Lesson Title: Romeo and Juliet

1. Lesson Title: Romeo and Juliet Elements of Literature 612-621; 751-754 Created by Mrs. Ariana Tivis and Mrs. Emmett for English 9

2. Objectives • -identify and define words from Romeo and Juliet that have become archaic since the play was written • -evaluate the plot’s structure and development, and the way in which conflicts are resolved

3. The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet • You will be responsible to this play just like any other story. • Review the PowerPoints and review the details found in each lesson that summarizes each act and each scene. • Please keep up with the readings and assignments!!!

4. Stumbling Blocks • Shakespeare wrote The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet about four hundred years ago. Language is constantly evolving and changing. It’s not surprising, then, that many words are now archaic, which means that they or their meaning have disappeared from common use. When you are reading, make sure you pay attention to the sidenotes that the book gives to help you with the words.

5. THE ELIZABETHAN LANGUAGE - "WHY DIDN'T HE USE PLAIN ENGLISH?" The works of William Shakespeare are often dreaded by students because of the language he uses! • "Why didn't he use plain, simple English?" is a question often used by students new to the Works of Shakespeare! • The answer is, of course, that he did! But the Elizabethan language was different to ours! • There weren't so many words and people used a whole variety of ways to spell them as dictionaries weren't available! (There are at least 16 different Elizabethan spellings of Shakespeare!) • If Shakespeare was looking for a descriptive word, and couldn't find one he made one up! William Shakespeare invented words, and he used them to good effect when it came to Shakespearean Insults!

6. You are going to be distracted and caught on the archaic language. It can make the reading awkward and difficult. Try to focus instead on meaning of passage as a whole and catching the gist of the rest of the words in the passage, the majority of which you will understand with no problem. Don’t Quit!!!! • Example: The brightness of her check would shame those stars As daylight doth a lamp; her eyes in heaven Would through the airy region stream so bright That birds would sing and think it were not night. • Translation: She’s pretty!

7. Say What!?!?! • We mentioned in the lesson before that Shakespeare wrote his plays using poetry and prose. He used language that would have been common and easily understood by common people. That was four hundred years ago. If we notice the difference in the way people talked forty years ago( “That chick was groovy!”) Then we will certainly notice a difference in the language from four hundred years ago.

8. ‘a: he a’: on alike: both an’ or and: if anon: soon; right away; coming but: if; except; only counsel: private thoughts frank: generous Good-den or go-den or God-den: Good evening hap or happy: luck; lucky humor: mood; moisture Jack: common fellow; ordinary guy maid: unmarried girl mark: listen to Marry: mild oath shorten from “by the Virgin Mary.” nice: trivial; foolish owes: owns shrift: forgiveness for sins that have been confessed to a priest. After confessional, a person was said to be shriven. soft: quiet; hush; slow up stay: wait still: always strange: aloof or cold wherefore: why withal: with that; with wot: know Archaic LanguageHere are some archaic words that are used frequently in this play:

9. Complete the paragraph by writing the correct archaic word from the word list. “__________!” shouted I, running like Mercury after the school bus. It was my good __________ that the driver was a regular ___________ and stopped the bus so that I might board. Would but that I were never so ___________ that I would sleep past my clock’s alarm! Perhaps I am not so luckless a fool, thought I, when there, the only seat remaining, ‘twas next to Julie, the fairest ___________ in the ninth grade List maid nice Jack hap stay Practice: Talk like a Shakespearean!!!

10. Sir Frank Dicksee’s Romeo and Juliet

11. Tragedy • A tragedy is a narrative about serious and important actions that end unhappily. Usually a tragedy ends with the deaths of the main characters. In some tragedies, the disaster hits totally innocent characters; in others the main characters are in some ways responsible for their downfall. Shakespeare’s tragic plays usually follow a five part pattern.

12. Tragedy Act III Crisis, or turning point Act IV Falling action Act II Rising action, or complications Act V Climax and resolution Act I Exposition

13. 1. Exposition The exposition establishes the setting, introduces some of the main characters, explains background, and introduces the characters’ main conflict.

14. 2. Rising Action The risingaction consists of a series of complications. These occur as the main characters take action to resolve their problems.

15. 3. Crisis or Turning Point The crisis, or turningpoint, is the moment when a choice made by the main characters determines the direction of the action: upward to a happy ending, which would be a comedy, or downward to tragedy. The turning point is the dramatic and tense moment when the forces of conflict come together. Look for the turning point in Act III.

16. 4. Falling Action The fallingaction presents events that result from the action taken at the turning point. These events usually lock the characters deeper and deeper into disaster; with each event we see characters falling straight into tragedy.

17. 5. Climax and Resolution The final and greatest climax occurs at the end of the play--usually, in tragedy, with the deaths of the main characters. In the resolution (or denouement) all the loose parts of the plot are tied up. The play is over.

18. Journal: Love “Kids these days! They think that love conquers all, that nothing matters except how they feel about each other. They have no sense of responsibility to their families, no respect for tradition, no regard for those who are older and wiser. They don’t know the problems they’re going to have that all the love in the world won’t solve for them.” What do you think of this complaint? Have you heard older people say some of these things? Do you agree or disagree? Why?

19. Love • How is love usually portrayed in books and television? • Do you think this is realistic or completely unrealistic?

20. Romeo and Juliet • Most of Shakespeare’s plays were based on stories that were already well known by his audience. Romeo and Juliet was no exception. The story was first published in 1562 by Arthur Brooke as The Tragicall Historye of Romeus and Juliet.

21. Romeo and Juliet This is the story of a very young man and a nearly fourteen-year old girl who fall in love at first sight. They are caught up in a very passionate and idealized love. They are in love with the idea of being in love. In their minds, they have an ideal of what love is that isn’t based on truth.

22. Romeo and Juliet • In Brooke’s version of the story there was a moral that would have been considered normal back then. Romeo and Juliet had to die because they broke the law, married unwisely, and against their parents’ wishes. • Shakespeare takes a different approach. He presents the couple as “star-crossed lovers,” doomed to disaster by fate.

23. Reach for the stars…. “Star-crossed”. To understand what this means, you have to realize that most people of Shakespeare’s time believed in astrology. Astrology is belief that future events can be foretold using the stars. They believed that the course of their lives was partly determined by the hour, day, month, and year of their birth--hence “the stars” under which they were born. Shakespeare himself might night have shared this belief.

24. Although in the prologue Shakespeare says that Romeo and Juliet are star-crossed, he does not make them mere victims of fate. Romeo and Juliet make decisions that lead to their disaster. More important, other characters have a hand in the play’s tragic ending.

25. Destiny….? • What do you believe: Do we control our own destiny? Do thinks happen randomly as the result of fate?

26. The Cast of Characters • The Montagues Lord Montague Lady Montague Romeo, son of Montague Benvolio, nephew of Montague and friend of Romeo Balthasar, servant of Romeo Abram, servant of Montague

27. The Capulets LordCapulet Lady Capulet Juliet, daughter of Capulet Tybalt, nephew of Lady Capulet Nurse to Juliet Peter, servant to the Nurse Sampson, servant of Capulet Gregory, servant of Capulet An Old Man of the Capulet family

28. The Others Prince Escalus, ruler of Verona Mercutio, a relative of the Prince and friend of Romeo Friar Laurence, a Franciscan priest Friar John, another Franciscan priest Count Paris, a young nobleman, a relative of the Prince An Officer Citizens of Verona Relatives of both families Maskers Guards Watchmen Attendants

29. The Scene: • Verona and Mantua, cities in northern Italy

30. Works Cited • Anderson, Sophie. "Take the Fair Face of Woman...” Commonswikimedia.org. 21 Sept. 2008. 1 July 2009. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fairfacefairy_2.jpg • Dicksee, Frank Sir. “Romeo and Juliet.” Commonswikimedia.org. 11 Nov. 2008. 1 July 2009. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:DickseeRomeoandJuliet.jpg