Shakespeare Never Lets His Audience Forget That the Play Ends In Tragedy

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Romeo and Juliet Essay

Shakespeare Never Lets His Audience Forget That the Play Ends In Tragedy

At the time the play was written, in 1595, everyone believed very strongly in fate and the stars. London at the time was a walled city of about 200,000, with seven gates providing access to the city from the east, north and west. It was considered small and was criss-crossed by narrow little streets and lanes. The various wards each had a parish church that dominated the life of the close-knit community. To the south and outside were slums and criminal hangouts, and further out were huge estates and the agricultural lands. As the population increased and the central area declined, the fashionable people moved to the west of the city, near where the palace of Westminster lay. Houses were rented out floor by floor and even room by room. Even within the city slums were common, although they were close to pleasant enough streets and squares. England was not a clean place, neither were its people, for in these days there was a gutter in the middle of the street, into which refuse would be emptied to be washed away