1. Romeo and Juliet
Prof Guidi Claudia
Class 3 S
School year 2020-2021
Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting
in Zeffirelli’s Romeo and Juliet (1968).
2. • It’s one of Shakespeare’s best-known tragedies.
• It’s the most famous love story of all time.
• There are several film versions.
1. A very popular play
Performer Heritage
Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting
in Zeffirelli’s Romeo and Juliet (1968).
Claire Danes and Leonardo DiCaprio
in Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet (1996).
3. • The setting in place
• The setting in time
• The protagonists
Performer Heritage
Verona;
four days and four nights;
two rival families,
the Montagues
and the Capulets;
their children, Romeo and Juliet.
2. The plot
4. The first two acts are a love comedy.
• Romeo and Juliet meet at the Capulets’ ball
and it is love at first sight.
• They are secretly married by Friar Laurence.
Performer Heritage
2. The plot
5. • The real tragedy starts
in the third act with the deaths of
Mercutio, Romeo’s friend, and
of Tybalt, Juliet’s cousin; Romeo
is banished from Verona.
• In the fourth act Juliet drinks a
potion to avoid marriage with
Count Paris.
• In the fifth act tragic conclusion
of the play with the deaths of the
two lovers.
Performer Heritage
2. The plot
6. • the tragic role of chance leading up
to the deaths of the two lovers.
3. A comedy or a tragedy?
Performer Heritage
It is a tragedy
It is a comedy
• the instant attraction of the young
lovers;
• the masked balls;
• the comic servants;
• the surface life of street fights.
7. Romeo
• courteous lover, intense
adoration of a chaste woman;
• linked to the image of light.
4. The two lovers
Performer Heritage
Juliet
• though she is set within the courtly love
convention, she is unconventional
because she stands for innocence;
• belongs to no characterisation;
• is a real woman.
8. • The power of love;
• The feud between two families;
• Individual against society;
• The power of fate;
• The lack of knowledge coming from
bad communication;
• Speed as the medium of fate.
5. Themes
Performer Heritage
9. • Regular rhythm;
• Use of rhymes, often used in ‘couplets’;
• Use of sonnets in dialogues;
• Imagery of light
• Imagery of darkness
6. Style
Performer Heritage
linked to life and the
courteous love convention
linked to death