Understanding Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet – A Brief Overview

1. What do you know… AboutWilliam Shakespeare? About the playRomeo and Juliet?

2. William Shakespeare in 8 Minutes “William Shakespeare: Brief & Naughty” (youtube)

3. Romeo and Julietby William Shakespeare Shakespeare wrote: Comedies Tragedies Histories

4. The Tragedy of Romeo and Julietby William Shakespeare Written between 1594 and 1596. Based on a basic story known to many people of the time. Plays then are like movies or TV today.

5. The Tragedy of Romeo and Julietby William Shakespeare Several film versions. 1968: Zeffirelli. 1996: Luhrmann. Other variations including musicals and movies “inspired by.” At any given moment, it is in production in a theater (as a play) somewhere in the world.

6. The Tragedy of Romeo and Julietby William Shakespeare The Lurhmann (1996) version uses Shakespeare’s original language, but sets its scene in modern times. We will watch this version in its entirety when we finish reading the play.

7. The Tragedy of Romeo and Julietby William Shakespeare The Zeffirelli (1968) maintains both Shakespeare’s original language as well as an authentic setting. We will watch selected scenes as we read in order to understand the original play.

8. The Tragedy of Romeo and Julietby William Shakespeare An overview: The Setting The Plot The Characters

9. The Tragedy of Romeo and Julietby William Shakespeare The Setting: Verona, Italy (Shakespeare lived and worked in London, ENGLAND) Why ITALY?

10. The Tragedy of Romeo and Julietby William Shakespeare The Setting: Verona, Italy Set in the late 1400s to early 1500s, though the date is never really stated. The ENTIRE plot of the play takes place over less than a week of time!

11. The Tragedy of Romeo and Julietby William Shakespeare The Plot Basics: Two families (Capulet and Montague) have a long- standing feud. As fate has it, the Capulet daughter (Juliet) and the Montague son (Romeo) meet at a crazy party and fall immediately in love.

12. The Tragedy of Romeo and Julietby William Shakespeare Knowing they cannot be together, they secretly make plans to marry. Juliet, however, is already being married off to a guy named Paris. People start to kill each other, and Romeo ends up kicked out of Verona.

13. The Tragedy of Romeo and Julietby William Shakespeare With Romeo banished, the crazy kids still try to find a way to get together. Unfortunately, something goes terribly wrong, and the audience gets their tragedy...

14. The Tragedy of Romeo and Julietby William Shakespeare The CHARACTERS: Lord and Lady Capulet (parents of Juliet) • Anxious to get their daughter married off to a worthy gentleman (named Paris) • In a long-standing feud with the Montague Family • A distinct parenting style…

15. The Tragedy of Romeo and Julietby William Shakespeare The CHARACTERS: Juliet Capulet • Barely 13 years old • To be wed to Paris any day… • Has never been in love before

16. The Tragedy of Romeo and Julietby William Shakespeare The CHARACTERS: The Nurse • Has raised Juliet • Has a dirty sense of humor, if you read carefully… • Plays a crucial role in Juliet’s happiness

17. The Tragedy of Romeo and Julietby William Shakespeare The CHARACTERS: Tybalt Capulet • Juliet’s older cousin • A braggart and a hot-head • A “saucy prince” if there ever was one

18. The Tragedy of Romeo and Julietby William Shakespeare The CHARACTERS: Lord and Lady Montague • Parents of Romeo • Engaged in the feud with the Capulets • Not major players in the drama

19. The Tragedy of Romeo and Julietby William Shakespeare The CHARACTERS: Romeo Montague • A boy of 16 of 17, sometimes interpreted as old as late 20s or older • An emotional romantic • Falls easily in and out of love

20. The Tragedy of Romeo and Julietby William Shakespeare The CHARACTERS: Benvolio Montague • Romeo’s cousin • Level-headed and honest • Cares for Romeo like his own brother

21. The Tragedy of Romeo and Julietby William Shakespeare The CHARACTERS: Mercutio • Romeo’s best friend • His name is based on the word “mercury” or “mercurial” which means volatile or quick to change • An “actor’s favorite” • Watch out for hisjokes…

22. The Tragedy of Romeo and Julietby William Shakespeare The CHARACTERS: The Friar Lawrence (spelling varies) • The local religious leader • Is tired of the Feud • Plays a key role in the drama

23. The Tragedy of Romeo and Julietby William Shakespeare The CHARACTERS: Paris • The “suitor” who is to marry Juliet Prince Escalus • The Prince of Verona Apothecary • The local “pharmacist” or chemist

24. What is Tragedy? • In Shakespeare, tragedy tends to follow five stages (five acts): • Act I, Exposition (establishment of character and conflict) • Act II, Rising Action (complications develop, culminating with a “point of no return” at which point some tragedy is al but guaranteed) • Act III, Climax (different than in stories; tragic climax marks the beginning of the tragic collapse) • Act IV, Falling Action (the chain of tragic events befalls the protagonist, gaining momentum and deepening the tragedy) • Act V, Resolution (the fall to ruin is complete)

25. What is Drama? • Drama is meant to be seen and heard, not read. • We will be viewing, speaking, listening, and reading this text. • When you read (silently or aloud) you must realize that all action was communicated through dialogue, thus you must picture what is happening.

26. Drama Terms • Literary Allusion: an author refers to something that the audience probably knows—such as a reference to the Bible, a common fairytale, or pop culture. • Soliloquy: an unusually long speech where a character speaks private thoughts aloud. • Aside: words are spoken by a character in a play to the audience, or to another character, but are NOT supposed to be heard by others on stage… a “secret.”

27. Drama Terms • Pun: a joke that comes from a play on words. Ex: “The fertilizer business is a growing industry.” Ex: “You can tune a guitar, but you can’t tuna fish.” • Foil: a character who is used as a contrast to another character (Romeo & Mercutio) • Oxymoron: descriptions that pair together contradictory terms, like “sick health” or “cold fire.”

28. The Tragedy of Romeo and Julietby William Shakespeare The FORM: The whole play is written as a poem, in a form which is called “iambic pentameter.” • An iambis a pair of syllables where the first is unstressed and the second is stressed, like in the word confused (con FUSED). Think of your heartbeat! (da-DUM, da-DUM, da-DUM) • A foot is another word for each iamb. (con FUSED is one foot) • Meterthe organizes rhythm that is present in poetry. • Penta- means “5.”

29. Iambic Pentameter Example But soft! what light through yonder window breaks?

30. Inverted Syntax Grammar was often inverted, or flipped, in order to make the language fit the rhythm: He found the dagger in the dark closet. ...becomes… In closet dark did he the dagger find.

31. His Process: • I want to say: • Wait a second, what is that light coming through the window over there? • Add in some common slang of the times: • But soft! (wait a second!) • Yonder (over there)

32. His Process: • Add in some creative wording: • I don’t want to just say the light is “coming through the window…” • How about, it “breaks” through the window all of the sudden and grabs my attention??

33. The Tragedy of Romeo and Julietby William Shakespeare The end result… But soft! what light through yonder window breaks?

34. The Tragedy of Romeo and Julietby William Shakespeare Remember Shakespeare’s FORM of choice: Iambic pentameter: • A line of FIVE IAMBS in a row, meaning each line of poetry has 10 syllables; count all 10: But soft! what light through yonder window breaks?

35. The Tragedy of Romeo and Julietby William Shakespeare The FORM: Iambic pentameter= • Count the 5 iambs (stressed/unstressed syllables): But soft! what light through yonder window breaks?

36. The Tragedy of Romeo and Julietby William Shakespeare • Review video: “How to Identify Meter in Shakespearean Sonnets” (youtube) (6 minutes)

37. The Tragedy of Romeo and Julietby William Shakespeare • So now you know the basics of rhythm, but what about RHYME? • Rhyme Scheme is the name that we use to describe the pattern of rhymes in a poem, which we base on the last word in each line.

38. The Tragedy of Romeo and Julietby William Shakespeare • To figure out the rhyme scheme, you must know how to count stanzas. Stanzas are groups of lines in a poem. • Stanzas can be in groups of 2 or 4. • Groups of 2 are called couplets. • Groups of 4 are called quatrains.

39. The Tragedy of Romeo and Julietby William Shakespeare • To identify rhyme scheme, look only at the last word in each line of poetry. • The first line is always assigned the letter “A.” • Look down the lines and find any other word that rhymes—if it does, it gets a letter A, too. • When you’ve gone through the whole poem, begin with the second line and assign it the letter “B.” • Follow the same process until all lines have a letter.

40. The Tragedy of Romeo and Julietby William Shakespeare 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: Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, And often is his gold complexion dimm’d; And every fair from fair sometime declines, By chance, or nature’s changing course untrimm’d; But thy eternal summer shall not fade, Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st, Nor shall death brag thou wander’st in his shade, When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st; So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

41. The Tragedy of Romeo and Julietby William Shakespeare • Review video: “How to Identify Rhyme Scheme in Shakespearean Sonnets” (youtube) (7 minutes)

42. The Tragedy of Romeo and Julietby William Shakespeare The FORM: Sometimes the lines rhyme, but sometimes they don’t. When the lines rhyme, Shakespeare is trying to get the audience’s attention: • A major point has just been stated • A character is leaving the scene When the lines do not rhyme, the poetry is called BLANK VERSE.

43. The Language: Is really not all that different from modern 21st century language… but people think it is so they get intimidated and give up. Just like in today’s vernacular, there are patterns:

44. Hither, thither, whither Come hither! (hither = HERE) Go thither! (thither = THERE) To whither did she go? (whither = WHERE)

45. It’s what you do… Didst = DID Doth or doest = DO Hath = HAVE or HAD

46. Pronouns Thou (you, in the subject of the sentence) Thou art a fool! …you are a fool Thee (you, as an object) I love thee. …I love you Thine, thy (your) In thy soul; in thine eyes My heart is thine

47. Truncations and Contractions Truncations: words shortened “Ope your eyes” An apostrophe indicates a missing letter, either to match the rhythm of the line or to reflect speech patterns: O’er (over) Can’t (cannot)

48. Sentences go beyond the ends of lines. Too many readers see each line as a “sentence” or complete thought, and therefore are thrown off when the words they read do not make sense. In reality, these readers have not completed the thought, so they end up very confused and unable to understand.

49. Sentences go beyond the ends of lines. • Notice this passage from the first scene: I will show myself a tyrant: when Ihave fought with the men, I will be cruel with themaids, and cut off their heads. If you stopped your thought at “I” in the first line, it wouldn’t make sense. A thought is not complete until you reach a punctuation mark.

50. The Tragedy of Romeo and Julietby William Shakespeare Speaking in VERSE (poetry) • Follows iambic pentameter closely…minor variations • Sometimes words are switched around to maintain the “beat” • Words are sometimes contracted to get the right number of syllables • VERSE is used in most of the play, when major characters speak. Speaking in PROSE • Prose is unrhymed, with no rhythm, no meter • Minor or unimportant characters speak in prose • Bawdy (dirty) humor may appear in prose instead of verse/poetry