# 3 INTRODUCTION
TO ROMEO AND
JULIET
1 . TA K E C O R N E L L N O T E S
2 . C O P Y D OW N A L L B O L D E D WO R D S
3 . W R I T E A S U M M A RY W H E N YO U A R E F I N I S H E D
E X . S O M E T H I N G T H AT I S B E C O M I N G C L E A R
TO M E A B O U T S H A K E S P E A R E A N D R O M E O A N D
JULIET IS..
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
THE EARLY YEARS
• Born in April 1564
in Stratford on
Avon
• Seven brothers and
sisters
• His father - a fairly
rich merchant
STRATFORD ON AVON
SHAKESPEARE‘S SCHOOLING
• Grammar School from age 7 to 13
SHAKESPEARE’S FAMILY
• Married Anne
Hathaway in 1582
• Anne was 26, he was 18
• 3 children
• The youngest,
Hamnet (only son) died
at the age of 11
SHAKESPEARE IN LONDON
• went to London at 21
• joined a travelling
company of actors
called Lord
Chamberlain‘s Men
• worked both as an
actor and a writer
THE GLOBE
• Open-air octagonal amphitheater that
could seat up to 3000
• No artificial lighting so plays were shown
during daylight hours only
THE END OF HIS LIFE
• Returned to Stratford in 1610
• The Globe was destroyed in the 1613 Great Fire of London
• In 1616 Shakespeare died on April 23rd (His birthday ) after a night of
drinking with his friends
SHAKESPEARE’S TIME PERIOD:
ELIZABETHAN ERA
 Early Modern period or the English Renaissance
(rebirth)
 Queen Elizabeth I was an anomaly (strange, out of
place) of the time period. She was strong, intelligent, and a
well-respected ruler.
 Women during this time had little or no power and
were seen as less than men, so her power was not typical
 By refusing to marry throughout her 45 year reign as
queen, she retained her own power
 Women, once married, had practically no rights
SHAKESPEARE’S TIME PERIOD: THE
GLOBE
• Wealthier people would pay more to sit
in the balcony. Others had to pay more to sit
on benches even.
• The working class stood in front of the
stage (groundlings).
• Brought together social elite and
common drunks
• Only men could act (Juliet was performed
by a boy!).
SHAKESPEARE’S TIME PERIOD: LOVE
• During this time, young women (like Juliet) were controlled specifically by
their fathers. They were expected to marry within their own class. This play is a
reflection of the time in which it was written.
• The women’s say so in whom they wanted to marry was only a mention. Juliet’s father
says “My will to her consent is but a part” [I.ii.15].
• Many marriages were arranged and there was nothing that could be done about
it.
• Love in marriage was not common, or it did not matter. Marriages were
arranged in order to promote status and wealth within families, like the
Capulets.
WHO WAS SHAKESPEARE?
• Bard of Avon = poet of Avon
• 37 plays are attributed to him, but there is great
controversy over the authorship. 154 Sonnets.
• Some claim many authors wrote under one
name.
• In Elizabethan England, one could spell their name any
way they wished, including changing it from day to day,
which led to much confusion.
• Shakespeare’s name has been spelled in over 80
different ways including Shagspeare, Shaxpere, and
Shakestaffe.
TYPES OF PLAYS
• Shakespeare wrote:
– Comedies: light and amusing; usually with a happy ending and
people married
• Midsummer Night’s Dream
– Histories: involve events or persons from history
• King Henry VIII
– Tragedies: serious dramas with disastrous endings
• Romeo and Juliet
THE PLAY
• A PLAY is not a BOOK. A play shows while a book tells.
• To help you understand try and picture the actions in your mind.
• Stage Direction: tell the actors when they should be on stage and what they should
do on stage
– Directions are usually in italics or brackets
• Ex. [They Fight]
– Stage directions are not read out loud
THE PLAY
 Shakespeare Plays are divided into 5 acts (like chapters in a book)
 Acts: short performances that are part of a longer story
 Acts are broken down into scenes
 Scenes: help break down the story into even smaller pieces
Ex. Act 1 Scene 2 or Act I Scene ii
THE PLAY
Shakespeare’s plays can usually be divided into five parts,
and follow the same pattern that looks something like this:
(Copy down this graph)
ACT III
Turning Point
ACT II
Rising Action
ACT I
Exposition
ACT IV
Falling Action
ACT V
Climax & Resolution
ELIZABETHAN ENGLISH
In order to better understand Shakespeare’s plays, it is
good to understand some of the terminology Shakespeare
uses in the writing of his plays. The language is called
Elizabethan English, named after Queen Elizabeth the I.
ere ~ the old English word for before
hence ~ the old English word for here
swear’st ~ the old English word for swear
thee, thy, thou ~ are old English words for you
thine ~ the old English word for your
wert ~ the old English word for were
wherefore ~ the old English word for why
SHAKESPEARE REFERENCES
• Shakespeare is known to have invented
dozens of words and phrases, such as:
– Laugh it off
– Hint
– Lonely
– Excellent
– Fair play
– Catch cold
INSPIRATION FOR R+J
• Shakespeare’s play is based off a 1562 poem
called The Tragicale Historie of Romeus &
Juliet by Arthur Brooke.
• It has French, Italian, and Greek origins based on a
Greek story called “Pyramus and Thisbe”
• Shakespeare wrote R+J ~age 30
SHAKESPEARE’S R+J
• Shakespeare made the story his own by changing the time frame
from 9 months to 5 days. This was designed to emphasize the
passing of time & add intensity to the story
• He also decreased Juliet’s age from 16 to 13, to highlight her
youth and immaturity
• Finally, he set the play in July, rather than in winter as it was
originally written
• Focused the language on puns (plays on words)
– In puns, words have more than one meaning. This focuses the
audience’s attention on surface meanings & deeper meanings
DRAMATIC IRONY
• Shakespeare uses dramatic irony: the audience or reader knows something
important that a character in a play or story does not know
• Creates tension.
• At times Shakespeare “layers” the dramatic irony, making it harder and
harder for Romeo and Juliet to escape their untimely deaths.
• Some of the most poignant moments in the play come from the
knowledge that we cannot share with the characters.
LANGUAGE IN R+J
• Soliloquy-an unusually long speech in which a character who is on stage alone
expresses his or her thoughts aloud
• Aside-words that are spoken by a character in a play to the audience or to another
character but that are not supposed to be overheard by the others onstage
• Monologue – like a soliloquy, is a lengthy speech. However, a monologue is addressed
to other characters on stage, not to the audience.
LANGUAGE IN R+J
• Allusion -references to well-known people, places, or even from myths or literature.
– Shakespeare’s characters often allude to figures in myths or popular stories to add meaning to their
speeches.
• Pun-a play on the multiple meanings of a word, or on two words that sound alike but have
different meanings
– Mercutio is one of the most witting and intelligent characters
LANGUAGE IN R+J
• Comic relief - a short comic scene that releases some of the built-up tension of the play giving the audience a momentary “relief” before the tension mounts higher.
– Mercutio and his puns
– The nurse’s low-end humor (sexual punning); Being a servant she has no social etiquette
• Example: “I would say thou hads’t suck’d wisdom from thy teat” [I.iii.76]
• In the best tragedies, comic relief also provides an ironic counterpoint to the tragic action.
The Story of
Romeo & Juliet
has been retold
throughout the
centuries
SUMMARY
• Something that is becoming clear to me about Shakespeare and
Romeo and Juliet is…
– 2 sentences