Romeo and Juliet: Shakespeare, Background, Characters

Elizabeth's father's wives

Catherine of Aragon (Divorced) Anne Boleyn (Executed), Jane Seymour (Died), Anne of Cleeves (Divorced), Kathryn Howard (Executed), and Katherine Parr (Widowed).

1606

First performance of Othello, Macbeth, and King Lear

1599-1611

GREATEST writing period.

summer of 1613

Globe Theatre was burned during the play Henry the 8th. It was rebuilt, but Shakespeare's career ended.

August 11, 1596

Hamnet died, age 11.

First play

Henry the 6th, Part I

1623

His plays were never officially published. In 1623, his plays were collected by Ben Johnson.

Date of Death

It is said that he died on April 23, 1616, which is also the day he was born. He died at age 52 from drinking too hard at a party and developed a fever. He was buried on April 25, 1616.

Mary Queen of Scots' child was..

James the I, who would alter become the King of England. He was the great-great-grandson of Henry VII.

Lady Capulet

Juliet's mother, Capulet's wife. A woman who herself married young (by her own estimation she gave birth to Juliet at close to the age of fourteen), she is eager to see her daughter marry Paris. She is an ineffectual mother, relying on the Nurse for moral and pragmatic support.

1603

King James the First became King.

Shakespeare's partly owned company

Lord Chamberlain's Men, later renamed as King's Men.

Elizabeth's cousin was...

Mary Queen of Scots

Benvolio

Montague's nephew, Romeo's cousin and thoughtful friend, he makes a genuine effort to defuse violent scenes in public places, though Mercutio accuses him of having a nasty temper in private. He spends most of the play trying to help Romeo get his mind off Rosaline, even after Romeo has fallen in love with Juliet.

Abraham

Montague's servant, who fights with Sampson and Gregory in the first scene of the play.

Ruler

Queen Elizabeth I

Shakespeare performed with...

Richard Barb and William Kemp.

Balthasar

Romeo's dedicated servant, who brings Romeo the news of Juliet's death, unaware that her death is a ruse.

Montague

Romeo's father, the patriarch of the Montague clan and bitter enemy of Capulet. At the beginning of the play, he is chiefly concerned about Romeo's melancholy.

Lady Montague

Romeo's mother, Montague's wife. She dies of grief after Romeo is exiled from Verona.

1599

Shakespeare and Burbage built the Globe Theatre. Plays were only present during daylight hours.

1592

Shakespeare goes to London and became an actor and writer. WROTE ROMEO AND JULIET, followed by The Merchant of Venice, A Midsummer Night's Dream, All's Well That Ends Well, The Taming of the Shrew, and The Merry Wives of Windsor.

summer of 1596

Shakespeare is back in Stratford.

Romeo

The son and heir of Montague and Lady Montague. A young man of about sixteen, he is handsome, intelligent, and sensitive. Though impulsive and immature, his idealism and passion make him an extremely likable character. He lives in the middle of a violent feud between his family and the Capulets, but he is not at all interested in violence. His only interest is love and he goes to extremes to prove the seriousness of his feelings. He secretly marries Juliet, the daughter of his father's worst enemy; he happily takes abuse from Tybalt; and he would rather die than live without his beloved. He is also an affectionate and devoted friend to his relative Benvolio, Mercutio, and Friar Lawrence.

The Nurse

The woman who breast-fed Juliet when she was a baby and has cared for Juliet her entire life. A vulgar, long-winded, and sentimental character, she provides comic relief with her frequently inappropriate remarks and speeches. But, until a disagreement near the play's end, she is Juliet's faithful confidante and loyal intermediary in Juliet's affair with Romeo. She provides a contrast with Juliet, given that her view of love is earthy and sexual, whereas Juliet is idealistic and intense. She believes in love and wants Juliet to have a nice-looking husband, but the idea that Juliet would want to sacrifice herself for love is incomprehensible to her.

Rosaline

The woman with whom Romeo is infatuated at the beginning of the play. Rosaline never appears onstage, but it is said by other characters that she is very beautiful and has sworn to live a life of chastity.

Theatre desperation

Theaters were very desperate. Shakespeare wrote 37 plays in 20 years in London.

Children

They had 3 children; Suzanne in the summer after wedding. Two years later, Hamnet and Judith were born as twins.

Sampson and Gregory

Two servants of the house of Capulet, who, like their master, hate the Montagues. At the outset of the play, they successfully provoke some Montague men into a fight.

1593 & 1594

Venus and Adonis, a poem dedicated to the Earl of Southhampton.

Soliloquy

actor alone on stage spoke aloud his private thoughts.

Aside

actor confided his true thoughts and feelings directly to audience while other actors pretended not to hear.

Robert Green

attacked Shakespeare's writing for being tight with money, ungrateful, and egotistical.

Elizabeth's mother's death

beheaded at Tower of London when Elizabeth I was 2 years old.

Theaters were torn down for..

being ungodly and immoral and were moved elsewhere. However, a new construction of a Globe Theatre came about, and the first play shown in it was Julius Caesar.

The Chorus

is a single character who functions as a narrator offering commentary on the play's plot and themes.

1586

left Stratford to become the stage manager of The Theatre in London.

1590s

published numerous sonnets, poems, and plays

Elizabeth introduced...

the Book of Common Prayer

She was known as...

the Virgin Queen

Family Facts

third child, first son of John and Mary. 2 dead elder sisters. Father was a glover and local politician.

Actors...

were viewed as scoundrels

Peter

A Capulet servant who invites guests to Capulet's feast and escorts the Nurse to meet with Romeo. He is illiterate, and a bad singer.

Tybalt

A Capulet, Juliet's cousin on her mother's side. Vain, fashionable, supremely aware of courtesy and the lack of it, he becomes aggressive, violent, and quick to draw his sword when he feels his pride has been injured. Once drawn, his sword is something to be feared. He loathes the Montagues.

Friar John

A Franciscan friar charged by Friar Lawrence with taking the news of Juliet's false death to Romeo in Mantua. He is held up in a quarantined house, and the message never reaches Romeo.

Friar Lawrence

A Franciscan friar, friend to both Romeo and Juliet. Kind, civic-minded, a proponent of moderation, and always ready with a plan, he secretly marries the impassioned lovers in hopes that the union might eventually bring peace to Verona. As well as being a Catholic holy man, he is also an expert in the use of seemingly mystical potions and herbs.

Paris

A kinsman of the Prince, and the suitor of Juliet most preferred by Capulet. Once Capulet has promised him he can marry Juliet, he behaves very presumptuous toward, acting as if they are already married.

Mercutio

A kinsman to the Prince, and Romeo's close friend. One of the most extraordinary characters in all of Shakespeare's plays, He overflows with imagination, wit, and, at times, a strange, biting satire and brooding fervor. Mercutio loves wordplay, especially sexual double entendres. He can be quite hotheaded, and hates people who are affected, pretentious, or obsessed with the latest fashions. He finds Romeo's romanticized ideas about love tiresome, and tries to convince Romeo to view love as a simple matter of sexual appetite.

The Apothecary

A pharmacist in Mantua. Had he been wealthier, he might have been able to afford to value his morals more than money, and refused to sell poison to Romeo.

Theaters were feared...

-by officials because of contagious diseases and clergy. -by the clergy because of moral contagions spread by large groups and crude senses of humor.

Education

-translated Latin and English -interested in the Great Romans -did not go to a university, withdrawn at age 14-15

# of Sonnets and # of Plays

154 sonnets, 37 plays.

Outbreak of Plague

1564

Date of Birth

1564; baptized in HOLY TRINITY CHURCH on April 26. Babies were usually baptized 3 days after being born, so his birthdate is most likely April 23.

Plague

1590s, London was threatened with plague. 70% chance of dying once contacted with it.

Wife

Anne Hathaway, married in 1582 on November 28. She was 8 years older than him.

Mary Queen of Scots death

She was imprisoned for 18 years and later executed for the discovery of an overthrow plot.

Place of Birth

Straford-upon-Avon, England

Prince Escalus

The Prince of Verona. A kinsman of Mercutio and Paris. As the seat of political power in Verona, he is concerned about maintaining the public peace at all costs.

Juliet

The daughter of Capulet and Lady Capulet. A beautiful thirteen-year-old girl, she begins the play as a naïve child who has thought little about love and marriage, but she grows up quickly upon falling in love with Romeo, the son of her family's great enemy. Because she is a girl in an aristocratic family, she has none of the freedom Romeo has to roam around the city, climb over walls in the middle of the night, or get into swordfights. Nevertheless, she shows amazing courage in trusting her entire life and future to Romeo, even refusing to believe the worst reports about him after he gets involved in a fight with her cousin. Her closest friend and confidant is her Nurse, though she's willing to shut the Nurse out of her life the moment the Nurse turns against Romeo.

Capulet

The patriarch of the Capulet family, father of Juliet, husband of Lady Capulet, and enemy, for unexplained reasons, of Montague. He truly loves his daughter, though he is not well acquainted with Juliet's thoughts or feelings, and seems to think that what is best for her is a "good" match with Paris. Often prudent, he commands respect and propriety, but he is liable to fly into a rage when either is lacking.