Shakespeare: Plays & Sonnets Romeo and Juliet

Romeo and Juliet

• First Things First
• This lesson will teach you how to read and understand a play by William Shakespeare, one of the greatest playwrights in the history of the English language (and the man who invented quite a lot of it).
• These videos are not a substitute for reading Shakespeare, listening to Shakespeare, or watching Shakespeare performed.
• Seriously. Don’t be that guy.
• Background
• Written 1591 – 1595
• Based on an Italian romance, which Shakespeare expanded by adding supporting characters (Mercutio, Paris)
• First published in 1597
• One of Shakespeare’s most popular plays throughout his lifetime
• Setting
• Verona and Mantua
• Powerful Renaissance princes and wealthy families
• Feuds
• Characters
• Romeo—Young lover, member of the house of Montague
• Montague—Romeo’s father and the leader of the family
• Benvolio—Romeo’s cousin and friend
• Prince Escalus—Prince of Verona
• Count Paris—a kinsman of Prince Escalus
• Mercutio—Kinsman of Escalus, friend of Romeo
• Juliet—Young lover and only daughter of the Capulets
• Capulet—Juliet’s father and the head of the house of Capulet
• Tybalt—Juliet’s cousin
• Rosaline—Lord Capulet’s niece, beloved of Romeo (at the beginning of the story)
• Nurse—Juliet’s attendant and confidante
• Friar Laurence—A Franciscan friar, would-be peacemaker, and Romeo’s confidante
• Plot
• The brawl
• Montagues vs. Capulets
• The Prince’s ruling: peace or death
• Paris asks to wed Juliet
• The party
• Romeo, Rosaline, Benvolio, and Mercutio
• Masks
• Tybalt spots Romeo
• Romeo and Juliet meet
• The balcony scene
• Names
• Promises
• Partings
• Marriage arrangements
• Friar Laurence
• The nurse
• The wedding
• Lots and lots of fighting
• Tybalt kills Mercutio
• Romeo kills Tybalt
• Everyone argues
• Escalus exiles Romeo
• Lots and lots of angst
• Juliet is conflicted
• Romeo tries to stab himself
• Romeo flees to Mantua
• Capulet arranges a wedding
• Juliet refuses
• Friar Laurence’s plan
• Juliet drinks the potion
• Friar John goes astray
• The tomb
• Romeo kills Paris
• Romeo poisons himself
• Juliet stabs herself
• Everyone arrives too late
• Explanations
• Reconciliation alsocomes too late
• Themes
• Love—good, bad, and crazy
• Fate and chance
• Light and dark
• Time
• Dark parody?
• Major Passages
• “But soft, what light through yonder window breaks?
  It is the east, and Juliet is the sun …”

  -Act II, Scene 1, 44-64

• “O Romeo, Romeo,
  Wherefore art thou Romeo? …”

  -Act II, Scene 1, 74-78

• “From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
  A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life,
  Whose misadventured piteous overthrows
  Doth with their death bury their parents’ strife …”
• “O, I am fortune’s fool! …”
• “Then I defy you, stars.…”

  -P 5-8; II.1.131; V.1.124

• Jumping-Off Points
• How does Shakespeare play with the idea of love within this play? Is it a good thing? A bad thing?
• How does Shakespeare explore the idea of fate? Are Romeo and Juliet truly fated to die?
• How does Shakespeare assign blame for the deaths in the play?
• How does the metaphor of light and darkness play out over the course of the play?
• Is Romeo and Julieta tragedy or a dark comedy? How does it follow the usual rules of tragedy? How does it mock traditional romances?
• Why does Shakespeare never explain the source of the feud between the Montagues and Capulets?
• How does the story of Romeo and Juliettranslate to other contexts? (See West Side Story, Romeo + Juliet, High School Musical, Shakespeare in Love, Romeo X Juliet) What changes? What stays the same?
• The Secret of Understanding Shakespeare
• Watch it performed (or on film if you can’t get to a theatrical production). All of Shakespeare makes more sense when it’s spoken by actors who have lived his words and know, bone-deep, what he’s talking about. Never underestimate the power of performance. Remember that this is how Shakespeare meant his work to be seen …