william shakespeare romeo & juliet. childhood parents: john shakespeare and mary arden ...
TRANSCRIPT
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
Romeo & Juliet
CHILDHOOD
Parents: John Shakespeare and Mary Arden
Birthday: April 23, 1564
Born and raised in Stratford upon Avon
YOUNG ADULTHOOD
Married Anne Hathaway in 1582
Children:• Suzanna• Judith• Hamnet
IN THE BEGINNING
Shakespeare started as an actor for the Lord
Chamberlain’s Men (London Theatre)
He was the principal playwright for them
1599 LCM built Globe Theatre where most of his
plays were performed
SHAKESPEARE WROTE:
Comedies
Histories
Tragedies• Wrote 37 plays• About 154 sonnets• But started as an actor
THE GLOBE
THE THEATRE
Plays produced for the general public
Roofless or open air
No artificial lighting, meaning all plays were
performed during the day
There was a courtyard surrounded by 3 levels of
galleries
The actors were only men and boys• Young boys whose voices had not yet changed would
play women’s roles.
SPECTATORS
Wealthy got benches
Groundlings were poorer people that stood and
watched from the courtyard (“pit”)
All but the wealthy were uneducated/illiterate
STAGING AREAS
Stage was a platform that extended into the pit
Dressing & Storage rooms in galleries behind and above the stage
Trap door: in bottom of stage, where “ghosts” entered and exited
“Heavens” where angelic beings entered and exited
No scenery
Setting was referenced in dialog
Elaborate costumes
Plenty of props
2 hours
GLOBE CONTINUED
The theatre was often closed by Queen Elizabeth I due to disease
that was spreading through London.
1613: A cannon shot during a showing of Henry VIII consumed
the theatre in flames
1614: Theatre was reopened
1643: Theatre was closed by Puritans who thought that theater
was unholy
1644: Theatre was lit aflame and completely destroyed by those
Puritans
The Flag:• Black=Trage
dy• Red=History• White=Come
dy
Blank Verse• Unrhymed verse• Iambic (unstressed
and stressed)• Pentameter (5 “feet”
to a line)• 10 syllables
WRITING
Prose• Ordinary writing
that is not poetry, drama, or song• Only characters in
the lower social classes speak this way in Shakespeare’s plays
• This was to show how the lower social class in uneducated
Written about 1595
Considered a tragedy
West Side Story (movie
and musical) based on
R&J
ROMEO AND JULIET
Drama where the central
character/s suffer disaster or
great misfortune
In many tragedies, downfall
results from• Fate• Character Flaw/fatal flaw• Combination of two
Tragic Hero: the main
character of a tragedy
TRAGEDY (SHAKESPEAREAN)
Dynamic Character: character
that changes somehow during
the course of the plot. They
generally change for the better.
Static Character: Character
within a story who remains the
same. They do not change. They
do not change their minds,
opinions, or character
throughout the play.
NEED TO KNOW VOCAB
Round Character:
character who has many
personality traits, like real
people.
Flat Characters: one-
dimensional, embodying
only a single trait• Shakespeare often uses
them to provide comic relief even in a tragedy
Character Foil: a character
whose purpose is to show off
another character• Benvolio for Tybalt
Protagonist: the main
character in the story to which
the theme in centered, “good
guy”
Antagonist: the force working
against the protagonist, “bad
guy”
Monologue: One
person speaking on
stage; however, there
may be other characters
on stage too
Soliloquy: Long speech
expressing the thoughts
of a character while
alone on stage
LITERARY DEVICES
Ditrect Address: words that
tell the reader who is being
spoken to• “A right fair mark, fair
coz, is soonest hit.”
Comic Relief: Use of comedy
within literature that is NOT a
comedy to provide “relief” from
seriousness or sadness
Aside: Words spoken, usually
in an undertone not intended to
be heard by all characters
WORD PLAY: ANY CLEVER USE OF THE DOUBLE MEANINGS OR
MATCHING SOUNDS OF WORDS
Pun: Humorous use of a word
with two meanings sometimes
missed by the reader because
of Elizabethan language and
sexual innuendo
Shakespeare LOVED puns!!
Allusion: a reference within
a work to something that the
audience is expected to
know
DRAMATIC IRONY
When the audience
knows something that
the characters do not.
Died April 23rd, 1616
52 years old
Cause of death is
unknown
HIS DEATH