ROMEO & JULIETTHE TRAGEDY OF

SETTING• The play takes

place in Verona.

Verona is located in Italy. But it wasn’t “Italy” at the time.

Italy wasn’t a unified country yet. Individual city-states were ruled by princes or dukes

IT’S AN OLD STORY

– Plague (Black Death) – Life expectancy = 40-50 years– No electricity– No running water– No distance travel– Values dominated by church– Intense class system

(poor, middle-class, rich)

•14th century (1300’s)− 200 years before Shakespeare lived

•Medieval Industrial Revolution•Time between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance

IT’S AN OLD STORYPopulation of Verona now: 263,964

(7.5%)

• Population of Michigan now: 9,876,187

• Population of Oakland County: 1,202,362• Population of Farmington Hills: 80, 258

Population in Verona in the 14th century? About 20,000

BUT NOT A NEW STORY

• Shakespeare based his most popular tragedy, ROMEO & JULIET, on two real people.

• These young lovers lived in Verona, Italy (just like his characters) and died in a real-life tragic love story in 1303.

BUT NOT A NEW STORY• Shakespeare uncovered their story in literature. •Masuccio Salernitano recounted the story of the tragic young lovers in "Mariotto and Gianozza of Siena" in 1476. • The poet William Painter penned “The Goodly History of the True and Constant Love of Rhomeo and Julietta.”•Matteo Bandello had written a novella of the story in 1554, revising Luigi da Porto's "Guiliettee Romeo" ("Juliet and Romeo"). • A poem, "The Tragical Historye of Romeus and Juliet," by Arthur Brooke, was written in 1562. • 1597 – earliest print of Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet

RIVAL FAMILIES• In this small, Italian

community ruled by a prince, there were two rival families

• Why were they rivals?– Because they HATED each

other

• Why did they hate each other?– We never find out– ANCIENT grudge

RIVAL FAMILIES• the Montagues & the Capulets

- REAL LIFE: Prominent citizens of Verona at the time.

- They are involved in a family feud that goes back years before any of the current family members were born.

• Civil people - Both are wealthy - friends with Prince Escalus (the ruler of Verona)- popular in the city

- BUT THEY HATED EACH OTHER

“Civil blood makes civil hands unclean”

RIVAL FAMILIES

• Calm for a while but:“From ancient grudge break to new mutiny”

• They are really fighting again– Even the townspeople are involved now

because the families have been seen fighting in the public streets.

VIOLENCE IN VERONA• In the first scene of the play: o They disrupt the peace of Verona and Prince Escalus personally has to break up a fight.

o The families are heavily fined and given a warning that another public fight could result in death.

VIOLENCE IN VERONA

• Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet focuses on two themes:

Violence & Love

• It’s not simply that the families of Romeo and Juliet disapprove of their love for each other

• The Montagues and the Capulets are on opposite sides in a blood feud and are trying to kill each other on the streets of Verona

VIOLENCE IN VERONA

• Every time a member of one of the two families dies in the fight, his relatives demand the blood of his killer

• So if Romeo were to be discovered with Juliet by her family, he would be killed

– Six of the ten main characters die

• Very violent play – (tragedy)

BUT IT’S A LOVE STORY

• A violent, tragic love story– Considered the ultimate

story of young love

• Fate – Astrology

• Age – very young love• Strong feeling of infatuation• That you would rather die

than be kept apart• Love against all odds• Love at first sight

A CRAZY LOVE STORY• “LOVE” played a different role in relationships

at the time

• Shorter life spans = earlier marriages– Parents often made marriage plans for children long

before they actually reached the proper age.– Romantic love would’ve been recognized as a

powerful force, but society did not generally view it as the basis of a sound marriage.

– Most European marriages, especially among the upper classes, were arranged by families for social and economic reasons

A CRAZY LOVE STORY• JULIET – Age 13– The daughter of Lord Capulet– Ready to be married (by society’s terms)– Parents already have plans for her

• ROMEO– Age unclear (18-22)– The only son of Lord Montague– A love-sick dreamer & thinker– Major player in the violence in the streets of the

city without even being there (friends & family)

LANGUAGE BARRIER• Remember: Shakespeare’s language was

tricky for audiences even at the time they were created– But we are missing a lot of the contextual

understandings and inferences that would have been second nature to viewers at the time(inside jokes)

• But he used language as an art form and the play is full of double meanings and sexual innuendos

LANGUAGE BARRIER• Mercutio - A kinsman to the Prince, and Rome

o’s close friend. – loves wordplay, especially sexual double

entendres. – hotheaded, and hates people who are

pretentious, or obsessed with the latest fashions.

– finds Romeo’s romanticized ideas about love tiresome, and tries to convince Romeo to view love as a simple matter of sexual appetite.