An Introduction to William
Shakespeare and the Tragedy
of Romeo & Juliet
What we’re doing…
informing ourselves about the life and work
of the mysterious William Shakespeare.
Providing ourselves with details about
Elizabethan society and theater.
Getting familiar with basic terminology
related to Shakespearean drama.
Why we’re doing it…
This play can still be understood without
knowing the “background” stuff, but it’ll
make your understanding all the richer
April 23, 1564: William Shakespeare was born in
Stratford-on-Avon to John and Mary Shakespeare. There
is a baptismal registration for Shakespeare, but few other
written records exist. He was the 3 rd of 8 children.
Much of Shakespeare’s younger years
remain a mystery, but there are rumors
about what jobs he may have worked.
Schoolmaster
Lawyer
Lawyer
Butcher Apprentice
1582: According to church records, Shakespeare
married Anne Hathaway.
At the time of their marriage, William was
eighteen and Anne was twenty-six.
*She wasn’t THIS old, but in this time period, to be unmarried past
20 or so as a lady meant you were seen as an “old maid.” Women
were married much younger then. Marriage = the only way to have
protection, (some) wealth, and (some) power in this society. Still, as
a young woman, you were considered first property of your father,
then property of your husband when you married. Fun, yes?
William and Anne have three
children together (Susanna,
Hamnet, and Judith).
August 1596: young
Hamnet died at the
age of eleven. The
cause of his death is
unknown, but it
wasn’t uncommon for
people to die
suddenly of unknown
illnesses (not a lot of
medical knowledge at
this time.)
Shakespeare left his family in
1591 to pursue writing in London.
Susanna
Judith
Hamnet
A few more words about
medicine at this time…
Doctors usually didn’t train specially to become
doctors. As a doctor, you’d probably learn some
basic knowledge of herbs for healing, but you also
probably had other jobs (fixing stuff, being a
priest, being a lawyer, etc.)
Friar Lawrence is this person in Romeo & Juliet.
He’s a priest, but he dabbles in herbs and heals
people who wouldn’t be able to afford a (slightly)
better-trained doctor.
A few more words about
medicine at this time…
One of the dominating medical beliefs at the time
= “the four humours”.
The theory that every person had a mix of fluids in their
body; the one fluid they had the most of determined their
personality. WHICH ONE ARE YOU? 
“sanguine” = more blood = cheerful, playful
“choleric” = more yellow bile = restless, easily angered
“melancholic” = more black bile = serious, more easily
depressed, quiet
“phlegmatic” = more phlegm = calm, thoughtful, peaceful
A few more words about
medicine at this time…
If you were feeling ill,
your “doctor” might figure
out which “humour”
seemed to be dominating
you at that point, and give
you a treatment designed
to balance you out.
Not sanguine enough? Have
some wine! Because wine is
like blood, right?
(images of what people with each
of the humours were thought to
look like…)
In 1592, Shakespeare began developing a reputation as an
actor and playwright.
As theatres were beginning to
grow in popularity, it is
probable that Shakespeare
began earning a living writing
plays (adapting old ones and
working with others on new
ones).
1594: William became involved with a company of actors
named “The Lord Chamberlain’s Men.” This group later (1603)
changed their name to “The King’s Men”.
In 1598, Shakespeare, in collaboration with
other actors, designed and built The Globe.
This circular theatre was the first of
its kind, breaking away from the
traditional rectangular theatres.
1612: Shakespeare moved back to Stratford
where he retired both rich and famous.
1616: William Shakespeare dies on his birthday.
At the time of his death, Shakespeare is said to have written
around 37 plays and 154 sonnets. He is also known to have
contributed over two thousand words to the English language.
Swagger*
*yes, really!
Visiting Shakespeare’s Grave…
Good frend for Jesus sake forbeare
To digg the dust encloasedheare
Bleste be ye man [that] spares thes stones
And curst be he that moves my bones.
Which do you prefer?
1
2
3
Or…..
Shakespearean Theater
“The Globe”
Romeo,
Romeo…
Wherefore art
thou Romeo?
Elizabethan Theatre Fun Facts
The Globe
Round/polygonal building with a roofless courtyard
No artificial light – all plays performed during the day
and day/night were suggested by scenery and lines in the
play
Three stories high – upper levels were for the wealthy
The “groundlings” paid a penny a piece to stand on the
floor in front of the stage (room for 800 people)
Large platform stage that led right up to the audience
Performance Fun Facts
Elaborate costumes but only simple props and
simple scenery
No women allowed onstage (it was considered
improper and kind of a promiscuous activity for a
woman!)
So….young boys played the parts of women. Yes, really!
Many “all woman” versions of Shakespeare’s plays are
performed in today’s world, to flip this expectation
around.
We’ll do it the same way in our class! Boys and girls
will be able to perform both male AND female parts.
Fire and Rediscovery
Shakespeare’s Globe
burned down, but its
foundation was
discovered in 1990. It
gave us many clues to
the Elizabethan
experience such as
hazelnut shells on the
floors! A replica has
since been rebuilt. You
can visit it and see a
play today.
Dramatic Terminology
Tragedy: A narrative about serious and important actions that
end unhappily, usually with the death of the main characters.
The play is broken up into acts and the acts are broken up
into scenes. (Romeo & Juliet has 5 Acts; this is pretty typical
for Shakespeare.)
Monologue: A long uninterrupted speech given by one
character onstage to everyone.
Soliloquy: A long uninterrupted speech given by one
character alone on stage, inaudible to other characters
Aside: A short speech given by one character, traditionally
the other characters cannot hear but the audience can.
Dramatic Terminology
Pun: A humorous play on words
After that poisonous snake struck at me in the Arizona
Desert, I was really rattled.
A gossip is someone with a great sense of rumor.
A carpenter must have been here. I saw dust.
Energizer Bunny arrested - charged with battery.
Corduroy pillows are making headlines across the nation.
The executioner decided to drop out of Executioner
School. It was just too cutthroat for him.
Dramatic Terminology
Dramatic Foil: A pair
of characters who are
opposite in many ways
and highlight or
exaggerate each
other’s differences.
Shakespeare’s 5 Part
Storytelling Pattern (Tragedies):
Act III: Crisis/Turning Point
Even MORE complications
Act II: Rising Action
A series of
complications
Act I: Exposition
Establishes setting,
characters, conflict, and
background
Act IV: Falling Action
Results of the turning
point; characters locked
into deeper disaster
Act V:
Climax/Resolution/Denouement
Death of the main characters and then
the loose parts of the plot are tied up
4/27 OR 4/28: 9.1 Love
Problem Formulation
Your first goal in today’s journal is to generate a list of problems you
see in our society that deal with the following topics (by themselves
or in any combination):
Love lust teenagers adults parents
family friends
conflict time
independence
choice
obedience
hormones
experience
heartbreak
rebellion
You may write these problems as a list of complete sentences (A
problem I see is……) or as more of a free-form paragraph - whatever
4/27 OR 4/28: 9.1 Love
Problem Formulation
Share this list of problems with your journal
partner(s). Put a star next to any problems
that you have in common with them.
4/27 OR 4/28: 9.1 Love
Problem Formulation
You know the drill!! With your journal
partners, turn these problems into questions.
Try to narrow it down to 3 really strong, nosingle-right-answer, opinion-based
questions.
Write at least one really solid question on
your index card; I’ll collect shortly.
4/27 OR 4/28: 9.1 Love
Problem Formulation (cont’d)
How do other writers besides Shakespeare
grapple with some of the problems and
questions you generated?....
….let’s compare two examples.
4/27 OR 4/28: 9.1 Love
Problem Formulation (cont’d)
Partner A + Partner B.
Group of 3? Two Partner As.
Partner A is in charge of “To the Virgins…”
by Robert Herrick; Partner B is in charge of
“24 Hours” by Sky Ferreira
Listen + annotate your assigned text for
details that stand out
4/27 OR 4/28: 9.1 Love
Problem Formulation
Share your initial annotations, but NOT
with your journal partner.
Partner up with the next-nearest journal
partnership, and talk to the person in that
partnership that annotated the same text as
you.
Try to come to some shared understanding
of what’s going on in your text, even if
you’re not 100% sure you “get” it.
4/27 OR 4/28: 9.1 Love
Problem Formulation
In your journal, write for a few minutes
under today’s entry space:
What seems to be basically going on in your
poem?
What argument(s) about love does the
speaker make? What details led you there?
Do you agree with the argument he or she is
making? Do you think their view of love is
correct? Why or why not?
4/27 OR 4/28: 9.1 Love
Problem Formulation
Compare your findings with your partner –
teach them the main idea(s) behind your
poem, the speaker’s main argument(s) about
love, and whether or not you and the
speaker see things the same way
4/27 OR 4/28: 9.1 Love
Problem Formulation
Final recap: Briefly compare both poets’
views on love as shared by you and your
partner. How are they the same? How are
they different?
Tips for Understanding
Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet is based on Arthur Brooke’s long narrative
poem the Tragicall Historye of Romeus and Juliet (1562)
Be ready for independent reading
right at the start of class today!
(We need to have time for our competition.)
CY 28 will be saved for later OR the next
time we meet.
Gold stamp sheet out, label a square for
independent reading 4/29, find your log.
MONTAGUE
Romeo
Lord Montague (his dad)
Lady Montague (his mom)
Mercutio (friend)
Benvolio (cousin)
vs. CAPULET
Juliet
Lord Capulet (her father)
Lady Capulet (her mother)
Tybalt (cousin)
Nurse
To get in the mood for a feud…
Competition time! 
What we’re doing: practicing breaking
down tricky Shakespearean language
Why we’re doing it: this will equip you for
when we start reading/performing on
Thursday/Friday
Prologue Scramble
Make a group of 2-4 people. (Period 2 – go for closer to 4)
Receive an envelope from Ms. Zero.
Your goal: Work as a group to put the lines of the prologue in correct
order.
Ms. Zero will walk around, giving you four hints along the way.
Free hint #0: Look at end punctuation!
NO CHEATING! Keep each other honest.
Use your knowledge of poetic forms to help you.
When you think you’re ready, raise hands so I can check you.
Top two teams win a free homework pass AND recognition on the
Board of Champions!!!
When finished:
Receive a translation sheet from Ms. Zero.
Translate the prologue from Elizabethan
English to more easily read, modernized
English.
Don’t know a word? Check with your group
members and/or dictionaries. Take a look at
the context for meaning, too.
Copy your finalized translation on the back
of your sheet and be ready to share it.