literature and Culture • THE TRAGEDY OF ROMEO AND JULIET

Historical Context
Elizabethan England
The Rebirth of Learning Sometime around the year
1350, at the end of the Middle Ages, Italian city-states,
such as Venice and Genoa, began to trade extensively
with the East. With trade came more knowledge and
growing curiosity about the world. Soon, Italy was
leading the way in a flowering of European learning
known as the Renaissance (REHN uh sons). Commerce,
science, and the arts blossomed as people shifted
their focus to the interests and pursuits of human
life here on earth. The astronomers Copernicus and
Galileo questioned long-held beliefs to prove that the
world was round and that it circled the sun, not vice
 Queen Elizabeth ruled from 1558 to 1603, versa. Navigators, including Christopher Columbus
but her reign was so successful that the and Ferdinand Magellan, braved the seas in tiny boats
entire Renaissance in England is often called to explore new lands and seek new trade routes.
the Elizabethan Age. Religious thinkers, such as Martin Luther and John
Calvin, challenged the authority of the Roman Catholic
Church and spurred the Protestant Reformation.
Artists, including Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci,
painted and sculpted lifelike human beings. Writers,
such as Miguel de Cervantes and William Shakespeare,
Quick insight wrote insightfully about complex human personalities
The symbol of the House of York was a in fiction and drama.
white rose, while the symbol of the House
of Lancaster was a red rose. For that The Renaissance in England The Renaissance
reason, the civil wars fought between the was slow to come to England. The delay was caused
two houses were called the Wars of the mainly by civil war between two great families, or
Roses. Shakespeare wrote several plays
houses, claiming the English throne—the House of
about English monarchs involved in these
York and the House of Lancaster. The conflict ended
conflicts.
in 1485, when Henry Tudor of the House of Lancaster
took the throne as King Henry VII. After a successful

Copyright © SAVVAS Learning Company LLC. All Rights Reserved.

rule in which English commerce expanded, he was
succeeded by his son Henry VIII, whose reign was filled
with turmoil. Henry sought a divorce from the Spanish
princess Catherine of Aragon so that he could remarry
and possibly have a son. He was convinced that only
a male would be strong enough to hold the throne.
When the Pope refused to grant the divorce, Henry
renounced the Roman Catholic Church and made
England a Protestant nation. Ironically, his remarriage,
to a woman named Anne Boleyn, produced not a son
but a daughter, Elizabeth. Even more ironically, when
Elizabeth took the throne, she proved to be one of the
strongest monarchs that England has ever known.

366 UNIT 4 • STAR-CROSSED ROMANCES

 essential question: Do we determine our own destinies?

The Elizabethan World The reign of Elizabeth I is often seen as a golden

age in English history. Treading a moderate and frugal path, Elizabeth
brought economic and political stability to the nation, thus allowing
commerce and culture to thrive. Advances in mapmaking helped English
explorers sail the Old World and claim lands in the New. Practical inventions
improved transportation at home. Craft workers created lovely wares for the
homes of the wealthy. Musicians composed fine works for the royal court,
and literature thrived, peaking with the plays of William Shakespeare.

London became a bustling capital on the busy River Thames (tehmz), where
ships from all over the world sailed into port. The city attracted newcomers
from the countryside and immigrants from foreign lands. Streets were
narrow, dirty, and crowded, but they were also lined with shops where
vendors sold merchandise from near and far. English women enjoyed more  England’s defeat of the
freedoms than did women elsewhere in Europe, and the class system was Spanish Armada was a
more fluid as well. To be sure, those of different ranks led very different lives. popular subject in fine
Yet even the lowborn were able to attend one of the city’s most popular new art for centuries after the
amusements, the theater. events. This print from
1850 shows one artist’s
imagining of the scene.

Elizabeth I and
the Spanish Armada
In 1588, King Philip of Spain
sent an armada, or fleet of
military ships, to invade England.
At the time, Spain was the
most powerful nation on earth.
Nevertheless, the English soundly
defeated the invading forces.
The victory cemented Elizabeth’s
popularity with her people. Prior
to the battle, the Queen visited
her troops to inspire them to fight.
Copyright © SAVVAS Learning Company LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Here is a portion of the speech

she delivered:
. . . And therefore I am come
amongst you at this time, not as
for my recreation or sport, but
being resolved, in the midst and
heat of the battle, to live or die
amongst you all; to lay down,
for my God, and for my kingdom
and for my people, my honor and
my blood, even the dust. I know I
have but the body of a weak and
feeble woman; but I have the
heart of a king, and of a king of
England too . . .

Literature and Culture 367

 literature and Culture • THE TRAGEDY OF ROMEO AND JULIET

Theater in Elizabethan England

Quick insight
Elizabethan audiences included all levels of society,
from the “groundlings,” who paid a penny entrance fee,
Audience members ate and
drank while they watched the
to the nobility.
plays and apparently made a lot During the Middle Ages, simple religious plays were performed
of noise. In 1900, archaeologists at inns, in castle halls, and on large wagons at pageants. In early
found the remains of the
Elizabethan times, acting companies still traveled the countryside to
foundation of the original
perform their plays. However, the best companies acquired noble
Globe Theatre. They also
patrons, or sponsors, who then invited the troupes to perform in
found the discarded shells of
their homes. At the same time, Elizabethan dramatists began to use
the many hazelnuts audiences
the tragedies and comedies of ancient Greece and Rome as models
munched on while watching
performances.
for their plays. By the end of the sixteenth century, many talented
playwrights had emerged, including Christopher Marlowe, Ben
Jonson, and of course, William Shakespeare.

Quick insight England’s First Theater England’s first successful public theater
opened in 1576. Known simply as the Theatre, it was built by
During Shakespeare’s day, acting
companies were entirely male.
an actor named James Burbage. Since officials had banned the
Women did not perform because performance of plays in London, Burbage built his theater in an
it was considered improper. The area called Shoreditch, just outside the London city walls. Some of
roles of women were usually Shakespeare’s earliest plays were first performed here, including
played by boys of about eleven, The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, which probably starred James
or twelve—that is, before their Burbage’s son, Richard, as Romeo.
voices changed.
When the lease on the Theatre expired, Richard Burbage, in charge
of the company after his father died, decided to move the company
to Southwark (SUHTH uhrk), just across the River Thames from
London proper. The Shoreditch landlord had been causing problems,
and Southwark was emerging as a popular theater district. Using
timbers from the old theater building, Burbage had a newer theater
built, bigger and better than the one before. It opened in 1599 and
 The modern Globe Theatre, was called the Globe. Under that name it would become the most
rebuilt in the twentieth century famous theater in the history of the English stage, for many more of
a few hundred yards from the Shakespeare’s plays were first performed there.
Copyright © SAVVAS Learning Company LLC. All Rights Reserved.
original site.

368 UNIT 4 • STAR-CROSSED ROMANCES

 essential question: Do we determine our own destinies?

Theater Layout No floor plans of the Theatre or the

Globe survive, but people’s descriptions and sketches The Globe Theatre
of similar buildings suggest what they were like. They The three-story structure, open to the air, could
were either round or octagonal, with a central stage house as many as 3,000 people in the pit and
open to the sky. This stage stretched out into an area surrounding galleries.
called the pit, where theatergoers called groundlings
paid just a penny to stand and watch the play. The
enclosure surrounding this open area consisted
of two or three galleries, or tiers. The galleries
accommodated audience members who paid more to
watch the play while under shelter from the elements, 1
and with some distance from the groundlings. The
galleries probably also included a few elegant box
seats, where members of the nobility could both
watch the play and be seen by the masses.

Staging the Play The enclosure directly behind the

stage was used not for seating but for staging the play.
Actors entered and left the stage from doors at stage 2
level. The stage also had a trap door through which
mysterious characters, such as ghosts or witches, could 5 3
disappear suddenly. Some space above the backstage
area was used for storage or dressing rooms. The first 4
gallery, however, was visible to the audience and used
as a second stage. It would have been on a second
stage like this that the famous balcony scene in The
Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet was performed.

These open-air theaters did not use artificial light.

Instead, performances took place in the afternoon,
when it was still light outside. There was also no
scenery in the theaters of Shakespeare’s day. Instead,
the setting for each scene was communicated KEY
through dialogue. With no need for set changes, 1. The hut, housing machinery used
scenes could follow one another in rapid succession. to lower characters and props to
Special effects were simple—smoke might billow the stage
Copyright © SAVVAS Learning Company LLC. All Rights Reserved.

at the disappearance of a ghost, for example. By 2. The stage trap, often used for
contrast, costumes were often elaborate. The result the entrances and exits of special
was a fast-paced, colorful production that lasted characters, such as ghosts or
about two hours. witches
3. The stage
The Blackfriars In 1609, Shakespeare’s acting
4. The pit, where groundlings stood
company began staging plays in the Blackfriars
to watch the show
Theatre as well as the Globe. Located in London
5. The galleries
proper, the Blackfriars was different from the
earlier theaters in which Shakespeare’s plays were
performed. It was an indoor space with no open
area for groundlings. Instead, it relied entirely on a
wealthier clientele. It was also one of the first English
theaters to use artificial lighting, an innovation that
allowed for nighttime performances.

Literature and Culture 369

 literature and Culture • THE TRAGEDY OF ROMEO AND JULIET

William Shakespeare, Playwright and Poet

Shakespeare’s plays and poetry are regarded by
many as the finest works ever written in English.
William Shakespeare (1564–1616) is widely revered as one of
England’s greatest writers. Four centuries after his death, his plays
are still read and performed every day. Who was this remarkable
author of so many masterpieces? In actual fact, we know very little
about him.

From Stratford to London

Shakespeare grew up in Stratford-upon-Avon, a busy market town
on the Avon River about 75 miles northwest of London. Church
and town records indicate that his mother, Mary Arden, was the
daughter of a wealthy farmer who owned the land on which
Shakespeare’s grandfather lived. Shakespeare’s father, John, was
a prosperous merchant who also served for a time as Stratford’s
mayor. Shakespeare most likely went to the local grammar school,
where he would have studied Latin and Greek as well as English
and world history. He would eventually put all those lessons to
use in plays about historical figures, such as Julius Caesar and King
Henry IV.
In 1582, when he was eighteen, Shakespeare married a woman
named Anne Hathaway and had three children with her, including
a set of twins. The next decade of his life is a mystery, but by
1592 he had moved to London, where he gravitated to the
theater. Starting off an actor, he soon began writing plays as well.
By 1594, he had become the principal playwright of the Lord
Chamberlain’s Men, the Burbages’ acting company. Some of the
early plays Shakespeare wrote at this time include the romantic
comedy The Taming of the Shrew and the romantic tragedy The
Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet.
Shakespeare was not just a performer and a playwright, however;
he was also part owner of the theater company. This meant that
he earned money in three ways—from fees for his plays, from his Copyright © SAVVAS Learning Company LLC. All Rights Reserved.
acting salary, and from his share of the company’s profits. Those
profits rose substantially after the Lord Chamberlain’s Men moved
to the Globe Theatre, where as many as 3,000 people might
attend a single performance. It was at the Globe that many of
Shakespeare’s later masterpieces premiered, probably beginning
with The Tragedy of Julius Caesar in 1599.

The King’s Players In 1603, Queen Elizabeth I died, and her

Scottish cousin took the throne as James I. Partial to the theater,
James was particularly supportive of the Lord Chamberlain’s Men,
which had emerged as one of the two best acting companies
in the land. Not only did it have a brilliant playwright in William
Shakespeare; it also had a fine actor in Richard Burbage, who
starred in most of Shakespeare’s plays. In 1606, flattered by the

370 UNIT 4 • STAR-CROSSED ROMANCES

 essential question: Do we determine our own destinies?

king’s patronage, the company changed its name to the King’s Men. It is
believed that Shakespeare wrote his great Scottish play, The Tragedy of
Macbeth, to appeal particularly to James I.
Three years later, the King’s Men began performing at the Blackfriars Theatre,
using the Globe only in summer months. By using this indoor theater in
winter, the King’s Men further increased profits. The company did so well
that Shakespeare was soon able to retire. In 1610, he moved back to
Stratford-upon-Avon, buying one of the finest homes in town. He died of
unknown causes in 1616.

Shakespeare Says . . .
Shakespeare’s impact on the English language has been enormous. Not only
did he coin new words and new meanings for old words, but he also used
many expressions that have become part of our everyday speech. Here are a
few examples.

EXPRESSION AND SOURCE MEANING

Eat out of house and home (Henry VI, Part 2) Eat so much that it makes the provider poor

For ever and a day (The Taming of the Shrew) Indefinitely; with no end in sight

Give the devil his due (Henry IV, Part 1) Recognize an opponent's achievement

Greek to me (Julius Caesar) Completely unintelligible to me

Green-eyed monster (Othello) Jealousy

In a pickle (The Tempest) In trouble

In stitches (Twelfth Night) Laughing so hard it hurts

Lay it on with a trowel (As You Like It) Flatter excessively

Copyright © SAVVAS Learning Company LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Makes your hair stand on end (Hamlet) Really frightens you

The milk of human kindness (Macbeth) Compassion

A plague on both your houses (Romeo and Juliet) I’m fed up with both sides (in an argument)

Salad days (Antony and Cleopatra) Green, or naïve, youth

Star-crossed lovers (Romeo and Juliet) Ill-fated lovers

Wear your heart upon your sleeve (Othello) Show your love to all

Won’t budge an inch (The Taming of the Shrew) Will not give in; stands firm

Literature and Culture 371