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Introductionto

Shakespeare, Drama & “Romeo and Juliet”

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Notes you will need to know…

• Be sure to take notes on…– Facts/ data on Shakespeare’s life– Facts/ data on his plays and sonnets– Details about the Globe Theater– Types of plays– Details / definitions for Tragedy– Language used in Shakespeare’s works– Details/ facts on Romeo and Juliet

Facts about Shakespeare

• Born April 23, 1564 (est.) in Stratford-upon-Avon, England

• Died April 23, 1616 (on his birthday)

• Plays= 38Comedies= 18, Tragedies= 10, Histories= 10

• Sonnets= 154• Words he invented= over 2,000• Plays made into films= 38 (all of

them)• Film versions of his plays nominated

for Academy Awards: 20• Percentage of American high schools

that require the study of Shakespeare= 90%

• Number of times Shakespeare mentions America in his plays= 1Need notes on this page!

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Shakespeare’s Life• Attended Stratford Grammar School

– Studied Greek/ Latin literature, rhetoric and Christian ethics– Left school at 15 due to family financial problems

• Married Anne Hathaway Nov. 1582 at age 18– Had two daughters and one son– Son died at age 11

• Shakespeare not happy in marriage, moves to London’s theater scene– Travels back and forth to attend to family and business

issues• Composed the most extraordinary works in history of

world drama between 1590s and 1611• Most of Shakespeare’s career unfolds during

Elizabeth I’s, the Great Virgin Queen, monarchy– This period is called the Elizabethan Age

• Age of Discovery: pursuit of scientific knowledge and exploration of human nature itself

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Pictures of Queen Elizabeth & Stratford Grammar School

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Why study Shakespeare?

• More that just one of the greatest writers in the history of the English language; he created a culture

• Invented a number of words and countless phrases that shape how we think about ourselves, and how we frame our struggles and choices

• The struggles of his characters are still relevant today:– People still fall in love– People still scheme for power– People still betray their friends– People still wonder what might have been

• His themes reveal the universal human condition:– Can we escape our destiny? – How do we know if it’s really love?– What makes a government just?

• He is universally loved and understood because he speaks to things that are eternal in humanity

• His nail-biting adventures and funny shenanigans still provoke laughter and tears

• He crosses border: Japan, Germany, Africa, the Middle East, South America and many others have found parallels from Shakespeare in their own experiences

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The Shakespeares

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Shakespeare's TheaterJames Bermage built first English Playhouse: “The Theater”

Built outside city limits of London so not restricted by local government

1592 Shakespeare shows up and his plays are performed at “The Theater”

The Theater lost its lease, so had to tear it down

Transported theater piece by piece across the Thames river

New theater becomes the Globe Theater

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The Globe Theater(see overhead sketch)

o Open-air theater– Outside for use of sunlight and props– Outside for ventilation purposes- people stunk!– No scenery, but lots of props and colorful costumes

o Seated up to 3,000 spectatorso Three stories/ three tiers of galleries for viewing plays

– Only the rich sat in covered areas in balconies– The poor stood on the ground for a penny

o Began first season in 1599 with Shakespeare’s production As You Like It

o Acting companies consisted of only men and boys– Shakespeare belonged to an acting company and was known as an

actor, not a playwright.

Need notes on this page!

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Dramatic Conventions in Shakespearian Plays

• Soliloquy- speech delivered directly to the audience while character is on stage

• Aside- brief remark to the audience about another character• Dramatic irony- audience knows something that the characters do not• Tragic flaw- flaw in character’s personality that causes their downfall or

death• Foil characters- sets of characters whose individual traits point up the traits

of the other member of the pair by being opposite• Comic relief- lighthearted or humorous scene, which follows a serious

scene• Disguises- superficial attempts to hide a character’s true identity. Disguises

used more in comedies than in tragedies• Plot-sub-plot- an element of Shakespearian drama which allows for one

main plot and at least one secondary or sub-plot• Fantasy- situation in which, when given a single impossible premise, all

things proceed logically

Definitions found on back of questions Act/ scene questions

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Shakespeare’s Plays in Three Forms– Histories (Henry IV, Henry V, Henry VI, Henry

VIII, King John, Richard II, Richard III)

• Play about England’s royal past• Very political and full of action

– Tragedies (Hamlet, Julius Caesar, Anthony & Cleopatra, King Lear, Othello, Romeo & Juliet)

• Main character learns a lesson and dies

• A flaw in the protagonists sets the events in motion

– Comedies (As You Like It, Midsummer Night’s Dream, Much Ado About Nothing, The Taming of the Shrew, Twelfth Night)

• Main character learns a lesson and falls in love

• Usually, villain is caught and the hero(ine) marries Need notes on this page!

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What is meant by Tragedy?• A Shakespearean tragedy is the

opposite of a comedy; it "...exemplifies the sense that human beings are inevitably doomed through their own failures or errors, or even the ironic action of their virtues, or through the nature of fate, destiny, or the human condition to suffer, fail, and die...." In other words, it is a drama with an unhappy ending.

Need notes on this page!

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Shakespeare’s Tragedies• The fatal flaw: Shakespeare’s tragic heroes are all

fundamentally flawed. It is this weakness that ultimately leads to their downfall. 

• The bigger they are, the harder they fall: The Shakespeare tragedies often focus on the fall of a nobleman. By presenting the audience with a man with excessive

wealth or power, his eventual downfall fall is all the more tragic. 

• External pressures: Shakespeare’s tragic heroes often fall victim to external pressures. Fate, evil spirits and manipulative characters all play a hand in the hero’s downfall.

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Historical Context of Romeo and Juliet

• 1594-95 first performance. It was first printed in 1597• Shakespeare did not invent the story-line for Romeo

and Juliet• Arthur Brooks first brought the poem Romeus

and Juliet to an English speaking audience (though this wasn’t an original either)

• Shakespeare used many of the plot details from this poem

• Shakespeare knew that the play he was writing was old and clichéd, but he continued with it anyway

Need to know major bullet points

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Plot & Themes for Romeo & JulietPLOT– Romeo and Juliet are from

two different families– Families involved in fatal

feud– Romeo and Juliet pursue

their love for each other– Lovers end up dying

THEMES– Forcefulness of love– Love as a cause of violence– Individual vs Society– Inevitability of fate

Need to take notes!

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Questions for Romeo and Juliet

• Questions to think about while reading the play…– What sorts of chaos exist in the play and

how are they brought to order (resolved)?– In what ways are the characters just as

passionate, yet immature, about love as we are?

– In what ways are the characters people we want to avoid being like?