ROMEO AND JULIET

Background Information

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

Lived from roughly 1564-1616.

Born in Stratford upon Avon and lived there most of his life.

Wrote 154 Sonnets and 37 known plays

Married Anne Hathaway and had three children: Susanna, Judith, and Hamnet.

DRAMA IN THE 1500S

Plays were very common during Shakespeare’s time. He was not the only famous playwright.

Plays were often performed in open squares and in play houses.

Plays were written for everyone—from the richest to the poorest.

When Shakespeare became famous, his plays were performed in the Globe Theatre in London, England.

THE ELIZABETHAN ERA

Roughly between 1558–1603.

Named after the reigning queen, Queen Elizabeth I.

This time period is also called the Golden Age of England because it marked prosperity and a rebirth of art, music, literature, culture, and new ideas.

England was heavily influenced by Italy.

LONDON AS CULTURAL CENTER

London was the center of culture.

During the 1400s, London’s population quadrupled to around 200,000 people.

Although England was experiencing a booming economy and culture, sanitation was yet to be discovered.

Disease ran rampant, infecting countless people with the bubonic plague.

SANITARY CONDITIONS

Raw sewage ran in the street.

Often people were not well nourished.

Close living quarters in the growing city contributed to the spread of disease.

Playhouses and Theatres were closed for a time during Shakespeare’s life because of disease.

LOVE AND MARRIAGE

In Shakespeare’s time, marriages were for the benefit of the families of the people involved.

Women had very little choice in who they married and were considered property of their husband once wed.

In order to marry, a woman must have a dowry (money/property brought into the marriage) which was considered her husband’s property. The better the dowry, the richer the husband.

LOVE AND MARRIAGE

It was considered very foolish for people to marry because of love.

Marriage was a financial choice, not a romantic one.

Unmarried people had to have a chaperone to be near each other; if they saw each other at all before their wedding, they were always watched.

Given this, it is surprising that Anne Hathaway and William Shakespeare married because Anne was pregnant!

LOVE AND MARRIAGE

Engaged couples would exchange pictures or small tokens of affections (including locks of hair) as a symbol of their commitment.

Single women were thought to be witches.

SUPERSTITIONS

Because most people were uneducated, superstitions were very common. The following superstitions existed in the Elizabethan era:

Sneezing allowed evil spirits to enter you, so saying “bless you” to someone protected them from spirits.

Balance was very important; imbalance was terrible.

Leaving the door open behind you, keeping a peacock's feather, a lunar eclipse, spilling salt and a cat crossing your path brought about bad luck.

SUPERSTITIONS

Many good luck charms involved the following elements: iron, silver, fire, salt, and running water.

Witches were blamed for mostly everything unexplainable -- the plague, famine, diseases and low crop yields during harvest time.

• Witches had the ability to fly using broomsticks.• Witches used a huge black pot or cauldron to make and brew

their magic potions.• Witches had the ability to change into animal forms like cats,

dogs, raven, etc.

SHAKESPEARE’S WORDS

Assassination

Amazement

Bedroom

Bloodstained

Cold-blooded

Elbow

Olympian

Mimic

Skim milk

Torture

Laughable

Gossip

Summit

Unreal

Zany

Worthless

Fashionable

Eyeball

SHAKESPEARE’S IDIOMS

All that glitters is not goldBe-all and the end-all Neither a borrower nor a lender be Break the iceRefuse to budge an inchDead as a doornail

SHAKESPEARE’S IDIOMS

Eaten me out of house and home Fancy-freeForever and a dayFull circleIt was Greek to meHeart of gold

LEGEND OF ROMEO AND JULIET

The story was not Shakespeare’s own idea.

Comes from a legend first discussed in the 1100s and 1200s.

Although who started the legend is unclear, any time it is mentioned, the legend contains the same components: two people from different families or political parties fall in love and get married behind their parent’s backs. The strain in their relationship leads them to commit suicide.

READING PLAYS

Things in italics and parenthesis are not supposed to be read aloud.

Do not read characters names aloud.

You may need to read things more than once or put things in your own words (paraphrase) for things to make sense.

Drama Terms

Soliloquy—situation in drama where a character speaks to him or herself revealing his or her thoughts, feelings, and concerns. Occasionally, other characters are present, but pretend that they cannot hear.

Aside—Words spoken by an actor directly to the audience, which are not "heard" by the other characters on stage during a play. Asides often reveal information leading to dramatic irony.

Drama Terms

Dramatic irony—the readers or viewers know something that the characters in a story or play do not know.

Foreshadowing—Hints of what is to come in the action of a play or a story.

Foil—A character who contrasts and parallels the main character in a play or story.

CHARACTERIZATION

Characterization—The way an author reveals a character to readers

Direct characterization—the author tells readers what a character is like

Indirect characterization—the author shows readers what a character is like by his or her actions or words or by the actions or words of other characters.

*Since Romeo and Juliet is a play, most of the characterization will be indirect.

Characterization

Flat characters—characters who are known by only one part of their personality (stereotypes).

Round characters—characters who have several different sides to their personality.

Static characters—characters who do not change throughout a story.

Dynamic characters—characters who change throughout a story.

Setting

The time and place of a story.

Includes time period and physical location

Conflict

Conflict—the “problem” in the story

Internal Conflict—conflict within a character (usually over a decision to be made)

• Person vs. Self

External Conflict—conflict outside of a character.• Person vs. Person• Person vs. Nature