coming to England LOVED watching plays...

The Globe Theatre

•Protestants condemned the plays

•Theatres were on the outskirts of London--away from the authorities

•People who attended the theatres included:

-merchants

-lawyers

-laborers

-visitors from other countries

-nobility & royalty

Costumes...•Richly decorated

•Didn’t always match up to the time period of the play

•Looking good was more important than being realistic!

Acting

The actors were all men; young boys (age 12-14) played the female parts

They were considered “shareholders” and owned stock or shares in the play texts, costumes, and props

Their pay depended on admission sales

Actors only had about 3 weeks to practice a new play

In one week, the troupes may perform 6 different plays (as many as 4,000 lines!)

•In Shakespeare’s time, you only had one copy of a play, and after you wrote it for the acting company, you no longer owned it!

•Scripts were thrown out when they were no longer wanted or needed.

•NO copies of Shakespeare’s plays in his own handwriting have survived.

The Plays

Companies may perform plays for years before they became printed.

Plays weren’t thought of as works of literature. They were “entertainment.”

The Plays

Plagiarism back then?Acting troupes didn’t want other acting troupes stealing and performing their plays.

It was common that people would go watch the play and write down the lines they remembered, then sell the “quartos” to other acting troupes.

Many think that much of Shakespeare’s own work was stolen from other playwrights.

Remember, back then there were no copyright laws!

It says, in short:…because the author is dead, we

are writing this for him...

The first full collection of Shakespeare’s work was published in 1623, seven years after his death.

It was called “First Folio”

It contained 36 plays.

Shakespeare’s Contributions

• Shakespeare had only an 8th grade education.

• There were no dictionaries.

• Shakespeare is credited by the Oxford English Dictionary with the introduction of nearly 3,000 words into the language.

• His vocabulary numbers upward of 17,000 words (quadruple that of an average, well-educated conversationalist in the language)

Why Study Shakespeare?

Chances are, you’ve quoted Shakespeare without even knowing it!

Have you ever said the following...

Phrases Coined by Shakespeare

As good luck would have it

Be-all and the end-all

Break the ice

Eaten me out of house and home

Elbow room

Fool's paradise

For goodness' sake

Full circle

Good riddance

It was Greek to me

Heart of gold

In a pickle

Kill with kindness

Lie low

Love is blind

Not slept one wink

"Good Friends, for Jesus' sake forbear, To dig the bones enclosed here! Blest be the man that spares these stones, And curst be he that moves my bones."

Shakespeare’s Epitaph…

Shakespeare’s plays continue to be produced even today. Over 250 film adaptations of his plays have been made.

Shakespeare’s Continuing Presence

Love of the Language

• In Shakespeare’s time, everyone loved the English language.

• There were no grammar rules, punctuation keys, OR spelling!

• The language was evolving and everyday new words were being made up.

• Shakespeare’s language reflects this freedom and experimentation.

Shakespeare’s English

Shakespeare did not write in Old English or Middle English.

Shakespeare wrote in Early Modern English.

Early Modern English is only one generation of language from the English you speak today!

Shakespeare’s Language in Plays

The language used by Shakespeare in his plays is in one of three forms• Prose• Rhymed Verse• Blank Verse

Prose

• Prose is writing which resembles everyday speech

• Prose is often used by Shakespeare for lower-class characters in his plays

• Prose lacks meter and rhyme and is informal

• Shakespeare blends prose with poetry in his plays

Rhymed Verse

• The majority of Shakespeare’s plays contain rhymed verse which looks like poetry

• Characters– especially of the higher classes--speak in poetic form

• Their words have form, meter, and rhyme

• Rhymed verse in Shakespeare's plays is usually in rhymed couplets, i.e. two successive lines of verse of which the final words rhyme with another.

Iambic Pentameter

Iambic pentameter is meter that Shakespeare nearly always when writing in verse. Most of his plays were written in iambic pentameter.

Iambic Pentameter has:

Ten syllables in each line

Five pairs of alternating unstressed and stressed syllables

The rhythm in each line sounds like: ba-BUM / ba-BUM / ba-BUM / ba-BUM / ba-BUM

Iambic Pentameter Example

Examples of Iambic Pentameter:

If mu- / -sic be / the food / of love, / play on

Is this / a dag- / -ger I / see be- / fore me?

Each pair of syllables is called an iamb. You’ll notice that each iamb is made up of one unstressed and one stressed beat (ba-BUM).

When Shakespeare set

his words to iambic pentameter it is compared to

the birth of

rock-n-roll:

a mixing of old styles and new

sounds.

Blank Verse

• Blank verse refers to unrhymed iambic pentameter.

• Resembles prose in that the final words of the lines do not rhyme in any regular pattern

• There is meter: a recognizable rhythm in a line of verse consisting of a pattern of regularly recurring stressed and unstressed syllables. 

• Most lines are in iambic pentameter.

Blank Verse Example

ROMEO: But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks?

It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.

 Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,

Who is already sick and pale with grief,

 That thou, her maid, art far more fair than she.

 Be not her maid, since she is envious;

Her vestal livery is but sick and green

And none but fools do wear it; cast it off. from Romeo and Juliet

Prose, Rhymed Verse or Blank Verse?

Abraham: Do you bite your thumb at us, sir?

Sampson: No, sir, I do not bite my thumb at you, sir, but I bite my thumb, sir.

Gregory: Do you quarrel, sir?

Abraham: Quarrel, sir? No, sir.

Romeo & Romeo & JulietJuliet

What’s it all What’s it all about?about?

The story is, of course, about a pair of star-crossed lovers. Two teenagers pursue their love for each other despite the fact that their families have been at odds with each other for decades. The story combines sword fighting, disguise, misunderstanding, tragedy, humour, and some of the most romantic language found in literature all in the name of true love.

Montagues

Capulets

The The ProloguePrologue

• The Chorus is a person or group of people who act as a narrator, commentator, or general audience to the action of the play

• Meaning ‘before speech’

• Introduced the story line and asked them to try and understand even if it didn’t all make perfect sense - just what I’m asking you to do

The PrologueThe Prologue•

• Written like a poem, specifically a sonnet

• Shakespeare wrote 154 sonnets and added sonnets into his plays, like the Prologue of The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet.

• A popular form of poetry in Shakespeare's time

• Usually written about love

• “Sonnet” comes from the Latin “sonnetto” meaning “little song”

• Sonnet Characteristics:

• 14 lines

• Rhyme scheme of ABABCDCDEFEFGG

• Ends in a couplet (two rhyming lines)

The PrologueThe PrologueSonnet Characteristics Continued:

10 syllables per line

An unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable

This is called iambic pentameter.

When written, the “U” symbol means unstressed, and the “ / ” indicates a stressed syllable.

Ex. 1: U / U

Chris / to / pher

Ex. 2:

U / U / U / U / U /

Let me not to the mar riage of true minds

1 Two households, both alike in dignity

2 (In fair Verona, where we lay our scene),

3 From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,

4 Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.

5 From forth the fatal loins of these two foes

6 A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life;

7 Whose misadventured piteous overthrows

8 Doth with their death bury their parents’ strife.

9 The fearful passage of their death-marked love

10 And the continuance of their parents’ rage,

11 Which, but their children’s end, naught could remove,

12 Is now the two hours’ traffic of our stage;

13 The which, if you with patient ears attend,

14 What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.

The Main Themes in R&J

Love

– common 16th century belief that if you didn’t fall in love at first sight then you

weren’t really in love.

Hate – the two families hate each other and are constantly fighting, causing many deaths. No one really knows why they are fighting as they fell out so long ago. Are they right to continue to hate even though they don’t know why?

Literary Terms in R&J

• Tragic hero is the protagonist, or central character

Romeo

• Antagonist is the force working against the protagonist

Can be another character, a group of characters, or something nonhuman, such as fate or society

• Foil is a character whose personality and attitude contrast sharply with those of another character

Highlights both characters’ traits

Soliloquy & Aside• Soliloquy is a speech given by a

character alone on stageLets the audience know what a

character is thinking or feeling

• Aside is a character’s remark, either to the audience or to another character, that others on stage do not hear

Reveals the character’s private thoughts

Dramatic Irony

Occurs when the audience knows more than the characters – for example, the audience is aware of Romeo and Juliet’s tragic demise long before the characters themselves face itHelps build suspense

Comic Relief & Pun

• Comic relief is a humorous scene or speech intended to lighten the mood

• Pun is a play on words, especially those that sound alike, but have different meanings

Ex: “Ask for me tomorrow and you will find me a grave man.”