Romeo and Juliet William Shakespeare - Insight Text Guide

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Insight Text Guide
                                         Victoria Bladen

                                    Romeo
                                   and Juliet
                                 William Shakespeare

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Copyright  Insight Publications 2010

           First published in 2010, reprinted 2011 by
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           Australia

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           National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry:
              Bladen, Victoria.
              William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet / by Victoria Bladen.
              9781921411656 (pbk.)
              Insight text guide.
              For secondary school age.
              Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616. Romeo and Juliet. Shakespeare, William,
              1564-1616--Criticism and interpretation.
           822.33

           Printed in Australia by Ligare

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contents

                                 Character map                 iv

                                 Overview                        1
                                   About the author              1
                                   Synopsis                     2
                                   Character summaries          4

                                 Background & context           5

                                 Genre, structure & language    8

                                 Scene-by-scene analysis       13

                                 Characters & relationships    35

                                 Themes, ideas & values        41

                                 Different interpretations     49

                                 Questions & answers           54

                                 Sample answer                 63

                                 References & reading          66

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iv                              Insight Text Guide

           CHARACTER MAP
                                                  Conflict between

                            Married                                                   Married
           Montague                           Lady                      Lady                       Capulet
                                            Montague                   Capulet
                            Son                                                        Daughter

                                                Friar Lawrence
                                                Paternal figure
                                                   to Romeo
                                                                                                        Nurse
                                                                                                    Servant to the
                                                                                                      Capulets

                                                Conducts marriage
                                                                                                    Assists

                                Romeo                  Loves               Juliet
                            Son of Montague                              Daughter of
                                                                          Capulet
                            Friends
                                                                 Kills
                                             Cousins                                              Betrothed
                                                                                 Cousins

                                    Benvolio           Fight
                                   A Montague                               Tybalt
                                                                          A Capulet

                                                               Kills
                              Mercutio                                                                  Paris
                           Kinsman to the                                                          Kinsman to the
                               Prince                                                                  Prince
                                                                Kinsmen

                                 Banishes                                                         Kinsmen
                                                                            Escales
                                                                        Prince of Verona
                                        Kills

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1

               OVERVIEW

                        William Shakespeare (1564–1616) is one of the most renowned literary
                        figures from the English literary Renaissance (also referred to as the ‘early
                        modern period’). His dramatic and poetic work, written during an intensely
                        productive period from the late-sixteenth to the early-seventeenth century,
                        has proved capable of enduring well beyond his own time and place.
                        Translated into many languages, adapted for film, ballet, opera and graphic
                        novels, Shakespeare’s work has evolved into a cultural phenomenon,
                        meaningful and compelling to audiences of different periods and cultures.
                              Romeo and Juliet is one of Shakespeare’s most well known plays. This
                        guide is designed to help you navigate your way through the play, organise
                        your thinking and help you to write intelligently and competently about
                        the play in your essays and exams. Remember that Romeo and Juliet
                        is a play, created to be experienced as a performance on stage, even
                        though it is often first experienced as a written text or as a film. If you
                        are able to see the play performed you will gain a deeper understanding
                        of its shape, the characters, how the dramatic action unfolds and the
                        effect of Shakespeare’s language. Film adaptations will also help you to
                        understand the play, particularly if you are able to view different versions.

               About the author
                        So who was Shakespeare? He was born in 1564, when Elizabeth I was on
                        the throne, and died in 1616 when James I was king. Born in Stratford-
                        upon-Avon, in Warwickshire, William was the son of John Shakespeare,
                        a glove-maker, and his wife Mary, a gentleman’s daughter. He received
                        an education from the King’s New School, a grammar school in Stratford,
                        but never attended university. As a young man he fell in love with Anne
                        Hathaway, and they were married in 1582 after Anne became pregnant;
                        the child, Susanna, was born six months after the wedding. In 1585,
                        twins were born, Hamnet and Judith; Hamnet died when he was a
                        child. The marriage seems to have broken down subsequently and when
                        Shakespeare died he left to Anne only his ‘second-best bed’.

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                        In the late 1580s, Shakespeare moved to London and began his
                   career as a playwright. He joined a theatre company called The Lord
                   Chamberlain’s Men (also briefly known as Lord Hunsdon’s Men), under
                   the patronage of the Lord Chamberlain. The ensemble produced plays
                   that were performed at a venue called the Theatre. He acted, wrote plays
                   and shared in the profits of the theatre company. When the lease over
                   the land on which the Theatre was built expired in 1597, and a dispute
                   with the landlord arose, Shakespeare and his colleagues dismantled the
                   wooden building, took it across the river and reassembled it at Bankside,
                   south of the Thames. This theatre became the Globe, which opened in
                   1599. In London today, a close replica of the Globe now stands, near the
                   original site, in which Shakespeare’s plays are performed all year round.
                        When James I came to the throne in 1603, he became the patron of
                   the theatre company of which Shakespeare was part owner; the company
                   was therefore renamed the King’s Men. The king recognised the huge
                   potential of the theatre to reach many people; the theatre can perhaps
                   be thought of as the early seventeenth-century equivalent of television
                   in this regard. James wanted his reign to be associated with that power,
                   despite the fact that there is strong criticism of authority figures throughout
                   Shakespeare’s work.

           Synopsis
                   Romeo and Juliet is a play about love in the midst of war. It is set in
                   Verona, Italy. The town is wracked by civic violence, the result of a bitter
                   and long-standing feud between two families, the Montagues and the
                   Capulets. Everyone fights, from the heads of the families, Montague
                   and Capulet, down to the servants of the respective families. Against
                   this backdrop of civil strife, something miraculous happens: two young
                   people fall in love. There is only one problem – one is a Montague, a
                   dreamy young man named Romeo, and the other a Capulet, beautiful
                   thirteen-year old Juliet. Thus the scene is set for a tense, dramatic and
                   life-threatening courtship.

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                              The play begins with a street brawl between the two factions, setting the
                        hostile scene. The Prince tries to restore order by threatening punishment
                        of death to the next person who starts a fight. Romeo, initially in love
                        with Rosaline, is persuaded by his companions to attend the Capulet ball
                        where he falls in love with Juliet, and Rosaline is quickly forgotten. The
                        entranced couple, however, has no sooner met than the two lovers are
                        devastated by the discovery that they belong to opposing families.
                              The second act sees Romeo evading his companions to sneak into the
                        Capulet orchard where he comes to Juliet’s balcony, the setting of one of
                        the most famous scenes in the play. The pair declare their love for each
                        other in poetic and passionate terms. Each is prepared to defy family
                        loyalties to be with the other. The next day Romeo visits Friar Lawrence to
                        arrange their marriage; the friar has concerns but agrees, thinking it will
                        heal the civil feud. Meanwhile Romeo’s friends Benvolio and Mercutio
                        are looking for him. Mercutio is annoyed that Romeo gave them the slip
                        the night before and a bawdy conversation follows. Mercutio is scornful
                        of Romeo’s love but happy that Romeo is back with the boys. Juliet’s Nurse
                        speaks to Romeo then returns to Juliet to tell her of the secret wedding
                        plan. The act ends with the marriage taking place at Friar Lawrence’s cell.
                              The third act begins with a fatal street fight. Romeo tries to keep the
                        peace between his feisty friend Mercutio and their enemy Tybalt, who
                        is furious at Romeo for intruding on the Capulet ball. Tybalt fatally stabs
                        Mercutio, and Romeo kills Tybalt in revenge. The Prince exiles Romeo
                        and the young lovers are distraught, both threatening suicide to Friar
                        Lawrence. They are able to have one night together before Romeo leaves
                        for Mantua. Meanwhile, Juliet’s parents have decided she is to marry
                        Paris, kinsman to the Prince. Juliet refuses and her father threatens to
                        disown her.
                              In the fourth act, Friar Lawrence proposes a risky plan. He will give
                        Juliet a sleeping potion so she will seem dead to her family. He will then
                        send a message to Romeo to meet Juliet at the tomb so they can escape
                        to Mantua and be together. Juliet takes the potion and is found ‘dead’ on
                        the morning of her planned wedding to Paris. Her mourning family and
                        Paris lay her in the tomb.

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                        In the final act of the tragedy Romeo, in Mantua, is told Juliet is dead.
                   He doesn’t receive Friar Lawrence’s message; the messenger is detained
                   due to a quarantine to impede the spread of the Plague. Romeo resolves
                   to commit suicide and lie next to Juliet. At the tomb, Paris is laying
                   flowers when Romeo arrives. A fight ensues and Romeo kills Paris before
                   entering the tomb and taking poison. Juliet wakes a moment too late and
                   Friar Lawrence, who also arrives too late, tries unsuccessfully to persuade
                   her to leave. Juliet stabs herself and the Prince and the families arrive to
                   survey the tragic scene. The Prince admonishes the feuding patriarchs
                   who finally agree to end the dispute.

           Character summaries
                   Chorus: a character or characters that present the prologue (the
                   introductory overview of the drama which comes before the main
                   dramatic action begins) and a summary at the end of Act 1; both speeches
                   are in sonnet form.
                   Escalus: the Prince of Verona; has the unenviable task of trying to maintain
                   the peace between the warring Montagues and Capulets.
                   Paris: a young nobleman, kinsman to Escalus; wishes to marry Juliet and
                   is given Capulet’s permission.
                   Montague: head of the Montague household; Romeo’s father; an enemy
                   to Capulet.
                   Lady Montague: the wife of Montague; dies of grief when her son Romeo
                   is sent into exile.
                   Capulet: head of the Capulet household; Juliet’s father; an enemy to
                   Montague.
                   Lady Capulet: the wife of Capulet; a cold and distant mother to Juliet.
                   Romeo: son of Montague; falls in love with Juliet.
                   Juliet: daughter of Capulet; falls in love with Romeo.
                   Mercutio: kinsman to Escalus and a friend of Romeo; volatile, bawdy and
                   streetwise.
                   Benvolio: nephew to Montague, Romeo’s cousin and friend; benevolent
                   and moderate.

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                        Cousin Capulet: kinsman to Capulet.
                        Tybalt: a fiery Capulet, nephew to Lady Capulet, and Juliet’s cousin.
                        Friar Lawrence: a Franciscan friar; tries to help Romeo and Juliet by
                        marrying them in secret and later providing a sleeping potion for Juliet.
                        Friar John: another Franciscan.
                        Servants: attendants who prepare for the Capulet ball and the proposed
                        wedding between Juliet and Paris.
                        Balthasar: Romeo’s servant.
                        Abram: servant to Montague.
                        Sampson, Gregory and the Clown: Capulet servants.
                        Nurse: Juliet’s nurse; a maternal figure to Juliet.
                        Peter: servant to Juliet’s Nurse.
                        Page: servant to Paris.
                        Apothecary: chemist; sells the deadly poison to Romeo.
                        Three Musicians: group engaged for the Capulet ball and for the wedding
                        (that doesn’t take place) between Juliet and Paris.

               BACKGROUND & CONTEXT

               The play’s setting – Renaissance Italy
                        Italy was only unified as a country comparatively late in its history. In
                        Shakespeare’s day, and in the period in which Romeo and Juliet is set,
                        there was no such entity as ‘Italy’. Instead, cities and towns were their
                        own states. These were generally ruled over by a dominant family, such
                        as the Medici family in Florence. One exception was the republic of
                        Venice where the ruling body was elected. The powerful Catholic Church
                        was based in Rome and had alliances with some of the city-states, but
                        not others. Struggles between rival families for control of these city-states
                        were common, so the conflict-driven world of the play that Shakespeare
                        imagines is a highly plausible setting.
                              Although the play is set in strife-torn Verona, the central theme of two
                        people from conflicting social groups falling in love is one that we can

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                   imagine occurring in many other settings. One of the more contemporary
                   stories that Romeo and Juliet inspired was the musical West Side Story.
                   Set in New York in the 1950s, the lovers, Tony and Maria, come from rival
                   street gangs, the Sharks and the Jets.

           Shakespeare’s historical context
                   Families
                   In Shakespeare’s time, there were severe limits and constraints on a
                   person’s social behaviour. Families had significant, if not complete,
                   control over whom a young person could marry. Family connections,
                   religion and financial factors were strong influencing factors. For the
                   nobility, politics played an important role; the monarch was required
                   to sanction all marriages as all connections could affect the political
                   landscape. There was also less personal privacy: young people had
                   limited opportunities to be alone and courtship would generally have
                   taken place subject to the control of families. When Juliet is forced by her
                   father to marry Paris, this excessive control he has over her reflects the
                   very real social power that fathers wielded within families. Women, and
                   particularly girls, were seen as potentially unruly and more susceptible
                   to their emotions and bodily desires than men. Fathers were expected
                   to control their daughters (and wives) and for a daughter to go against
                   the wishes of her father would have been rare, resulting in serious social
                   repercussions.

                   Nature
                   In Shakespeare’s time nature was imagined as ‘God’s Second Book’ (the
                   first book being the Bible), and a rich source of knowledge. This idea lies
                   behind Friar Lawrence’s moralising when he is collecting plants in the
                   garden.

                   Chain of Being
                   A common medieval and Renaissance idea was that everything in the
                   universe was subject to a hierarchy that went, in descending order: God,
                   angels, humans, animals, plants, rocks. It was thought that reason, and

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