ROMEO AND JULIET

ROMEO AND JULIET

1.     The Character

Romeo -  The son and heir of Montague and Lady Montague. A young man of about sixteen, Romeo is handsome, intelligent, and sensitive. Though impulsive and immature, his idealism and passion make him an extremely likable character. He lives in the middle of a violent feud between his family and the Capulets, but he is not at all interested in violence. His only interest is love. At the beginning of the play he is madly in love with a woman named Rosaline, but the instant he lays eyes on Juliet, he falls in love with her and forgets Rosaline. Thus, Shakespeare gives us every reason to question how real Romeo’s new love is, but Romeo goes to extremes to prove the seriousness of his feelings. He secretly marries Juliet, the daughter of his father’s worst enemy; he happily takes abuse from Tybalt; and he would rather die than live without his beloved. Romeo is also an affectionate and devoted friend to his relative Benvolio, Mercutio, and Friar Lawrence.

The name Romeo, in popular culture, has become nearly synonymous with “lover.” Romeo, in Romeo and Juliet, does indeed experience a love of such purity and passion that he kills himself when he believes that the object of his love, Juliet, has died. The power of Romeo’s love, however, often obscures a clear vision of Romeo’s character, which is far more complex.

protagonists  · Romeo; Juliet

antagonists  · The feuding Montagues and Capulets; Tybalt; the Prince and citizens of Verona; fate

Dramatis Personae

Juliet- Capulet's daughter
Romeo – Montague's son
Mercutio – Kinsman to the Prince of Verona and friend of Romeo
Tybalt – Lady Capulet's newphew and Juliet's cousin
The Nurse – Juliet's nursemaid
Friar Laurence – A brother of the Franciscan order and Romeo's confessor
Capulet – Juliet's father
Paris – A noble kinsman to the Prince
Benvolio – Montague's nephew
Lady Caputlet – Juliet's mother
Montague – Romeo's father
Blthasar – Romeo's servant
Apothacary – a chemist
Escalus, Prince of Verona – the Prince of Verona
Friar John – A brother of the Franciscan order
Lady Montague – Romeo's mother
Peter – A capulet servant attending the Nurse
Abram – A servant to Montague
Sampson – Servant of the Capulet household
Gregory – Servant of the Capulet household

2.     The Setting of The Place

Verona and Mantua (cities in northern Italy)

3.     The Plot of The Story

In the streets of Verona another brawl breaks out between the servants of the feuding noble families of Capulet and Montague. Benvolio, a Montague, tries to stop the fighting, but is himself embroiled when the rash Capulet, Tybalt, arrives on the scene. After citizens outraged by the constant violence beat back the warring factions, Prince Escalus, the ruler of Verona, attempts to prevent any further conflicts between the families by decreeing death for any individual who disturbs the peace in the future.

4.     The Synopsis

full title  ·  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  · 1597 (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 Juliet)

climax  · The deaths of Romeo and Juliet in the Capulet tomb (5.3)

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)

point of view  · Insofar as a play has a point of view, that of Romeo and Juliet; occasionally the play uses the point of view of the Montague and Capulet servants to illuminate the actions of their masters.

falling action  · The end of Act 5, scene 3, when the Prince and the parents discover the bodies of Romeo and Juliet, and agree to put aside their feud in the interest of peace.

tense  · Present

foreshadowing  · The Chorus’s first speech declaring that Romeo and Juliet are doomed to die and “star-crossed.” The lovers’ frequent thoughts of death: “My grave is like to be my wedding bed” (Juliet, 1.5.132). The lovers’ thoughts of suicide, as when Romeo threatens to kill himself after killing Tybalt. Friar Lawrence’s warnings to behave moderately if Romeo and Juliet wish to avoid tragedy: “These violent delights have violent ends . . . Therefore love moderately” (2.5.9–14). The lovers’ mutual impression that the other looks pale and deathlike after their wedding night (3.5). Juliet’s faked death by Friar Lawrence’s potion. Romeo’s dream-vision of Juliet kissing his lips while he is dead (5.1). Romeo’s outbursts against fate: “O, I am fortune’s fool!” (3.1.131) and “Then I defy you, stars” (5.1.24).

tones  · Passionate, romantic, intense, rhapsodic, violent, prone to extremes of emotion (ecstasy, rage, misery, etc.)

themes  · The forcefulness of love; love as a cause of violence; the individual versus society; the inevitability of fate

motifs · Light/dark imagery; opposite points of view

symbols  · Poison; thumb-biting; Queen Mab

5.     The Conclusion

Two households, both alike in dignity,
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life;
Whole misadventured piteous overthrows
Do with their death bury their parents' strife.
The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love,
And the continuance of their parents' rage,
Which, but their children's end, nought could remove,
Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage;
The which if you with patient ears attend,
What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.

The prologue is designed to introduce the play. It tells us that this play takes place in Verona and at the center of this story are two lovers who belong to feuding families.

Act II opens with a prologue that does two things. First it p[oints out that Romeo and Juliet love will be hard because their families are enemies. Second it pokes fun at Romeo for so quickly falling in love with Juliet and completely getting over Rosaline

Bibliography  /  References :

The Film “The Most Excellent and Lamentable Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet”

The Novel “Romeo and Juliet”

author  · William Shakespeare