The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet

The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet By William Shakespeare Compiled by Heather Chaffee

The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet • William Shakespeare borrowed the plot from Arthur Brooke's long poem The Tragicall Historye of Romeus and Juliet (1562) and wrote the play in the 1590s. (Originality wasn’t important in the Elizabethan times.)

Outstanding Features of Shakespeare’s Language • *powerful imagery • *varied & coined vocabulary • * lyricism • *allusions • *clever play on words

Powerful Imagery His powerful imagery allowed the audience to visualize his scenes without props or concrete backdrops.

Varied & Coined Vocabulary Shakespeare invented many words and hundreds of phrases that we still use today! alligator puke eyeball baggage wild goose chase love is blind go like lightning gentle as a lamb addiction cold-blooded blanket birthplace gossip tortured

Lyricism Style in poetry or music Emotional and enthusiastic expression of feelings or opinions

Allusions An indirect reference to someone or something (usually a reference to a well-known work of art, music, literature, or history) • “At lovers’ perjuries, they say Jove laughs” (2.2). • Jove is another name for Jupiter, the Roman King of the Gods.

Clever Play on Words • puns • oxymorons • innuendos • assonance • metaphor • alliteration • ambiguity • personification • paradoxes . …and Shakespeare used any other tactics to engage and entertain his audiences!

Puns A humorous play on words. Mercutio – “Nay, gentle Romeo, we must have you dance.” Romeo – “Not I, believe me. You have dancing shoes / With nimble soles; I have a soul of lead…” (1.4).

Oxymorons An oxymoron describes when two juxtaposed words have opposing or very diverse meanings. Juliet – “Beautiful tyrant! fiend angelical!” (3.2).

Innuendos An indirect remark or gesture that usually carries a suggestion of impropriety (something that’s inappropriate). Juliet’s nurse repeats a story about her when she was young and fell down. The nurse’s husband said, "Yea ... dost thou fall upon thy face? / Thou wilt fall backward when thou hast more wit, / Wilt thou not, Jule?" Juliet, not understanding the sexual innuendo, had said, "Ay" (1.3.41-44).

Assonance Repetition of vowel sounds in non-rhyming, neighboring words. (especially in words that are close together in a poem) "Is crimson in thy lips and in thy cheeks?" (5.3).

Metaphor A metaphor is a direct comparison between two unlike things. It’s when Shakespeare says one thing is another. Romeo – “But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks? / It is the east, and Juliet is the sun” (2.2).

Alliteration Repetition of the same initial consonant sound throughout a line of verse "When to the sessions of sweet silent thought...." (Sonnet XXX).

Ambiguity A statement that has more than one meaning. Shakespeare usually used them with a comic effect. For instance, one of the characters in Romeo and Juliet says as he is dying, "Ask for me tomorrow and you shall find me a grave man." “Grave” can either mean a “burial place” or “serious.” (Another example of this simple use of ambiguity is the double entendre, which usually adds spice with a second meaning that is sexual or risque.)

Personification Personification occurs when an inanimate object or concept is given the qualities of a person or animal. Juliet— “For thou wilt lie upon the wings of night / Whiter than new snow on a raven’s back. / Come, gentle night, come, loving, black-brow’d night” (2.2).

Paradoxes A paradox is a statement or situation with seemingly contradictory or incompatible components. Juliet – “O serpent heart, hid with a flowering face!” (3.2).

Now let’s start Reading!!!

The Prologue Translate the lines of the Prologue into modern language.

Two households, both alike in dignity

Two families, similar in wealth and respect

In fair Verona where we lay our scene

In beautiful Verona (Italy) where our story takes place,

From ancient grudge break to new mutiny…

From an old family feud, new violence erupts

Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean. (Civil means polite, but cold and formal.)

Which will make good citizens evil because they will kill other citizens.

From forth the fatal loins of these two foes, (loin - hips and the front of the body below the waist, considered as the part of the body that should be covered and as the site of the sexual organs)

From these two enemy families,

A pair of star-cross’d lovers take their life.

Two children who were destined to become lovers commit suicide. (NEVER the answer!)

Whose misadventured, piteous overthrows Do with their death bury their parents’ strife. (strife – bitter & violent conflict)

Only the unfortunate and sad death of these lovers will end their parents’ hateful feud.

The fearful passage of their death marked love, And the continuance of their parents’ rage,

The tragedy of their fatal love and the continuing of their parents’ hatred,

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

That only their children’s death could end.

Is now the two hours traffic of our stage

Is now the story you will see on this stage for the next two hours.

The which if you with patient ears attend What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend. (toil = hard work)

And if you will patiently focus your attention and listen up, we will now fill you in on the rest of the story.

The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet