1. …and a tragedy involving star-crossed lovers…
The Elements of Drama
…and a tragedy involving star-crossed lovers…

2. The Elements of Drama (Note: you will use your book to complete your notes; these next couple slides will give you a quick overview.)
A drama, or a play, involves characters facing a conflict, much like a short story or novel.
UNLIKE a short story or novel, a play is divided into ACTS, which are further divided into SCENES.
The characters’ speech, or dialogue, tells the story, as opposed to a narrator in a short story or novel.
Stage directions tell how the play is to be performed.
Sets are the physical elements that set the scene; props are movable objects actors use onstage.

3. From The Importance of Being Ernest by Oscar Wilde
ACT I
Morning-room in Algernon's flat in Half-Moon Street. The room is luxuriously and artistically furnished. The sound of a piano is heard in the adjoining room.
[LANE is arranging afternoon tea on the table, and after the music has ceased, ALGERNON enters.]
ALGERNON. Did you hear what I was playing, Lane?
LANE. I didn't think it polite to listen, sir.
ALGERNON. I'm sorry for that, for your sake. I don't play accurately - any one can play accurately - but I play with wonderful expression. As far as the piano is concerned, sentiment is my forte. I keep science for Life.
LANE. Yes, sir.
ALGERNON. And, speaking of the science of Life, have you got the cucumber sandwiches cut for Lady Bracknell?
LANE. Yes, sir. [Hands them on a salver.]
ALGERNON. [Inspects them, takes two, and sits down on the sofa.] Oh! by the way, Lane, I see from your book that on Thursday night, when Lord Shoreman and Mr. Worthing were dining with me, eight bottles of champagne are entered as having been consumed.
LANE. Yes, sir; eight bottles and a pint.
ALGERNON. Why is it that at a bachelor's establishment the servants invariably drink the champagne? I ask merely for information.
Stage directions help describe the sets or tell actors what to do.
Dialogue between characters Algernon and Lane:
Stage directions often accompany dialogue

4. Types of Drama and Dramatic Speech (See p. 783)
A tragedy shows the death of a tragic hero; a comedy has a happy ending.
Dramatists use dramatic speeches such as:
monologue soliloquy aside

5. A Tragic Pattern: How Romeo and Juliet is Built
A tragedy is a narrative about the serious and important actions that end unhappily. Usually a tragedy ends with the deaths of the main characters. Shakespeare’s tragic plays usually follow this five act pattern:
Act I
Act II
Act III
Act IV
Act V

6. Act I: Exposition: Establishes the setting, introduces some of the main characters, explains background, and introduces the characters’ main conflict.
Act II: Rising Action: The series of complications that occur as the main characters take action to resolve their problems.
Act III: Crisis/Turning Point: The moment when a choice is made by one of the main characters that determines the direction of the action—upward to a happy ending (comedy) or downward (tragedy). This turning point is the dramatic and tense moment when the forces of conflict come together.
Act IV: Falling Action: Presents events that result from the action taken at the turning point. These events usually lock characters deeper and deeper into disaster; with each event we see them falling straight into tragedy.
Act V: Climax/Resolution: The final and greatest climax occurs at the end of the play. The loose parts of the plot are tied up and the play is over.

7. Romeo and Juliet: Background
Written around 1595, Romeo and Juliet is considered one of the greatest love stories ever written.
It has been adapted into numerous screenplays and has inspired other cinematic and artistic works.

8. Romeo and Juliet: Background
Most of Shakespeare’s plays are based on stories that were already well known.
Romeo and Juliet is based on a long narrative poem written by Arthur Brooke and published in as The Tragical Historye of Romeo and Juliet. This poem is based on older Italian stories.
In the poem, the young Romeo and Juliet fall in love at first sight and are caught up in an idealized, almost unreal passionate love. Brooke preaches a moral lesson, like Romeo and Juliet had to die because they broke the law and married unwisely, against their parents’ wishes.

9. Romeo and Juliet: Background
Shakespeare instead presents the couple as “star- crossed lovers,” doomed by fate. People in that time believed in astrology, so the “stars” determined their lives. Shakespeare also had Romeo and Juliet make decisions leading to their disaster. Other characters also have a hand in the tragic ending.
Shakespeare may not have shared this belief. In his play Julius Caesar, a character questions the idea about the influence of the stars: “The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves that we are underlings.”
Fate vs. free will remains a theme authors continue to explore.
Shakespeare is considered the greatest playwright in the English language. His peer and rival, Ben Johnson, wrote, “He was not of an age, but for all time.”

10. Taylor Swift “Love Story”