A plague on both your houses

What is the first thing that comes to mind when

you think of William Shakespeare, or Romeo
and Juliet?
old and boring tragic love story
hard to understand stuck up
..two feuding families romance
Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?
.play with old costumes who? Huh?
 So about this Shakespeare..

William Shakespeare was an unknown man from

Stratford on Avon, who ended up becoming a
famous playwright in London
When he was 18 he married 26 year old Anne
Hathaway, their daughter Susanna was born 6th
months later. They also had twins, Judith and
Hamnet, but he died at age 11
He spent much of his life in London, as an actor
and author, at the Globe theater, and when he
died he left his wife the 2nd best bed in his will
 He wrote his own epitath

"Good Friends, for Jesus' sake forbear,

To dig the bones enclosed here!
Blest be the man that spares these stones,
And curst be he that moves my bones."
 Elizabethan Theaterall the worlds a
stage
In Shakespeares time, theaters were on the
south side of London, along with bearbaiting,
taverns, and some very friendly women
Theaters were sometimes closed to try to stop
the threat of plague, or because they were
immoral
All of the actors were men, it was illegal for
women to be onstageso Juliet was being played
by a teenage boy in a dresstheres a reason
Shakespeares plays have lots of talking, but not
too much kissing onstage
 You could get into the Globe theater for a
penny, and stand during the whole play, or pay
a bit more for a seat, most stood, and were
called groundlings
Food was sold, and if the play wasnt good or
exciting, the audience would heckle or throw
things at the actors
 Theater Terms
Monologue- When one person is talking, for a
long time
Ex. Mercutios Queen Mab speech
Aside- When a character is talking to the
audience, and all the other characters pretend
not to hear
Suspension of disbelief- When the audience
pretends not to notice all the stuff that is fake
or unrealistic
 A way with words
Shakespeare added over 2,000 words to the
English language in his plays, if he needed a new
word, he made one up, you may recognize
Eyeball, dwindle, watchdog, gloomy, hobnob,
swagger, rant, moonbeam, fashionable
There are also expressions he coined that are
very common today, like a heart of gold, wild
goose chase, vanish into thin air, good
riddance, break the ice, a laughing stock,
clothes make the man, dead as a doornail
He also wrote some pretty good insults
 When we are acting
You will sit in your characters seat
Keep your folder in order
When you are onstage (in the middle) you will:
- Speak loud enough to be heard
- Not have conversations with the audience
- Move if it fits in the scene, not wander around
- Stay until you are supposed to exit, then sit down
- Pay attention to the script, so you know your line is coming up
When you are the audience you will:
- be silent so we can hear the actors and know whats going on
- follow along with the script, and go onstage when it is your turn
If you cannot follow these expectations, you will start completing
extra questions, be assigned detention, or written up
 Match the quote with the characters
1. What, drawn and talk of peace? I hate the
word, As I hate hell, all Montagues, and
thee! Have at thee, coward!
2. Did my heart love till now? Forswear it,
sight! For I neer saw true beauty till this
night
3. Wisely and slow, they stumble that run
fast
A. Friar Lawrence B. Tybalt C. Romeo
 Romeo and Juliet Sources
Guess what? Shakespeare didnt come up with
the story of Romeo and Juliet all on his own!
He borrowed ideas and characters from other
stories that already existed, especially a poem
in 1562 by Arthur Brooke called The Tragical
History of Romeus and Juliet
The poem is probably Shakespeares main
source, but the poem is based on several
different Italian stories
 Theres also a story by Ovid, an ancient Roman
writer, called Pyramus and Thisbe, in which two
lovers from rival families plan to meet in secret,
but through a misunderstanding (who hasnt
thought their girlfriend was devoured by a lion?)
end up killing themselves
Shakespeare was definitely aware of the story,
because he used a version of it in one of his plays
So the moral is, you dont need the most original
idea, just to have the best, most dramatic version
of it
 And just as Shakespeare borrowed ideas to
come up with Romeo and Juliet, people have
borrowed the plays ideas to create new
entertainment
A well-known example is West Side Story, a
musical with two different gangs replacing the
feuding families
Other examples:
Romeo + Juliet (Baz Luhermans update)
Love Story (Taylor Swift)
Pretty much any story with lovers from two
different worlds (yes, Twilight),
Gnomeo and Juliet
Shakespeare in Love
Warm Bodies
 Themes, Symbols and Motifs
A theme is a main idea, or the moral or lesson
of the storythemes in Romeo and Juliet
include the power of love, passion and violence,
individuals versus society, and that you cant
fight fate
A symbol is something that stands for more
than itselfsymbols in Romeo and Juliet include
poison, roses, fire, stars, and masks
A motif is an idea or subject that occurs over
and over motifs in Romeo and Juliet include
opposites such as light vs dark, and youth vs age
 Themes
Power of love:
Obviously, love is important to the story: its why
everything happens. Romeo and Juliets love is so
powerful its more important to them than their
families, their loyalties, or even their lives
Passion and Violence:
Of course the same violent passion leads to
violence, from Tybalts death to the lovers suicide.
As strong as the love in the play is, the families
hate and anger is equally forceful
 Individual against society:
In the play, what the lovers want as individuals is in
conflict with what their families and society wants.
Juliet doesnt want to marry Paris, but her dad is
telling her she has to, and society would back him
up. (An you are mine, Ill give you to my friend)
Romeo cant just change his name and never have
to deal with his family again. The Capulets,
Montagues, and the townspeople dont want to stop
feuding or seem dishonored just because two
teenagers like each other. It takes a horrible
tragedy to get them to change.
 Can you fight fate?
At the beginning of the play, were told Romeo and
Juliet are star-crossed lovers, meaning its already
decided their love will end badly. During the play, both
lovers have bad feelings about what is going to happen,
Romeo before the party, Juliet when he leaves for
Mantua. When Romeo thinks Juliet is dead he cries I
defy you, stars! challenging fate, and planning to kill
himself so he can be with Juliet, who isnt dead. There
are many near-misses and points where things could
have so easily gone another way and ended happily, but
didnt, that it seems like their fate or destiny has already
been decided for Romeo and Juliet, and no matter what
they try, they cant change it. But still, you have to
wonder
 Symbols
Poison- the hate that is tearing apart two families, the
poisons and potions that Friar Lawrence makes and
gave to Juliet, the poison Romeo bought from the
apothecary, and money, which corrupts
Rose- Love and sweetness, gentleness, associated
with Juliet and Paris, also death
Fire- consuming passion, such as love, that is also
destructive, associated with Romeo and Juliet, anger
Stars- fate, fear of what will happen, beauty and
purity of the love between Romeo and Juliet
Masks- insincerity, hidden love, helps people break
the rules, reason Romeo and Juliet could meet, but
why they didnt tell their families
 Stars I defy you stars!

And shake the yoke of inauspicious stars , From this world-wearied flesh

Give me my
Romeo; and,
my mind when he shall
misgives die, Take him
some and cut him out
consequence in little stars,
yet hanging And he will
in the stars make the face
of heaven so
fine That all the
world will be in
love with night

Two of the fairest stars in all of heaven

Earth-treading stars that make dark heaven light
This bud of lovemay prove a beauteous flower
Rose
Symbol of love and passion
Juliet:
"What's in a name? That which
we call a rose By any other
name would smell as sweet."

Veronas summer hath not such a flower

Our bridal flowers serve for a buried corpse

Sweet flower, with

flowers thy bridal
bed I strew
The roses in thy cheeks and lips shall fade
Masks JULIET: Thou knowest the
mask of night is on my face;
Else would a maiden blush
bepaint my cheek
Give me a case to put my visage in:
A visor for a visor! what care I
What curious eye doth quote deformities?
Here are the beetle brows shall blush for me.
Mercutio
What, dares the slave come hither, coverd
with an antic face? - Tybalt

My fan Peter! Good Peter, to hide her

face, for her fans the fairer face of
the two -Mercutio
 Poison
This distilled liquor drink thou off: through all thy veins
shall run a cold and drowsy humour; for no pulse shall keep his native progress

A dram of poison Poison, I see, hath been his timeless end

What if it be a poison which the friar subtilly hath ministrd

to have me dead?
Such mortal drugs I have, but Mantuas law
is death to any he that utters them
There is thy gold- worse poison to mens souls, doing
more murder in this loathsome world than these poor
Compounds that thou mayest not sell. I sell thee poison,
Thou hast sold me none

With baleful weeds and precious-juiced flowers

Poison hath residence
 Fire
Oh, she doth teach the torches to burn bright
Love is a smoke raised with the fume
These violent delights have of sighs; Being purged, a fire
violent ends, And in their sparkling in lovers' eyes;

triump die, like fire and

powder Which, as they kiss, And fire-eyd
consume fury be my
PRINCE conduct now
What, ho! you men, you beasts, Now Tybalt,
That quench the fire of your take the
pernicious rage, With purple villain back
fountains issuing from your veins, On again!
pain of torture, from those bloody
hands Throw your mistemper'd
weapons to the ground.
 Motifs
In Romeo and Juliet its all about the opposites:
life and death, love and hate, dark and light,
Montagues and Capulets, high and low, peace
and fighting, young and old
Its full of imagery with darkness and light: ex. in
the balcony scene Juliets at a lighted window,
with Romeo in the dark garden, comparing her
to the sun. Throughout the play there are
references to darkness and light, night and day
ex. O come gentle night.. or the darkness of
the Capulet tomb
 Youth and age is another motif: Romeo and Juliet
have a passionate, teenage love (that may not be very
mature), they fall violently in love at first sight, and
wont live without each other, and feel that adults
dont understand (Juliet says old folks feign as they
were dead, unwieldy, slow, heavy and pale as lead)
Meanwhile Friar Lawrence is trying to tell them to
love moderately, Romeos parents are worried about
him, and Juliets dad wants her to marry a safe guy
he picked
But at the same time, the adults are in large part to
blame for the tragic ending: they were trying to use
the lovers for political advantage, the friar comes up
with the convoluted poison idea, and the hatred and
feuding between the adults in the families means the
lovers are afraid to tell their parents the truth
 Graffiti Activity

In fair Verona, where we lay our scene

Somewhere, in the town of Romeo and Juliets
Verona is a graffiti wall, a place where the
characters have been carving, drawing and
writing about whats important to them. You are
one of the citizens of Verona, and after the
tragedy, you are showing it to a visitor, and
explaining what all the messages mean. Then,
you are going to add three messages of your
own. (54 points)
 Cliff Notes Recap

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