Romeo and Juliet

talking about the theme of love and ways shakespeare has portrayed it. also talking about characters. =)

this is just the start and i may add to them as we continue our study into romeo and juliet

?
  • Created by: Rebecca
  • Created on: 27-09-11 15:33

Romeo & Juliet

English Literature

Controlled Assesment 

1 of 15

Characters

The House Of Capulet

Capulet- Juliets Father. He promises Paris that Juliet can marry him.

Lady Capulet-Juliets Mother. She supports Capulet when Juliet refuses to marry Paris

Cousin Capulet-Capulets older cousin. A guest at the feast.

Juliet- Capulets 14-year-old daughter. She falls in love with Romeo and marries him in secret.

Tybalt- Juliets cousin. He kills Mercutio and is then killed by Romeo.

Nurse- Juliets Nurse. She helps Juliet marry Romeo in secret.

Sampson and Gregory-Servants. They fight with the Montagues in a brawl.

2 of 15

Characters

The House Of Montague.

Montague- Romeo's father.

Lady Montague- Romeo's mother. She dies of grief when Romeo is banished.

Romeo- Montague's son. He falls in love with Juliet and secretly marries her, but is banished when he kills Tybalt.

Benvolio- Romeo's cousin and friend. He has to report to Prince how Romeo came to kill Tybalt.

Balthasar- Romeo's friend. He takes news to Romeo when he is banished to Mantua. 

Abraham- Servant. He is involved in a brawl with the Capulets.

3 of 15

Characters

The Prince's Family.

Escalus-Prince of Verona. He banishes Romeo for killing Tybalt.

Mercutio- A relative of the prince. He is Romeo's friend and is killed by Tybalt.

Count Paris- A relative of the prince. Capulet arranges for him to marry Juliet.

Others In Verona

Friar Lawrence-A priest and Romeo's friend. He secretly marries Romeo and Juliet, and tries to help Juliet avoid marrying Paris.

Friar John-Another priest. He is prevented form delivering Friar Lawrence's letter to Romeo in Mantua.

4 of 15

Prologue.

Two households, both alike in dignity,

In fair Verona where we lay our scene,

From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,

where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.

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.

5 of 15

Prologue. 2

the fearful passage of their death-marked love,

and the continuance of their parents' rage

which, but their children's end nought could remove,

is now the two hours' traffic of our stage-

the which, if you with patient ears attend,

what here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.

6 of 15

How would Act 1 scene 1 have engaged a Shakespeare

-Violence "draw if you be men! Gregory, remember thy swashing blow"

-bawdy humour (rude) "I push Montague's men from the wall, and thrust his maids  to the wall"

-all society levels "we'll not carry coals" " the quarrel is between our masters"

-settings " a street in Verona"

-puns " my naked weapon is out"

7 of 15

Romeo- first impressions

First impressions of Romeo Montague

-he has a troubled mind. "a troubled mind drove me to walk abroad...i, measuring his affections of my own.." (Act 1, scene 1, line 114-120)

-he cries early in the morning "with tears augmenting the fresh morning's dew"

-he's secretive "but to himself so secret and so close"

-he's a bit depressed "black and portentous" "adding to clouds more clouds with his sighs"

-he's annoyed that (his love) Rosaline's beauty won't be passed on to her children."cuts beauty off from all posterity"

8 of 15

How is Romeo portrayed by Shakespeare?

In act 1, scene 1, Romeo is portrayed as a tragic hero. By making him all soppy, romantic and suffering for love, Shakespeare makes the audience fall in love with him, and endears Romeo to the audience.

The length of Romeo's parts tells us that Shakespeare wanted us to think that he was so in love with Rosaline, that he couldn't stop thinking about her even when she rejected him. "out of her favour where I am in love"

On the other hand, Romeo might just be in love with the fact he can't have Rosaline, as she has taken a vow of chasity. " she hath Dian's wit, and in strong proof of chasity well-armed, from love's weak childish bow she lies uncharmed"

9 of 15

How does Shakespeare present love in Act 1, Scene

Shakespeare presents love as a perplexing idea, and that it's just an emotion used to cause strife. he shows this by, in the prologue, sing the words "star-crossed lovers take their life". This suggests that the love has caused so many problems for Romeo and Juliet that they decide to end it all and commit suicide.

On the other hand, Shakespeare also suggests that, to the people of Verona, love is just a game. He shows this by getting Sampson and Gregory to joke about sex, one of the ultimate forms of love, before the fight starts. " Me they shall feel while I am able to stand- and 'tis known I am a pretty piece of flesh" is a quotation that suggests that Sampson is just interested in ****** the women, whilst Romeo is stuck crying over the one woman he cannot have. Shakespeare uses juxtaposition to emphasise the difference between the two, and that it doesn't matter who you are, you can only win or lose ust like in any game.

10 of 15

Meeting Juliet.

-Juliet's nurse is more maternal over Juliet than her own mother. The nurse has raised her from birth. "...the prettiest babe that e'er I nursed."

- She is very obedient. " Than your consent" "it is an honour that I dream not of"

-Her maternal bond with the Nurse and not her mother makes Lady Capulet scared to be in the same room as her alone "...Nurse, give leave a while- we must talk in secret. - Nurse, come back again. I have remembered me, thou's hear our counsel"

-Juliet is expected to be married and to have kids. " younger than you, here in Verona, ladies of esteem, Are already made mothers"

11 of 15

Types of Shakespearean verse

-Blank verse- poetry that doesn't rhyme

-rhyming verse- poetry that does rhyme

-prose- just ordinary speaking.

If a character speaks in prose, they are not classed to be important.

If a character speaks in blank verse, they are generally important characters that don't mean much other than to aid the play.

If a character speaks in rhyming verse, then they are very important and vital to the plot of the play.

12 of 15

How does Shakespeare use linguistic devices to com

In act 1, scene 5, Shakespeare uses linguistic features to communicate the fact Juliet is the most beautiful person Romeo has ever seen to the audience. He does this by using juxtaposition to emphasise how beautiful she is. E.G. "...a snowy dove trooping with crows" tells us that she is the beautiful light bird living with dull and sullen people around her. 

 O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright! 
    It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night 
    Like a rich jewel in an Ethiope's ear; 
    Beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear! 
    So shows a snowy dove trooping with crows, 
    As yonder lady o'er her fellows shows. 
    The measure done, I'll watch her place of stand, 
    And, touching hers, make blessed my rude hand. 
    Did my heart love till now? forswear it, sight! 
    For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night. 

13 of 15

a hidden sonnet...?

If I profane with my unworthiest hand 
    This holy shrine, the gentle fine is this: 
    My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand 
    To smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss.
    Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much, 
    Which mannerly devotion shows in this; 
    For saints have hands that pilgrims' hands do touch, 
    And palm to palm is holy palmers' kiss. 
    Have not saints lips, and holy palmers too? 
    Ay, pilgrim, lips that they must use in prayer. 
    O, then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do; 
    They pray, grant thou, lest faith turn to despair. 
    Saints do not move, though grant for prayers' sake. 
    Then move not, while my prayer's effect I take. 

14 of 15

a hidden sonnet...?

Hidden in the play, Shakespeare has given Romeo and Juliet a sonnet to recite when they first meet at Capulet's party.

The sonnet shows that the two of them have an immediate bond together, from when they first meet.

It starts off as them both having a quatrain, then they split the next quatrain and so on, until, in the final couplet, they each have a line to say, as if saying one line of a couplet makes us think that they are now a couple.

The iambic pentameter also has a part to play as the constant 10 beats may represent the heartbeat of the couple speeding up when they meet, as if to say that this is love at first sight.

Sonnets generally have a love/death theme, so Shakespeare may have put it in there to say that from this moment on their lives are entwined as they fall in love, and that bond that they created will follow them and carry the death theme as they die together.  It reinforces the 'from this moment on we are doomed lovers' idea first mentioned in the prologue of act 1, scene 1.

15 of 15

Comments

Krishanka

Report

This has been really helpful thank you

Similar English Literature resources:

See all English Literature resources »See all Romeo and Juliet resources »