The Prologue Romeo and Juliet

Describe the setting of the play. The setting is in Verona, which is in Italy.

How long will the play last? Two hours

What is the relationship between the two households? The families engage in continual feuding. (ancient grudge)

What does Shakespeare mean by “star-cross’d lovers”? The lovers are doomed to die by fate or forces of the universe.

What happens to the lovers? They kill themselves as a result of both fate (“death marked love”) and the feud (“parents’ rage”).

What is the subject matter of this play? The play, of two hours’ duration, deals with the feud, the deaths of the lovers, and the impact of those deaths on the two families.

What does the chorus ask of the audience in the last two lines? Why? The chorus asks the audience to listen patiently. Elizabethan audiences were known to be restless and rowdy if they were not pleased with the play they were watching.

How many lines are there How many lines are there? What type of poem does Shakespeare use for the prologue? Shakespeare uses the sonnet form which consists of 14 lines of iambic pentameter; the rhyme scheme is abab cdcd efef gg.

Identify examples of poetic language. Rhyme Imagery: - “traffic of our stage” Alliteration: - “from forth the fatal loins of these two foes”

What are some adjectives you heard/read that suggest the play’s atmosphere? Misadventured Fatal Fearful

Find an example of foreshadowing in the prologue. “From forth the fatal loins of these two foes” “A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life” “The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love”

Will this play be a tragedy or a comedy?