Shakespeare's "Sonnet 18"and Romeo and Juliet Study Guide
**Review also the class web pages on Romeo and Juliet, Sonnets, Shakespeare, and Drama Terms.
**Here is a great link to a Quizlet reviewing drama terms and Romeo and Juliet: https://quizlet.com/16788910/eoct-literary-terms-for-william-shakespeares-romeo-juliet-flash-cards/
Author: William Shakespeare
Key Facts about Romeo and Juliet
Full Title: The Most Excellent and Lamentable Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet
When Written: early to mid-1590s
Where Written: England
When Published: 1597
Literary Period: The Renaissance (1500-1660)
Genre: Tragic drama
Setting: The Italian cities of Verona and Mantua during the Renaissance (around the fourteenth century).
Historical Context **See the notes on our class web page for Romeo and Juliet for Historical Context.
Events in History at the Time the Play Was Written
Shakespeare was profoundly influenced by the events that occurred around him while he wrote Romeo and Juliet. Episodes of extreme violence and bitter clashes of ideologies created a sometimes dark atmosphere in England. In Romeo and Juliet Shakespeare illustrated the tragic consequences of feuding and war between rival factions, a message that his Elizabethan audience could surely understand. Perhaps this relevance to its audience explains why Romeo and Juliet emerged as one of Shakespeare's most popular plays.
England in the Elizabethan Age
Queen Elizabeth I set the tone for the Elizabethan Age, which was both a violent and a progressive era in English history. Under Elizabeth, the third Tudor monarch, England achieved prominence as a world power and its citizens brimmed with national pride. In 1588 the Spanish Armada mounted an invasion against England but was destroyed with the help of a sudden storm in the English Channel. The unlikely defeat of Spain's powerful navy bolstered Elizabeth's popularity and suggested to some of her supporters that her reign was divinely ordained.
But not all citizens supported the Queen. Although a thirty-year feud between rival royal bloodlines, the Yorks and Lancasters, had ended in 1485, a new rivalry between the Stuarts and Tudors emerged. Elizabeth, a Protestant, was challenged by both the Catholic Stuarts and the Puritan reformers and was beset by plots to unseat her from the throne. Her cousin Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, was beheaded because she posed a threat to Elizabeth. The Earl of Essex, a one-time court favorite, was similarly executed for plotting her overthrow. Because Elizabeth was unmarried, the question of succession loomed large during her reign and pitted rivals to the throne against one another.
The Plague
The bubonic plague struck England in 1592 and destroyed ten percent of the population. The plague, coupled with revolts in Ireland and Scotland and challenges to the throne by rival political and religious groups, produced tragedy and death on a broad scale. Shakespeare lived in London during this time and was forced to leave the city for at least one year when the epidemic hit and all theaters were closed. His knowledge of the deadly impact of the plague, coupled with his understanding of the family rivalries at court, where he often performed, allowed him to comment with authority on similar events that took place in fourteenth-century Italy.
Romance and Tragedy
In addition to violence and intrigue, the Elizabethan Age was marked by romance. As a young unmarried woman in a position of great power, Elizabeth was constantly surrounded by suitors. She had an abundance of court favorites who competed for her affection, and her love life generated speculation and interest throughout Europe. Because of her unmarried status and her great achievements in office, Elizabeth was highly romanticized by the English, and it was said that she came to regard the country as her spouse. Her beauty (though apparently exaggerated) and political shrewdness were greatly touted. Many named their children after her, and some even constructed their homes in the shape of an "E" in her honor. An avid patron of the arts, Elizabeth was appreciated by artists and playwrights such as Shakespeare, who staged performances at court for her regularly. Her interest in romance, tragedy, comedy, and history greatly influenced the literature of her era.
Historical Context Terms/Concepts
· Renaissance
· Cosmopolitan
· Merchant Class
· Printing Press
· Based on the short documentary we watched and took notes over, what was life like when Shakespeare was living and writing? List a few major changes happening in society. How are these changes reflected in the play? Our class webpage for this text links to the documentary.
Literary Terms/Concepts:
***Be sure to review the student presentations posted in our class discussion that highlight how Shakespeare uses the below drama devices in the play.
· Diction
· Dialogue
· Alliteration
· Personification
· Simile
· Imagery
· Metaphor
· Extended Metaphor
· Oxymoron
· Figurative Language
· Connotation
· Denotation
· Analyze
· Foreshadow
· Archetype
· Drama
· Shakespearean Tragedy (and Comedy)
· Dramatic Irony
· Character Trait
· Character motive/motivation
· Tragic Hero
· Foil
· Pun
· Chorus
· Shakespearean Sonnet
· Stage Directions
· Act
· Scene
· Setting
· Monologue
· Prologue
· Soliloquy
· Aside
· Rhyme & Rhyme Scheme
· Line
· Stanza
· Quatrain
· Couplet
· Iambic Pentameter
· Iamb
· Meter
· Rhythm
· Speaker
· Symbolism
· Theme (what are the main themes in the play? How is the theme revealed in the play’s actions, characters). *See the notes on theme on the class website.
Love/Hate
Fate
Youth v Older Generation/Authority
Moderation
Be able to Apply Knowledge of Literary Technique:
Be able to Analyze Character Traits of Main Characters *Be able to read an excerpt from the play and discuss a character’s motivations, personality, and where the scene fits into the plot or helps to develop a theme.
Be able to Analyze a Poem/Sonnet
Be able to Read/Interpret a Play/Drama
Be able to Paraphrase
Be able to Identify Literary Technique in a Literary Text
Be able to punctuate dialogue
Be able to write a level 4 narrative
Foot
A metrical unit composed of stressed and unstressed syllables. For example, an iamb or iambic foot is represented by ˘', that is, an unaccented syllable followed by an accented one. Frost's line "Whose woods these are I think I know" contains four iambs, and is thus an iambic foot.
Meter
The measured pattern of rhythmic accents in poems.
Rhythm
The recurrence of accent or stress in lines of verse.
Iamb
An unstressed syllable followed by a stressed one, as in to-DAY.
Iambic Pentameter
A type of meter that has 10 syllables in a line of poetry.
Imagery
Language used to represent objects, actions and ideas in such a way that it appeals to our physical senses. Usually it is thought that imagery makes use of particular words that create visual representation of ideas in our minds. The word imagery is associated with mental pictures. However, this idea is but partially correct. Imagery, to be realistic, turns out to be more complex than just a picture. Read the following examples of imagery carefully:
It was dark and dim in the forest. – The words “dark” and “dim” are visual images.
The children were screaming and shouting in the fields. – “Screaming” and “shouting” appeal to our sense of hearing or auditory sense.
He whiffed the aroma of brewed coffee. – “whiff” and “aroma” evoke our sense of smell or olfactory sense.
The girl ran her hands on a soft satin fabric. – The idea of “soft” in this example appeals to our sense of touch or tactile sense.
The fresh and juicy orange is very cold and sweet. – “ juicy” and “sweet” when associated with oranges have an effect on our sense of taste or gustatory sense.
Stanza
A division or unit of a poem that is repeated in the same form--either with similar or identical patterns or rhyme and meter, or with variations from one stanza to another.
Quatrain (4 lines)
A four-line stanza in a poem. A Shakespearean sonnet contains three quatrains followed by a couplet.
Couplet (2 lines)
Two successive rhyming lines in a verse and has the same meter to form a complete thought. It is marked by a usual rhythm, rhyme scheme and incorporation of specific utterances.
“The time is out of joint, O cursed spite
That ever I was born to set it right!”
Rhyme
The matching of final vowel or consonant sounds in two or more words. The following stanza of "Richard Cory" employs alternate rhyme, with the third line rhyming with the first and the fourth with the second:
Whenever Richard Cory went down town,
We people on the pavement looked at him;
He was a gentleman from sole to crown
Clean favored and imperially slim.
Rhyme Scheme
The pattern of rhyming words that appears at the ends of two or more lines of poetry.
Sonnet
A fourteen-line poem in iambic pentameter. The Shakespearean or English sonnet is arranged as three quatrains and a final couplet, rhyming abab cdcd efef gg. The Petrarchan or Italian sonnet divides into two parts: an eight-line octave and a six-line sestet, rhyming abba abba cde cde or abba abba cd cd cd.
Comedy
A drama that ends happily for the main characters
Protagonist
The central character in a drama
Antagonist
The force working against the protagonist
Foil
A character whose personality contrasts sharply with another character
Soliloquy
A speech by a character alone on stage
Aside
A remark to the audience that reveals a character's private thoughts
Dramatic irony
A situation where the audience knows more than the characters
Comic relief
A humorous scene or speech intended to lighten the mood
Allusion
A reference within a work to something the audience is expected to know
Pun
A joke that results from multiple word meanings
Tragic hero
The main character of a tragedy who fails or dies due to a character flaw
Tragic flaw
The character flaw that causes the downfall of a tragic hero
Monologue
A speech spoken by a single character
Metaphor
A comparison between two unlike things
Simile
Comparison that uses like, as or than