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Shakespearean Drama. The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet. Shakespearean Drama. Refers to the 37 plays written by English poet and playwright William Shakespeare. Characteristics include: Soliloquy: a speech that a character gives while, or as if, alone on stage.
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Shakespearean Drama The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet
Shakespearean Drama • Refers to the 37 plays written by English poet and playwright William Shakespeare. Characteristics include: • Soliloquy: a speech that a character gives while, or as if, alone on stage. • Aside: a character’s remark, to the audience or another character, that others on stage are not supposed to hear. • Soliloquies and asides reveal a character’s private thoughts and feelings.
Shakespearean Drama • Review • An allusion is a brief reference within a work to something outside the work that the reader or audience is expected to know. • Shakespearean drama contains allusions to historic and current events, Greek and Roman mythology, and the Bible.
Shakespearean Drama • Characters in Shakespearean drama can be categorized not only as major and minor but also according to these types: REVIEW: • Protagonist: central character or hero. • Antagonist: character who opposes the protagonist. Might also be a force of nature or set of circumstances the protagonist faces. NEW: • Foil: a character whose personality or attitudes are in sharp contrast to those of another character in the same work. • Comic relief: inclusion of humorous character, scene, or dialogue to lighten the atmosphere a bit.
Shakespearean Drama • Line citation: When you cite lines from Romeo and Juliet, you cite the act, scene, and line(s) in that order, using numerals. • Consider this example, using the version of the play in our textbook: • O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo? (2.2.33). • That’s Act 2, Scene 2, line 33.
Romeo and Juliet Act 1: Introduction • Under the summer sun in Verona, Italy, two families battle in the streets. The grudge is older than most people who are doing the fighting. • Most characters are tied in some way to these two families: the Capulets (Juliet) and Montagues (Romeo). • The Prince of Verona, Prince Escalus, tries to keep the peace between these bitter enemies. • One odd “character” is the Chorus: a group of people that speak as one. The Chorus is like an actor who helps the audience understand what will happen in the play.
Romeo and Juliet Important things to note: • Shakespeare mixes dreamy images of love with language that is much more sexual, which often includes off-color humor and puns. Pay attention to the Nurse (Juliet’s nanny). • Shakespeare’s audience understood that marriage did not always need love. It is acceptable to marry to increase or protect wealth and status. It is not so acceptable to marry only for love. Rich parents from two different families often set up marriages between their children.
Romeo and Juliet • In Act 1, Scene 1, Romeo’s conversation with Benvolio is littered with oxymorons. • An oxymoron is a figure of speech in which contradictory terms appear side by side. • “O loving hate!” “O heavy lightness!” “Serious vanity!” “Feather of lead!” “Bright smoke!” “Cold fire!” “Sick health!” (1.1.169-173). • What might these contradictory expressions indicate about Romeo’s feelings about love?
Romeo and Juliet Act 2: Considerations • Head over heels in anger or in love – that describes the mood of the young characters in the play. Their love is very strong or disappears in an instant. • What’s in a name? • Romeo: “romantic” • Mercutio: “mercurial” or changing temperament. • Can it last? • Romeo and Juliet create a private, intense, separate world of romantic joy. Unfortunately, the outside world intrudes. • Friar Laurence, Mercutio, and the Nurse try to act as friends, but they don’t always know what’s at stake: Their advice is “iffy.” • Mercutio is a funny guy • Calls the nurse a “bawd,” implying she’s a lustful woman. • “Bawd” also meant someone who has arranged sexual encounters for others.
