Shakespeare/Romeo and Juliet
CLOZE Notes
Shakespeare and his life:
1. William Shakespeare was born in the year ______and in the town of ______.
2. His father was a ______.
3. Shakespeare was married to ______.
4. He had ____ children whose names were ______, ______, ______.
5. Besides writing plays, Shakespeare was also a/an ______.
6. He helped design and finance the ______Theatre.
7. The theater was built in the year ______. It was ______in shape and built out of ______.
8. The theatre was in the city of ______.
9. About ______people could see a play from the “the pit” area.
10. It would cost about ______for standing in this area. These people were known as ______or ______.
11. About ______people could be seated. Therefore about ______people could see a performance.
12. The stage was open-side and was raised up on ______.
13. The area under the stage was known as “______”.
14. The actors’ dressing room was called the ______.
15. A fatal disease during this time was called the ______or ______.
16. The actors in the plays were all ______with the roles of women and young girls performed by ______between the ages of ____ and ____.
17. During his lifetime Shakespeare wrote _____ plays, _____ sonnets and _____ narrative poems.
18. The three types of plays that Shakespeare wrote are ______, ______and ______.
19. Romeo and Juliet is an example of a ______.
20. The first passage of the play that outlines the actions of Romeo and Juliet is called the ______.
21. The author’s hinting of events to come is called ______.
22. The day Shakespeare died was also the same date as his ______.
23. Queen ______enjoyed going to Shakespeare’s plays.
24. Shakespeare got the idea for Romeo and Juliet for a poem written by ______who was from ______.
Romeo and Juliet:
25. There is a long-standing feud between the ______and the ______.
26. Romeo and Juliet takes place in ______.
27. The play opens with this action ______.
28. This upsets many people but especially their ruler, ______.
29. Romeo is in love with ______at the beginning of the play.
30. Her father promises Juliet in marriage to ______.
31. She has not seen her fiancée so her father ______, plans a ______for them to meet.
32. Romeo and his cousin/friend ______stop the messenger and decide to go to the party.
33. Romeo goes to the party with his best friend ______and his cousin ______.
34. Juliet is told of her marriage proposal to Paris by ______.
35. Romeo wears a ______to the ball, as does everyone else.
36. At the ball Romeo is recognized by ______.
37. How is this person related to Juliet?
38. He wants to kill Romeo but ______stops him.
39. Juliet falls in love with Romeo but is horrified to discover that he is a ______.
40. Juliet professes her love for him in this location ______.
41. They decide to marry and go see ______to perform the ceremony.
42. ______challenges Romeo to a duel.
43. Romeo refuses to fight and is called a ______.
44. This makes Romeo’s best friend ______mad so he duels with ______. ______is killed in this fight.
45. Grief stricken by his friend’s death a duel is then fought between ______and ______.
46. ______is killed during this second fight.
47. Juliet is told of the deaths by her ______, and Romeo goes into hiding with ______.
48. Romeo is banished from what city?
49. Lord Capulet plans for Juliet to marry Paris in _____ days.
50. She asks her ______and her ______for help so she won’t have to marry Paris.
51. The Friar gives Juliet a ______so that she will be presumed dead.
52. Romeo, who is in ______learns of her death from ______and buys ______.
53. Romeo was to learn of the Friar’s plan by way of a ______who doesn’t arrive.
54. When Romeo arrives at the tomb, he discovers ______waiting at the tomb. They fight a duel and ______is killed.
55. Romeo opens the tomb and views Juliet. He can’t bear to live without her so he kills himself with ______.
56. Juliet awakens to find both ______and ______dead.
57. The Friar arrives and tells Juliet to leave but she grabs ______and kills herself.
58. The ______is summoned by a messenger who hears the entire story from the Friar.
59. A messenger produces a ______that explains everything.
60. To honor the young lovers the families plan to build ______.
Shakespeare/ Romeo and Juliet NOTES
William Shakespeare was born in the year 1564 in Stratford-Upon-Avon. His father was a farmer. He was married to Anne Hathaway who was 11 years older then him. They had 3 children. The oldest was Susannah and the twins were Hamnet and Judith.
Besides writing plays, Shakespeare was also an actor. He helped design and finance the Globe Theatre that was built in 1599 in London England. It was round in shape and built out of wood, which gave it its nickname, “the Wooden O”. About 800 people could see a play from “the pit” area for which they paid the equivalent of 1 penny. These people were called “Groundlings” or “Stinkards” because they stood around in the pit area. About 1500 people could be seated so a total of 2300 people could see a play at one time. The stage was open-sided and was raised up on stilts. The area under the stage was called “the hell” and the area over the stage was called “the heavens”. Backstage there was a room called “The Tiring House” where actors got ready for performances.
During this time there was a fatal disease that was made worse by the crowded theaters. This disease is called the Bubonic Plague or the Black Plague. All the actors in the plays at this time were male. Males between the ages of 8 and 13 played the female parts. It was considered inappropriate for women to be on the stage.
During this time Shakespeare wrote 37 plays, 154 sonnets and 3 narrative poems. The three types of plays he wrote were comedies, tragedies and histories. Romeo and Juliet is an example of a tragedy. As You Like It is an example of a comedy and Henry the V is an example of a history. The first passage of the play that outlines the actions of Romeo and Juliet is called the prologue. Basically it tells the whole story. Shakespeare uses foreshadowing to hint at events to come throughout the play. Shakespeare died on his birthday in 1616. His birthday is thought to be April 23rd but these is no way of knowing for sure. Queen Elizabeth, who ruled from 1533-1603, very much enjoyed many of his plays. The idea for Romeo and Juliet came from a poem called Romulous and Juliet written by Arthur Brooke.
In the play there is a long-standing feud between the Montague’s and Capulets. There families live in a town called Verona Italy. The play opens with a prologue that describes everything that is going to happen. The first action in the play is a fight between servants of the two families. This upsets many people but especially Prince Escalus who declares that if anyone fights again they will pay for it with their lives. Also, in the beginning of the play, Romeo is sad because he is in love with Rosalind who is going to be a nun and can’t be with him. Juliet is engaged to Paris who is a friend of her father’s, Lord Capulet. She doesn’t know him so her father plans a ball for them to meet.
Romeo and his cousin and friend, Benvolio, stop a messenger from the house of Capulet and find out from him that the Capulets are having a ball. They decide to crash the party so Romeo, Benvolio and Romeo’s best friend Mercutio go the party. Juliet’s mother tells her she is to marry Paris. At the ball everyone wears masks but nonetheless Tybalt, Juliet’s first cousin, recognizes Romeo. He becomes angry but Lord Capulet stops him from starting a fight.
Romeo and Juliet flirt and fall in love but are horrified when they realize they are form two opposing families. Romeo and Juliet have a famous love scene on a balcony outside her bedroom window. They decide to marry and go to Friar Lawrence to get married. Afterwards, a still angry Tybalt confronts Romeo but Romeo refuses to fight because he and Tybalt are now family. Tybalt calls him a villain and this makes Mercutio so mad that he challenges Tybalt to a duel. Mercutio is accidentally killed by Tybalt. Romeo is extremely upset and he chases Tybalt down and kills him. Juliet’s nurse tells her that her cousin, Tybalt is dead.
Juliet is torn between her love for Romeo and her grief because he has killed her cousin. Romeo hides with Father Lawrence and is banished by Prince Escalus to Mantua, a town that is close to Verona. Lord Capulet plans for Juliet to marry Paris in three days mistakenly thinking it will help her to feel better. She goes to her nurse and her mother for help so she won’t have to marry them. They don’t help her but advise her to marry Count Paris. She goes to Friar Lawrence who comes up with a plan. He gives her a potion that will make it seem like she’s asleep and he will send a letter to Romeo letting him that he needs to meet her at the tomb so they can run away together. The messenger never delivers the letter because the town is quarantined due to the plague. Balthazar, Romeo’s cousin, tells him that Juliet is dead and Romeo is so upset he goes to the apothecary (pharmacist) and gets poison to kill himself. He goes to the tomb to see Juliet one last time and Paris is there. Paris thinks Romeo is there to do something bad to the tomb so he challenges Romeo to a due and Romeo kills him. He goes in, kisses Juliet and takes the poison and dies. Juliet wakes up and discovers the Friar there and Romeo dead. The friar tries to get her to leave but she refuses, takes Tybalt’s dagger and kills herself. Prince Escalus and the families show up and want to know what has happened. Balthazar produces the letter that he was supposed to take to Romeo and the friar tells them what happened. The Prince points out that everyone is punished by his or her stupid hatred. Romeo and Juliet are buried (she in her wedding dress). The families agree to get along and build statures of Romeo and Juliet to remember them.