Literature Reader Romeo and Juliet

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 5,6

Romeo and Juliet

Turn to page 45

What do you know about Romeo and Juliet?

Genres of Shakespeare's plays

In a nutshell:

• 37 plays
• 10 tragedies, 10 histories, 17 comedies

1. Tragedy: character is flawed (Look, this is what happens if ...), people die
   
2. History: based on histories of English kings
   
3. Comedy: romantic play, ends well, usually in marriage
   

What is the genre of 'Romeo and Juliet', do you think?

1. Tragedy
2. History
3. Comedy

Romeo and Juliet

• officially classified as a tragedy (a romantic comedy?)
• romance & young love, humour and witty dialogues
• written in the 1590s
• taken from Arthur Brooke's poem 'Tragical Historye of Romeus & Juliet'                                                   Interesting link:
  https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/brookes-romeus-and-juliet
  
• Shakespeare squeezed a 9-month story into a 5-day story and he changed Juliet's age (from 16 to 13). See link for other comparisons.
• other Shakesperean tragedies: Macbeth, Hamlet, Othello, King Lear. (Read what it says on p. 41/42)
  
• Tragedy = fate & destiny 

Take notes while watching

As you watch a summary of the play, make notes. What have you learned about:

The Montagues

The Capulets

Juliet

Romeo

Count Paris

Tybalt

Friar Lawrence

Which character is your favourite and why?

Key moments and facts

Act 1 scene 1: the scene is set

Act 1 scene 4: R&J meet for the first time

Act 2 scene 1 (or 2 in many editions): the balcony scene

Act 2 scene 5: R&J get married in secret

Act 3 scene 1: Romeo kills Tybalt

Act 3 scene 5: The unhappy couple are parted

Act 4 scene 1: Dangerous solution

Act 5 scene 1: Romeo finds out Juliet is 'dead' and plans suicide

Act 5 scene 3: Romeo kills Paris, drinks poison. Juliet wakes up, stabs herself to death with Romeo's knife. Montagues & Capulets are reconciled.

What are some of the important
themes of the play?

04:22-04:26

Listen to Jade's interview and jot down the important themes of the play.

Act 1 Scene 5

Watch the play and read your the lines in your reader (page 42, from 'Did my heart love till now? ...')

What is this scene about? 

02:05-02:08

Paris

02:09-02:12

Juliet's mother

Literary devices in this scene

• Sonnet (divided among Romeo's and Juliet's lines)
  
• Metaphor ('holy shrine', 'two blushing pilgrims')
• Simile ('As a rich jewel in an Ethiop's ear')
• Soliloquy (a long speech given by the speaker to himself)

The famous balcony scene

Read this extract from the famous balcony scene, in which Juliet is talking about her love for Romeo.

Shakespeare’s original version

‘Tis but thy name that is my enemy.


Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.

What’s Montague?
It is nor hand, nor foot,

Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part

Belonging to a man.
O, be some other name!

What’s in a name?
That which we call a rose
By any other word would smell as sweet.

Modern English
Only your name is my enemy.You’d be yourself even if you weren’t a Montague.
What is a Montague?
It isn’t a hand, foot, arm, face, or any other body part.
Oh, change your name!
What does a name mean?
A rose would smell as sweet
even if we called it by some other name.

00:00

THE BALCONY SCENE

Use your reader on page 47 and you will read the same extract while watching.