Carl Horsman 10M Tuesday 24th June
Course Assignment--------Shakespeare: Romeo & Juliet
Shakespeare was one of the greatest play writes of all time; he was born in 1564 and died in 1616. During his life he wrote such plays as Macbeth & hamlet, but perhaps the most memorable is Romeo & Juliet, which he wrote in 1595. Whilst writing he was not concerned about originality and often used the storylines of Classical Writing, but what ever you might say he can turn an ordinary tale into a Beautiful Love Story with incredible characters and marvellous settings.
A summary of Act 5: - Romeo talks about how the night before he had had a Dream “ I dreamt my lady ( Juliet ) came and found me dead and breath’d such life with kisses in my lips, that I reviv’d and was an Emperor. Ah me, how sweet is love itself possess’d when but love’s shadows are so rich in joy.” Then Romeo’s man Balthasar enters. Romeo asks questions before Balthasar can answer them e.g. “ How doth my Lady? Is my Father well? How doth my Lady Juliet?”
Balthasar answers only the question about Juliet & tells Romeo “ Her body sleeps in Capel’s Monument”. On hearing of this sad news Romeo goes to a local Apothecary to purchase the poison that shall meet his death on arrival to his lady’s Tomb/Vault. Romeo bumps into the emotional Paris they fight because Paris thinks Romeo is trying to damage the Capel’s monument and he won’t let it happen. At this point you have to use your imagination to get a picture of the fight. Romeo kills Paris after a furious battle, but before he dies he asks to be placed next to his betrothed Juliet inside the tomb. Romeo accepts his wishes but when he enters the vault and sees Juliet’s body, he gently places Paris’ body on the floor and goes over to Juliet. Romeo then talks about why Juliet is not ‘Decomposing’. He says “ Ah dear Juliet why art thou yet so fair? Shall I believe that unsubstantial death is amorous monster keeps thee here in dark to be his paramour?” after this speech he takes the poison “ O true Apothecary: thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die”. Romeo then falls and dies. Friar Laurence then enters the vault and discovers that he is to late to save Romeo. Juliet begins to awake and, the Friar tries to take her away because he can hear the watch coming. On exiting the vault Juliet sees her beloved Romeo dead on the floor, the friar runs in fear of being caught leaving Juliet alone. Juliet looks what had killed her Romeo and discovers a vile of poison, which was empty by his side; she decides to kiss his lips to see if any poison would still be on them she fails. Juliet hears a noise and decides to be brief she picks up Romeos dagger and stabs herself and falls. The watch discover the bodies and call for the Prince, everyone arrives and the prince lays down his speech to the people of Verona. The families decide to build gold statues of each others child and never fight again. The story ends with the Princes last words, “ A glooming peace this morning with it brings, the sun for sorrow will not show his head; Go hence to have more talk of these sad things, some shall be pardon’d, and some punished. For never was a story of more woe, than this of Juliet and her Romeo”.
