Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet is a famous romantic, tragedy written by William Shakespeare around the time of 1595. The word tragedy in Shakespearian times had a stronger meaning than it has today. We know tragedy as something bad, however in Shakespearian it means: death of a character because of a fault. But love and hate are the main themes of the play. Lots of things were different in Shakespearian times. In Shakespearian times plays were staged on an apron stage. There was a trapdoor where people can fall from or a devil can rise from. There were no curtains so actors had to enter and exit through a door. The only place where actors could hide was called an alcove. It was the only place where curtains where. There also was a balcony. It was there to show important and high people like God or royalty. In the balcony scene Juliet was shining beauty higher than him (i.e. an angel) according to Romeo. How the audience watched the play was also different and it depended on your rank of where you would see the play. The farmers and peasants watched the standing up. Even though the rich and high ranked people watched the play from a balcony, which shaped like an olden day football stadium. The way the play started was to amuse all kind of people. The way the servants started the play in Act 1 Scene 1 was to please the peasants with their jokes and laughs. But when Tybalt offends Benvolio in this formal Shakespearian English it amused the higher ranked people. So it was something for everyone. Although Romeo and Juliet is a romantic story, there is no real intimate love in the play. The reason for this is that all actors were men in Shakespeare’s plays. It was regarded shameful for a woman to act as someone she’s not. So kissing was the most intimate thing that happened.
Romeo and Juliet is a very bawdy play. Throughout the play there are many references to sex. The dirty talk, however has an important part to the play. More than amusement. Gregory and Sampson can only see the relationship between men and women in a bedroom. This contrasts with the real and powerful love which is to develop between Romeo and Juliet. Sampson and Gregory from the house of Capulet start the scene with their comic bravery and their dirty talk. 'I will be civil with the maids'. In Shakespearian times women were regarded lower than men. So Sampson being the more bolder of the two talks about women as if they were made for his pleasure. He talks about how he will defeat Montagues men and get his women. From his speech: 'I will push Montague's men from the wall, and thrust his maids to the wall.' Shakespeare meant with that quote Sampson will against the wall, and Montague's men away. In them times they threw away their toilet trash out the balcony. So Sampson and the maids were safe, but Montagues men weren’t. Shakespeare in the beginning portrays men as rude and boastful and don't care about anything else than fighting and women. ‘True; and therefore women, being the weaker vessels,
are ever thrust to the wall’ But as we read more there are different images of young men in the play. In the middle they are portrayed as romantic and adventurous yet ignorant. ‘O, that I were a glove upon that hand, That I might touch that cheek!’. But towards the end you can see how emotional and vulnerable they are. And you can see it from Romeo’s speech: ‘O my love! my wife!
Death, that hath suck'd the honey of thy breath’ how devastated and he is, which is a contrast to Act 1 Scene 1.
