1. William Shakespeares Romeo & Juliet Background notes about William Shakespeare and the play

2. William Shakespeare

Born in 1564 in Stratford, England

Died in 1616 on his birthday

Nickname- The Bard

Married Anne Hathaway and had three children.

3. William Shakespeare

He worked as an actor, a poet, and a playwright.

He thrived as a playwright during the monarchs of Elizabeth I and James I.

Founded and wrote plays for the theatrical company The Lord Chamberlains Men

4. 16th-century Elizabethan Theatre

Religious groups condemned theater for the immorality in the plays.

All of society attended the theater, including royalty.

Plays were meant to be performed-- not seen as literature, therefore only rough copies of Shakespeares plays survive today.

Only men were actors at the time, even for female roles.

5. The Globe

Shakespeares theater group constructed The Globe, an open-air round theatre.

The original theatre burned in 1613.A new Globe Theatre was built in London in 1997.

6. Romeo and Juliet

Romeo and Julietwas written in Elizabethan English circa 1595.

Shakespeare derived the plot from another play, which was common at the time.

Like his other works, this play was celebrated for its experimental and exciting language.

This was one of his first tragedies; he had mainly written comedies until this time.

• Tragedy- a play dealing with tragic events; usually has an unhappy ending, culminating in the main characters downfall

• Comedy- a humorous play where the characters triumph over adversity

7. Romeo and Juliet

This play is an unusual tragedy becauseRomeo and Julietis about love.

Shakespeare had a flair for mixing comedy, tragedy, and romance in his writing.

At the time, marriage was not always viewed as a result of love.People married for reasons other than love.

8. Iambic Pentameter

Shakespeare wrote in iambic pentameter.

• Iambic pentameter- a type of meter with 10 syllables per line (1 unstressed syllable,

• 1 stressed syllable[5x] in each line)

• iamb= footpent= 55 feet per line

9. Iambic Pentameter

This type of meter was originally used in dance and by actors to remember lines in theatre.

• The regular rhythm helps dancers keep the beat when dancing and the actors keep the beat when speaking.

When lines in iambic pentameter do not rhyme and are not grouped in stanzas, theyre called blank verse.

10. Rhyme Scheme

Rhyme scheme is the ordered pattern of rhymes at the ends of the lines of a poem.

• Letters of the alphabet are used to assign the pattern, e.g.,aabbcc.

11. Sonnet

A sonnet is a fourteen-line rhyming poem in iambic pentameter.

Shakespeares sonnets contain three four-line stanzas (quatrains) and one couplet.

The rhyme scheme for a Shakespearean sonnet isabab cdcd efef gg .

The chorus, or narrator, inRomeo and Julietspeaks in sonnets.

In Romeo and Juliets first meeting, their dialogue is a sonnet.

12. Themes

A theme is a storys insight about life.

Themes inRomeo and Juliet :

• The Power of Love

• Love vs. Family

• Family Ties

• Revenge

• The Power of Attraction, specifically of opposites

• Arranged Marriage

13. Motifs

A motif is a recurring element that usually relates to one of the storys themes.

Motifs inRomeo and Juliet :

• Young/Old

• Love/Hate

• Wisdom/Passion

• Light/Dark

• Night/Day

• • All the motifs are opposites of one another.

14. Foreshadowing

Foreshadowing is the use of hints to suggest what will happen later in the story.

• Shakespeare uses foreshadowing throughoutRomeo and Julietto provide clues about the fate of the characters in the play.