Romeo & Juliet - An exploration of the ways Shakespeare sustains our interest in the play particularly with the use of the theme of fate, (despite revealing the ending in the plays prologue).
Romeo & Juliet by Rosie Wild L6.7
An exploration of the ways Shakespeare sustains our interest in the play particularly with the use of the theme of fate, (despite revealing the ending in the plays prologue).
Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliet' is set in Verona in the1500's and unlike most plays of the period as well as most modern plays, it reveals the ending in the prologue. The prologue is situated in the play before the opening scene in act 1, and contains some vital and interesting facts about the play. We learn about the feud between the two families and also the most crucial aspect we learn is that the 'star-crossed' lovers are doomed from the start, and that their love ultimately ends in the death of both teenagers. Shakespeare himself was very cautious of death. Shakespeare wrote his own epitaph because during his time, when the graveyard was full, people would dig up someone's corpse and burn it so that another could be buried in that person's place. This disgusted Shakespeare, and he didn't want this type of disrespect after his death. To this day no one has disturbed Shakespeare's grave. Ironically, tombs and burials are very significant in Romeo and Juliet, as Juliet fakes death and then Romeo dies in her family's tomb which is frequently opened when a member of the family dies. There was not as much privacy around the subject of death as Shakespeare felt there should be, hence his fears about his own grave ever being tampered with.
The concept of fate functions as a central theme in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. In the opening prologue of the play, the Chorus informs the audience that Romeo and Juliet are "Star cross'd Lovers". In other words, the Chorus states that Romeo and Juliet are governed by fate, a force often linked to the movements of the stars. Fate manifests itself in all the events surrounding the young lovers: the ancient and inexplicable feud between their families, the catastrophic series of mishaps which ruin Friar Lawrence's plans, and the tragic timing of Romeo's suicide and Juliet's awakening. The structure of the play itself rests upon the fate from which the two lovers cannot escape.
Although Shakespeare reveals the ending, we must realise that he does this for a purpose as Shakespeare would never deliberately write a play in which he risked the audience losing interest due to the premature knowledge of the ending. He skillfully compares Romeo's love for Rosaline to that of his purer love of Juliet to highlight his immaturity at his true belief that there was no one more beautiful than Rosaline. We are drawn into believing that this love for Juliet is true as soon as he declares it, but we keep interest to find out if in fact it is true love. Shakespeare leaves us with a lot of unanswered questions at the end of the prologue, and these initiate our interest in the play. Some of them are answered early in the play, yet the final questions are left unanswered until the last pages. We become so engrossed in their whirlwind romance with the aid of the theme of time as our questions are being answered all the time, as well as new ones being proposed. Why do they die for each other, how do they fall in love, and how do the families bury the hatchet? As soon as death is mentioned, the reader becomes instantly fascinated as we want know exactly how and why it happens. I immediately wanted to know whether they died in each other's arms, if they were married, if they knew they were going to die for each other, if it was natural or invoked death and whether or not the families were ever aware of their passionate love for one another.
Contrary to the themes introduced in the prologue, Shakespeare opens the acting side of the play with two servants from the Capulet family. Their conversation is bawdy and rude, and full of sexual connotations which are purposeful as a sharp contrast to the true love which is to follow. Elizabethan plays nearly always have a sharp scene at the beginning to engage the audience as quickly as possible and to put a stop to their chatter and get them involved in the play. The Capulet servants openly play with the Montague servants in the streets, leading them on as to propose a fight. The anger of the families has spread to the servants and everyone in the town knows of it. Our interest is sustained as we wish to find out how and why the two families bury the hatchet.
We are first introduced to the theme of time when Romeo complains 'sad hours seem long'. Romeo then explains that his hours are long because he odes 'not having that, which, having makes them short'. This suggests that time passes quickly when one is in love, and this is highly ironic as his love shortens his life considerably. Romeo seems to play at being in love, as if he is not taking it seriously. 'O brawling love! O brawling hate!' and his fashionable use of the oxymoron make us question the validity of his love. There is a pun on line 119 as it is ironic that he is sat under a sycamore tree sick-amour, love sick literally. We have wondered since the beginning how Romeo could fall for a Capulet, presumably knowing of the 'ancient feud' but we learn early now that the woman he 'loves' is a Capulet and here is does not stand in the way.
The play is also full of contrasts which help to keep the audience's interest. In Act 1, Scene 2 the contrast- and conflict between youth and age is clear. Capulet says 'men so old as we' should be able to keep the peace. Yet he is in conversation with the youthful Paris. He stresses the extreme youth of his daughter Juliet who is not quite fourteen. It is highly ironic that Capulet says 'she is the hopeful lady of my earth'; this suggests he has invested everything into her: his hope, future, and his life as she is ...
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The play is also full of contrasts which help to keep the audience's interest. In Act 1, Scene 2 the contrast- and conflict between youth and age is clear. Capulet says 'men so old as we' should be able to keep the peace. Yet he is in conversation with the youthful Paris. He stresses the extreme youth of his daughter Juliet who is not quite fourteen. It is highly ironic that Capulet says 'she is the hopeful lady of my earth'; this suggests he has invested everything into her: his hope, future, and his life as she is his only child and he wants to make sure she is happy. At this point the audience would be cringing as the dramatic irony is intense because we know, that his only hope is fated to die before him.
Shakespeare, as a master of stagecraft deliberately contrives that Romeo and Juliet be full of coincidence plays a significant part in the play. Shakespeare makes it so that the audience sees a series of events which allow fate to govern the consequences of the meetings, the decisions and the characters very words. In this way he controls the events and what happens around then to give the impression to us that fate may, if we believe it enough, control the 'star- crossed' lovers fate. We see here that fate has taken a huge hand in the proceedings. The stagecraft plays an important role in initiating the divide between Romeo and Juliet and the way in which they approach each other. The dark room, crowded with lots of Capulets and friends of the family. Shakespearian audiences were very superstitious and would have believed that people are governed by fate, so this would interest them greatly at the thought of what more 'what if...' cases will determine their eventual outcome. It is also hugely ironic that the servant says 'and if you not be of the house of Montagues, come'. This will have stirred the audience, as it if it they have been warned.
Juliet's relationship with the nurse, and how far their bond reaches is also another interesting point for the audience. It is certain that the nurse is regarded as one of the family, and this is quite strange to modern audiences. An ominous note is struck when the nurse remembers her own child, Susan. Her own daughter, she said 'was of an age' with Juliet, but died in childhood. This is ironic and the dramatic irony in the audience would be intense. The nurse says, 'she was too good for me'. Juliet, too, will prove to be too good for her and is also fated to die young, ever since the prologue.
Shakespeare interests the audience by always adding new characters that become main parts in the play and add a lot of diversity. In Act 1, Scene 4, this is where we first meet Mercutio. We soon discover that, as him name implies, he is mercurial in temperament- lively, volatile, and always moving- both mentally and physically. Mercutio is introduced by Shakespeare to add a different aspect to love, much like that from the servants, and to use this as a running comparison for Romeo's true love for Juliet. He also adds a lot of much needed comedy to this romantic tragedy, and later on his friendship for Romeo is tested at the scene of his death, and he is also a friend of both families, which can act as a useful tool. The audience would have certainly been interested to follow Romeo's and Mercutio's bawdy conversation, 'love pricks like a thorn' 'enpierced with his shaft' 'that dreamers often lie' as here although Romeo claims that he is sick at heart, unable to 'bound a pitch about dull woe', he is not too distraught to take part in witty repartee, often crude, with Mercutio. Here, we also see the emergence of a new theme of light. Light was very importantly included in the speech in Shakespearian plays as there would have been no stage machinery available to provide such lighting. There are constant references to such lighting to help the play come alive, and to help the audience feel involved. Romeo says he will carry the light and later calls for a torch. Mercutio says 'we burn daylight' 'we waste our lights in vain'. Also, if it was not for the darkness, Juliet would have never admitted her love for Romeo so freely, and he would not have heard it and confessed his reciprocated feelings. Was it fate that it was dark so that Juliet could confess her feelings openly?
An ominous note returns at the end of the scene as Romeo utters: 'I fear too early; for my mind misgives/Some consequence yet hanging in the stars/Shall bitterly begin his fearful date/With this night's revels and expire the term/Of a despised life closed in my breast,/By some vile forfeit of untimely death'. This speech portrays the height of irony, dramatic irony, and would certainly have pleased if not excited the audience, as Romeo appears to be tempting 'untimely death' upon himself. The reference also reminds the audience of the Prologue's references to the 'star-cross'd lovers' as their fate truly does 'hang in the stars'. Words such as 'expire' and 'death' can be seen as connotations of death which are tempting fate. Romeo's immaturity and haste nearly always leads to his downfall, he rushes into love, into taking the poison, and many other things. The only thing which he does in haste which is positive is marry Juliet.
In the next scene, the festive atmosphere is rapidly established, giving a hurried sense to the play. This is the next aspect of time in the play where we feel that it is being rushed, as they must for several days and nights into a two hour show. Romeo's language now takes on a richness and beauty which was missing from his earlier, strained and insincere words about his love for Rosaline. The audience will also now notice more the speed which the play is gathering. In a lightening flash Romeo's love for Juliet is complete and unchangeable. The reference to light will have struck the audience as to notice the change in the time of day, but this time, he views Juliet in terms of light, 'she doth teaches the torches to burn bright'. We feel here his true passion for her love as his language burns with intensity. We feel now that we are in no doubt listening to a man whose love is profound and real and the poetry here draws us further in to the romance.
Using the theme of time, Shakespeare often purposefully darts from topic to topic in this play in order to keep us waiting for our area of interest to be brought up again. Romeo and Juliet propose their marriage but there is a scene between this and the wedding which adds to our suspense and interest to watch on.
Yet the soft lull of love is soon struck by an ominous note when Romeo says 'Beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear!' We now remember the nurse's words about her own daughter- "she was too good for me". We also draw a link to Juliet's father's words to Paris in Act 1, Scene 2, when he says "Earth hath swallowed all my hopes but her". Immediately a reference to the prologue will have been drawn interesting the audiences as they realise that there is no escaping the binding of fate which Romeo and Juliet have been tied to since the prologue. The audience is brought back to reality by the family feud, which Tybalt wastes no opportunity in telling Capulet about. However, much to the audience's surprise, Capulet lets it go. We wonder whether this is fate that Romeo did not get ousted from the party before his meeting with Juliet, as the feud between both families is strong enough to engage servants in the street, but not strong enough to make the master of the Capulet household confront a Montague child, though we must remember, further violence between the families will lead to execution by the Prince, who is trying to maintain Verona's reputation by giving both families an ultimatum towards the beginning of the play. Though perplexed, the audience is intrigued and this forces them to read on, to see if a fight will emerge.
After their kiss the poetry Romeo speaks makes us believe that this love is true. Not as yet have we heard him use such detailed imagery to portray his feelings. His language contains words very much from the semantic field of love and holiness. He also uses words which are sacred such as 'holy palmers' 'pilgrims' 'journey' to enhance his feelings. His love turns him into a magician with his words, and this will have been noticed by the audience, as we watch on so that we can find out how far his love will go, and if they will meet again. Romeo also seems to have a sense of the future, and the dramatic irony intensifies as he says 'my life is my foe's debt' this suggests that now he only lives to be with Juliet and that this will end in fatality. Here, any doubts that the audience may have had about whether Romeo's love is pure enough to die for Juliet are eradicated as he seems to know that he will die in love for her, and in the wanting to be with her. The wedding vows 'till death us do part' are very ironic here, as they find their togetherness in death, whereas most people fear and separate in death. The audience may find a false sense of security here, as they will be led to believe that there is no way Tybalt can block the path of love, as they ultimately end up together in the end, however, here the audience will be drawn to move on as they ask themselves the question 'is Tybalt the reason that they could only be together in death?'. He seems like a likely candidate for their downfall, but the audience must stay to find out.
The scene is one of violent contrasts- the jollity, music and dancing at the feast, the bitter rage of Tybalt and the gentle love between Romeo and Juliet. As it ends, we feel the tragedy waiting. We remember Tybalt's threat- 'this intrusion shall/ Now seeming sweet convert to bitterest gall' (this is to say he will appear to be peaceful for the benefit of Capulet but he wont forget and we know that he will look for an early opportunity for revenge). Here the audience feel the need to read on to find out whether it is Tybalt's fault that the lovers cannot live happily together. Juliet at the end of the scene strikes a chilling and prophetic note when she says 'my grave is like to be my wedding bed'. We feel here that the also has some sense of what her future holds, but the acts leading up to it are ultimately governed by fate. Perhaps here she is playing on the fact that the families are enemies and to end in death is a possibility for the pair. The whirlwind romance in this scene will no doubt leave the audience gathering their bearings on love, revenge and time.
The division between the families keeps them on separate levels both mentally and physically. The cast, however as the audience already knows, is set for the star-crossed lovers, their lightening love is intense and the fact that they arrange to get married on the same evening as meeting will have shocked the audience into paying more attention as the mood is constantly changing. Romeo refers to Juliet as his 'sun' and his 'moon'; basically he says that his life should be dedicated to her. The audience may nod, as this is true. The imagery of light is very important in this scene; Romeo's earlier love for Rosaline was characterized by grief, melancholy, tears and darkness. He referred to "love, whose view is muffled still" and to "love's heavy burden". However, Juliet is the 'sun' 'her eyes in heaven' and 'bright angel'. Generally the scene is suffused with the glow and light of their love. The contrasts will have caught the audience's attention.
The next part of the play where all the themes are tied together and suspense and tension are high is the scene where both Mercutio and Tybalt die. After this scene there can be no hope of avoiding tragedy. If, perhaps Tybalt, Mercutio and Romeo had not come into conflict on this day, it is just possible that the marriage could have been made public and reconciliation of the two families achieved, the deaths of Mercutio and Tybalt make that impossible. Though the audience are already aware that the play will end in a tragically they know have a clearer view of why and how. Romeo has a great bond with his friends and tries to protect Mercutio, but he fails. This is the first one of his major failures as we realize that he may do more wrong things in the play. Even when Mercutio is mortally wounded, he continues to exercise his verbal wit 'ask for me tomorrow, and you shall find me a grave man'. Punning to the last he puns on 'grave' meaning serious and 'grave' meaning his final resting place. This will have shocked the audience as it was not foretold in any way, and very unexpected. There is a huge irony in his curse 'a plague on both your houses!' Both houses, are indeed at this point plagued, and will never not be again. Romeo has ultimately sacrificed Mercutio for Juliet. Here we feel how much he must love her as he goes to kill Tybalt. Is it fate that he retaliates, for the death of his best friend? Is it fate that Tybalt killed Mercutio and not Romeo in the first place? After Romeo has played into the hands of fate by killing Tybalt he declares that he is 'fortunes fool' and this is true as he is playing into the trap of 'star cross'd lovers' which he has been since the start.
The audience are in turmoil as to what could happen next, we do not know what will happen to Romeo, if Juliet will be angry and hate him for the death of her cousin, if she will understand, or if they will ever meet again. We are highly drawn in to finding out as much as possible. The nurse keeps us in as much suspense as possible, and Shakespeare has used language very carefully and skilfully to make us feel like Juliet, as if we are waiting for the news about Tybalt and Romeo and we are truly hanging on the edge of our seats wondering what the nurse will tell Juliet.
When Juliet takes the poison she thinks all will be well when she wakes up, she is scared, yet she wants to be with Romeo so much that her fear is not an issue as she toasts the temporary death poison to Romeo before drinking it. The audiences do not know whether she will wake up of if she will ever see the love of her life again, it is a very tense and moving moment. Juliet first lists all the fetes and terrors of taking the poison and the audience doubt whether she will take it or not, 'how if I wake before the time which Romeo come to redeem me?' The audiences do not yet know, but this will not be a problem as he is dead before she wakes. She then says how she fears 'the horrible conceit of death and night' and how 'some spirits at night resort' and then finally 'I drink to thee' as she toasts her drink to their life together. The irony is huge, as they will only be together in death. Answering the audience's question about the nurse being closer to Juliet than the mother, this is definitely true as she confides in the nurse a lot more, and the nurse puts her to bed, dresses her, and is fated to be the one who finds her 'dead' in the morning. She also displays more emotion over the death. Is it also not fate that Juliet 'dies' while both parents are supposedly so angry with her and are also in loathing of her, yet their emotions change suddenly over her dead body.
Undoubtedly the most tense part of the play for the audience is when Romeo gets the real poison from the apothecary and himself and friar Lawrence are racing towards the tomb. We cannot help but think it is fate that Romeo arrives first, that even though he notices the colour in her cheeks, he just thinks that this is her beauty radiating through death. Was is not fate that he killed Paris to be alone in the tomb with Juliet, how one second after Romeo dies Juliet wakes, and how close they were to being together. It is very frustrating and upsetting for the audience to watch Romeo beat Friar Lawrence and how Romeo says that death wanted Juliet to be his as this is why he has kept her more beautiful. He is wrong and overcome with grief, and the sheer dramatic irony is incredible as he says these words to Juliet, who is alive, and not within 20 or 10 hours of waking but 1 hour from being alive with Romeo. Romeo mentions that by taking the poison he is 'shaking the yoke of inauspicious stars' yet ironically he is playing right into the hands of fate. We keep watching to see how she reacts and how she dies. How in love they must be to have done the same thing, and to have toasted their poisons to one another as Romeo says 'here's to my love'; the only difference is there Romeo knows he will never see her again when he toasts, yet she thinks that he will be alive by her side upon awakening.
When friar Lawrence arrives, he confirms the death of Romeo before Juliet wakes and he asks 'what lamentable hour is guilty of this lamentable chance?' Chance it was, as were a lot of things throughout the play. Though we knew the ending we were never to know that they would die like this, in such unfortunate circumstances, that they were to die for each other, that their love was so strong, and that fate had a huge hand in everything which happened. Juliet even refers to the poison as being 'friendly' if it would kill her to be with him. The audience feels her pain, but there is one more question which we watch on to find the answer to- the family feud being buried. Friar Lawrence sums up the events for the family, and the audience, to make sure we have a clear picture and the Prince has been introduced again by Shakespeare to help keep the anger at bay. Capulet initiates the apologies 'O brother Montague give me thy hand'. He has lost his daughter, 'his life' and Montague has lost his son and his wife through heartbreak. All this happened because of the family feud, but we cannot help but ask ourselves, would Romeo and Juliet have ever met, endured such a passionate and whirlwind romance if the two families were not enemies initially? Is it indeed fate which has made the audience read on, along with love, time, contrasts, poetry and of course the race and the death? Would have fate intervened in the same way if the houses had not been enemies, and would they have ever met... I think not. Romeo and Juliet is a very clever and complex play, the main characters ruled by fate from the start but with many peaks and falls on the way, their passion ends in tragedy, for themselves, the nurse, the friar and both houses.
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