Introduction to William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet

1. Introduction to William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet http://etc.usf.edu/clipart/700/794/shakespeare_2_lg.gif

2. Table of Contents • Author • Theatre Then and Now • Shakes’ Language • How to Understand Shakes • Romeo and Juliet

3. Author • 1564 – 1616 • After 400 years, remains the best-known author in English literature • Born in Stratford, England • Married Anne Hathaway at 18 • Had three children • Successful actor, playwright, producer, and theater owner • Wrote comedies, histories, and tragedies

4. Theatre Then and Now . . . • Theatrical Background • 1500s 1900s A. Courtyard Theater A. Conventional Theater B. Seating Then B. Seating Now 1. Balconies 1. Balconies 2. Front and Center 2. Front and Center • C. Chorus or Prologue C. Programs 1. 1. 2. 2. 3. 3. 4. 4. D. Afternoon Performances D. Evening Performances E. Pace/Scenery Then E. Pace/Scenery Now F. Language Then F. Language Now 1. Elizabethan English 1. Contemporary English • 2. Poetry – Iambic Pentameter 2. Prose

5. Shakes’: Language • A sonnet has 14 lines with a specific rhyme scheme. • The topic: love–or a theme related to love. • Sonnets enabled a poet to demonstrate his or her power of genius. • The Shakespearean sonnet (also called the English sonnet) has three four-line stanzas (quatrains) and a two-line unit called a couplet. • A couplet is always indented; both lines rhyme at the end. • The meter of Shakespeare's sonnets is iambic pentameter (except in Sonnet 145). An iamb is one unstressed syllable followed by a stressed one. Pentameter means that there are five of those unstressed/stressed combinations. • The rhyming lines in each stanza are the first and third and the second and fourth. • In the couplet ending the poem, both lines rhyme. All of Shakespeare's sonnets follow the same rhyming pattern • William Shakespeare wrote 154 sonnets and several are hidden in his plays.

6. Shakes’: Language . Shakespeare’s Language Modern Translation A  Shall I compare thee to a summer's DAY?.....................If I compared you to a summer day  B   Thou art more lovely and more temperATE:....................I'd have to say you are more beautiful and serene:  A   Rough winds do shake the darling buds of MAY,.............By comparison, summer is rough on budding life,   B   And summer's lease hath all too short a DATE:..............And doesn't last long either:   . C   Sometime too hot the eye of heaven SHINES,................At times the summer sun [heaven's eye] is too hot,   D   And often is his gold complexion DIMM'D;.....................And at other times clouds dim its brilliance;   C  And every fair from fair sometime deCLINES,..................Everything fair in nature becomes less fair from time to time,   D   By chance or nature's changing course unTRIMM'D;.......No one can change [trim] nature or chance;   . E    But thy eternal summer shall not FADE.........................However, you yourself will not fade  F    Nor lose possession of that fair thou OWEST;................Nor lose ownership of your fairness;   E    Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his SHADE,..........Not even death will claim you,   F    When in eternal lines to time thou GROWEST:...............Because these lines I write will immortalize you:   G    So long as men can breathe or eyes can SEE,.............Your beauty will last as long as men breathe and see,   G    So long lives this and this gives life to THEE..................As Long as this sonnet lives and gives you life.  

7. Understanding Shakes’ • Why Should I know this? • Knowing and understanding how Shakespeare writes will help us understanding him during our reading. • What else will help me read Shakespeare? • Read the scene summary. • Reading the summary will let you know what to expect. • Use the notes. • In the margins of your book, you will find definitions and pronunciations of unfamiliar words and phrases. • Keep reading. • These plays were meant to be seen and heard, not read. They didn’t have time to pick part every word • READ THE PASSAGES ALOUD! • These are plays! THEY WERE MEANT TO BE SEEN AND HEARD!

8. Understanding Shakes’ • Don’t read lines. READ THE SENTENCES! • Remember that Shakespeare writes in lines of poetry. Punctuation is NOT AN OPTION! • Learn Shakespeare’s vocabulary. • Shakespeare wrote in Elizabethan English. Words, phrases and pronunciations have chance in 400 years. Words like “thou” and “thee” are used instead of “you”; “thy” and “thine” for “your” and “yours”. Also, verbs may also end in “t”, “th”, or “st”, which might make them difficult to recognize. (ex. Has = hast, can = canst) • Rearrange the sentences. • Find the subjects • Think about the characters. • As you read the play, form a picture in your mind of each character.

9. Shakes’ Language • New Literary Terms: • pun • metaphor/simile • Comic relief • dramatic irony • situational irony • foil • Oxymoron • suspense • aside • iambic pentameter • soliloquy • Alliteration • hyperbole Terms you should already know: • conflict (internal and external) • tone • foreshadowing • climax

10. Romeo and Juliet • Written between 1594 and 1596 • Story of two “star-crossed” lovers “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 foesA pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life;Whole misadventured piteous overthrowsDo 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.” Plot Characters