Grade 9 JOY S. FERRER-LOPEZ, Ph.D.

1. ROMEO AND JULIET
- WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

2. Who is William Shakespeare?
• 1564 to John and Mary
ArdenShakespeare
• 1582: Married to Anne
• 1583: Birth of Daughter Susanna
• 1585: Birth of twins: Judith and Hamnet
• 1587-1592: Established in London as
actor/playwright; first work Comedy of
Errors

3. Who is William Shakespeare?
• 1593: Begins writing sonnets (until 1597-ish)
• 1594-1596: Some more famous plays
Romeo and Juliet and Midsummer Night’s
Dream
• 1597-1608: Best known plays including the
rest of the tragedies
• 1599: The Globe Theatre built
• 1609: Publication of the Sonnets
• April 23, 1616: Shakespeare dies

4. Shakespeare’s
Romeo & Juliet

5. Romeo and Juliet
By William Shakespeare

6. Summary
Romeo and Juliet is a story about two teenagers who fall in
love but are forbidden to see each other by their parents.
They meet one night at a party (Romeo is actually there to
check out another girl, Rosaline) and quickly fall in love.
Unfortunately, Juliet’s parents already have a husband
picked out for her. So, the two decide to get married and
enlist the help of Juliet’s nurse to act as a messenger
between the two and Friar Laurence who agrees to marry
them. However, plans go awry after Romeo is banished
from Verona and doesn’t get filled in on the plans that
Juliet has for them to live happily ever after…

7. Setting
The story is set in the late
1500’s mostly in the town
of Verona, Italy. However,
there are a few acts set in
Mantua, Italy a smaller
town just a few miles away.

8. The Feud
Romeo’s family, the
Montagues, have a long
standing feud with
Juliet’s family, the
Capulets. While the
audience never learns
about the source of the
ancient quarrel, we do
learn that it has recently
grown stronger.

9. Comedy and Tragedy
Elements of a tragedy
•Must have a tragic hero/heroine
•Ends in the death of many of the main
characters
Romeo and Juliet begins as a comedy but ends as a
tragedy
Elements of a comedy
The shift from comedy to tragedy is what sets
Romeo and Juliet apart from the rest of
Shakespeare’s plays
•A struggle of young lovers to
overcome difficulty that is often
presented by elders
•Separation and unification
•Heightened tensions, often
within a family

10. Themes
Love
•The power of love
•Love as a cause for
violence
Fate
•The inevitability of fate
Hate
•Hate as a forced emotion

11. Writing Style
Parts of Romeo and Juliet are written as a sonnet, a poem of 14 lines written and
rhymed in iambic pentameter. Each sonnet ends with a couplet. In a
Shakespearean sonnet the rhyme scheme is ABAB CDCD EFEF GG
A couplet is two consecutive lines that rhyme.
Iambic pentameter refers to the rhythm of each line. It is an unstressed syllable
followed by a stressed one.
“Bŭt sóft! Whăt líght throŭgh yóndĕr wíndŏw bréaks?”

12. Interesting…
“Star-crossed lovers” refers to two
people who are in love but have
conflicting astrological signs. In
Shakespeare’s times, people believed
the course of their lives was
determined by the exact second they
were born.
The Italian city of Verona, where
Romeo and Juliet lived, receives about
1,000 letters addressed to Juliet every
Valentine's Day.

13. Verona Today
Today, Verona has an
incredible amount of graffiti,
which is legal, provided that
you are writing about your love
for someone.

14. What’s it all about?
The story is, of course,
about a pair of star-crossed
lovers. Two teenagers
pursue their love for each
other despite the fact that
their families have been at
odds with each other for
decades. The story
combines sword fighting,
disguise, misunderstanding,
tragedy, humour, and some
of the most romantic
language found in literature
all in the name of true love.

15. Who’s Who?
Montagues
• Romeo – son to Montague.
• Benvolio – nephew to Montague
& friend to Romeo.
• Balthasar – servant & friend to
Romeo.
• Mercutio – friend to Romeo.
• Lady Montague – wife to Lord
Montague.
• Montague – Romeo’s father and
head of the family.
• Friar Lawrence – a local priest,
friend of Romeo.

16. Who’s Who?
Capulets
• Paris – a young nobleman.
• Juliet – daughter to Capulet.
• Capulet – Juliet’s father and
head of the family.
• Lady Capulet – wife to Lord
Capulet.
• Nurse – servant & Nurse to
Juliet.
• Tybalt – nephew to the
Capulets.

17. THINKING MODE: MIND AT WORK!
1. Characterize the characters in the drama of Shakespeare
through describing on how they play their role. Take
note some of their lines to support your answer.
2. What is/are the conflict/s in the drama. How does it
influence each of the characters in the story.
3. What part of the drama did you like most and why?
4. What is/ are the lessons you have learned from
Shakepeare’s Romeo and Juliet?
5. If you are given the oppurtunity to modify the drama of
Shakespeare, what particular part you are going to
change? And what will be the flow? Write your own
version.