The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare I will be going through a PowerPoint Presentation, it is your job to take GOOD notes. There will.

• The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

• I will be going through a PowerPoint Presentation, it is your job to take GOOD notes.

• There will be a tests on this! (you can use your notes)

What do you know…

About William Shakespeare?About the play Romeo and Juliet?

Romeo and Julietby William Shakespeare

Shakespeare wrote:ComediesTragediesHistories

Romances

The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet

by William ShakespeareWritten between 1594 and 1596.Based on a basic story known to many people of

the time.Plays then are like movies or TV today.

The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet

by William ShakespeareSeveral film versions.1968: Zeffirelli.1996: Luhrmann.Other variations including

musicals and movies “inspired by.”

At any given moment, it is in production in a theater (as a play) somewhere in the world.

The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet

by William ShakespeareThe Lurhmann (1996) version

uses Shakespeare’s original language, but sets its scene in modern times.

If you choose, you may watch this on your own, (PG-13 due to violence).

The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet

by William ShakespeareThe Zeffirelli (1968)

maintains both Shakespeare’s original language as well as an authentic setting.

This is the version we will watch as a class in order to understand the original play.

The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet

by William ShakespeareAn overview:

The SettingThe PlotThe Characters

The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet

by William ShakespeareThe Setting:

Verona, Italy(Shakespeare lived and worked in London, ENGLAND)

Why ITALY?

The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet

by William ShakespeareThe Setting:Verona, ItalySet in the late 1400s to

early 1500s, though the date is never really stated.

The ENTIRE plot of the play takes place less than a week of time.

The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet

by William ShakespeareThe Plot Basics:Two families (Capulet and

Montague) have a long standing feud.

As fate has it, the Capulet daughter (Juliet) and the Montague son (Romeo) meet at a party and fall immediately in love.

The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet

by William ShakespeareKnowing they cannot be

together, they secretly make plans to marry.

Juliet, however, is already being married off to a guy named Paris.

People start to kill each other, and Romeo ends up kicked out of Verona.

The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet

by William ShakespeareWith Romeo banished, the

crazy kids still try to find a way to get together.

Unfortunately, something goes terribly wrong, and the audience gets their tragedy...

The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet

by William ShakespeareThe CHARACTERS:

Lord and Lady Capulet (parents of Juliet)

• Anxious to get their daughter married off to a worthy gentleman (named Paris)

• In a long standing feud with the Montague Family• A distinct parenting style…

The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet

by William ShakespeareThe CHARACTERS:

Juliet Capulet

• 13 years old• To be wed to Paris any day…• Has never been in love before

The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet

by William ShakespeareThe CHARACTERS:

The Nurse

• Has raised Juliet• Has a dirty sense of humor, if you read

carefully…• Plays a crucial role in Juliet’s happiness

The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet

by William ShakespeareThe CHARACTERS:

Tybalt Capulet• Juliet’s older cousin• A chest-thumper• A “saucy princox” if there ever was one (saucy = disrespectful; princox = cocky boy)

The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet

by William ShakespeareThe CHARACTERS:

Lord and Lady Montague

• Parents of Romeo• Are in the feud with the Capulets• Not major players in the drama

The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet

by William ShakespeareThe CHARACTERS:

Romeo Montague

• A boy of 16 or 17, sometimes interpreted as old as late 20s or older

• An emotional romantic• Falls easily in and out of love

The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet

by William ShakespeareThe CHARACTERS:

The Friar Lawrence (spelling varies)

• The local religious leader• Is tired of the Feud• Plays a key role in the drama

The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet

by William ShakespeareThe CHARACTERS:

Benvolio Montague

• Romeo’s cousin• Level-headed and honest• Cares for Romeo like his own brother

The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet

by William ShakespeareThe CHARACTERS:

Mercutio• Romeo’s best friend, related to Prince• His name is based on the word “mercury” or

“mercurial” which means volatile or quick to change• An “actor’s favorite”• Watch out for his jokes…

The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet

by William ShakespeareThe CHARACTERS:County Paris• The “suitor” who is to marry JulietPrince Escalus• The Prince of VeronaApothecary• The local “pharmacist” or chemist

1.28.15

The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet

by William Shakespeare

• I will be going through a PowerPoint Presentation, it is your job to take GOOD notes.

• There will be a TEST on this Thursday! (you can use your notes)

What is Tragedy?In Shakespeare, tragedy tends to follow five stages (five acts):

1.Basic Situation: establishment of character and conflict

2.Rising Action: complications develop, culminating with a “point of no return” at which point some tragedy is all but guaranteed)

3.Climax: different than in stories; tragic climax marks the beginning of the tragic collapse

4.Falling Action: the chain of tragic events befalls the protagonist, gaining momentum and deepening the tragedy

5.Catastrophe: the fall to ruin is complete

What is Drama?• Drama is meant to be seen and heard, not read.

• We will be viewing, speaking, listening, and reading this text.

• When you read (silently or aloud) you must realize that all action was communicated through dialogue, thus you must picture what is happening.

• People speak with inflection!

The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet

by William ShakespeareThe FORM:

The whole play is written as a poem, in a form which is called “iambic pentameter.”

• An iamb is a pair of stressed and unstressed syllables, like in the word confused (con FUSED).

• Meter is a pattern of repeating “rhythm” that is present in poetry.

• Penta- means “5.”

The FORM: Inverted Syntax

Grammar was often inverted in order to make the language fit the rhythm:

He found the dagger in the dark closet.He found the dagger in the dark closet.

...becomes…

In closet dark did he the dagger find. In closet dark did he the dagger find.

The FORM: His process

• I want to say:– Wait a second, what is that light coming through

the window over there?

• Common slang:– But soft! (wait a second!)– Yonder (over there)

His process:

• I want to say:– Wait a second, what is that light coming through

the window over there?

• Creative wording:– I don’t want to just say the light is “coming

through the window…” How about, it “breaks” through the window all of a sudden and grabs my attention??

The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet

by William Shakespeare

But soft! what light through yonder window breaks?

The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet

by William ShakespeareThe FORM:Iambic pentameter=• A line of FIVE IAMBS in a row, meaning each line of

verse has 10 syllables:

But soft! what light through yonder window breaks?

The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet

by William ShakespeareThe FORM:Iambic pentameter=• A line of FIVE IAMBS in a row:

But soft! what light through yonder window breaks?

The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet

by William ShakespeareThe FORM:When the lines rhyme, Shakespeare is trying to get the

audience’s attention:• A major point has just been stated• A character is leaving the scene

When the lines do not rhyme, the poetry is called BLANK VERSE.

The Language:

Is really not all that different from modern 21st century language… but people think it is so they get intimidated and give up.

Just like in today’s vernacular (lingo), there are patterns.

The Language: Hither, thither, whither

Come hither! (hither = here)Go thither! (thither = there)To whither did she go? (whither = where)

**ither = **ere

The Language: It’s what you do…

Didst = didDoth = doDoest = does Hath = has

**th**st**est

The Language: Pronouns

Thou (you, in the subject of the sentence)Thou art a fool! …you are a fool

Thee (you, as an object)I love thee. …I love you

Thine, thy (your)In thy soul; in thine eyesMy heart is thine

The Language: Truncations and Contractions

An apostrophe indicates a missing letter, either to match the rhythm of the line or to reflect speech patterns:

O’er (over)Can’t (cannot)Truncations: words shortenedOpe your eyes

The Language: Sentences go beyondThe ends of lines.

Too many readers see each line as a“sentence” or complete thought, andtherefore are thrown off when the words they read do not make sense.In reality, these readers have notcompleted the thought, so they end upvery confused and unable to understand.

The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet

by William ShakespeareSpeaking in VERSE• Follows iambic pentameter

closely…minor variations• Sometimes words are

switched around to maintain the “beat”

• Words are sometimes contracted to get the right number of syllables

• VERSE is used in most of the play, when major characters speak.

Speaking in PROSE• Prose is unrhymed, with

no rhythm, no meter• Minor or unimportant

characters do not follow iambic pentameter

• Bawdy (dirty) humor may appear in prose instead of poetry

Photo credits:

• Shakespeare: http://www.shakespeare-literature.com/~sub/images/shakespeare.jpg• Dvd cover zeff: http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0792165055.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg• Luhrman cov: http://kilby.sac.on.ca/towerslibrary/pages/users/DVD%20-%20Romeo%20&%20Juliet

%20(Hollywood).jpg• In globe: http://slartibartfast.ultralab.net/~gina/blog/archives/DSC00461.JPG• Wedding:

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.moviebazaar.de/filmromj.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.moviebazaar.de/filmromj.htm&h=406&w=430&sz=43&tbnid=Z6B1Er4vTzXgqM:&tbnh=116&tbnw=123&hl=en&start=13&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dromeo%2Band%2Bjuliet%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D

• Map of italywww.travelplan.it/ img/veneto.jpg• pic of Verona http://www.exploitz.com/images/pprints/Stone-bridge-and-San-Giorgia.jpg