The Most Excellent and Lamentable Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet
Author : William Shakespeare
Type of work : Play
Genre : Tragic drama
Language : English
Time and place written : London, mid-1590s
Date of first publication : 597 (in the First Quarto, which was likely an unauthorized incomplete edition); 1599 (in the Second Quarto, which was authorized)
Publisher : Thomas Creede (in the Second Quarto, using the title The Most Excellent and Lamentable Tragedie, of Romeo and Iuliet)
Climax : The deaths of Romeo and Juliet in the Capulet tomb (V.iii)
Protagonists : Romeo; Juliet
Antagonists : The feuding Montagues and Capulets; Tybalt; the prince and citizens of Verona; fate
Settings (time) : Renaissance (fourteenth or fifteenth century)
Settings (place) : Verona and Mantua (cities in northern Italy)
Tense : Present
Tones : Passionate, romantic, intense, rhapsodic, violent, prone to extremes of emotion (ecstasy, rage, misery, etc.)
Themes : Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work.
The Forcefulness of Love
Romeo and Juliet is the most famous love story in the English literary tradition. Love is naturally the play’s dominant and most important theme. In Romeo and Juliet, love is a violent, ecstatic, overpowering force that replaces all other values, loyalties, and emotions
Love as a Cause of Violence
The themes of death and violence effects Romeo and Juliet, and they are always connected to passion, whether that passion is love or hate. The connection between hate, violence, and death seems obvious. But the connection between love and violence requires further investigation.
The Individual Versus Society
Much of Romeo and Juliet involves the lovers’ struggles against public and social institutions that either explicitly or implicitly oppose the existence of their love.
The Inevitability of Fate
In its first address to the audience, the Chorus states that Romeo and Juliet are “star-crossed” that is to say that fate controls them. This sense of fate effects the play, and not just for the audience. The characters also are quite aware of it: Romeo and Juliet constantly see omens. When Romeo believes that Juliet is dead, he cries out, Then I defy you, stars, completing the idea that the love between Romeo and Juliet is in opposition to the decrees of destiny. The mechanism of fate works in all of the events surrounding the lovers: the feud between their families; the horrible series of accidents that ruin Friar Lawrence’s seemingly well-intentioned plans at the end of the play; and the tragic timing of Romeo’s suicide and Juliet’s awakening. These events are not mere coincidences, but rather manifestations of fate that help bring about the unavoidable outcome of the young lovers’ deaths.
Motifs :
Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, or literary devices that can help to develop and inform the text’s major themes.
1. Light/Dark Imagery
One of the play’s most consistent visual motifs is the contrast between light and dark, often in terms of night/day imagery. This contrast is not given a particular metaphoric meaning; light is not always good, and dark is not always evil.
- Opposite Points of View
Shakespeare uses two main devices in this regard: Mercutio and servants. Where Mercutio is a nobleman who openly criticizes other nobles, the views offered by servants in the play are less explicit. The nobles’ world is full of grand tragic gestures. The servants’ world, in contrast, is characterized by simple needs, and early deaths brought about by disease and poverty rather than dueling and grand passions.
Symbols :
Symbols are objects, characters, figures, or colors used to represent abstract ideas or concepts.
· Poison
Poison is not really evil, but is instead a natural substance made lethal by human hands. Poison symbolizes human society’s tendency to poison good things and make them fatal, just as the pointless Capulet-Montague feud turns Romeo and Juliet’s love to poison.
· Thumb-biting
The thumb-biting, as an essentially meaningless gesture, represents the foolishness of the entire Capulet/Montague feud and the stupidity of violence in general.
· Queen Mab
One of the most noteworthy aspects of Queen Mab is that the dreams she brings generally do not bring out the best sides of the dreamers, but instead serve to confirm them in whatever vices they are addicted to; for example, greed, violence, or lust
GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE PLAY
Romeo and Juliet is the first of Shakespeare’s great tragedies. The plot of this story of pure and tagic love is known in all parts of civilized world. The deaths of Romeo and Juliet are inevitable because their families are feud and death is the only way out of their hopeless situation. The tragedy is deeply sad and moving but without the shock of the terrible tragedies that followed later.
THE CHARACTERS (DRAMATIS PERSONAE)
Romeo : The son and heir of Montague and Lady Montague. A young man of about sixteen, Romeo is handsome, intelligent, and sensitive
Juliet : The daughter of Capulet and Lady Capulet. A beautiful thirteen-year-old girl. When she grows up quickly upon falling in love with Romeo.
Friar Lawrence : A Franciscan friar, friend to both Romeo and Juliet.
Mercutio : A kinsman to the Prince, and Romeo’s close friend.
The Nurse : Juliet’s nurse, the woman who breast-fed Juliet when she was a baby and has cared for Juliet her entire life. A vulgar, long-winded, and sentimental character.
Tybalt : A Capulet, Juliet’s cousin on her mother’s side.
Capulet : The patriarch of the Capulet family, father of Juliet, husband of Lady Capulet, and enemy, for unexplained reasons, of Montague.
Lady Capulet : Juliet’s mother, Capulet’s wife.
Montague : Romeo’s father
Lady Montague : Romeo’s mother, Montague’s wife
Paris : A kinsman of the Prince, and the suitor of Juliet most preferred by Capulet.
Benvolio : Montague’s nephew, Romeo’s cousin and thoughtful friend.
Prince Escalus : The Prince of Verona. A kinsman of Mercutio and Paris.
Friar John : A Franciscan friar charged by Friar Lawrence with taking the news of Juliet’s false death to Romeo in Mantua.
The Apothecary : An apothecary in Mantua.
Rosaline : The woman with whom Romeo fall in love at the beginning of the play.
THE PLOT
The play begins with a large fight between the Capulets and the Montagues, two prestigious families in Verona, Italy. One day Romeo and Benvolio are accidentally invited to their enemy’s party; Benvolio convinces Romeo to go.
At the party, Romeo locks eyes with a young woman named Juliet. They instantly fall in love, but they do not realize that their families are mortal enemies. When they realize each other’s identities, they are devastated, but they cannot help the way that they feel and they decide to marry. The next day, Romeo and Juliet are married by Friar Lawrence.
Romeo visits his best friend Mercutio and his cousin Benvolio but his good mood is cutailed. Juliet’s cousin, Tybalt, starts a verbal quarrel with Romeo, which soon turns into a duel with Mercutio. Romeo tries to stop the fight but it is too late: Tybalt kills Mercutio. Romeo, enraged, retaliates by killing Tybalt. Friar Lawrence informs Romeo that he has been banished from Verona and will be killed if he stays. The Friar suggests Romeo spend the night with Juliet, then leave for Mantua in the morning.
Juliet’s mother, completely unaware of her daughter's secret marriage to Romeo, informs Juliet that she will marry a man named Paris in a few daysJuliet asks Friar Lawrence for advice, insisting she would rather die than marry Paris. Fr. Lawrence gives Juliet a potion which will make her appear dead and tells her to take it the night before the wedding. He promises to send word to Romeo intending the two lovers be reunited in the Capulet vault.
Juliet drinks the potion and everybody assumes that she is dead. Friar Lawrence’s letter fails to reach Romeo, so he assumes that his wife is dead. He rushes to Juliet’s tomb and, in deep grief, drinks a vial of poison. Moments later, Juliet wakes to find Romeo dead and kills herself due to grief. Once the families discover what happened, they finally end their bitter feud.
REFERENCES
Murat ÇOKYAMAN
Ali ERDÖNMEZ
Onur ACAR
Comments (14)
Anonymous said
at 8:29 pm on Nov 28, 2008
Different places and differen cultures but the same subjects and the same characters..
Anonymous said
at 10:35 pm on Dec 4, 2008
Especially ROMEO is a diferrent character, and his love is something similar to today's loves
Anonymous said
at 11:52 pm on Dec 4, 2008
The people who love each other are never allowed to reach a happy coming both in literature and in real life.Why don't people change it?I want to know ıf they ever fall in love.People who know what is love never do such thıngs.Am I WRONG?Hatice Erdoğan
Anonymous said
at 11:38 pm on Dec 8, 2008
You know that LOVE IS KNOWINGLY CAPTIVITY.I like Romeo and Juliet issue most in English Literature lesson.Romeo and Juliet or Leyla and Mecnun or Kerem and Aslı we know all of them are characters from us ,and world culture...
Anonymous said
at 7:30 pm on Dec 14, 2008
Yes we have the same stories in Turkish literature,the same events,the same girl and boy models etc.I like Romeo and Juliet,but when i heart the ages of Romeo and Juliet,i was surprised:)
Ayşegül Yeşilbursa said
at 2:47 pm on Dec 15, 2008
Yes, everybody is surprised to hear the ages of Romeo and Juliet! But we must remember to view the play within its historical context. While youngsters in their early teens are not considered to be mature enough to marry according to modern socienty; in Renaissance Europe, young adults were married off as soon as they reached adolescence - 12-14 years old for girls, and 15-16 years old for boys. We must also remember that education and professional training in that period were certainly not as widespread as they are nowadays, so there was no concept of getting an education and securing a career before marrying, certainly not for women.
Anonymous said
at 4:53 pm on Dec 19, 2008
I thınk Romeo and Juliet is the most famous love story in the English literature tradition. Love is the play's dominant and most important theme.The play focuses on romantic love. The young lovers are driven to defy their families,friends and ruler.
Anonymous said
at 1:21 pm on Dec 23, 2008
Today,many people are like romeo and juliet.They are not allowed to reach a happy end.HATİCE ERDOĞAN
Anonymous said
at 2:11 am on Dec 24, 2008
At the very beginning of the film,I experienced a kind of shock,because I expected to watch a tragic film.To my surprise,I found myself watching a romantic comedy,but scene by scene sequence of events changed,the film turned into its own,tradegy.I also found it a bit modernized.Juliet kills herself with a gun instead of a dagger:)These kinds of changes in films may be ridicilious.I prefer watching its old version.I did not like this version much.To be honest,although I did not like the film,I appreciate that Romeo did not kill Paris at the end of the film.In fact,I have no idea about why Shakespeare wrote such an end for Paris.Finally,I want to say,the character that I liked most is Mercuito(!):)))He was veryy funny.
Anonymous said
at 7:41 pm on Jan 12, 2009
Romeo and Juliet reminds me the old turkish films.There is a feud between the girl's and the boy's familiy and they fall in love.The film sometimes ends happily sometimes unhappily.Romeo and Juliet has sımılarıty from this aspect.
Anonymous said
at 8:44 pm on Jan 12, 2009
yes right their story is like our famous old films:)but in our films generally the boy is poor and proud. so the girl's father-who is very rich and rude-does not approve their relationship. maybe he is right:p but in romeo and juliet's story there is no reason for a feud.They are both rich and esteemed families.there is no need such an end.
Anonymous said
at 8:49 pm on Jan 12, 2009
We can easily see that Romeo and Juliet belongs to a tradition of tragic romances streching back to antiqiity.It's so difficult to see such masterpieces today.Each character adds various taste both to the film and the film.Some of them are merciful,some others are merciless.However, the most crucial part of the play is Romeo and Juliet's struggle for their endless love..
Anonymous said
at 5:25 pm on Jan 14, 2009
ROMEO AND JULIET IS A VERY INTERESTING PLAY IN TERMS OF LOGIC.WE LEARNED LOTS OF DETAIL ABOUT THE PLAY ACCORDING TO OUR OLD KNOWLEDGE.FIRST OF ALL WE ARE AMAZED BY THEIR AGES.WE THOUGT THAT IT IS MORE THAN 20,BUT THEIR AGES ARE JUST 16 AND 13.THIS STORY IS VERY COMPLICATED FOR A YOUNG COUPLE.WE WONDER WHY SHAKESPEARE CHOSE HIS CHARACTERS SO YOUNG.MAYBE TO AFFECT AUDIENCE?IF IT IS SO ITS REALLY EFFECTIVE…
THERE IS A COMMON KNOWLEDGE AMONG PEOPLE ;IT IS THOUGT THAT THERE IS A VERY BIG LOVE BETWEEN ROMEO AND JULIET.WHEN THEY MENTION ABOUT THE BIG, ENDLESS LOVES THEY ORDER LEYLA AND MECNUN,FERHAT AND ŞİRİN,ROMEO AND JULIET… THESE COUPLES ARE SHOWN AS AN EXAMPLE IN LIFE. HOWEVER,THERE IS NO LOGICAL BEHAVIOR IN THEIR LOVE(ROMEO AND JULIET).THEY BEHAVE VERY STUPIDLY.IT IS BAD CHOICE FOR AN EXAMPLE.
Anonymous said
at 9:30 pm on Jan 14, 2009
Romeo and Juliet have given the best theme for plays,poetry.Writers and playwrites originates from Shakespare's play. Also their love set on example to other people(sometimes good,sometimes bad...)
You don't have permission to comment on this page.