Romeo and Juliet

Romeo and Juliet
By William Shakespeare
Drama
Elizabethan


The Author and His Times
William Shakespeare was born on April 23 1564 in Stratford England. His father worked selling leather and grains and was a town official. He was the third child out of eight children. His mother Mary came from a family of prosperous farmers and landowners. On November 28 1582 he married Anne Hathaway. She was the daughter of a farmer near Stratford. He had three children with her two of them being twins.

In the 1590’s Shakespeare went to London and joined a touring theater company. He worked as a lead actor of this company called “The Lord Chamberlain’s Men.” By the late 1590’s Shakespeare had established himself as a writer. In 1599 he founded the Globe Theater with 6 other associates. The new theater was an open playhouse in London. Shakespeare and the other 6 called themselves “The King’s Men” starting 1603 with King James I permission. Shakespeare was able to establish himself both as a playwright and a poet during this time. Shakespeare died on April 23 1616.
During Shakespeare’s time most people died at a younger age and therefore grew up much more quickly than people of today. They got married younger than us which explains why Paris Romeo and Juliet are so young in the play.





Point of View
Macbeth is written in the third person objective. The characters do not speak directly to the audience but often give soliloquies. Through the dialogues of the characters Shakespeare’s ideas on love family duty and marriage are seen. Focus generally follows Romeo and sometimes other characters that affect Romeo.



Form Structure and Plot
Romeo and Juliet starts off with a prologue that tells the general outline of the story foreshadowing future events. The prologue is followed by the rest of the play which is in 5 acts. Unlike some of Shakespeare’s other plays most if not all of the main actions are onstage. The single plot is chronological and easy to follow. There are no flashbacks and no dream scenes. The attention is generally paid to Romeo as the focus follows him through the play.



Exposition - The exposition starts with the prologue and the first fight setting the stage and the mood of the rivaling families. The prologue states that these two families have been feuding for a long time and that two lovers will die because of it. The fight shows the extent of the feud.



Initial incident - The first incident that set the story moving happened at the party. Romeo meets Juliet and falls in love with her at first sight.
Rising action - The action starts to rise greatly at the balcony scene where each profess their love for each other. They decide to get married and plan it out. The rising action continues through the marriage and the separation.
Climax - The climax is the inacting of the father’s plan. Juliet pretends to be dead and Romeo does not know it and commits suicide.
Falling action - The action begins to fall after Juliet commits suicide after finding Romeo dead. It continues as both families find their children dead.
Denouement - Escalus tells everyone that the deaths are the result of their feuds and everyone feels guilty.





Character
I did not believe that the characters in this play were very well established. While the interest in Macbeth came mainly from watching the main character and his mental development it was not so in Romeo and Juliet. The interest in this story came mainly from the plot with character development a lesser importance than that. The mental states or psyches of these characters were not dealt with and the personalities of the characters were poorly developed.



Romeo - While being the hero of this play I thought he was rather faulty. This character is renown for the great love he showed toward Juliet but I did not see that love in the play. I saw something that was more like a crush. I could not put aside the fact that Romeo’s affection turned so swiftly from Rosaline to Juliet. I assume Romeo was a young teen perhaps 15. I do not think his age was explicitly mentioned in the play. I assume he was rather well dressed since he was the son of a very powerful family in Verona. He is love-struck determined and faithful. His personality was not well established except that he really wanted Juliet and would do most anything to get her. He is faithful not in the sense that he was faithful to Rosaline but that after he got Juliet he stayed with her even to death. His function in the play is to fall in love with Juliet and serve as a part of the couple. He says about Juliet “Did my heart love till now? forswear it sight! / For I ne’er saw a true beauty till this night.” This shows how he immediately becomes lovestruck with Juliet at first sight.



Juliet - Less time is spent on Juliet and she is less developed than Romeo. The play only shows her as a the object of admiration and not much of a character herself. She rarely does anything on her own but does what others say. Even so she does not show a submissive character since while she is following the advice of others she is rebelling against her parents and she follows their advice mostly because she does not get a chance to make her own decisions. The play says that she is not yet 14 which means that she must be 13. She is beautiful and well dressed since she is also from a powerful Verona family. She is rebellious kind and loving. She shows her kindness in the way she is treated by the preacher her nurse and others. While she does not do things for them per say her kindness is shown in the way they treat her. She is loving in the passion and depth she falls for Romeo. Still I believe while it has a lot of feeling it does not have a lot of material behind the feeling. After all what kind of love can a 13 year old show? She says “Saints do not move but grant for prayers sake ... Then have my lips the sin that they have took. ... You kiss by the book.” This shows Juliet to be much more witty than a typical 13 year old girl although it serves the purpose of the play.



Mercutio - Mercutio is Romeo’s best friend and is killed by Tybalt midway through the book. I assume he is about the same age as Romeo and appears much the same. He is quarrelsome loyal and sarcastic. In the play he is involved in all of the fights showing his quarrelsome nature. He is very loyal to the Montegue cause fighting life or death on the side of Romeo. He is also sarcastic in many of the comments that he makes for example his comment about Romeo’s dream and queen mab. His quarrelsome nature brought him to his death at the hands of Tybalt. His purpose in the book is to serve as Romeo’s friend to fight on his side. It is him that takes Romeo to the party which resulted in his meeting Juliet. He says “Ay ay a scratch a scratch; marry ‘tis enough. / Where is my page? Go villain fetch a surgeon.” Here Mercutio shows his quarrelsome side and his sarcastic side. He’s sarcastic saying that his wound is only a scratch but also asks for a surgeon.



Tybalt - Tybalt is Juliet’s cousin. He is almost exactly like the Mercutio and can be considered the Capulet Mercutio. In age and appearance I would assume him to be as old as Mercutio. His behavior is much the same and his personality is the same also. He shows the same quarrelsome nature as Mercutio and is the one that killed him. He says “Romeo the hate I bear thee can afford / No better term than this: thou art a villain.” This shows the great hatred there is between the families and the extent of the feud.





Setting
The play takes place in Verona Italy during Shakespeare’s time around the 1500’s. Since the play was performed long ago in a simple open theater backdrops were not used and there were only a few props. Most of the scenery had to be imagined by the audience. Since backdrops could not be used to create mood and atmosphere the atmosphere had to be created by the few props they used and by the acting of the actors. For example the actors might have used swords and knives for the fighting scenes but they probably could not change the backdrops between scenes or acts.



Themes
The greatest theme in this play is that of love. This play is known for love as many phrases from this play have become famous for the expressions of love. For example The term ‘Romeo’ has become universal for a lady’s man. The balcony scene is known as the place where they two lovers professed their love for each other. This play shows two lovers doing everything they could to be together despite their feuding family and also despite death.

This play also deals with the idea of fate like many of Shakespeare’s other plays. The fate caused by the circumstances of the feuding families predicted that these two would not be able to live together with the complete happiness of their families. The deaths of Mercutio and Tybalt resulted partly from the marriage not to mention the deaths of Romeo and Juliet. It seems that although they did so much to stay together fate would not allow it.



Style
Shakespeare is often considered one of the world’s greatest playwrights and has a style to back it up. He writes with poetic diction using eloquent words and phrases. He uses irony and drama to create and sustain suspense through the play. Shakespeare uses much figurative language and imagery.