Romeo and Juliet

1. William Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet Introduction and Background

2. William Shakespeare • Shakespeare was born in 1564 and died in 1616. • He grew up in a town called Stratf0rd-on-Avon and later moved to London to become an actor and playwright.

3. The Plays • Shakespeare’s plays include comedies, histories—and tragedies such as Romeo and Juliet. • Some of his other famous plays include Julius Caesar, Hamlet, Macbeth, Othello, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. • In addition, Shakespeare wrote love poems called sonnets.

4. Some scholars have suggested Shakespeare, who had little formal education, could not have written such powerful and creative plays. However, nobody in Shakespeare’s day thought to question his authorship. Apparently, he was just a genius! Will the real Shakespeare please stand up?

5. Elizabethan Theater • Shakespeare’s time period was during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. Literature was used and taught very often in London because they thought it was important for them to write. They began to value writing and theater. • Elizabethan theaters were makeshift, dirty, and loud, but nevertheless they attracted audiences as large as 3,000 from all social classes.

6. Elizabethan Theater • Since Ancient Greece, theater had gained popularity and now was a common event and form of entertainment. • Theater was still extremely political. It addressed “hot” topics that the country was facing. • Being an actor was not a highly regarded profession; actors were looked down upon in society. Actors were looked down upon by the church because they used profanity, heresy, or politics.

7. The Globe Shakespeare’s plays were performed in a theater called the Globe—sometimes called “The Wooden ‘O’” because of its circular shape.

8. The reconstructed stage of the Globe • Theaters had no lighting, so performances took place during the day. • There were few special effects or props; Shakespeare used detailed verbal description to paint a picture of his scenes.

9. The time period in which Shakespeare lived—Elizabethan England, named for the queen—influenced the content of his plays as well as the way in which they were performed. Elizabethans believed the earth was flat. Context

10. Marriage • In Shakespeare’s day, marriages were generally contracts set up by the parents. • When Juliet’s parents arrange a marriage for her, it seems strange to us; Shakespeare’s audience would have thought it was completely normal.

11. Vocabulary • Soliloquy: speech where a character speaks to him or herself and inadvertently the audience as a way to reveal thoughts and feelings • 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. (2.2)

12. Vocabulary • Aside: remark by a character in a play intended to be heard by the audience but not by other characters • Juliet: O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo? • Deny thy father and refuse thy name; • Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, • And I'll no longer be a Capulet. • Romeo: [Aside.] Shall I hear more, or shall I speak at this? (2.2)

13. Vocabulary • Monologue: long speech by a character • Prince: Rebellious subjects, enemies to peace, • Profaners of this neighbour-stained steel,-- • Will they not hear? What, ho! you men, you beasts, • That quench the fire of your pernicious rage • With purple fountains issuing from your veins, • On pain of torture, from those bloody hands • Throw your mistemper'd weapons to the ground, • And hear the sentence of your moved prince. • Three civil brawls, bred of an airy word, • By thee, old Capulet, and Montague, • Have thrice disturb'd the quiet of our streets, • And made Verona's ancient citizens • Cast by their grave beseeming ornaments, • To wield old partisans, in hands as old, • Canker'd with peace, to part your canker'd hate: • If ever you disturb our streets again, • Your lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace. • For this time, all the rest depart away: • You Capulet; shall go along with me: • And, Montague, come you this afternoon, • To know our further pleasure in this case, • To old Free-town, our common judgment-place. • Once more, on pain of death, all men depart. (1.1)

14. Vocabulary • Prologue: an introduction or preface • Chorus: Two households, both alike in dignity, • In fair Verona, where we lay our scene, • From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, • Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean. • From forth the fatal loins of these two foes • A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life; • Whose misadventured piteous overthrows • Do with their death bury their parents' strife. • The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love, • And the continuance of their parents' rage, • Which, but their children's end, nought could remove, • Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage; • The which if you with patient ears attend, • What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend. (1.1)

15. Vocabulary • Oxymoron: figure of speech that combines contradictory terms • Romeo: Here’s much to do with hate, but more with love • Why, then, O brawling love, O loving hate, • Oh anything of nothing first create • O heavy lightness, serious vanity • Misshapen chaos of well-seeming forms • Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick health • Still-waking sleep, that is not what it is! • This love I feel that feel no love in this. (1.1)

16. Shakespeare’s tragedies also follow a pattern that would have made sense to his audience. Elizabethans believed that people’s decisions and mistakes always had consequences, and that people sometimes had to pay a high price for their mistakes. In Shakespeare’s tragedies, the main characters make decisions that upset the proper order of their world and so affect them and everyone around them. The situation is resolved only when others learn lessons from the main characters’ deaths. Tragedy

17. Why we read… • So why do we still read plays like Romeo and Juliet? When Shakespeare’s world was so different from ours, what can we learn from his plays? • Well, the plays are not only great, powerful stories—they also teach lessons about life that apply to people in all cultures and time periods, and those lessons can help us when we come across hard times in our own lives.

18. Don’t be alarmed by the old-fashioned language: this is really a play about people who are a lot like us, and the difficult words, when you look at them carefully, express emotions anyone can understand. And remember, the play is POETRY: it’s not supposed to be written exactly the way people talk. The poetry is part of what makes it beautiful and powerful—and worth reading. Keep in Mind:

19. Shakespeare’s plays were meant to be performed—they were some of the most popular entertainment of their time. So when we read the play, the point is to try and imagine it happening onstage! Two things to know: Sometimes a character will give a long speech all by herself, revealing her secret thoughts to the audience: this is called a soliloquy. Sometimes a character will just make a brief comment to the audience that the other characters don’t hear; this is called an aside. Reading the Play Because of the minimal props and scenery, the action in Shakespeare’s plays had to be conveyed through words and conversations. A conversation between characters is called DIALOGUE.

20. Shakespeare’s plays can have LOTS of characters. Let’s try to get them straight in our minds… First of all, all of the characters in Romeo and Juliet are arranged around a central conflict between two rival families: the Montaguesand the Capulets. So Who’s Who Here?

21. The Montagues

22. The Capulets

23. The Prince of Verona: This ruler tries to mediate between the feuding families. He is pretty tired of all the bloodshed caused by their “ancient grudge.” Friar Lawrence: This religious leader is respected as a holy man by both sides, and would like to see them reconciled. As a friar, he’s interested not only in religion, but also in medicinal herbs—which becomes important later. The Peacemakers:

24. And finally… One other “character”: The Chorus The Chorus is not a part of the action, but a speaker who comes onstage to make comments on the action. The Chorus is kind of like a TV announcer in contemporary life—as far as the characters know, the chorus doesn’t exist, but he helps explain things to us.