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Romeo and Juliet
English 9 Romeo and Juliet stack; based on study guide
Term | Definition |
---|---|
Romeo | Montague; young, immature, impulsive, emotional, romantic |
Juliet | Capulet; 13, innocent, obedient, naive (at the beginning), mature, practical |
Lord and Lady Montague | Montague; Romeo's parents; noble, wealthy, high social status, equal wealth with the Capulets |
Lord and Lady Capulet | Capulet; Juliet's parents noble, wealthy, high social status, equal wealth with the Montagues |
Mercutio | Montague; Romeo's friend (18?), class clown, enjoys the spotlight, makes jokes at inappropriate times, crazy, quirky |
Benvolio | Montague; Romeo's cousin and friend, "good guy," peace keeper, loayl |
Tybalt | Capulet; Juliet's cousin, has a temper, likes fights, has anger management issues, doesn't listen to reason, hates all Montagues |
Nurse | Capulet; Juliet's nanny, has been with Juliet since birth, mothered Juliet, loyal |
Paris | Capulet; Juliet's arranged husband, older, wealthy, count (Juliet doesn't know him in the beginning but he wants to marry her anyway) |
Friar Laurence | Neutral; Monk, represents religion, wants peace, Romeo's mentor |
Prince Escalus | Neutral; ruler of Verona, doesn't like all the fighting |
Balthasar | Montague; Romeo's servant |
Friar John | Friar Laurence's fellow monk who is detained in bringing an important message to Romeo |
Blank verse | un-rhymed iambic pentameter ~Iambic pentameter: five unstressed syllables, each followed by a stressed syllable (da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM da DUM) "Thou art thyself, though not a Montague." |
Tragic Hero | Someone nobly born, may have great influence over their society. Character has a fatal flaw that leads to their own death. Although events in a tragedy are often set in motion by actions of the tragic hero, fate often plays a role. Romeo-impulsiveness |
Soliloquy | speech given by a character who is alone on stage to reveal the character's thoughts and feelings Ex: Juliet on the balcony |
Dramatic Conventions | Devices that an audience accepts as realistic even though they don't necessarily reflect the way people behave in real life Ex: the plainly visible vial; Romeo yelling about buying illegal poison |
Foil | Character whose personality or attitudes are in sharp contrast to those of another character in the same work. Foil is used to highlight the other character's traits or attitude. Ex: Tybalt and Benvolio |
Allusion | a brief reference inside the work to something outside the work that the audience is expected to recognize Ex: Queen Mab |
Comic Relief | humorous scene, incident, or speech that relieves the overall emotional intensity; helps the audience absorb earlier events and get ready for what is to come Ex: the nurse |
Aside | character's remark to the audience or another character that others on the stage aren't supposed to hear; also used to reveal character's thoughts Ex: Romeo before being noticed by Juliet in the balcony scene |
Tragedy | drama that ends in catastrophe, often death, for the main character and usually several other major characters Ex: Romeo, Juliet, Mercutio, Paris, Lady Montague, Tybalt |
Dramatic irony | audience knows something the characters don't know Ex: Juliet isn't dead |
Verbal irony | a mode of speech that implies attitudes or evaluations are opposed to what is literally expressed Ex: O, he's the courageous captain of compliments. |
Situational irony | set of circumstances that turn out to be the opposite of what is expected Ex: Juliet is expected to marry Paris and live happily ever after, but she "dies" and then commits suicide |
Author of Romeo and Juliet? | William Shakespeare |
When was Shakespeare born? | 4-23-1564 |
When did he die? | 4-23-1616 |
Where was he born? | Stratford-upon-Avon |
Who was his wife? | Anne Hathaway |
What was the old theater? | The Globe Theater |
What happened to it? | It burned down after a canon was fired on stage; the roof caught fire. |
What were plays like? | The actors were all male, the poorer people sat in the front (mosh pit style) while the wealthier people sat in raised balconies, audiences were often rowdy, like modern day concerts |
Other stage details | Actors went into the audience, groundlings were poor people who stood in the front, had no curtain or props, had no program so they had a chorus who would give the information that would have been in the program, performed during the day for the light |
Theme | "the subject of a talk, a piece of writing, a person's thoughts, or an exhibition; a topic" big idea Message or lesson the author wants the reader to learn |
Topic | "a matter dealt with in a text, discourse, or conversation; a subject." Main thing, subject What the story is about in a word or two |
What's the difference between them and topic? | A theme is universal and can be applied to everything in the story Topic is also universal, but it doesn't teach us anything; it's what the story is about |
Who did the prince lose? | Paris and Mercutio |
Who did the Capulets lose? | Juliet and Tybalt |
Who did the Monatagues lose? | Romeo and Lady Montague |