romeo and juliet william shakespeare introduction background discussion starters menu

Romeo and Juliet William Shakespeare

Introduction

Background

Discussion Starters

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Romeo and Juliet William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet: Introduction

Does falling in love make the rest of life easier?

In Romeo and Juliet, life makes love more complicated than it should be.


The Italian town Verona is beautiful, yet nothing can hide the ugliness of the feud between its two most prominent families.

The Montagues and the Capulets hate each other.


Even though Prince Escalus has warned the families to avoid each other,

Romeo Montague joins friends who are determined to sneak into a party at the Capulet home, where he meets Juliet Capulet.


Is there such a thing as love at first sight?

Romeo and Juliet can’t take their eyes off each other.

And that’s before their romantic exchange on her balcony.


But the couple has a friend in the local priest—if only Friar Laurence can coax the families toward peace.

As happy as the two are together, neither family would be pleased to learn of their sudden love.


and even leads to a death.

But meanwhile, the feud between the families is getting worse

Can love overcome the desire for revenge?

Romeo and Juliet: Background

William Shakespeare, born in 1564, is known as the greatest writer in the English language.

Yet not much is known about the man’s early years.


• He was christened April 26, 1564.

• His subjects at Stratford Grammar School included Latin and English composition.

We do know that Shakespeare was born in Stratford-on-Avon, England.

• At 18, he married 27-year-old Anne Hathaway.

• His father was a merchant; his mother was from a prominent family.


• He regularly performed for the aristocracy, including Queen Elizabeth.

Shakespeare arrived in London in 1587 or 1588.

• By 1592, he was already a successful dramatist

•By 1599, he was a member of an acting company called Lord Chamberlain’s Men


Under the patronage of King James, the acting company was renamed The King’s Men.

Shakespeare prospered even more under Elizabeth’s successor, King James of Scotland.

During the plague outbreak of 1603, he performed for the new king in places outside London.


In addition to writing and acting, Shakespeare became a shareholder in a new London theater: the Globe. This theater

• held well over a thousand spectators

• flew flags to announce plays

• allowed spectators to stand in the yard for a one-penny fee


London theaters like the Globe provided theatergoers with entertainment they expected.

• boys playing female parts boys since women were not allowed onstage

• ceilings painted like the sky, trapdoors, wires to suggest flying

• elaborate costumes

• singing, swordplay, and acrobatics


Wordplay, bawdy jokes, and lofty language appealed to Elizabethan audiences.

• In Romeo and Juliet a prologue in sonnet form summarizes the play for the audience.

• Most lines in the play, like the lines of a sonnet, are in iambic pentameter—ten syllables of a steady unaccented/accented pattern.

• Monologues—long speeches by a single actor onstage—let the audience understand the thoughts of characters.


English has changed in the hundreds of years since Shakespeare’s writing. In his day

• true shrift meant “true confession”

• I would often meant “I wish”

• wherefore meant “why”

• Hast thou meant “Have you”


• Act I

The Elizabethan audience expected a drama to unfold in five predictable segments.

Introduction Climactic moment, resolution

Crisis, or turning point

• Act IV

• Act III

• Act II

• Act V

Rising action

Falling action


Shakespeare died on April 23, 1616.

he had written thirty-seven plays and well over a hundred and fifty poems.

By the time William Shakespeare retired from London theater life and returned to Stratford-on-Avon,

Romeo and Juliet: Discussion Starters

Discuss (1)During the 1300s in Verona, Italy—the setting for Romeo and Juliet—it was customary for a father to arrange a suitable marriage for his daughter.• Whom do you think this custom would have benefitted? • What reaction might parents have had to children unwilling to marry the person the parents chose?

Romeo and Juliet: Discussion Starters

Discuss (2)Several characters in the play try to “fix” the crisis for Romeo and Juliet by deceiving others.• If you try to make a friend’s troubles go away, are you helping or meddling?• Do lies and deception usually help a crisis or make it worse?• What kind of connection might there be between time pressure and the impulse to deceive?

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