Romeo and Juliet

Romeo, Romeo, why is your name Romeo? Let's change our names. Then we can love.' In a moonlit garden in the beautiful city of Verona, a boy listens to a girl on a balcony. It is the beginning of one of the world’s most famous love stories. But Juliet is a Capulet and Romeo is a Montague. Their families have hated each other for hundreds of years. Will true love survive? Will the two families make peace?


Topic for Discussion:
Do you know any other things are related to social class during Renaissance?


Vocabulary
1) brocade : code with a raised pattern of gold or silver threads.
2) mantles : loose, sleeveless cloak.

William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon in the English Midlands on St George's Day, April 23rd, 1564. (St George is the patron saint of England.) He was the third child of John Shakespeare, a glove-maker, who was an important man in the town, and Mary Arden. He went to Stratford Grammar School, where he received a good education, but he had no university education.

In 1582, when he was only eighteen, he married Anne Hathaway. They had three children- Hamnet, a boy who died when he was only eleven years old, Susanna and Judith. As far as we know, they were happily married. When he died he left his 'second-best bed' to his wife in his will. Perhaps it was their marriage bed. Very little is known about Shakespeare's later life. There is a legend that he had to leave Stratford because he was caught stealing a deer.

Shakespeare went to London and became involved in the world of the theatre. Drama then was as important a part of life as television is for us. All classes of society enjoyed the plays by Shakespeare and other Elizabethan dramatists.

Did you know that in Shakespeare's theatre, boys played the parts of women? Juliet, Cleopatra, Desdemona and Lady Macbeth were all played by young men whose voices had not broken. Actresses were not allowed on the English stage until late in the following century.

Shakespeare quickly became very popular as a writer. One of his rivals called him a 'crow' who had stolen the 'feathers' of the other writers. His friend, Ben Jonson, wrote that he was 'honest, open and free'. Another writer said that he was 'handsome', 'well-shaped' and had a 'pleasant smooth wit'. Apart from the plays, he also wrote a collection of sonnet. Many of these poems are written to a 'Dark Lady', but nobody can discover her identity.

We do not know very much about Shakespeare's personal life but plays such as Romeo and Juliet show that he was very interested in the theme of passionate love.

When Shakespeare died – on his birthday in 1616 – he was buried in Stratford. There are four lines written on his tombstone, including these:

Blessed is the man who spares these stone.
And cursed is the man who moves my bones.

Perhaps these lines show that Shakespeare did not want us to know about his personal life. Instead, he has left us his poems and plays.

Shakespeare's Life

Shakespeare and Romeo and Juliet

Summary

Dramatis Personae

Part 1 - The Montagues and The Capulets

Part 2 - The Garden of the Capulets

Part 3 - The Prince of Cats

Part 4 - Fortune's Fool

Part 5 - My Lady's Dead!

Part 6 - With A Kiss, I Die