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William Shakespeare
and
The Globe Theatre
Introduction to Romeo and Juliet
William Shakespeare
• Early Life
– Born April 23, 1564 in Stratford, a market town
about one hundred miles northwest of London.
– Father – John – a glover and tanner (makes
clothes from hides), merchant
– Mother – Mary Arden – daughter of prosperous
family
– Attended Stratford Grammar School 10 hours a
day
• Studied Latin and Greek
• Read ancient classics
Shakespeare – Early Life cont.
– 1577 – possibly dropped out of school to help
father
– 1582 – married Anne Hathaway (8 years older
than him)
– 1583 – daughter born – Susana
– 1585 – twins born – Judith and Hamnet
– After twins were born – moved to London,
leaving his family in Stratford (He joined
theatrical company called the Lord
Chamberlain’s Men, which later became the
King’s Men.)
Shakespeare – Later Life
– By 1592 – he had already become an actor and
a playwright
– 1592 – 1612 – wrote 37 plays
• Romeo and Juliet written between 1594 – 1596 (one
of his earliest plays)
• Other famous works written during 1592 - 1612:
Julius Caesar, Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, and
Macbeth
Shakespeare – Later Life
• Died April 23, 1616
– 52 years old
– Buried in Stratford
– Carved over his grave:
Good friend, for Jesus’ sake forbear
To dig the dust enclosed here!
Blessed be the man that spares these
stones
And cursed be he that moves my bones.
* He has lain undisturbed to this day.
Globe Theatre
“The Wooden O”
• Theatre most closely associated with Shakespeare
and his plays
• 1599 – building of the Globe begins (renovation of
a theatre that once belonged to James Burbage,
actor-manager, in England.)
• Many say it was octagonal in shape, but some say
that the Globe may have had as many as twenty
sides.
Characteristics of the Globe
• Three stories high (corresponding to earth, heaven,
and hell)
• Large platform stage
• Dressing rooms (behind stage)
• Two doors for entrances and exits (on the inner
stage)
• Small balcony / upper stage
• Trapdoors in the floor of the main stage (for the
entrances / exits of ghosts and descents into hell.)
The Globe
• Plays were performed in the afternoon
• No need for stage lighting (since open-air)
• Very few sets (furniture, etc.)
– The stage was “set” by the language.
– “scene painting”
• “Well, this is the forest of Arden.”
• “But look, the morn in russet mantle clad…”
• Elaborate costumes
– Ex.) gold, lace, silk, and velvet
• Colorful banners
– Ex.) Heavens were painted gold
• Actors wore make-up, an abomination to the Puritans
The Globe
• Plays were often performed by all-male medieval trade
guilds, so all women’s parts were played by men. (It was
many years before women appeared on stage in English
theatre.)
• Venders offered beer, water, oranges, nuts, gingerbread,
hazelnuts, and apples (occasionally thrown at the actors)
• Three thousand spectators
– No intermission
– No restroom!
• No producer or director; the actors were in complete
control of the production.
Romeo and Juliet Background
• Shakespeare wrote this play over 400 years
ago.
• Based on a long narrative poem by Arthur
Brooke, which was published in 1562 as
The Tragicall Historye of Romeus and
Juliet.
– Brooke’s poem was also based on older Italian
stories.
Romeo and Juliet
• A young man and a nearly 14-year old girl fall in
love at first sight.
• Star-Crossed Lovers
– Romeo = son of Montague
– Juliet = daughter of Capulet
• They break the laws and marry unwisely and
against their parent’s wishes.
• The two are doomed to disaster by fate. Most
people in Shakespeare’s believed in astrology.
– They believed that the course of their lives was partly
determined by the hour, day, month, and year of their
birth (hence, “the stars” under which they were born)
Romeo and Juliet
• Tragedy
– Narrative about serious and important actions
that end unhappily
• Usually, a tragedy ends with the deaths of the main
characters
• In some, the disaster impacts totally innocent
characters
• In others, the main characters are in some ways
responsible for their own downfall
Shakespeare’s tragic plays
– Act I – Exposition
• Establishes setting, introduces some main characters, explains
background, introduces the main conflict
– Act II – Rising Action / Complications
• Consists of a series of complications that occur as the main characters
take action to resolve their problems
– Act III – Crisis / Turning Point
• Moment when a choice made by the main characters determines the
direction of the action: upward to happy = comedy or downward =
tragedy / This turning point is dramatic and tense as the forces of
conflict come together
– Act IV – Falling Action
• Presents events that result from the action taken at the turning point –
take the character’s deeper and deeper into disaster
– Act V – Climax and Resolution
• Final and greatest climax occurs – usually with the deaths of the main
characters. In addition, all loose parts of plot are tied up.
How to read Shakespeare
• Written in both prose and poetry
• Prose: ordinary speech or writing without
metrical structure (see this mostly spoken
by the common people)
• Blank Verse: unrhymed iambic pentameter
– iamb meter = unstressed syllable followed by a
stressed syllable like in the word prefer
– iambic pentameter = there are five iambic units
in each line
– Blank verse contains unrhymed iambic
How to read Shakespeare
• Couplet: two consecutive lines of poetry
that rhyme
– Often punctuate a character’s exit or signal the
end of a scene
• When reading, don’t pause at the end of
each line. Read like you are reading prose,
using the punctuation you have been given.
– End-stopped line – has punctuation at its end
– Run-on line – has no punctuation at its end
Elizabethan Language
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An, and:
Anon:
Aye:
But:
E’en:
E’er:
Haply:
Happy:
If
Soon
Yes
Except for
Even
Ever
Perhaps
Fortunate
Elizabethan Language
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Hence:
Hie:
Marry:
Whence:
Wilt:
Withal:
Would:
Away, from here
Hurry
Indeed
Where
Will, will you
In addition to
Wish