Dragons Draft Program

English/ESL Stage 5 unit

Romeo and Juliet

Handouts

Type

Title

No pages

Handout 1

The life of Shakespeare

1 Handout 2

The Globe Theatre

OHT 1

Romeo and Juliet and other love stories

Handout 3

Shakespeare’s plays

Handout 4

Sequencing the events from the plot of Romeo and Juliet

Answers

Sequencing the events

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OHT 2

After viewing the film

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Handout 5a

Texts for Old English, Middle English and Modern English

Handout 5b

Old English, Middle English and Modern English sequence

Answers to 5a & 5b

Old English, Middle English and Modern English

Handout 5c

The language of Shakespeare

Handout 5d

Common vocabulary

Handout 5e

Extracts from Romeo and Juliet

Homework handout

Terms of address in Shakespeare’s time

Handout 6

A stage play – one more medium

Handout 7a

Vocabulary matching

Handout 7b

Romeo and Juliet – The Prologue

Handout 7c (optional)

The Prologue

Handout 8

Courtly love

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OHT 3

Shakespeare’s language

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Handout 9

Symbolism in the film productions of Romeo and Juliet

Handout 10a

Sonnets, similes and metaphors

Handout 10b

Focus on the play script

Handout 11

Bloodshed on Verona’s streets

Handout 12

Terms to describe the themes and characters in Romeo and Juliet

Handout 13a

Themes in Romeo and Juliet

Handout 13b

Evidence in the play

Handout 14

Sample essay and plan

Teacher overview

Assessment: Romeo and Juliet

Student handout

Assessment: Romeo and Juliet

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Student handout

Assessment marking guidelines

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Handout 1

The life of Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was born in 1564. His birthplace was the small market town of Stratford-upon-Avon in England. Historians are unsure of the exact birth date, but there are records that show he was christened on 26 April, 1564. William's father, John, was a glove-maker and also served on the council in the town. The family was considered middle-class and quite well off financially.

Around 1568, William would have attended a small private school, from the age of four, to learn to read and write. He would have left school when he was fifteen. When he was 18 years old, Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway, who was the daughter of a local farmer and 8 years older than Shakespeare. Their first child, Susanna, was born in 1583, followed by the twins, Judith and Hamnet, in 1585.

In terms of his career as a writer, historians are unsure of what Shakespeare did until 1592. It was this year that William was described as an up-and-coming playwright. By this time, Shakespeare had already left his family to live in London.

Shakespeare’s first play was believed to have been Comedy of Errors in 1592. The bloody tragedy, Titus Andronicus, followed in 1593.

England and Spain were at war from 1585 until 1604 and audiences were keen to see plays that made them feel proud of their country. During this time, Shakespeare wrote nine plays that had English history as their theme.

From 1590 to 1600, Shakespeare wrote ten comedies. Audiences enjoyed the bawdy humour and liked the happy endings. Queen Elizabeth I was on the throne during this time.

Queen Elizabeth I died on 24 March 1603. King James I became the new monarch. He also became the patron of Shakespeare's theatre company.

In the early 1600s, Shakespeare wrote the tragedies Hamlet, King Lear, Othello and Macbeth. Macbeth was written to please the new king who was from Scotland. Romeo and Juliet was also written during this period.

In the 1600s, Shakespeare also wrote tragedies that were set in Rome. The first play set in Rome was Julius Caesar, closely followed by Antony and Cleopatra.

The playwriting stopped for two years, between 1592 and 1594, when the London playhouses had to close because of the plague - a disease which killed many thousands of people.

In 1611, after he wrote the play The Tempest, Shakespeare returned to live in Stratford-upon-Avon. He moved into a house he had bought for his family in 1597. He died in 1616, a very rich man.

Use the information above and information that you gathered during your library research to create a time line of Shakespeare’s life. You should choose those events that you think are most relevant for a student studying Shakespeare’s plays.

Handout 2

The Globe Theatre

Instructions: Use the Internet to find answers to the following research questions.

Web sites to get you started:

· www.acslink.aone.net.au/sandhurst/globe/globe.htm

· www.rdg.ac.uk/globe/

· www.rdg.ac.uk/globe/oldglobe/oldglobe_index.htm

· http://absoluteshakespeare.com/trivia/globe/globe.htm

Research questions

1. When and where was the original Globe theatre built?

2. Who owned the original Globe theatre?

3. a. How much did it cost to enter and watch a play at the theatre?

b. Who attended the theatre in the 1600s?

c. What were the different audience areas in the Globe theatre called? Who used these different sections?

d. How many people could fit in the Globe theatre to watch a performance?

4. What was different about the design of the Globe theatre compared to modern theatres? Why might it have been built in this way?

5. In what ways was the experience of the theatre goer different in Shakespeare’s time from a visit to the theatre today?

6. Shakespeare and the other playwrights involved in the Globe theatre wrote and performed plays. They called themselves The Chamberlain’s Men. Why did they call themselves this? (Optional)

7. What was the name of the main rival of The Chamberlain’s Men (another group that they competed with for audiences) and what was the name of their playhouse? (Optional)

8. What was the motto of the Globe theatre? Which of Shakespeare’s plays contains a very similar line? What do you think that it means? (Optional)

9. When did the Globe theatre close? Who closed the theatre and why? (Optional)

10. The Globe was rebuilt and reopened in England in 1990’s. In what ways would a performance in the Globe theatre in the 1600’s differ from a performance in the Globe theatre today?

NSW Department of Education and Training November 2004 Page 2 of 45

Curriculum K-12 Directorate http://www.curriculumsupport.education.nsw.gov.au

Romeo and Juliet and other love stories OHT 1

Love story and form /

Main characters

/ Plot outline / Ending / Messages and themes
Examples to consider:
Film
o Gone with the Wind
o Anna and the King
Poetry
o Tristan and Isolde
Legend
o King Arthur and Guinevere
Fairytale
o Cinderella
Plays
o Antony and Cleopatra
Real life
o King Edward VIII and Mrs Simpson
Love story and form /

Main characters

/ Plot outline / Ending / Messages and themes
Student examples:

NSW Department of Education and Training November 2004 Page 2 of 45

Curriculum K-12 Directorate http://www.curriculumsupport.education.nsw.gov.au

Handout 3

Shakespeare’s plays

The plays of William Shakespeare are often grouped according to type. They are grouped according to whether they are:

· comedies

· histories

· tragedies.

These types of plays have existed for centuries in literature from many different cultures. Shakespeare’s plays draw on some of the conventions or rules from earlier Greek, French and Italian literature.

The comedies

Comedies are plays that have a strong humorous element and end happily for the main characters. These include: Love’s Labours Lost and A Midsummer-Night’s Dream.

You can find other examples of Shakespeare’s comedies by looking in the index of a complete works of Shakespeare.

The histories

Histories, as the name suggests, are plays that deal with important historical events and individuals and often feature wars and political intrigue. Examples include King Richard III and King Henry IV Part 1.

You can find other examples of Shakespeare’s histories by looking in the index of a complete works of Shakespeare.

The tragedies

Shakespeare’s tragedies do not all follow exactly the same pattern or conventions, but they have many characteristics in common. A Shakespearean tragedy is a play that has a serious theme and a main character or protagonist whose life ends due to their own actions as well as the forces of fate.

The main character is focussed or obsessed by one aspect of their life, such as revenge, power or love, to the point that this is all they focus on. This leads to the character becoming isolated from their family or friends or society. The main character’s actions and choices during the course of the play lead them to disaster. There is a sense that the disaster cannot be avoided. The main character or characters usually die near the end of the play. Romeo and Juliet, Antony and Cleopatra and Macbeth are examples of Shakespearean tragedies.

You can find other examples of tragedies by looking in a complete works of Shakespeare.

It’s a tragedy…

In everyday life, the word ‘tragedy’ is used very differently from the way it is used in a Shakespearean play. It is often used to refer to a sad or dreadful event or disaster. We see examples in the news all the time of events that are described as being tragedies.

· Consider three recent events that you have read or heard about in the news that have been described as ‘tragedies’.

Sometimes the term ‘tragedy’ is used as a way of exaggerating an event or experiences that is inconvenient or unexpected and is used to describe situations that are not “life and death”.

Example: The way she dressed was an absolute tragedy.

· Read the following statements about tragedy and discuss what the speaker may have meant by them.

Quotations on tragedy

Stalin: A single death is a tragedy; a million deaths is a statistic.

Goethe: The conflict on which a tragedy is based must ideally be one where there is no possible resolution.

Tom Stoppard: The bad end unhappily, the good unluckily. That is what tragedy means.

Thomas Hardy: A plot, or tragedy, should arise from the gradual closing in of a situation that comes of ordinary human passions, prejudices and ambitions, by reason of the character taking no trouble to ward off the disastrous events produced by the said passions, prejudices and ambitions.

After reading Romeo and Juliet

· Which of the quotations agree/s with your reading of Romeo and Juliet as a tragedy.

· Does Romeo and Juliet fit the definition of tragedy provided on page one of this handout?

· Why do you think audiences enjoy tragedy?

· Is the tragic end of Romeo and Juliet due to the character’s choices or the forces of fate? Support your answer with evidence from the play. Could the tragedy have been avoided in Romeo and Juliet?

Handout 4

Sequencing the events from the plot of Romeo and Juliet

Instructions:

Cut out each of the boxes below. They describe key events in Romeo and Juliet. Sequence the boxes in the order that they happen in the play.

Answers

Sequencing the events

Act I

1. There is a street brawl. The prince threatens death to anyone who continues the fighting. (scene i)

2. Benvolio finds out that Romeo is infatuated with Rosaline. (scene ii)

3. The Capulet’s plan a banquet. Romeo stops a messenger delivering an invitation to the banquet. Romeo is persuaded that they should go. (scene ii)

4. Lady Capulet tells Juliet about Paris’ proposal of marriage. (scene iii)

5. Romeo has a fearful dream but decides to follow the others to the Capulet’s party. (scene iv)

6. Romeo and Juliet meet at the banquet and fall in love at first sight. Tybalt is angry at Romeo’s presence at the banquet and swears revenge. (scene v)

Act II

1. Balcony scene: Romeo and Juliet declare their love for each other and plan their marriage. (scene ii)

2. Romeo asks Friar Lawrence to marry him and Juliet that afternoon. (scene iii)

3. The nurse is sent with a message to Romeo in the friar’s cell. (scene iv)

4. Juliet is excited to learn from Nurse that Romeo waits to marry her at Friar Lawrence’s cell. (scene v)

5. Romeo and Juliet are married. (scene vi)

Act III

1. Mercutio is killed by Tybalt. Tybalt is killed by Romeo. (scene i)

2. Romeo is banished by the Prince for killing Tybalt. (scene i)

3. Juliet is told by nurse about Tybalt’s death and Romeo’s banishment. (scene ii)

4. Capulet tells Paris he can marry Juliet in three days’ time. (scene iv

5. Juliet refuses to marry Paris. Lord Capulet is furious. (scene v)

6. Romeo and Juliet spend one night together. Romeo leaves Juliet at dawn the next day to go to Mantua. (scene v)

Act IV

1. Friar gives Juliet a phial with sleeping potion in it. The potion works for 42 hours. Romeo is to be told of the plan by letter. (scene i)

2. Juliet’s marriage to Paris is brought forward by one day. Juliet takes a potion to pretend she is dead. (scene iii)

3. Juliet is found dead in her chamber. (scene v)

Act V

1. Romeo hears of Juliet’s death and buys poison. (scene i)

2. Friar John returns to Friar Lawrence with the letter undelivered. (scene ii)

3. Romeo and Paris meet at the tomb and fight. Paris is killed. (scene iii)

4. Romeo enters the tomb, kisses Juliet, takes the poison and dies. (scene iii)

5. Juliet wakes up, sees Romeo is dead and stabs herself with the dagger. (scene iii)

6. Friar Lawrence and Romeo’s servant arrive with the Watch and are arrested. (scene iii)

7. All is revealed. When the prince arrives, the feud is officially ended and the prince states that the guilty parties have been punished. (scene iii)

OHT 2

After viewing the film

Activities

The adjectives in the table below describe the nature and personalities of some of the characters from the play Romeo and Juliet.