1. English Literature II - Romeo and Juliet
Instructions:
There are 21 questions and you are 20 in the class. You must choose a question, copy and paste it into the comment window, write your response, followed by your name.
DEADLINE: SAT 12th, MAY, at 10.20 a.m.
XI.Goddard, Harold. The Meaning of Shakespeare.Volume I. “Chapter XIII: Romeo and Juliet.”
Chicago,U.S.A.:The University of Chicago Press,1951.Pp.117-139.Print.
XI.1.What’s the significance of the adjective “star-crossed”?
XI.2.Why does Goddard consider Romeo and Juliet an “inferior” play?
XI.3.What’s the theme of the play and why does Goddard claim that this is “an astrological play”?
XI.4.Villains and Heroes: Why don’t these two concepts apply here?
XI.5.Mercutio and the Nurse are masterpieces of characterisation. Explain this idea.
XI.6.Why is Mercutio’s bawdiness important in the play? Why did Shakespeare give the “Queen Mab Speech” to Mercutio if he’s such a bawdy character?
XI.7.Which scene brings about the crisis in the play and why does Goddard think it is misunderstood? How does Mercutio precipitate the end?
XI.8.Is Romeo “star-crossed” or is he a free agent?
XI.9.Shakespeare has given us 4 Romeos. Explain
XII. Mahood, M. M., “Wordplay in Romeo and Juliet.”In Lerner, Laurence. Editor. Shakespeare’s
Tragedy – An AnthologyOf Modern Criticism. London: Penguin Books, 1992. Pp. 17-34. Print.
XII.1.Romeo and Juliet has aspects of the “Liebestod”: which are they? Which are the objections to this view? Why?
XII.2.Aspects of Love that are explored in the play. Explain them.
XII.3.Wordplay in these words: Beauty – Use - Consume
XII.4.How does the play become a tragedy according to Mahood?
XII.5.Imagery behind stars, torches, lightning, flowers.
XIII.Linnea, Sharon.William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. New York: Barron’s Book
Notes,1984. Print.
XIII.1- Define MATURING and STATIC characters. Give two examples of each.
XIII.2- What are the parallels between Verona and London in Shakespeare’s times?
XIII.3- Explain the themes: LOVE and the different ways in which it is explored – WHAT CAUSES THE LOVERS TO DIE – ORDER VS CIVIL DISTURBANCES – ISOLATION – INNOCENCE AND EXPERIENCE.
XIII.4- What makes this play unique as regards style?
XIII.5- What did Shakespeare use as a source for his play?
XIII.6- How is the play structured? Consider scenes, public vs private people and condensed time as well.
XIII.7- What is the importance of the Prologue? What is its form?
XIII.7- What is the importance of the Prologue? What is its form?
ReplyDeleteAccording to Linnea’s words, the Prologue tells us what the play is about, in other words, the events that are going to happen during the performance. It also establishes what kind of play it is, a tragedy which is realised in the three last acts. In addition, the preface presents us the themes, for instance Love, Hate and Fate. In this way, the introduction makes us curious because it provides little information. As regards its form, the Prologue is a 14 lines sonnet written in iambic pentameter (a rhythm in poetry that has 5 stressed syllables, followed by 1 unstressed syllable, in each line – five pairs of iambs), which is a type of poem very popular during Elizabethan times. In all, we can say that William Shakespeare uses the prologue to gain the audiences’ attention. He engages them by outlining the conflict between these two families and Rome and Juliet’s deaths.
VERA, MARCELA.
Brilliant, Marce!
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ReplyDeleteXIII. 2- What are the parallels between Verona and London in Shakespeare’s times?
ReplyDeleteRomeo and Juliet is set in Verona, Italy, during the 1500s. Despite the fact that the place was previously mentioned in other Romeo and Juliet romances, Shakespeare finds a number of similarities between Verona and the London in which he lived. The two cities were enclosed by walls and, in consequence, they appeared to be humid and populous in the summertime. These atmospheric conditions permitted rapidly expanding aggression, hence the harsh treatment of civil unrest. People who lived in London at the time of Queen Elizabeth’s reign would have believed that the Prince was excessively forgiving of the quarrelsome citizens.
There was an outbreak of the Black Death in cities such as London and Verona, and consequently those who contracted this disease were kept in seclusion. Moreover, in the London of Shakespeare’s time, Elizabeth I was always obeyed without argument; Londoners expected the same from Prince Escalus.
Maglier, Agustina
Very well done, Agus.
DeleteXIII.5- What did Shakespeare use as a source for his play?
ReplyDeleteWilliam Shakespeare used several sources in order to write ‘Romeo and Juliet’ (1597). One of the sources was a story in a collection called ‘Il Novellio’, by the Italian Masuccio Salernitano, written on 1476 and which narrates the story of secret lovers, an assassination, an exile, a helpful friar, and a marriage rival. Another was the story written by Luigi Da Porto and published in 1530, which included Verona as the setting, Italian names for his characters, and the lover’s suicide. However, Shakespeare's primary source was a poem by Arthur Brooke called ’The Tragicall Historye of Romeus and Juliet’, written in 1562. Shakespeare made some changes to this last: some aspects of the language were modified, the age and personality of some characters were altered, and he also added a Preface which tells us the events that are going to happen in the play.
Candela Castillo.
Shakespeare also invented the character of MERCUTIO, who is not in the original sources.
DeleteVery good, Cande.
XIII.1- Define maturing and static characters. Give two examples of each.
ReplyDeleteIn Romeo and Juliet, two different characters can be described. On one hand, maturing characters, also known as developing ones, because they evolve throughout the play. Their shift in behavior triggers relevant events.
On the other hand, static or undeveloping characters who do not experience any change during the plot. They are just themselves and they behave in expected ways.
Among the maturing characters we can mention Juliet and Romeo. Despite Juliet’s youth, beauty and practicality last till the end of the story, she goes through many transformations too. At the beginning of the play, she is dependent on her nurse and her mother, she is well-behaved and she assures her parents that she will marry the suitor they want for her. However, the night she meets Romeo and she is attracted to him, everything gives a twist. She takes her own decisions, she plans her future and she engages with Romeo. Her marriage bridges the gap between her childhood and her adulthood, she grows up and she assumes her new role of wife. She also changes her priorities. First, she cares about her nurse’s opinions, but at the end she thinks for herself because she feels her nurse does not understand her. A clear example of Juliet’s maturity is the fact that, despite their families’ rivalry, she is determined to be faithful to Romeo.
Romeo is an amiable, romantic and honorable man. As well as Juliet, he experiences growth throughout the narrative. His major shift is depicted in the way he expresses himself. When the novel begins, he reflects and puts his thoughts into words at the same time. When he realizes his love for Rosaline is not corresponded, he feels devastated and this feeling is expressed in his repetitive speech. As he falls in love with Juliet, he changes into a well-spoken man, creating romantic poems for his beloved. Unfortunately, by the time his speech becomes worthy of admiration, he takes his own life, preventing the world from his delightful poetry.
Within the static characters, we can mention Juliet’s nurse and Mercutio.
Although the nurse is a hilarious character, she is not able to develop. She always makes cheeky comments and dirty jokes. Whenever she attempts to use complex vocabulary, she mixes up. No matter if convenient, she speaks her mind openly, which hurts Juliet on many occasions. She takes pleasure in plotting and when she plots Juliet’s marriage, her lack of responsibility provokes tragic consequences. At the end, when Juliet needs her most, she is no longer there to support her. Mercutio can be described as quick-minded, smart, learned, eloquent and ironic, always in the spotlight at parties and ready to tell a sick joke. He is the Prince’s relative and belongs to an affluent family. He is Romeo’s closest and loyal friend but he generally undervalues his feelings. Instead of taking responsibility of his own actions he blames others. He fights Tybalt as he feels his honor is threatened. As well as the nurse, he believes love means sex.
Excellent, Barbie!
DeleteXII.4.How does the play become a tragedy according to Mahood?
ReplyDeleteAccording to M.M. Mahood, the play becomes a tragedy when Romeo and Juliet discover that they cannot be together and must remain separated from each other -though physically, not mentally or emotionally-. He remarks that in spite of the fact that Romeo loves Juliet -and his love is tragic in nature-, the ending itself achieves the balance of a great tragedy. Society’s final victory over the lovers is, in fact, their victory; a victory over time and humanity.
Paniagua, Mariano
Yes, well done, Mariano.
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ReplyDeleteXII.2. Aspects of Love that are explored in the play. Explain them.
ReplyDeleteRomeo and Juliet is the most famous love story in the English literary tradition. This strong feeling and affection is the play’s dominant and most important theme.
Mahood mentions that when we try to learn about Romeo and Juliet’s writing, we discover that both its wordplay and imaginary are related to themes like:
-LOVE AS A RELIGION: A strong belief and worship to the loved one.
Examples: When Benvolio talks about Rosaline, Romeo demonstrates to be a person who strongly admires the subject of Love as a Religion. He employs terms relating to religious beliefs comparing Rosaline with a saint.
On the other hand, he later realised (when meeting Juliet) that he had developed infatuation with Rosaline, but now, in comparison with Juliet, Romeo shows to be ready to a more adult love. Nevertheless, he stills believes in Love as a Religion. This feeling is shown when Romeo and Juliet exchange a sonnet full of comparisons on the subject. Romeo wishing to kiss Juliet for the first time, refers to his lips as two “pilgrims” that would worship at a holy "shrine" (Juliet's lips).
-LOVE AS AN ILLNESS: the emotion can be felt like a disease when it provokes suffering, or it is combined with strong and dangerous passion.
Love is an illness as well as a cult. An example is when Benvolio inquires Romeo whom he is in love with. Romeo answers with an expression of love-maladie.
“Bid a sick man in sadness make his will”. Romeo combines uses of phrases that have several meanings to mention this slave-like loyalty and love to Rosaline.
-LOVE AS A WAR:
it portrays the chaos and passion of being in love, combining images of love, violence, death, and armed fights between two families who hate each other, leading to the play’s tragic conclusion.
Much of Romeo and Juliet involves the lovers’ struggles against public and social institutions that which strongly oppose the existence of their love.
-ROMANTIC AND SEXUAL LOVE:
This platonic love is offset by the sexual ideas of love made by some characters – particularly Juliet’s Nurse and Mercutio. Their view of love is earthy and purely sexual, creating an effective contrast with Romeo and Juliet’s romanticism, and tender love.
Morzan, Adelina
Great, Ade!
DeleteXI.4.Villains and Heroes: Why don’t these two concepts apply here?
ReplyDeleteThe ‘villain’ not be a conspicuous incarnation of evil like Richard III or Lago; the ‘hero’ himself may be the ‘villain’ by being a conspicuous incarnation of weakness. Or the ‘villain’ may consist in a certain chemical interplay of the passions of two or more characters. To seek a special ‘tragic flaw’ in either Romeo or Juliet is foolish and futile. From pride down, we all have flaws enough to make of every life and of life itself a perpetual and universal tragedy. Altering his source to make the point unmistakable, Shakespeare is at pains to show that, however much the feud between Capulets and Montagues had to do with it incidentally, the tragedy of this play flowed immediately from another cause entirely.
Yes, indeed. Well done, Loana.
DeleteXI.3. What’s the theme of the play and why does Goddard claim that this is “an astrological play”?
ReplyDeleteAs regards the theme of the play, the same consists in the relationship between love and violence and how this two are constantly facing each other, and somehow both win.
Goddard claims that Romeo and Juliet is probably the best representation ever of an astrological play since it shows what happens when Venus, which is usually recognised as the planet of love, and Mars, planet of war, are in conjunction.
Martinez, Agustina.
Indeed. Good job, Agus.
DeleteXIII.3- Explain the themes: LOVE and the different ways in which it is explored – WHAT CAUSES THE LOVERS TO DIE – ORDER VS CIVIL DISTURBANCES – ISOLATION – INNOCENCE AND EXPERIENCE.
ReplyDeleteLOVE:
In Romeo and Juliet’s play, love is analyzed in different ways. First of all, it is compared with Hate. On one hand, Romeo and Juliet´s families hate each other. This hatred causes the separation of the lovers, the killing of Mercutio, Tybalt and Paris, and lastly the suicide of both youngsters. On the other hand, love is also strong and triumphs at the end because Romeo and Juliet demonstrate that their love can never be killed.
Secondly, false love is contrasted with true love. As we know, the love between Romeo and Juliet is a true one, due to the fact that they prefer to die instead of being disloyal. Conversely, the feelings that Romeo had for Rosaline belong to a false love because he doesn’t know her.
Finally, love is considered romantic in this play, for the simple reason that Romeo and Juliet love each other. On the contrary, during the 14th Century, marriage was only arranged for social, economic and political purposes, this means that love was not into consideration in this matter. What is more, Romantic love was presented in the French courts where some severe rules were established.
WHAT CAUSES THE LOVERS TO DIE:
There are different forms to explain Romeo and Juliet’s death. One of them is Fate. Their destiny was to die and nothing can change this reality. Secondly, Providence is considered as a power, that is trying to change the hatred between both families into love, and finally it achieved this aim. Added to that, Passion is also a cause to death. In this play, love was considered bad if it satisfies personal desires and, as a result, it ends violently. Lastly, the Characters altogether cause Romeo and Juliet´s death.
ORDER VS CIVIL DISTURBANCES:
Romeo and Juliet lost their lives in order to restore order and pay for the public fighting between their families.
ISOLATION:
In tragedy, characters become isolated. This is the case of Juliet, due to the fact that her parents, Nurse, Friar, and Romeo abandoned her.
INNOCENCE AND EXPERIENCE:
This topic is studied in two different ways: on one hand, we can observe that the lovers’ actions are innocents while their parents and advisors seem to be wisdom. On the other hand, we notice how Romeo and Juliet gain experience during the play.
Magali Docteur.
Yes, good job, Maggie.
DeleteXI.5.Mercutio and the Nurse are masterpieces of characterisation. Explain this idea.
ReplyDeleteMercutio and the Nurse, considered as masterpieces of characterization, are highly vital pair, brimming with life and fire. The indications abound that Shakespeare created these two to go together. To begin with they hate each other on instinct, as two rival talkers generally do, showing how akin they are under the skin.
Juliet’s nurse says outrageous things, repeats herself constantly, and she loves a dirty joke. When she tries to act high-class and use big words, she winds up using the wrong word. She serves several important functions in the play: she is Juliet’s confidant; she is a message-carrier for the lovers; and her earthiness is a contrast to Juliet’s idealism. The Nurse is a comic character who becomes tragic because she isn’t able to grow.
In some ways, Mercutio is like Juliet’s Nurse: he also sees love as primarily sexual. He’s Romeo’s friend and confidant, as the Nurse is Juliet’s; he underestimates de depth of Romeo’s love and passion. In other ways, he’s the opposite of the Nurse. He’s upper-class, and a relative of the prince. He’s also very intelligent. When he meets the Nurse and they match wits, Mercutio make her look like a fool.
The fact is that Mercutio and the Nurse are simply youth and old age of the same type. He is aimed at the same goal she has nearly attained. He would have become the same sort of old man that she is old woman, just as she was undoubtedly the same sort of young girl that he is young man. They both think of nothing but sex, except when they are so busy eating or quarrelling that they can think of nothing.
Yes, indeed, but don't we love them?
DeleteWell done, Dani.
XI.2.Why does Goddard consider Romeo and Juliet an “inferior” play?
ReplyDeleteAccording to Goddard, Shakespeare in Romeo and Juliet lacks some marks of expertise that are reflected in other tragedies. He considered it “inferior” due to the fact that he is warping his conviction about freedom. There is clear evidence when in Shakespeare’s novel predominate accident over character, which is destiny, this should not be conceded without convincing demonstration. In this way, Goddard says that Shakespeare show no tendency to believe in fate in this sense.
Ailen Bublitz
Let me clarify some of your concepts here, if I may.
DeleteGoddard claims that the play shows some signs of immaturity (possibly in the language SH uses - too much imagery) and lacks the mastery SH showed in his later tragedies. According to some other critics - cited by Goddard - the play's inferiority is due to the predominance of accident over character.
You must read the sources carefully, Ailén, and try to paraphrase them to write clearer concepts.
XIII.4- What makes this play unique as regards style?
ReplyDeleteRomeo and Juliet is considered one of a kind because it combines comedy, tragedy and romance. The beginning of the play contains comedy elements: virtuous characters, who have bawdy friends, meet and fall in love with each other but the problem is that their parents do not want them to be together. This is an Italian style called “commedia dell l’arte”. However, it is a tragic play, as the Prologue states, and it can be seen in the last acts. The nonsensical hatred towards each family eventually ends with two deaths: Tybalt’s and Mercutio’s. Romeo and Juliet are separated and they realize that the world is an unjust place and that their destiny is to die. Finally, the play is also romantic in terms of love and poetry. We can find sonnets and poems that Shakespeare had written before this play.
Ana Paula Alvarez
Exactly, Ana. Well done.
DeleteXI.1.What’s the significance of the adjective “star-crossed”?
ReplyDeleteThe word “Star-cross’d” appears in the Prologue of Romeo and Juliet and it is said by the Chorus. According to Goddard, this word is backed by “fatal” and has led the destiny of this drama to the astrologers. In this play, one of the interpreters claims that “simply the Fates have taken that young pair and played a cruel game against them with loaded dice, unaided by any evil in men”. Hence, when the “stars” of Romeo and Juliet change its disposition and "crossed", they become “fated lovers”, that is to say, lovers who will suffer from bad fortune. In other words, their lives have a tragic destiny for them.
Ludmila Bergamini
Let me clarify some points, if I may.
DeleteGoddard claims that R&J seems to be an 'astrological' play (concerned with Venus and Mars / love & War) but it isn't fatalistic (i.e. the characters are not doomed to die). If by STARS, it's meant the heavenly bodies ( stars & planets) exercising from our birth a predestined and inescapable influence on man, then R&J are no more star-crossed than any other lovers. If by STARS, you mean a psychological projection on the planets / constellations of the unconsciousness of man, i.e. the accumulated experience of humankind, then R&J and all the characters are star-crossed as all of us are.
Your answer is OK, Ludmi, just a little confusing.
DeleteXII. 5. Imagery behind stars, torches, lightning, flowers
ReplyDeleteLove is compared to a sudden spark or flash of lightning, as if it is seen in the balcony scene in act 2, scene 2; Juliet says to Romeo “I cannot take joy in this exchange of promises tonight. It is too crazy. We have not done enough thinking. It is too sudden. It is too much like lightning, which flashes and then disappears before you can say “it is lightning”.
As regards imagery behind stars, in act 3 scene 2 Juliet wants to immortalise Romeo in the stars, she says “And when I die, turn him into stars and form a constellation in his image. His face will make the heavens so beautiful that the world will fall in love with the night and forget about the garish sun.” moreover, in act 3 scene 3 Romeo compares Juliet’s eyes with stars. He says that “two of the brightest stars in the sky had to go away on business, and they are asking Juliet’s eyes to twinkle in their places until they return. The brightness of her cheeks would outshine the stars the way the sun outshines a lamp. So brightly that birds would start singing, thinking her light was daylight.”
Even though Romeo and Juliet’s complement’s each other, their love seem to diminishes so easily as a spark is extinguished, but in fact their love is permanent as the sun and stars when it is set out of the range of time.
Shakespeare’s rose imagery serves to stress the central themes of the play, on the other hand Shakespeare must also unconsciously have connected rose images with the rivalry of two great houses. The rose is regarded as a love symbol because it was so often a prey to the invisible worm. Romeo is consumed by his obsession for Rosaline ‘as is the bud bit with an envious worm.’
Yanina Nuñez
Yes,indeed, Yani. Well done!
DeleteXII.3.Wordplay in these words: Beauty – Use – Consume
ReplyDeleteRomeo is fascinated with Juliet’s beauty and considers that it is too good for this world and she is too beautiful to die and be buried. At the same time that she is seen by Romeo extremely valuable, her family estimates her worth as goods in the market marriage. Although Juliet’s beauty will end up in death after a short pleasure, there is no reason to be wasted and damaged. Romeo’s love is not enough to save her from death but she is an extraordinary woman for transient existence.
Emi: your answer is OK but let me clarify it a bit, if I may.
DeleteBEAUTY: Romeo says that Juliet’s beauty is too rich for use, for earth too dear. ‘Use’ = employment, interest, wear and tear; earth= mortal life, the grave; dear= cherished, costly.
There’s an ironic contradiction between her family’s valuation of J as sound stock in the marriage market and R’s estimate that she’s beyond all price. And if she isn’t too dear for earth since R’s love is powerless to keep her alive, it’s true that she’s too rate a creature for mortal life. “Consume”= reach a consummation, burn away, bedestroyed (conflicting themes of satisfaction and frustration).
XII.1.Romeo and Juliet has aspects of the “Liebestod”: which are they? Which are the objections to this view? Why?
ReplyDeleteAccording to M.M. Mahood, recent critics have come nearer to defining the play's experience when they have stressed the Liebestod of the ending and suggested that the love of Romeo and Juliet is the tragic passion that seeks its own destruction. Nearly all the elements of the amour-passion myth are present in the play. Their love is immediate, violent, and final. The obstacle which is a feature of the amour- passion legend is partly external, the family conflict; but it is partly a sword of the lover's own tempering. A leitmotiv of the play is death as Juliet's bridegroom.
In all of these aspect Romeo and Juliet seems to be the classic literary statement of the Liebestod myth in which we seek the satisfaction of our forbidden desires.
However, there are some objections to this view. Tragic is always adulterous. Romeo and Juliet marry, they don't want to die but because they want to live together. In contrast, is the suicide part of the story. The real objection is that it is anachronistic to align the play with pure myths.
Flores Diego
DIEGO: you explain some aspects but leave other aside (e.g. What is the Liebestod?). Let me clarify these aspects, if I may.
Delete"Liebestod" /ˈliːbəsˌtoːt /German for "love death") is the title of the 1859 opera Tristan und Isolde by Richard Wagner. When used as a literary term, liebestod (from German Liebe, love and Tod, death) refers to the theme of erotic death or "love death" meaning the two lovers' consummation of their love in death or after death. Other two-sided examples include Pyramus and Thisbe, Romeo and Juliet, and to some degree Wuthering Heights.
Some critics have stressed the Liebestod of the ending and suggested that the love of R & J is the tragic passion that seeks its own destruction.
• Their love is immediate, violent, and final.
• One characteristic of the amour-passion legend is the obstacle.In the play, this is partly external: the family feud and partly it’s the characters’ fault ( SH doesn’t explain why R didn’t put J on his horse and make for Mantua).
• A leitmotiv /ˈlʌɪtməʊˌtiːf/ [A recurrent theme throughout a musical or literary composition, associated with a particular person, idea, or situation.] of the play is death as J’s bridegroom, R’s rival, who enjoys J at the last (another characteristic of the Liebestod).
• To seek satisfaction of forbidden desires because amour-passion is harmful/injurious to the Race, contrary to the Faith.
• HOWEVER, SH’s story conflicts with the traditional myth at several points:
1. Tragic love is always adulterous.
2. Romeo faces capture and death, Juliet the horror of being entombed alive, not because they want to die but because they want to live together. In contrast to this, the wish-fulfilment of the Liebestod is accomplished by the story of a suicide pact.
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ReplyDeleteXI.8.Is Romeo “star-crossed” or is he a free agent?
ReplyDeleteAccording to Goddard a "star" could be understood as an entity that governs over an individual's fate or acts and this could be a forecast of the constellations or "the fathers",i.e the ancient hatred between his family and his lover's one.
Romeo is a "star-crossed"agent, and a clear example of this is when he murdered Tybalt. Despite the opportunity to chose between the "compulsion of force" or the "compulsion of love", he was not able to escape from destiny and opted for the first option and together with other unfavorable situations provoked the tragic conclusion.
Camila Mercado
Let me clarify your answer a bit, if I may.
DeleteRomeo has free scope (if we are free to choose bet 2 compulsions, we are in so far free). Romeo was free to act under the compulsion of force or under the compulsion of love – under the compulsion of the stars, i.e., in either of 2 opposite senses. The temptation to surrender to the former was great but the power of the latter – if Juliet spoke true – was greater yet: ‘My bounty is as boundless as the sea, / My love as deep: the more I give to thee, / The I have, for both are infinite.’ Romeo wanted to share J’s faith. But he descends from the level of love to that of violence and tries to separate the fighters with his sword.
Good, Camila!
XI.9.Shakespeare has given us 4 Romeos. Explain.
ReplyDeleteFirstly, Romeo is initially possessed by love and a spirit of universal forgiveness, since he belongs to a world defined by love rather than a world fractured by feuds. He is presented as a man whose feelings of love are not reciprocated by the lady he desires and he uses the poetic language of sonnets to show how deep in love he is. Through his speech, we can immediately grasp the concept of an “inexperienced lover” who is more in love with the state of being in love, rather than being in love with the woman herself. From all this, he falls, first to reason and an appeal to law, then to violence.
Secondly, following Mercutio's death, he is controlled by passion and acrimony, encouraged by “honour”, thus wreaking revenge for Tybalt. As the writer claims “In astrological terms, he moves from Venus, through the Earth, to Mars”. Finally, Shakespeare introduces a fourth Romeo, a man whose very essence is the sight of what he has done. This vexation that Romeo feels does not account for Tybalt’s death, but, it does for being disloyal to Juliet’s faith in the boundlessness of love.
NAHUEL, although you've answered correctly, all in all, your answer reads a bit confusing. I've taken the liberty of clarifying some points below:
Delete1)We see R possessed by love and a spirit of universal forgiveness.
2)From this state, he falls to reason and an appeal to law, then to violence. After Mercutio’s death, he is dominated by passion, honour and fury;
3) Then, he's dominated by vengeance and offensive violence.
4) Finally he becomes the man who can't move/act at the sight of what he’s done: ‘Stand not amaz’d,’ cries Benvolio, and R answers,‘I am Fortune’s fool,’ (=I'm the plaything/puppet of Fortune).
GENERAL FEEDBACK:
ReplyDeleteMost of you have written clear and well-thought-out answers. However,some of your answers were less complete or a bit confusing.
I've written clarifying statements after these particularly confusing posts.
I advise you to copy and paste the answers and my corrections so as to have a summary of the sources for future study.
Well done, all of you!