January 4/5, 2012
Romeo and Juliet
I can link the
historical
context of a
piece of
literature to
its modern
interpretations.
Quiz: Friday January 6th over notes
Romeo and Juliet Notes
Renaissance Writer
Shakespeare is
probably the most
influential writer of all
time.
 He is credited with
writing over 37 plays
and 154 sonnets.

William Shakespeare Biography

William Shakespeare was
supposedly born on April 23rd,
1564 in Stratford on Avon in
England.

He married Anne Hathaway on
November 28, 1582. William was
18 at the time, and Anne was 26
(and pregnant!) They ended up
having 3 children together.
William Shakespeare Biography
 By
1594, he was acting and writing for the
Lord Chamberlin’s Men, a theater troop in
London.
 Shakespeare
made much more money in
his lifetime as an actor, not a playwright.
William Shakespeare Biography
 Shakespeare’s
life was
during the reign of
Queen Elizabeth I and
King James I.
 He
lived during the time
of the Renaissance,
which was the rebirth of
arts and sciences all
over the world.
William Shakespeare Contemporaries

Pocahontas

Galileo Galilei –
Heliocentric system

Sir Francis Drake –
Explorer

Giacomo Di Grassi –
fencing

El Greco
William Shakespeare Biography

Shakespeare wrote in a poetic format called
iambic pentameter.

A line of iambic pentameter would be read with
a rhythm like this, varying between stressed and
unstressed syllables: daDUM, daDUM, daDUM,
daDUM, daDUM

Example from Romeo and Juliet: But soft, what
light through yonder window breaks?
William Shakespeare Biography

Shakespeare died on April 23rd of 1616, his alleged
birthday.

To this day, he is considered the most famous
playwright in the world.

He was also a very famous poet and is most known for
his sonnets, which are 14 line poems. (There are
several sonnets in R&J)

Shakespeare’s plays fell into one of three categories:
histories, comedies or tragedies. Romeo and Juliet is a
tragedy.
The Globe Theater

The Globe Theater was built in 1599 by the Lord
Chamberlin’s Men, Shakespeare’s acting company.

It was also known as the “Wooden O” due its
shape.

In 1613, the original Globe Theatre burned down
when a cannon shot during a performance ignited
the roof. It was rebuilt soon after.
The Globe Theater

The Globe was 3 stories tall and could house
roughly 3000 people.

Queen Elizabeth and King James I would
frequent the theater along with many of the rich
elite in London.

On the other hand, at the base of the stage,
there was an area called the pit, where, for a
penny common people (the “Groundlings”)
would stand to watch the performance. This
ranking system made the theater available to
everyone.
The Globe Theater

Groundlings were known for being dirty and
vulgar. They would stand for the whole show
and throw food at the actors if they got bored.
Prostitutes would “work” during the plays as well
in the pit so it was a very nasty place.

Flags flying above the theater would let people
know what kind of play would be performed that
day. The color would indicate if the play would
be a tragedy, a comedy or a history.
The Globe Theater

Actors would fill a pig’s bladder up with blood and hide it
under their costume.

During a fight scene, one actor would stab another
where the bladder was concealed so he would bleed on
stage.

Audiences loved gory violence and so Shakespeare used
a lot of it in his plays, including R&J.

Add to notes: Shakespearean audiences also loved dirty
jokes (Roy B.: “Thou art what she said…”)
The Globe Theater
 Women
were not allowed to be actors
during this time period. All characters had
to be played by men. The character of
Juliet, for example, would have been
played by a young teenage boy who had
yet to go through puberty.
The Globe Theater
 Staging
and props were very minimal due
to lack of technological advancement.
Actors and playwrights relied on words to
set the time period, the location or the
time of day that a scene would be taking
place. Shakespeare used a narrator,
called the chorus to also fill in any holes
that audience members needed about
time, location, or plot development.
The Globe Theater
 The
Globe was closed down in 1642 by
the Puritans. The foundation of the Globe
was rediscovered in 1989 and the theater
has since been rebuilt to match as close
as possible to the original design. It still
stands in London today and continues to
perform many of Shakespeare’s classic
plays.
Theater Vocabulary
Two theater terms you need to know…

Aside: A conversation two actors have on stage
that other characters cannot hear. This also
might be an actor talking directly to the
audience when others around him can’t hear.

Soliloquy: a monologue when an actor is alone
on stage. Useful for telling the audience the
thoughts or feelings of the character.
Breaking “The 4th Wall”
Speaking directly to the
audience through the
camera or on stage
Romeo and Juliet

Romeo and Juliet was supposedly written
around 1595 and was not an entirely
original story. A narrative poem called
Romeus and Juliet had been written by
Arthur Brooke in 1562. Shakespeare
adapted it by changing the
characterization, themes and action of the
story.
Romeo and Juliet

He also “borrowed” some ideas from an
old Greek myth called Pyramus and
Thisbe. This famous story of two fated
lovers has been told and retold a thousand
different ways since then as well.
Romeo and Juliet

Romeo and Juliet is set
in Verona, Italy in the
1300’s or 1400’s. The
entire action of the
play takes place in 5
days.
The Prologue!
 Prologue = Introduction
 Recited by the chorus
 Location, time of day, date,
summary, what to expect, etc.
It’s a sonnet
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
Doth 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.
Modern Translation of the Prologue
In the beautiful city of Verona, where our story
takes place, a long-standing hatred between
two high ranking families erupts into new
violence. Citizens’ hands have been stained with
the blood of their fellow townspeople in this civil
strife. From these families, a son and a
daughter are destined to fall in love, sharing an
unfortunate fate. Their tragic deaths put an end
to their parents' feud. For the next two hours,
we will watch the story of their doomed love and
their parents' anger unfold, which nothing but
the children's deaths could stop. If you listen to
us patiently, we'll make up for everything we've
left out in this prologue on stage.
What do we learn from the Prologue?
• The play is set in Verona, Italy.
• Two families are fighting for unknown reasons and
the fighting has been going on for generations.
• This feuding has caused much bloodshed already.
• Two people, one from each family, are going to fall
in love
• The lovers are going to die and their deaths will
bring the two families together
• The story will take two hours to tell (on stage)
• The lovers are “star-crossed”
Why Give Away the Ending?!?!
Sonnets
A poem comprising 14 rhyming lines of equal
length and rhythm. The most famous sonnet
writer was Shakespeare. He identified them with
numbers instead of titles.
Shakespearean Sonnet Rhyme Scheme:
a-b-a-b, c-d-c-d, e-f-e-f, g-g
(4 Quatrains and 1 Couplet)
The couplet often has an important significance to
the poem as a whole. Pay attention to those last
two lines!
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;
Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou growest:
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove.
O no, it is an ever-fixèd mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wand'ring bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come;
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.