JULIET ROMEO A comedy or a tragedy THEM

JULIET ROMEO A comedy or a tragedy? THEM ES STYLE Romeo and Juliet THE PLOT RAFFAELLA MANNORI -2013 -2014

1. The plot The first two acts are a love comedy. • Romeo and Juliet meet at the Capulets’ ball and it is love at first sight. • They are secretly married by Friar Laurence. RAFFAELLA MANNORI -2013 -2014

The plot • The real tragedy starts • • in the third act with Mercutio’s and Tybalt’s deaths; Romeo is banished from Verona. In the fourth act Juliet drinks a potion to avoid the marriage with Count Paris. In the fifth act tragic conclusion of the play with the deaths of the two lovers. RAFFAELLA MANNORI -2013 -2014

3. A comedy or a tragedy? It is a comedy It is a tragedy • the instant attraction of the young lovers; • the masked balls; • the comic servants; • the surface life of street fights. • the tragic role of chance leading up to the deaths of the two lovers. RAFFAELLA MANNORI -2013 -2014

• • 5. The two lovers ROMEO • • • At the beginning( ACT I) he represents the typical courtly lover, linked to melancholy, holy devotion and idealization of the object of desire. He meditates over his hopeless unrequited love for Rosaline. His love for Juliet gradually develops into a profound and intense passion and he abandons the features of courtly conventions. Yet Romeo’s deep capacity for love is merely a part of his larger capacity for intense feeling of all kinds. Put another way, it is possible to describe Romeo as lacking the capacity for moderation. Love forces him to sneak into the garden of his enemy’s daughter, risking death simply to catch a glimpse of her. Anger compels him to kill his wife’s cousin in a reckless duel to avenge the death of his friend. Despair compels him to suicide upon hearing of Juliet’s death. Such extreme behavior dominates Romeo’s character throughout the play and contributes to the ultimate tragedy. RAFFAELLA MANNORI -2013 -2014

Juliet 5. The two lovers JULIET Though she is set within the courtly love convention, she is unconventional because she stands for a real woman. • She is an innocent girl, a child at the beginning of the play, and is startled by the sudden power of her love for Romeo. • She develops very quickly into a determined, capable, mature, and loyal woman. RAFFAELLA MANNORI -2013 -2014

4. Themes • The lack of knowledge coming from bad communication. • The feud between the two families. • Old hate vs young love. • Speed as the medium of fate. • The reflection upon the language made by Juliet (appearance vs reality). RAFFAELLA MANNORI -2013 -2014

4. Themes old hate vs young love • • • The feud between the two families (old hate vs young love). A major theme is the tension between social and family identity (represented by one’s name) and one’s inner identity. Juliet believes that love stems from one’s inner identity, and that the feud between the Montagues and the Capulets is a product of the outer identity, based only on names. The young lovers are driven to defy their entire social world, which represents an obstacle for their love: families and the placement of familial power in the father; law and the desire for public order; religion and the social importance placed on masculine honor. RAFFAELLA MANNORI -2013 -2014

4. Themes old hate vs young love • • • The feud between the two families (old hate vs young love). The enmity between their families creates a profound conflict for Romeo and Juliet, who must rebel against their heritages. Further, the patriarchal power structure inherent in Renaissance families places Juliet in an extremely vulnerable position. It is possible to see Romeo and Juliet as a battle between the responsibilities and actions demanded by social institutions and those demanded by the private desires of the individual. Romeo and Juliet’s appreciation of night, with its darkness and privacy, and their renunciation of their names, with its loss of obligation, make sense in the context of individuals who wish to escape the public world. But the lovers cannot stop the night from becoming day. And Romeo cannot cease being a Montague simply because he wants to. The lovers’ suicides can be understood as the ultimate night, the ultimate privacy. RAFFAELLA MANNORI -2013 -2014

4. Themes reflection upon language • The reflection upon the language made by Juliet (appearance vs reality). • Juliet shows a tendency of concreteness and realism in her use of language • Appearence vs reality is also present in Juliet death-like sleep (feigned death) RAFFAELLA MANNORI -2013 -2014

4. Themes speed • • Speed as the medium of fate. Shakespeare compresses all the events of the love story into just a few days, so he gives the sense that the action is happening so quickly that characters don’t have time to react, and, by the end, that matters are going out of control. The mechanism of fate works in all of the events surrounding the lovers: the feud between their families ; horrible series of accidents that ruin Friar Lawrence’s apparently well-intentioned plans at the end of the play; 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. RAFFAELLA MANNORI -2013 -2014

4. Themes lack of knowledge • The lack of knowledge coming from bad communication. Shakespeare makes the plot depend crucially on messages: Juliet’s nurse brings her a happy reply from Romeo; then she brings her the news of Tybalt’s death and Romeo’s banishment; Friar’s Lawrence’s message can’t reach Romeo in time RAFFAELLA MANNORI -2013 -2014

6. Style • Regular rhythm. • Use of rhymes. • Use of sonnets in dialogues. • Imagery of light • Imagery of darkness death protection For example , when Romeo is in Juliet’s orchard he feels protected by the “night’s cloak”. Juliet longs for a “a love – performing night” …” Come, civil night”. RAFFAELLA MANNORI -20132014

QUESTIONS 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. What are the typical elements of a love comedy? When does the real tragedy start? What are the conventional features of a courtly lover which Romeo shares ? What is the flaw in Romeo’s character, which leads to his downfall? Why is Juliet unconventional in her reflection upon the language? Some critics think that the major theme in Romeo & Juliet is the contrast between social identity and inner identity. Do you agree ? Give reasons. Why is speed an important theme in the play? What is the imagery of the tragedy based on? RAFFAELLA MANNORI -20132014