6/26/2010
Evaluate Shakespeare’s techniques – both linguistic and dramatic – as he presents Romeo across Acts I and II. Make relevant use of context issues as you do so
The Globe where many of William Shakespeare’s plays were originally performed, was constructed in 1599 and its stage measured 40 feet wide and housed nearly 3000 spectators. With such a small stage it was important for Shakespeare’s plays to include many linguistic and dramatic techniques so people situated all around would still be able to hear the detailed and poetic wordplay even if they could not see the performance.
Romeo is introduced from early on as in love and infatuated. Shakespeare portrays the character of Romeo as sad and obsessed about love. This idea of being so deeply tied up with love is important to the play as it is the cause of his own death in Act 5. Shakespeare expresses Romeo’s feelings of love through poetic word play and imagery. Through dramatic irony Shakespeare’s uses Romeo as a way of portending the death of the lovers throughout the play. For much of the first act metaphors ‘Nor ope her lap to saint-seducing gold’ and antithesis ‘Do I live dead, that live to tell it now’ make up the dialogue of Romeo. These specific language techniques describe the love of Romeo for Rosaline. The metaphors describe her physical beauty and Shakespeare includes words such as ‘jewel’ and ‘treasure’ which clearly depict the idea of external attractiveness which shows why Romeo is loving her but throughout all the poetic wordplay Rosaline’s personality is not once described. Antithesis is also frequently used as a key technique by Shakespeare to provide good imagery but often giving contradicting ideas. “Do I live dead, that live to tell it now.” This is appropriate to the type of feelings Romeo is showing as his ‘love’ for Rosaline is really just boyhood lust and through the vivid descriptions Shakespeare uses it to indicate the thoughtless and heartless emotions of Romeo.
