Romeo and Juliet Background Quiz

Shakespere

• 1564-1616

• Lived in England during the flowering of intellectual activity known as the Renaissance

The renaissance movement

• Marked by renewed interest in science, commerce, philosophy, and the arts

  • New emphasis on the individual and the freedom of choice

• Began in 14^th century Italy and moved North and West toward England, where it reached its peak during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.

  • The Elizabethan Age: 1558-1603

  • During this time, Shakespeare began literary career

Shakespearean drama

• Shakespeare wrote 37 plays: Histories, Comedies, and Tragedies

• Contributed more words, phrases, and expressions to the English language than any other writer. 

The story itself was taken from THE TRAGICALL HISTORYE of Romeus and Juliet, written first in Italian by Bandell

Globe theatre

• Located in Central London 

• 3 story wooden structure with an open air courtyard in the center

• In Shakespeare’s day, no women belonged to English acting companies.

• Attracted an audience of both the rich and poor alike

  • Observations about human nature and universal human concerns.

The tragedy of Romeo and juliet

• Play takes place in the Italian city of Verona in the 14^th century, when Italy was not a unified nation but a group of separate city-states, each ruled by a different hereditary ruler, usually called a prince or a duke. 

• Most European marriages, especially among the upper class, were arranged by families for social and economic reasons.

• Play is about feud between two families: The Capulets and Montagues

• A love story that focuses on political conflicts

arranged marriages

• took place a a young age

• parents often made marriage plans for children long before the actual wedding ceremonies occurred, sometimes even at birth

• romantic love was not the basis of a sound marriage

• Juliet is 13, Romeo is a young man (we do not know his specific age)

Characters

The Montagues

• Lord Montague

• Lady Montague

• Romeo, son of Montague

• Benvolio, nephew of Montague

• Balthazar, servant to Romeo

• Abram, servant to Montoge

The Capulets

• Lord Capulet

• Lady Capulet

• Juliet, Daughter of Capulet

• Tybalt nephew of Lady Capulet

• Nurse to Juliet

• Peter, servant to nurse

Elements of Drama

• Act

• scene

• drama

• comedy

• tragedy

• tragic hero

• stage direction

• aside

• monologue

• soliloquy

• foil

Literary Elements

• allusion

• alliteration

• comic relief

• dramatic irony

• double entedre

• oxymoron

• personification

• pun

• blank verse

• lamb

• lambic pentameter

• rhyming couplet

• poetry vs. Prose

• sonnet

How to write Shakespere

• Italicize the title when typing, underline when hand-writing: The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet

• Parenthetical reference containing act, scene, and line numbers separated by periods

• Example: (1.2.217-24).

• If using Roman numerals, use uppercase Roman numerals for the play’s act, and lowercase Roman numerals for the scene

• Example (IV.ii56-57).

Quote’s vs block quotes

• When citing four or more lines, you will use a block quote. This is single-spaced. There are no quotation marks, and the punctuation will go at the end of the last line, then include parenthetical citation.

• When citing less than four lines of verse, use quotation marks around the quoted material, then write the parenthetical citation, and follow that with punctuation (a period if you are ending the sentence, or comma if you are continuing.

introducing the speaker (context)

• You may introduce the speaker in your own writing, or you can include the character’s name in capital letter at the beginning of the verse.

• Othello recalls, “Upon this hint I spake:/She lov’d me for the dangers I had pass’d,/And I loved her that she did pity them” (I.iii.166-168).

• “OTHELLO: Upon this hint I spake:/She lov’d me for the dangers I had pass’d,/And I loved her that she did pity them” (I.iii.166-168).

Act

Divisions within a play, much like chapters of a novel

Chorus

person or group of people who act as narrator, commentator, or general audience to the action of the play

Scene

Division of an act into smaller parts- each scene establishes a different time or place

Drama

A work of literature designed to be performed in front of an audience

Comedy

A humorous work of drama

Tragedy

Drama that ends in catastrophe (often death)

Tragic Hero

A tragic hero is a person of noble birth with heroic or potentially heroic qualities. This person is fated by the Gods or by some supernatural force to doom/destruction or at least to great suffering.

Stage Direction

italicized comments that identify parts of the setting or the use of props or costumes, gives further information about a character, or provides background information. In Shakespeare’s plays, stage directions can also appear in brackets, parenthesis, and/or half brackets.

Aside

a remark or passage by a character that is intended to be heard by the audience but unheard by the other characters in the play. The purpose is to reveal the character’s inner thoughts.

Soliloquy

an act of speaking one's thoughts aloud when by oneself or regardless of any hearers.

Monologue

a long and typically tedious speech by one person during a conversation.

Foil Character

A character whose personality or attitude contrasts with another character (usually the protagonist) in the same work

Allusion

a figure of speech that makes a reference to a place, person, or something that happened. This can be real or imaginary and may refer to anything, including paintings, opera, folk-lore, mythical figures, or religious manuscripts.

Alliteration

Repetition of consonant sounds at the beginnings of words or stressed syllables. (i.e. Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers)

Comic Relief

scene that relieves the overall emotional intensity

Double Entendre

A word or phrase with more than one meaning, usually when the second meaning is risqué.

Dramatic Irony

When the audience/reader knows something that the characters in the story do not know.

Euphemism

Substitution of a more pleasant expression for one whose meaning may come across as rude or offensive (“He passed away,” rather than “He died.”)

Oxymoron

When two opposite terms are used together (i.e. “O heavy lightness!”)

Pun

A play on words, especially those that sound alike, but have different meanings (i.e. “Ask for me tomorrow and you will find me a grave man”)

Blank Verse

verse without rhyme, especially that which uses iambic pentameter.

Iamb

 A unit in poetry consisting of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable

Iambic Pentameter

a line of verse with five metrical feet, each consisting of one short (or unstressed) syllable followed by one long (or stressed) syllable.

unstressed = shown by a half circle

stressed = shown by a forward slash

When you see a character’s lines start midway across the page, it is because they are finishing the iambic pentameter that the previous speaker started. 

example: 

Benvolio: Good morrow, Cousin.
Romeo:                                                       Is the day so young?
Benvolio: But new struck nine.
Romeo:                                      Aye me, sad hours seem long! (I.1.131-5) 

Prose vs. poetry

• When characters aren’t speaking in iambic pentameter (see above), they are speaking in prose, or “normal” language. For prose, there is no meter, no rhyme, it’s just normal sentences that go all the way to the margins. This is usually the language of comedy or of lower-class people. Poetry is reserved for nobility or for language of love. 

Example: The entire opening of the play (I.1) 

* Generally speaking, high-class characters speak in iambic pentameter; lower class characters speak in prose

Sonnet

• A sonnet is a fourteen-line lyric poem that is written in iambic pentameter. These Shakespearean sonnets have three four-line units, or quatrains, followed by a concluding two-line unit, or couplet.  The rhyme scheme for the Shakespearean sonnet is:

 ABAB CDCD EFEF GG.  

The most notable examples of a Shakespearean sonnet in The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet is in The Prologue and in the meeting of Romeo and Juliet in Act 1 Scene 5.

Here is an example from the Prologue of Act I: 

Prologue

Two households, both alike in dignity,    A

In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,    B

From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,    A

Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.    B

From forth the fatal loins of these two foes    C

A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life;    D

Whose misadventured piteous overthrows    C

Doth with their death bury their parents' strife.    D

The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love,    E

And the continuance of their parents' rage,    F

Which, but their children's end, naught could remove,    E

Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage;    F

The which if you with patient ears attend,    G

What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.    G

Rhyming couplet

Two rhyming lines at the end of the speech, signaling that a character is leaving the stage or that a scene is ending

Quatrain

A group of 4 verses/lines in a sonnet

Flag

• signified which type of play was being performed at the Globe Theatre—black for tragedy, white for comedy, and red for history

• The flag was flown high enough so most of London could see it waving from the top of the Globe. This important because the theatre was located on the outskirts of the City across the Thames River

The “Heavens”

• ceiling over the stage that protected the actors from too much sun or rain

• It also represented the sky and heavens and was painted blue with golden stars

• Actors who played angels or spirits descended from the hut on top of this “roof” to the main stage

• the hut was also used for storage and additional sound effects such as alarm bells, cannon fire, and thunder

Tiring House

• dressing and storage rooms

• actors rested here between scenes and changed into lavish costumes

• all large props were stored here

• the doors to the tiring house also served as actors’ main entrances and exits

Upper Stage

this “chamber” was used for most bedroom and balcony scenes

Galleries

• three covered seating sections

• audiences paid more to sit on these tiered wooden benches under a thatched roof to keep out of the sun and rain

• for an additional penny, a patron could borrow a cushion to sit on

Main Stage

• where the main action of the play took place, especially outdoor scenes of battlefields, forests, or cityscapes

• It was often called an a”apron” stage because audiences could sit around all three sides

• the stage was intentionally built four to five feet high so the audience could not jump and into the action

• for a larger fee, patrons could sometimes sit up on the stage next to the actors

Inner

• this stage was used mostly for indoor scenes

• it had a curtain that could be opened or closed for scene changes

Open Yard

• audiences paid one penny to stand here and watch the performance, rain or shine

• often these patrons, or groundlings, would participate in the play by cheering, shouting, or throwing snacks at the actors

Support Pillars

• these wooden pillars supported the roof and were painted to look like marble

• actors used these pillars to hide on the main stage and observe other characters while speaking in “asides” to the audience

Trap Door

• actors playing ghosts or witches could rise or descend through this door built into the main stage

• the cellarge underneath was referred to as “hell”

Entrance

• “gatherers” stood at the single entrance to collect one penny from each patron per performance

• Patrons put their pennies into a box, hence the term “box office”

• it took audiences at least half an hour to file into the theatre

Brick Foundation

the Globe’s foundation needed to be constructed of brick as it was built on wet, marshy land close to the Thames River