...ROMEO & JULIET Prologue (ACT 1) As a prologue to the play, the Chorus enters. In a fourteen-line sonnet, the Chorus describes two noble households (called “houses”) in the city of Verona. The houses hold an “ancient grudge” (Prologue.2) against each other that remains a source of violent and bloody conflict. The Chorus states that from these two houses, two “star-crossed” (Prologue.6) lovers will appear. These lovers will mend the quarrel between their families by dying. The story of these two lovers, and of the terrible strife between their families, will be the topic of this play. ANALYSIS This opening speech by the Chorus serves as an introduction to Romeo and Juliet. We are provided with information about where the play takes place, and given some background information about its principal characters. The obvious function of the Prologue as introduction to the Verona of Romeo and Juliet can obscure its deeper, more important function. The Prologue does not merely set the scene of Romeo and Juliet, it tells the audience exactly what is going to happen in the play. The Prologue refers to an ill-fated couple with its use of the word “star-crossed,” which means, literally, against the stars. Stars were thought to control people’s destinies. But the Prologue itself creates this sense of fate by providing the audience with the knowledge that Romeo and Juliet will die even before the play has begun. The audience therefore watches the play with the expectation that it must...
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...Romeo and Juliet William Shakespeare Pre-reading 1. Vocabulary: Match word and definition. Words that may come in handy. Match the words in the left column with the explanations in the right column, and write the word over the definition. imagery | Word: Simile a comparison using “like” or “as” | soliloquy | Word: Run-on lines which the sense runs from one line to the next; lines which are not end-stopped. | blank verse | Word: Assonance the repetition of vowel sounds | tragic flaw | Word: Imagery language that produces pictures in the imaginations of people reading or listening | scene | Word: Blank verse unrhymed verse written in iambic pentameter | personification | Word: Dramatic irony difference between the situation as known to the audience and as supposed by some or all the characters of the play | stage | Word: Rhyming couplet two lines of verse of equal length that rhyme one after the other | assonance | Word: Dialogue verbal exchange between two or more characters on the stage | antithesis | Word: Iambic Pentameter a ten syllable line of verse with five stresses: di dum, di dum, di dum, di dum, di dum | metaphor | ...
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...Versus Decisions Do you feel fate controls you? In Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare, two children of rival families fall in love and commit suicide due to their corrupt lives. The question is how was the play controlled? One argument is that fate controls the play, while another is that the characters’ stupid decisions did so. While there is an argument that the decisions control the play, it is more conceivable that you cannot control your fate and fate is the responsible party in the play’s control. It is conceivable that our retarded decisions control our lives, for in Act 3, Scene 1, Tybalt’s decision to duel with Mercutio led to Romeo slaying him. There is merit in the belief...
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...Analysis of short story elements. I. Romeo and Juliet II. Act 5, scene 3 III. William Shakespear IV. Romeo, Juliet V. Friar Laurence, Balthasar, Pasar, Page VI. Man vs. Man VII. From his hiding place, Paris recognizes Romeo as the man who murdered Tybalt, and thus as the man who indirectly murdered Juliet, since it is her grief for her cousin that is supposed to have killed her. As Romeo has been exiled from the city on penalty of death, Paris thinks that Romeo must hate the Capulets so much that he has returned to the tomb to do some dishonor to the corpse of either Tybalt or Juliet. In a rage, Paris accosts Romeo. Romeo pleads with him to leave, but Paris refuses. They draw their swords and fight. Paris’s page runs off to get the civil watch. Romeo kills Paris. As he dies, Paris asks to be laid near Juliet in the tomb, and Romeo consents. IX. Just then, Friar Lawrence enters the churchyard. He encounters Balthasar, who tells him that Romeo is in the tomb. Balthasar says that he fell asleep and dreamed that Romeo fought with and killed someone. Troubled, the friar enters the tomb, where he finds Paris’s body and then Romeo’s. As the friar takes in the bloody scene, Juliet wakes. X. Juliet asks the friar where her husband is. Hearing a noise that he believes is the coming of the watch, the friar quickly replies that both Romeo and Paris are dead, and that she must leave with him. Juliet refuses to leave, and the friar, fearful that the watch is...
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...Assignment 1 Romeo and Juliet Contents: Page 1 – Contents page Page 2 – Essay: Romeo and Juliet Page 4 – Bibliography Essay: Romeo and Juliet In this essay I will look at and analyse lines 1 to 30 spoken by Friar Lawrence in Act 2 Scene 3 of the play Romeo and Juliet and prove the importance of these lines towards the plot and how it acts as a premonition of the tragedy to come. I believe these lines prove to be of great importance as they lead the audience to the tragedy that is to come. These lines give the audience an idea of the events that may come to pass as the words spoken act as a premonition of the course of tragic events to come. In lines one to four of this scene, Friar Lawrence begins by describing the beauty of the sunrise, which in turn contrasts with how Romeo and Juliet had viewed the sunrise in the preceding scene. The couple see the sunrise as a sign that their night together is over and that they must now say good bye, however the friar sees the sunrise optimistically, although we know that light is not always equated with good in the play, just as night is not always linked with evil, bad or other negative connotations. Therefore light could symbolise the dark tragedy that is looming ahead of them, as opposed to something good. The friar’s optimistic view of the sunrise as something good and positive is indicative of his naivety, which proves to be of great importance in the course of the play. These four opening lines of the scene direct the audience...
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...the Characters in Romeo and Juliet and the Speakers in the Sonnets You Have Studied In: English and Literature Explore the Different Attitudes to Love Are Presented by the Characters in Romeo and Juliet and the Speakers in the Sonnets You Have Studied Explore the different attitudes to love are presented by the characters in Romeo and Juliet and the speakers in the sonnets you have studied. Love is presented through the use of characters, themes, linguistic, structural and contextual references. That pieces are ‘Romeo and Juliet’ written by William Shakespeare, ‘Sonnet 116’ by William Shakespeare again, ‘Sonnet 43’ by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, ‘Sonnet 130’ by Shakespeare and also ‘Sonnet 18’ again by Shakespeare. They were all written in the time that was considered the Elizabethan Era. A religious theme is set in both Romeo and Juliet and sonnet 43 to convey the attitudes to love. In Romeo and Juliet the theme of religion is used to express their love between each other and suggesting it is similar to religion can impose that it is a life-long commitment and will always be there even if they lose faith. At that time their attitude towards religion was very strong and it was their integral, which links to the love between Romeo and Juliet that now they have found it fully they will be part of each other’s’ lives for eternity. In Act 2, scene 2 Romeo states that Juliet’s eyes were “Two of the fairest stars in all of heaven” this is conveying that Juliet is angelic. Angels...
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...A TEACHER’S GUIDE TO THE SIGNET CLASSIC EDITION OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE’S ROMEO AND JULIET By ARTHEA J.S. REED, PH.D. S E R I E S W. GEIGER ELLIS, ED.D., E D I T O R S : UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA, EMERITUS and ARTHEA J. S. REED, PH.D., UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA, RETIRED A Teacher’s Guide to the Signet Classic Edition of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet 2 INTRODUCTION William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is an excellent introduction to Shakespearean drama; teenagers can relate to its plot, characters, and themes. The play’s action is easily understood, the character’s motives are clear, and many of the themes are as current today as they were in Shakespeare’s time. Therefore, it can be read on a variety of levels, allowing all students to enjoy it. Less able readers can experience the swash-buckling action and investigate the themes of parent-child conflict, sexuality, friendship, and suicide. Because of the play’s accessibility to teenagers, able readers can view the play from a more literary perspective, examining the themes of hostility ad its effect on the innocent, the use of deception and its consequences, and the effects of faulty decision making. They can study how the characters function within the drama and how Shakespeare uses language to develop plot, characters, and themes. The most able students can develop skills involved in literary criticism by delving into the play’s comic and tragic elements and its classically...
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...Coursework How Does Shakespeare Use Language in Act 3 Scene 1 to develop character analysis? This essay is based on how the characters of 'Romeo and Juliet’ change in Act 3 Scene 1. The characters I will be analysing are Romeo, Mercutio, Tybalt and Benvolio. In the following scene, Tybalt is provoked by Mercutio to begin a fight. Romeo tried to avoid this situation by hinting to Tybalt the reason Romeo refuses to fight him. This leads to the death of Mercutio and Tybalt. In previous scenes Shakespeare presents Romeo as a defensive character. ‘’I do protest, I never injure thee’. The word ‘protest’ shows us that Romeo has a point and wants to make it clear without Tybalt misunderstanding him! Romeo uses the word ‘never which instantly tells us that Romeo has never harmed Tybalt in any way. He says this calmly but it only makes Tybalt angrier as it only makes him want to prove that Romeo isn’t an innocent sweet guy. Throughout Act 3 Scene 1, Romeo seems to want to avoid the fight and stop it from occurring. ‘’Tybalt, the reason I have to love thee doth much excuse the appertaining rage’’. Romeo tries to make Tybalt understand that Romeo has to love him and Romeo doesn’t fight the ones he loves. The words ‘have to’ suggest to us that if Romeo wasn’t married to Juliet then he wouldn’t ‘have to’ love Tybalt. Therefore, there could have been a chance that Romeo didn’t have any doubt in fighting Tybalt. This reason excuses Romeo from the fight however it doesn’t excuse Mercutio...
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...Film i Engelsk Bilag 1a FILM ANALYSIS – an introduction (Source: http://www.filmeducation.org) – bearbejdet af Mi og LK, Favrskov Gymnasium Reading a film is just like reading a book, except that instead of looking at a written page we are looking at the cinema screen. Reading a film works in exactly the same way as a written text, or a picture, except that the tools that are used to create meaning are different. We call these tools film language. The opening sequence From the moment we first start watching a film, we begin to get involved. The first few minutes of a film (the opening sequence) are very important to us as they give us lots of clues about the film: 1) what will the film be about (conflicts/themes); 2) who are the most important characters (hero, villain, love interest); 3); what is the setting of the film (time and place); 4) the genre; and finally, 5) what sort of film language characterizes the film? We look at all these elements and begin to put them into context. Based on their environment, how they look, what they say and what we see them do, we make assumptions about the characters, their roles in the film and their relationship to each other. We also recognize so-called genre markers (things we associate with one particular genre) which tell us if we are watching a Western or a Sc-Fi film and, thus, form specific expectations about what is going to happen during the rest of the film. At the same time, we listen to the sounds and the music...
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...Some definitions of literary devices, techniques and style from searching via http://www.ferretsoft.com/ LITERARY DEVICES http://mrbraiman.home.att.net/lit.htm Literary devices refers to any specific aspect of literature, or a particular work, which we can recognize, identify, interpret and/or analyze. Both literary elements and literary techniques can rightly be called literary devices. Literary elements refers to aspects or characteristics of a whole text. They are not “used,” per se, by authors; we derive what they are from reading the text. Most literary elements can be derived from any and all texts; for example, every story has a theme, every story has a setting, every story has a conflict, every story is written from a particular point-of-view, etc. In order to be discussed legitimately, literary elements must be specifically identified for that text. Literary techniques refers to any specific, deliberate constructions of language which an author uses to convey meaning. An author’s use of a literary technique usually occurs with a single word or phrase, or a particular group of words or phrases, at one single point in a text. Unlike literary elements, literary techniques are not necessarily present in every text. Literary terms refers to the words themselves with which we identify and describe literary elements and techniques. They are not found in literature and they are not “used” by authors. Allegory:...
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...ARTS TEACHERS’ GUIDE Grade 9 ARTS Teacher’s Guide Unit I WESTERN CLASSICAL ART TRADITIONS GRADE 9 Unit 1 ARTS TEACHERS’ GUIDE GRADE 9 Unit 1 WESTERN CLASSICAL ART TRADITIONS LEARNING AREA STANDARD The learner demonstrates an understanding of basic concepts and processes in music and art through appreciation, analysis and performance for his/her self-development, celebration of his/her Filipino cultural identity and diversity, and expansion of his/her world vision. key - stage STANDARD The learner demonstrates understanding of salient features of music and arts of the Philippines and the world, through appreciation, analysis, and performance, for self-development, the celebration of Filipino cultural identity and diversity, and the expansion of one’s world vision. grade level STANDARD The learner demonstrates understanding of salient features of Western music and the arts from different historical periods, through appreciation, analysis, and performance for self-development, the celebration of Filipino cultural identity and diversity, and the expansion of one’s world vision. CONTENT STANDARDs The Learner: demonstrates understanding of art elements and processes by synthesizing and applying prior knowledge and skills demonstrates understanding that the arts are integral to the development of organizations, spiritual belief, historical events, scientific discoveries, natural disasters/ occurrences and other external phenomenon ...
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... Course : Approfondissement Shakespeare ; theatre, meta-theatre and pact of performance Professor : F. MARCH Student: Louize Zara Dierickx (Erasmus Belgium) INTRODUCTION During the Elizabethan era meta-theatre was often used in plays to obtain the interest and participation (imagination) from the audience. Also Shakespeare used a lot of metaphors and references to theatre in his plays. In this research paper we will study the use of meta-theatre in Shakespeare’s famous play A Midsummer Night’s Dream. First, the term ‘meta-theatre’ will be explained. Then, the period in which meta-theatre was an important aspect of theatre, also Shakespeare’s period, namely the Elizabethan Era, will be discussed. Finally, a number of specific scenes in the play A Midsummer Night’s Dream will be analysed. Midsummer night’s dream is a romantic comedy. The play has 2 levels: the human world, which takes place during the day, and the fairy world, which takes place at night. In the human world the story is about 4 young people, searching their way to true love, as well as about a theatre company, preparing a play for the coming wedding of the king and queen. At the fairy level, the fairy king and queen quarrel about their marriage. These two levels are combined by a love potion, which turns the whole story upside-down and gives it its humoristic touch. (DEFINITIE META-THEATRE):...
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...Early European Theater • The writings of this period were primarily hymns, sermons and similar theologically oriented works. • Latin became a literary medium. • Major preserves of learning are the monasteries. • 8th century Europe returned to greater stability under the Carolingian kings. ➢ Charles Martel – defeated the Moslems at Tours in 732 AD, through his innovative use of armored horsemen as the principal military force, initiating the development of knighthood. ➢ Charlemagne – extended his realm into the Slavic territories and converting non- Christians on the way. Charlemagne was crowned by the Pope and pronounced him as the successor to Constantine. The scenario was the first attempt to establish the Holy Roman Empire. • Charlemagne’s death caused Europe to break into small units isolated from each other and from the world. • Moslem controlled the Mediterranean and the Vikings, still pagans, conquered the northern seas. Early Middle Ages • Life was relatively simple. • Feudalistic patterns were fully established. ➢ Manor (large estate)- headed by a noble man, assumed absolute authority over the peasants who worked his land collectively. ➢ Vassals – supplies the lords a specified number of knights upon demand and the lords in return were bound to protect their vassals. The Theater (500- 900 AD) • The theater revived during the early Middle Ages. • After the Western Roman...
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...© 2010 Steve Campsall Here's how to write your best essay ever... Whatever the essay you have been asked to write, the key to making it as effective as it can be is to write it as a wellstructured and well-supported argument. You will find that an ‘argument’ essay is easier to plan, more fulfilling to write and for your teacher (or the examiner)... a pleasure to mark (and that’s no bad thing!!). It’s important to get one thing out of the way at the outset: an essay question has no ‘right’ answer. You can breathe easy on that one. It’s just not like that. This is English and we leave those kinds of ‘right answers’ to the mathematicians and scientists. An English essay is not an ‘answer’ in that way at all, rather, it’s an informed opinion; but, like all opinions, it’ll require explanation, argument and support. It requires you to argue your case. What’s the first thing you do when you set about starting an essay? Many people start by searching through the text on which their essay is based in the hope of finding suitable quotations to help ‘answer’ the essay question. Well, there’s no getting away from this basic process, but there are ways to make it altogether more efficient, useful and most importantly, more likely to earn a higher grade. More on this later. The Argument Essay The secret of a good essay? Write it as an argument for what you believe! What is there to argue about? Plenty! You’ll be arguing to support your point of view on the essay question - one that you’ve...
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...MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING Title As a title, Much Ado About Nothing fits neatly with those of Shakespeare’s other plays written around the same time: the titles seem whimsical and even flippant. Twelfth Night was alternatively titled What You Will, and As You Like It seems a much less informative title than, say, The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Still, the capricious titles are actually as reflective of their content as any history or tragedy title. The plot of Much Ado About Nothing centers on a lot of hubbub over little misunderstandings; there’s a whole lot of fuss about stuff that ultimately isn’t that important. For the bigger issues in the play, though, we turn to the fact that, in Shakespeare’s day, "nothing" was often pronounced the same way as "noting." The play is built around the process of "noting," which has myriad meanings. It can mean "to take notice of" something, to eavesdrop, to observe, or to write something down – but these notings aren’t necessarily accurate. A person can misunderstand a meaning, or mishear, or misreport something, in the process of noting too. The foibles that result from noting (and misnoting) are central to keeping the play spinning. If that wasn’t interesting enough for you, you might want to note that "nothing" was also an Elizabethan slang term for the vagina. "Much Ado About Vagina" makes sense as a title, right? After all, the highs and lows of the play revolve around men and their relationships with, suspicion of, and...
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