1. Shakespeare A Brief Biography The Globe Theater
Themes, Motifs, and Symbols in Romeo and Juliet
Dramatic Terms

2. Shakespeare: A Brief Biography
Born in April 1564 at Stratford-on-Avon
John Shakespeare (father)
tanner, glover, dealer in grain
town official (alderman, and later mayor)
Mary (mother)
daughter of Robert Arden, a prosperous gentleman-farmer.

3. Shakespeare: A Brief Biography
Attended the Stratford Grammar School
Did not go to Oxford or Cambridge

4. Shakespeare: A Brief Biography
Married Anne Hathaway in 1582
Three children born: Susanna, Judith, and Hamnet

5. Shakespeare: A Brief Biography
By 1590, he was an actor and playwright
Leader of the Lord Chamberlain’s Men and the King’s Men
died April 23, 1616

6. Shakespeare: A Brief Biography
He was buried in Stratford; the inscription on his tombstone reads. . .

7. Shakespeare: A Brief Biography
“Good Friend, for Jesus’ sake, forbear
To dig the dust enclosed here;
Blest be the man that spares these stones
And curst be he that moves my bones.”

8. Shakespeare: A Brief Biography
Author of 37 plays and 154 sonnets
Robert Greene, a critic, attacked Shakespeare, a mere actor, for writing plays.
He acted before Queen Elizabeth in 1594.
The exact year in which William Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet is unknown, but it is definitely one of his earlier works, and one of only two tragedies written in the period from 1590 to 1595

9. Romeo and Juliet Romeo and Juliet is as much about hate as love
Although Romeo and Juliet is considered one of the world’s greatest love stories, it can be argued that the love story is only a vehicle for the resolution of the story about hate, that is, the feud between the two families.

10. Romeo and Juliet
The plot was based on a fourteenth-century Italian short story, or novella, written by Matteo Bandello, that included elements of history, tradition, romance, and fable.

11. The Globe Theater
He wrote his plays to be performed in the Globe Theater.
The only account we have of the Globe is from a diary of a Swiss doctor who visited London and crossed the Thames River to see a play in a theater with a thatched roof.

12. The Globe Theater
It was built in 1599 and burned down 14 years later in 1613.
It was an 8 sided building with a central yard.

13. The Globe Theater Spectators’ price of admissions was
one penny - to stand in yard around stage (these were called the groundlings)
two pennies - to sit in 2nd and 3rd floor galleries
three pennies - to sit in the first floor galleries

14. The Globe Theater Stage 1/3 of yard was filled with 6ft high platform
no curtain
no artificial lighting
back wall had at least two doors
balcony was used for hilltops, walls of cities, or second story scenes.
trapdoors were used to raise or lower actors and props.

15. The Globe Theater Take a tour of the new Globe Theater. . . .
Shakespeare's Globe Theatre

16. Themes in Romeo and Juliet
Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work.

17. Themes in Romeo and Juliet
1. The Forcefulness of Love
The most famous love story in the English literary tradition
Focus on romantic love
Love as overpowering force
Family
Friends

18. Themes in Romeo and Juliet
What is love?
Religious
Magical
Get an 8 year old’s definition here
Love resists metaphors

19. Themes in Romeo and Juliet
Love as a Cause of Violence
Hate, Violence, Death, Love?
Love is blinding. . .

20. Themes in Romeo and Juliet
The Individual Versus Society
Romeo and Juliet against. . .
Family
Law
Religion
Honor

21. Themes in Romeo and Juliet
The Inevitability of Fate
Straight path or series of crossroads?
“Star-crossed Lovers”
Feud
Series of Unfortunate Events
Bad Timing

22. Motifs in Romeo and Juliet
Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, or literary devices that can help to develop and inform the text’s major themes.

23. Motifs in Romeo and Juliet
Light/Dark Imagery
Night/Day
Night = Good/Evil?
Day =Evil/Good?
Provides contrast, hints at alternatives

24. Motifs in Romeo and Juliet
Opposite Points of View
Mercutio’s POV
Servants’ POV
Nurse
Peter
Musicians

25. Symbols in Romeo and Juliet
Symbols are objects, characters, figures, or colors used to represent abstract ideas or concepts.

26. Symbols in Romeo and Juliet
Poison
“Virtue itself turns vice, being misapplied, And vice, sometimes by action dignified.”
Tendency to “poison” things

27. Symbols in Romeo and Juliet
Thumb-biting
An insulting gesture
A juvenile, vulgar display
Meaningless
Foolishness of entire
Montague/Capulet feud
Stupidity of violence
in general

28. Symbols in Romeo and Juliet
Queen Mab
Brings dreams
Confirms vices: greed, lust, violence.
Is total nonsense
Fairy pulled by “grey-coated gnat”
Tiny, Insubstantial
Just like the dreams/desires/fantasies of people

29. Shakespearian Drama
Tragedy: A drama that ends in catastrophe—most often death—for the main character and often for several other important characters as well
Tragic Hero: The main character, someone who is nobly born and has great influence in his or her society. This character has weakness or errors in judgment (Tragic Flaws) that lead to his or her downfall. Fate may play a role in the course that events take.

30. Shakespearian Drama
Comic Relief: A humorous scene, incident, or speech that relieves the overall emotional intensity in the play. Comic relief helps the audience absorb the tragic events in the plot of a play.

31. Shakespearian Drama
Allusion: A brief reference, within a work, to something outside the work that the reader or audience is expected to know. Many of Shakespeare’s allusions are to mythology or the Bible.

32. Shakespearian Drama
Foil: A character whose personality or attitudes are in sharp contrast to those of another character in the same work. This highlights the other character’s traits

33. Shakespearian Drama Soliloquy and Aside:
A Soliloquy is a speech made by an actor alone on stage to let the audience know what is on that character’s mind.
An Aside is a character’s remark to the audience or to another character that others on stage aren’t supposed to hear. The purpose of an aside is to reveal that character’s thoughts.

34. Shakespearian Drama
Blank Verse: Unrhymed lines of iambic pentameter. Shakespeare wrote all of his plays in blank verse.

35. Shakespearian Drama Example of Blank Verse ~ / ~ / ~ / ~ / ~ /
~ / ~ / ~ / ~ / ~ /
But soft.|What light| through yon|der win|dow breaks?
~ / ~ / ~ / ~~ / ~ /
It is| the east|, and Jul|iet is |the sun!