Annotated Bibliography of Classical Allusions in Romeo and Juliet

An annotated bibliography is a works cited page in which you give a brief summary of the information found within the source.

A Classical allusion is when an author makes reference to a character in Classic Greek or Roman mythology.

In his boyhood, William Shakespeare, like most young students, was well-versed in Ovid’s Metamorphosis, a collection of all the Classic Roman myths. In fact, the plot line for Romeo and Juliet is based upon the Roman myth of Pyramus and Thisbe. Shakespeare often makes references to various mythological characters in all of these plays.

 You will need to skim over the play to find these Classical allusions. As you find these Classical allusions, record the act, scene and line number where they occur so you can go back to them.

 Then, we will go to the IMC to research these Classical allusions. You will have to find out information about each of the allusions. You will paraphrase and cite your source.

 Along with the paraphrase, you will explain why Shakespeare uses the allusion. For example, why does he refer to Cupid in a particular line?

Here is an example of how an annotated citation would look:

Writer, Ima. “Cupid.” Encyclopedia Britannica. 1998 ed. Cupid is the son of the Roman love

goddess, Venus. According to the Ancient Romans, he is usually the cause of people

falling in love. They fall in love because he shoots them with a golden arrow. Romeo

refers to Cupid not being able to hit Rosaline with an arrow in Act 1 scene 1 because she

will not fall in love with Romeo (I, i, 214). Notetaking for Annotated Bibliography

Character______Act____Scene____lines______Paraphrase of information

Source______Copyright______

Author______Title of Article______

Publisher Information: Company and City______

Web Address______

Page Numbers______

Other important source info (See MLA handbook)