February 13, 2015
Shakespeare wrote History plays,
Tragedy plays and Comedies.
Today, we're going to discuss the...
Tragedy Plays
CLASSICAL definition of TRAGEDY:
A story that ends unhappily.
Often due to a "fatal flaw" in a character (ex: a person
who may be mostly good and tries to behave in the right
way, but who fails due to a personal flaw such as too
much pride)
Often with global/national consequences (ex: when a
king dies, it affects the whole country. The death of a
peasant may be sad, but because it does not affect an
entire nation, it technically cannot be called "tragic" in the
classical sense.)
February 13, 2015
Shakespeare's Tragedies are usually considered to be
his best works. Why?
The plays have universal characters - the people may
be deeply flawed, but the audience can relate to them.
They are very emotional. There is epic love, epic
hate, epic greed, epic courage...
The plays are characterized as being deeply layered,
which means they can be interpreted in many different
ways. So every time you see them, you can find
something new...
The plays always, always end unhappily, and most
people in the audience can relate to great sorrow...
The Tragedy of Romeo and
Juliet
This may be the most famous of
Shakespeare's tragic plays.
What do you know about it already?
Set in Verona, Italy
Juliet, a member of the Capulet family,
falls in love with Romeo, a member of the
Montague family. Because the two
families are feuding, the lovers are forced
to hide their relationship...
Video SparkNotes Shakespeares Romeo and Juliet summary.mov
...and as we know from the title, it does
not end well...
February 13, 2015
A feast begins. A melancholy Romeo follows his friends to the Capulet’s house. Once inside, Romeo sees
Juliet from a distance and instantly falls in love with her. Soon, Romeo speaks to Juliet, and the two
experience a profound attraction. They kiss, not even knowing each other’s names.
When he finds out from Juliet’s nurse that she is the daughter of Capulet—his family’s enemy—he
becomes distraught. When Juliet learns that the young man she has just kissed is the son of Montague,
she grows equally upset.
First Meeting
Juliet is supposed to get married to another man, Paris, so she goes to Friar Lawrence. He concocts a plan
to reunite Juliet with Romeo. The night before her wedding to Paris, Juliet must drink a potion that will
make her appear to be dead. After she is laid to rest in the family’s crypt, the Friar and Romeo will
secretly retrieve her, and she will be free to live with Romeo, away from their parents’ feuding.
Juliet returns home to discover the wedding has been moved ahead one day, and she is to be married
tomorrow. That night, Juliet drinks the potion, and her Nurse discovers her, apparently dead, the next
morning. The Capulets grieve, and Juliet is entombed according to plan. But Friar Lawrence’s message
explaining the plan to Romeo never reaches Mantua. Its bearer, Friar John, gets confined to a quarantined
house. Romeo hears only that Juliet is dead.
Romeo learns only of Juliet’s death and decides to kill himself rather than live without her. He buys a vial
of poison from a reluctant Apothecary, then speeds back to Verona to take his own life at Juliet’s tomb.
Death Scene
Is Shakespearean Tragedy still relevant today?
The main theme of Romeo and Juliet, two lovers from opposing sides, has been
repeated very often in books and movies. Even today...
For example,
The Twilight series. Obviously the two lovers are on opposing sides, since
Edward is a vampire and Bella is a human. The series of books/movies are
about how the two cope with all the complications that arise from this situation.
Stephenie Meyer is very open about the fact that Edward and Bella are based on
Romeo and Juliet. In fact, in the second book, New Moon, Edward & Bella are
not only studying the play in school, but openly discuss the parallels between
Shakespeare and their own situation...
Of course, there is one HUGE difference between Romeo & Juliet and the
vampire/human story...
...Edward and Bella get a happy ending!
February 13, 2015
Discussion Activity:
In just a moment, you will meet with your table. Compile one
list of as many couples that you can think of who fit the Romeo
& Juliet pattern: those who fall in love, despite being on
opposite sides of some kind of feud.
You have 4 minutes. Go!
Now... Take one more minute and indicate whether each
couple's story ended as a Comedy (happily) or a Tragedy
(unhappily). Go!
(Class discussion and comparison of results.)
Did you get The Fault in Our Stars? Grease? Little Mermaid?
Hamlet Summary
Macbeth Summary
February 13, 2015
Julius Caesar Summary
King Lear Summary
American Entertainment Research
• Top Grossing Movies of All Time:
Use the Internet to
find the Top Ten Highest Grossing Movies of All Time.
• Fill in the chart below with your research.
Make sure you are looking at a site that adjusts
for prices of ticket inflation over the years.
• Hints:
www.imdb.com is a good source for plot summaries if you’re
not sure how a movie ended. Go to the individual movie,
then click on “Plot Synopsis.” Scroll to the end of the
synopsis and read the last 2 paragraphs. Then you can
decide if it’s a Comedy, Tragedy or History.
Then write a paragraph evaluating the results. What did
you learn about trends in how Americans spend their money
at the movies?
February 13, 2015
tragedy/history
comedy
comedy/history
comedy
tragedy/history
comedy/history
comedy
comedy
comedy
comedy
**Many of these can be left up to interpretation. Some people may feel a movie is
historical, while others may not. Some people also may feel an ending is happy, while
other people feel it is sad. We're all different!