Before We Read
What do you already know about Romeo and Juliet?
Tragedy Characteristics of a Shakespearean Tragedy Deals with mainly one person, the tragic hero
Story is about suffering leading to the death of the hero.
Person of great importance, affecting a whole nation or empire
Tragedy: other usual elements *Hero experiences a sudden reversal of fortune.
* Fate of hero is triggered by a tragic flaw.
* Much of plot seems to happen by “chance”
* Feels as though something was wasted in the
story
* Sad ending, but there is something good at the
end.
As you read Romeo & Juliet you will
be reading both poetry and prose
The common people—and sometimes
Mercutio, when he is joking—speak in
prose.
 Most of the other characters speak in
poetry.
What is prose?
language that is not poetry: writing or speech in its normal continuous form, without the rhythmic or visual line structure of poetry “As soon as we had finished eating, Doodle and I hurried off to Horsehead
Landing. Time was short, and Doodle still had a long way to go.”
What is poetry?
literary work
written in
metrical form,
a rhythmical
composition,
verse
“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.”
iambic pentameter
• Iambic is a two syllable unit
following an unstressed/stressed
pattern
• Pentameter means each line
has 5 units/feet of iambic
rhythm
u
iambic pentameter
• For example:
I know the way to go is over there.
• How many syllables are in this sentence?
syllable syllable
1
2
• What does iambic mean again?
• So how many units or feet are there in this sentence? Iknow theway togo iso verthere. *
UNIT
iambic pentameter
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.
quickwrite:
• What is your idea of your perfect boyfriend/girlfriend?
• What is your parents’ idea of your perfect boyfriend/girlfriend?
• How are they similar? Different?
• You may bullet point or draw a Venn Diagram.
The Prologue
• Introduces the play:
• Characters
• Setting
• Ending
First Quatrain:
Two families who are both respected have an old grudge against each other. The feud is violent and citizens of Verona are killing each other.
Second Quatrain:
The families’ children fall in love and kill themselves. Their deaths are what end the feud between the two families. Third Quatrain:
For the next two hours we will watch how they fall in love and their families feud (which only their deaths could end). Final Couplet
Listen carefully and the actors will show you the whole story.
What is the tone of the prologue?
• The tone is dark and ominous or gloomy.
• “Civil blood” “death” “rage” “star‐cross’d”
“foes” “unclean” “ancient grudge”