Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • Romeo and Juliet

    Uploaded by

    Sher Elliott
    186 views20 pages
    This document provides an introduction and overview of key elements of William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet. It defines dramatic terminology like tragedy, monologue, and soliloquy. It notes that while Shakespeare did not invent the story of Romeo and Juliet, he drew from earlier versions. It summarizes the plot, discusses the setting in late 1500s Verona and Mantua, Italy. It examines the social setting of the time period including roles of women and families. It contrasts elements of comedy and tragedy in the play and discusses themes of love, hate, and fate.

    Original Description:

    Original Title

    ROMEO AND JULIET

    Copyright

    © © All Rights Reserved

    Available Formats

    PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    Report this Document
    This document provides an introduction and overview of key elements of William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet. It defines dramatic terminology like tragedy, monologue, and soliloquy. It notes that while Shakespeare did not invent the story of Romeo and Juliet, he drew from earlier versions. It summarizes the plot, discusses the setting in late 1500s Verona and Mantua, Italy. It examines the social setting of the time period including roles of women and families. It contrasts elements of comedy and tragedy in the play and discusses themes of love, hate, and fate.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    Download as pptx, pdf, or txt
    186 views20 pages

    Romeo and Juliet

    Uploaded by

    Sher Elliott
    This document provides an introduction and overview of key elements of William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet. It defines dramatic terminology like tragedy, monologue, and soliloquy. It notes that while Shakespeare did not invent the story of Romeo and Juliet, he drew from earlier versions. It summarizes the plot, discusses the setting in late 1500s Verona and Mantua, Italy. It examines the social setting of the time period including roles of women and families. It contrasts elements of comedy and tragedy in the play and discusses themes of love, hate, and fate.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    Download as pptx, pdf, or txt
    of 20

    Intro to Shakespeare

    Romeo and Juliet

    By William Shakespeare
    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.
    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.
    Dramatic Terminology

    Pun: A humorous play on words


     A carpenter must have been here. I saw dust.
     Energizer Bunny arrested - charged with battery.
    Origin!?
    Shakespeare did not invent the story of Romeo
    and Juliet. A poet named Arthur Brooks wrote
    the story of Romeus and Juliet as a long poem
    that was itself not original, but rather an
    adaptation of adaptations that stretched across
    nearly a hundred years and two languages.
    Many of the details of Shakespeare’s plot are
    taken directly from Brooks’ poem, including
    the meeting of Romeo and Juliet at the ball,
    their secret marriage, Romeo’s fight with
    Tybalt, the sleeping potion, and the timing of
    their suicides.
    Shakespearean Tragedy

     Tragedies may involve comedic moments, but tend towards more serious,
    dramatic plots with an ending that involves the death of main characters.
    The main features of a Shakespearean Tragedy are that:
     Characters become isolated or there is social breakdown
     Ends in death
     There is a sense that events are inevitable or inescapable
     There is usually a central figure who is noble but with a character flaw
    which leads them towards their eventual downfall
    Romeo and Juliet Plot Structure

    Act III: Crisis/Turning Point


    A series of complications

    Act IV: Falling Action


    Act II: Rising Action
    Results of the turning
    A series of point; characters locked
    complications into deeper disaster

    Act I: Exposition Act V:


    Climax/Resolution/Denouement
    Establishes setting,
    characters, conflict, Death of the main characters and then
    and background the loose parts of the plot are tied up
    Summary
    Romeo and Juliet is a story about two
    teenagers who fall in love but are
    forbidden to see each other by their
    parents. They meet one night at a party
    (Romeo is actually there to check out
    another girl, Rosaline) and quickly fall in
    love. Unfortunately, Juliet’s parents
    already have a husband picked out for
    her. So, the two decide to get married
    and enlist the help of Juliet’s nurse to act
    as a messenger between the two and Friar
    Laurence who agrees to marry them.
    However, plans go awry after Romeo is
    banished from Verona and doesn’t get
    filled in on the plans that Juliet has for
    them to live happily ever after…
    Setting

    The story is set in the late


    1500’s mostly in the town
    of Verona, Italy. However,
    there are a few acts set in
    Mantua, Italy a smaller
    town just a few miles away.
    Verona Today
    Today, Verona has an
    incredible amount of graffiti,
    which is legal, provided that
    you are writing about your love
    for someone.
    Social Setting

     The time period of the setting of Romeo and Juliet is important to the
    reader in understanding the relationships among the aristocratic families in
    Verona, Italy, male and female roles, interpersonal relationships within
    families, the role of the Church, marriage customs, celebrations,
    friendships, and feuds.
     In fourteenth century Italy, young males were allowed to move freely
    about, but the females were quite sheltered. With such freedom, when
    tempers flared, swords were often pulled, especially with the enmity
    between the two feuding families of the Capulets and the Montagues.
    Social Setting

     In aristocratic families, the daughters, like Juliet, led sheltered lives and had
    their marriages arranged for them at young ages. Thus, such an action as
    Juliet's secretly marrying Romeo, and his being an enemy would be
    outrageous. This is why Juliet exclaims upon learning of Romeo:
     My only love sprung from my only hate!
    Too early seen unknown and know too late!
    Prodigious birth of love it is to me
    That I must love a loathed enemy. (1.5)
    Role of Women

     Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet in the 16th century, at a time when
    the role of the woman was to be subservient to men and act as a wife to
    their husband and a mother to their children.
     Women were expected to conform to the expectations of society, and
    were seen as possessions by their fathers and husbands. Fathers arranged
    their daughters’ marriages, usually for financial or social gain for the family.
     In Romeo and Juliet, the unfair treatment of women is conveyed through
    characters such as Juliet, a young girl who is growing up within the
    expectations of society, and Lady Capulet, who represents a traditional
    side of love, and values social position rather than men themselves.
    Comedy and Tragedy
    Romeo and Juliet begins as a comedy but ends as a
    tragedy
    Elements of a tragedy
    Elements of a comedy
    •Must have a tragic hero/heroine
    •A struggle of young lovers to
    •Ends in the death of many of the main
    overcome difficulty that is often
    characters
    presented by elders
    •Separation and unification
    •Heightened tensions, often
    within a family

    The shift from comedy to tragedy is what sets


    Romeo and Juliet apart from the rest of
    Shakespeare’s plays
    Themes
    Love
     The power of love
     Love as a cause for violence

    Hate
    •Hate as a forced emotion
    Fate
    •The inevitability of fate
    Interesting…
    The Italian city of Verona, where
    Romeo and Juliet lived, receives about
    1,000 letters addressed to Juliet every
    Valentine's Day.
    “Star-crossed lovers” refers to two
    people who are in love but have
    conflicting astrological signs. In
    Shakespeare’s times, people believed
    the course of their lives was
    determined by the exact second they
    were born.
    The Feud
    Romeo’s family, the
    Montagues, have a long
    standing feud with
    Juliet’s family, the
    Capulets. While the
    audience never learns
    about the source of the
    ancient quarrel, we do
    learn that it has recently
    grown stronger.
    ACTIVITY

     Research 25 Facts and great a fun fact chart on the play Romeo and Juliet

     Research the lives of men and women within the Elizabethan Era, their
    beliefs and practices
     read The Prologue and answer the questions.
     Highlight 5 words that stand out in the prologue create a flowchart of
    simial terms

    You might also like