1. Romeo And Juliet

2. Who is Shakespeare? Read the article on Shakespeare
Complete the Fill in the Blank handout

3. An Introduction to Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet is based on Arthur Brooke’s long narrative poem the Tragicall Historye of Romeus and Juliet (1562).
The play has a highly moral tone: disobedience, as well as fate, leads to the deaths of two lovers.

4. Tragedy
Shakespeare’s tragedies also follow a pattern that would have made sense to his audience.
Elizabethans believed that people’s decisions and mistakes always had consequences, and that people sometimes had to pay a high price for their mistakes.
In Shakespeare’s tragedies, the main characters make decisions that upset the proper order of their world and so affect them and everyone around them. The situation is resolved only when others learn lessons from the main characters’ deaths.

5. Why we read…
So why do we still read plays like Romeo and Juliet? When Shakespeare’s world was so different from ours, what can we learn from his plays?
Well, the plays are not only great, powerful stories—they also teach lessons about life that apply to people in all cultures and time periods, and those lessons can help us when we come across hard times in our own lives.

6. Keep in Mind:
Don’t be alarmed by the old-fashioned language: this is really a play about people who are a lot like us, and the difficult words, when you look at them carefully, express emotions anyone can understand.
And remember, the play is POETRY: it’s not supposed to be written exactly the way people talk. The poetry is part of what makes it beautiful and powerful—and worth reading.

7. Five Act Structure

8. Reading the Play
Shakespeare’s plays were meant to be performed—they were some of the most popular entertainment of their time.
DIALOGUE: A conversation between two characters. Because of the minimal props and scenery,
the action in Shakespeare’s plays had to be conveyed through words and conversations.

9. Reading the Play
Monologues: A long, uninterrupted speech that a character speaks in front of other characters
Soliloquy: Sometimes a character will give a long speech all by herself, revealing her secret thoughts to the audience.
Aside: Sometimes a character will just make a brief comment to the audience that the other characters don’t hear.

10. Marriage
In Shakespeare’s day, marriages were generally contracts set up by the parents.
When Juliet’s parents arrange a marriage for her, it seems strange to us; Shakespeare’s audience would have thought it was completely normal.

11. So Who’s Who ? Romeo and Juliet
Shakespeare’s plays can have LOTS of characters. Let’s try to get them straight in our minds…
First of all, all of the characters in
Romeo and Juliet
are arranged around a central conflict between two rival families: the Montagues and the Capulets.

12. The Montagues Romeo Montague Romeo’s Dad Lady Romeo’s mother Mercutio
best friend
Benvolio
Romeo’s cousin

13. The Capulets juliet Capulet Juliet’s father Lady Mother Tybalt cousin
Nurse
nanny

14. The Peacemakers: Friar Lawrence: The Prince of Verona:
This ruler tries to mediate between the feuding families.
He is pretty tired of all the bloodshed caused by their “ancient grudge.”
Friar Lawrence:
This religious leader is respected as a holy man by both sides, and would like to see them reconciled.
As a friar, he’s interested not only in religion, but also in medicinal herbs—which becomes important later.

15. Sonnet A poem consisting of 14 lines.
Typical rhyme scheme is abab cdcd efef gg
Iambic pentameter
The prologue is spoken in the form of a sonnet.

16. Romeo and Juliet Act I
As we watch Act I, answer the questions

17. Act I Prologue
As we close read through the prologue

18. Act I Scene I
Sampson and Gregory, Capulet servants begin a fight with Montague servants.
Benvolio tries to make peace.
Tybalt makes things worse.
The Prince restores order and threatens death if another fight takes place.
Romeo is sad because the lady he loves does not love him.

19. Act I Scene II Capulet says Paris can marry Juliet, if she agrees.
Lord Capulet plans a party, and invites eligible men, so Juliet can make a decision about Paris.
Romeo is invited to the party by an illiterate servant that he helped. He wants to go, so he can see Rosaline.

20. Act I Scene III Nurse and Lady Capulet discuss Juliet’s age.
Juliet is asked to consider marrying Paris.

21. Act I ScENE IV
Romeo is reluctant to enjoy the party, despite Mercutio's efforts

22. Act I Scene V Capulet servants prepare for the celebrations.
Lord Capulet welcomes guests, he remembers his youth.
Romeo catches sight of Juliet and is entranced.
Capulet scolds Tybalt for seeking a fight. Tybalt leaves the party.
Romeo and Juliet meet, they kiss and they learn their families are enemies.

23. Act I Summary
On the back of your paper, write a 4-5 sentence summary of Act I.
Include where the Act takes, who was in the Act, what took place.

24. Act II Scene I
Romeo climbs over a wall in the Capulet garden, so he can talk to Juliet.

25. Act II Scene II
Juliet appears on the balcony, she thinks she is alone and reveals her love for Romeo in a soliloquy.
Romeo stands below, listening and then speaks to her, revealing his love.
Romeo and Juliet make plans to get married the next day.

26. Act II scene III
Romeo goes and visits Friar Laurence and tells him he loves Juliet, and asks him to marry them.
The Friar agrees to marry them, hoping that this will end the family feud.

27. Act II Scene IV
The nurse finds Romeo and he gives her a message for Juliet. Telling Juliet to meet him at Friar’s cell, so that they can be married.

28. Act II Scene V Juliet waits impatiently for the Nurse to return.
Nurse tells Juliet that if she wants to marry Romeo then she needs to meet him at Friar Laurence's cell.

29. Act II Scene VI
Rome and Juliet meet in Friar Laurence's cell and they get married.

30. ACT III
Romeo refuses to fight Tybalt, so Mercutio and Tybalt end up fighting and Romeo tries to stop them multiple times. Tybalt ends up killing Mercutio. Romeo and Tybalt fight and Romeo kills Tybalt.

31. Act III Continued…
The Prince has Romeo exiled (banished) from Verona for killing Tybalt. Juliet finds out from the Nurse that Romeo killed Tybalt.

32. Act III Continued…
Friar Laurence and Nurse make plans for Romeo to spend his last with Juliet before he has to leave Verona. The next morning, Lady Capulet finds Juliet crying , and tells Juliet she has good news. Lady Capulet asks Juliet to marry Paris in three days, but Juliet refuses.

33. Act III continued…
Lord Capulet becomes angry when he finds out that Juliet refuses to marry Paris., and tells Juliet that if she does not marry Paris he will disown her and banish her from their home. The Nurse advises/tells Juliet it would be wise to marry Paris. Juliet tells the nurse that she is going to go visit Friar and confess her sins.

34. Act IV
Paris is with Friar Laurence and is planning his wedding to Juliet. Juliet also visits Friar and ask him to what she can do about marrying Paris. He creates a plan for Juliet to fake her death, so she does not have to marry Paris. Juliet goes home and tells Lord Capulet that she will marry Paris.

35. Act IV
Later Juliet takes a potion that is to make her appear “dead”. She hopes that when the potion wears off that she will be with Romeo. The next day (the morning of her wedding to Paris) Nurse finds Juliet and she thinks she is dead.

36. Act V
Romeo receives word from his servant that Juliet is dead. Romeo visits a druggist and buys poison Romeo leaves and goes to Verona to Juliet’s tomb. When he sees Juliet dead, he takes the poison, so that he can be dead too like Juliet.

37. Act V
Friar Laurence arrives at the tomb to wake up Juliet, and he finds Romeo is there and he is dead. ( add this) He wakes up Juliet and she finds Romeo dead. Seeing Romeo is dead, she grabs a dagger and kills herself. At the funeral Prince tells the families that because of their hate and because of Romeo and Juliet’s love for each other they were killed, and everyone is being punished because of their hate. ( add this at the bottom of the page)