---Jannah Van Gorp April 28th, 1999
A TRAGEDY BROUGHT BY DESTINY
Fate seems to guide people toward their destinies. Whenever a person has a destiny, he or she cannot entirely control what happens. That person can only try to prevent the worst from happening. Sometimes bad things do happen, but fate will always bring people together. The play The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet demonstrates how fate can bring two people together.
Romeo and Juliet met by chance. Romeo was actually going to the Capulet party to see Rosaline, but fell in love when he saw Juliet. She too fell in love with Romeo before she knew who he was. When she found out he was the son of her greatest enemy, she did not really care. All she knew was that she loved him and she belonged with him. Juliet said:
My only love, sprung from my only hate!
Too early seen unknown, and known too late!
Prodigious birth of love it is to me
That I must love a loathed enemy.
The only person that helped Romeo and Juliet through their struggles the most was Friar Lawrence. Romeo, immediately after he met Juliet, went to the Friar to ask him to marry them. Friar Laurence said:
Thy love did read by rote, that could not spell.
But come, young waverer, come go with me.
In one respect I’ll thy assistant be;
For this alliance may so happy prove
To turn your households’ rancor to pure love.
Friar Laurence was explaining that Romeo did not really know what love was. He would marry them anyway hoping that the relationship would between the two feuding families could be improves by the marriage of their children.
Finally, in the end, the price gives a very moving speech to the house of Capulet and Montaque, after their children’s death. Prince says:
This letter doth make good the friar’s words,
Their course of love, the tidings of her death;
And here he writes that he did buy a poison
Of a poor apothecary and therewithal
Came to this vault to die and lie with Juliet.
Where be these enemies? Capulet, Montaque,
See what a scourge is laid upon your hate,
That heaven finds means to kill your joys with love.
And I, for winking at your discords too,
Have lost a brace of kinsmen. All are punished.
What the Prince meant was that because Capulet and Montaque hated each other so much, Romeo and Juliet ended up killing themselves to be together. Both families lost something very important to them. If the families would have stopped feuding, maybe then their children we still be alive.
Fate seems to guide people toward their destines. Romeo and Juliet felt they should be together and they did not care what it took. They were willing to give even their lives. Their love ended in death. They could then be together in heaven.
---Sarah R
Conventions of Shakespeare’s Staging
When we attend theatrical performances—school plays, assembly programs, or movies in public theater—we’re accustomed to finding a seat and waiting until the lights dim, the audience quiets down, and the play or feature begins. We’re also accustomed to seeing scenery that suggests the location of the play and expect the stage lighting to help set the mood.
But all this was not so in Shakespeare’s time. Then, people attended plays during the day, for there was no was to light the stage effectively at night. Public performances of plays in theaters was a fairly new idea at the time because the first permanent English theater had been built less than twenty years before Shakespeare began writing his plays. Although the shape of the theaters varied from square, circular, or octagonal, all had a stage that was simply a raised platform in an open yard surrounded with tiers of galleries to accommodate the spectators. The stage was covered with a roof, commonly called “The Heavens.” While the roof protected actors from the weather, the attic space above could hold machinery, such as ropes and pulleys to lower thrones or heavenly deities to the stage or to hide the sound effects of thunder, alarm bells, or cannonades. By modern standards these theaters were small. The open yard in front of the stage in theater measured only 50 feet across. Up to two thousand spectators could either sit on benches in the tiers of galleries or stand in the open yard in front of the stage.
These theaters used simple stage props—chairs or tables were brought on the stage as needed. Actual scenery may have been suggested through dialogue or may have included minimal set pieces such as a few trees to suggest a forest, or a rock to suggest a river bank. The stages themselves had many built-in acting areas that could function in a number of ways: for instance, small inner stages with drapes which the actors used as inner rooms. The actors could use the inner room for King Duncan’s chamber in Macbeth or Brutus’ tent in Julius Caesar. Usually, there was also a small balcony positioned in the center of the stage. The balcony might serve as Juliet’s balcony in Romeo and Juliet or as the battlements of Elsinore Castle in Hamlet.
The costumes were based on the contemporary clothing styles of the time. Instead of attempting any sort of accurate historical costuming, the actors wore clothes much like those of the characters rank. For example, Macbeth would have been costumed a nobleman and Lady Capulet as any wealthy English merchant’s wife. Occasionally, other costume pieces may have been added to suggest witches, fairies, national or racial costumes.
During the time that Shakespeare wrote and acted, only three or four professional companies performed in theaters just outside the limits of London. These professional troupes employed only male actors. Although most of the roles in Shakespeare’s plays are male, the few parts of younger female characters—Juliet or her mother, for instance—were played by young boys, age fourteen or so and apprenticed to actors. Men may have played some female roles, especially those of older, comedic women, like Juliet’s Nurse.
Time and Fate in Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet, said to be one of the most famous love stories
of all times, is a play anchored on time and fate. Some actions are
believed to occur by chance or by destiny. The timing of each action
influences the outcome of the play. While some events are of less
significance, some are crucial to the development of this tragedy. The
substantial events that inspire the conclusion of Romeo and Juliet are;
the Capulet ball, the quarrel experienced by Tybalt and Romeo, and Friar
John’s plague.
A servant to Capulet, who is incapable of reading the list of
guests, asks for Romeo’s assistance. Romeo notices that Rosaline, his
lover, is among these names. Benvolio challenges Romeo to compare her
with other "beauties." Benvolio predicts, "Compare her face with some
that I shall show,/ And I will make thee think thy swan a crow." (I, ii,
l 86-87) To show his appreciation, the servant asks for Romeo’s presence
at the ball. Romeo should have considered the servant’s warning; if
Romeo occupies the name of Montague, he shall not be permitted. Once at
the ball, Romeo is searching for a maiden to substitute the unrequited
love of Rosaline. Romeo happens to gaze upon Juliet, who charms Romeo.
Romeo proclaims, " Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight!/ For
ne’er saw true beauty till this night." (I, v, l 52-53) Since Romeo
declares his love for Juliet, she feels the attraction also. They
believe that they are in love and must marry. However, it is a genuine
coincidence that Romeo and Juliet were at the same place, at the same
time.
Some days after the ball, Benvolio and Mercutio are conversing,
in regard to the quarrelsome weather. Benvolio declares, "The day is
hot, the Capulets abroad,/ And if we meet we shall not ‘scape a brawl,/
For now these got days is the mad blood stirring." (III, i, l 2-4) At
this point, Tybalt, who has challenged Romeo because of his appearance
at the masquerade, enters, seeking Romeo. On Romeo’s behalf, Mercutio
struggles with Tybalt, while Romeo, who is filled with love for his new
cousin, tries to end their boldness. Before escaping, Tybalt plunges
his sword into Mercutio, causing death to fall upon him. Mercutio blames
Romeo and the feud for his fate. Romeo kills Tybalt, who taunts Romeo,
upon his return. Romeo fears he will be condemned to death if he does
not flee before the arrival of the Prince. Benvolio recalls the events
that have happened, with some embellishment. The Prince declares:
And for that offence/ Immediately we do exile him hence./ I hav an in
your hate’s proceeding,/ My blood for your rude brawls doth lie
a-bleeding;/ But I’ll amerce you with so strong a fine/ That you shall
repent the loss of mine./ I will be deaf to pleading and excuses;/ Nor
tears nor prayers shall purchase out abuses;/ Therefore use none. Let
Romeo hence in haste,/ Else, when he’s found, that hour is his last./
Bear hence this body and attend our will./ Mercy but murders, pardoning
those that kill.
(III, i, l 185-195)
Due to the disturbance of Verona’s street and the losses of
Tybalt and Mercutio, the Prince must penalize Romeo. However, the Prince
agrees that Romeo was acting in self defense.
Juliet, who desires not to wed Paris, asks for Friar Laurence’s
assistance. The day before the wedding, Juliet is to drink the poison,
which will make her appear to be dead. In forty two hours she shall
awake, with Romeo by her side. Romeo will then bring her to Mantua with
him. In the meantime Friar Laurence will convey a message to Romeo in
Mantua, telling him the plot. When she gains consciousness, Romeo and
Friar Laurence will be there. Friar Laurence says, "Shall Romeo by my
letters know our drift,/ And hither shall he come; and he and I/ Will
watch thy waking" (IV, i, l 114-116) Following Juliet’s intake of the
poison, Romeo is anticipating news from Verona. Balthasar, a servant to
Romeo, tells Romeo that Juliet has passed on. Romeo, who is told there
are no letters from the friar, seeks a way to accomplish his suicide.
Meanwhile, Friar Laurence, confronts Friar John, who was to deliver the
letter to Romeo. Friar John informs Friar Laurence that he was seeking
another Franciscan, who was visiting the sick, to accompany him to
Mantua. He says, "Suspecting that we both were in a house/ Where the
infectious pestilence did reingn,/ Seal’d up the doors, and would not
let us forth;/" (V, ii, l 9-11) Friar John tells that he could find no
one to deliver the letter, for fear they may catch the infection.
The substantial events that inspire the conclusion of Romeo and
Juliet are; the Capulet ball, the quarrel experienced by Tybalt and
Romeo, and Friar John’s plague. The Capulet ball influences the ending
of the play by Romeo’s invitation at the ball, which creates the meeting
of Romeo and Juliet. The ball also gives birth to Tybalt’s anger and
causes his challenge. The challenge causes the banishment of Romeo,
which produces much grieving by Juliet and Romeo. Also, the quarrelsome
weather is partly to blame for the feuding between Tybalt and Mercutio.
Since Friar John did not deliver the letter, Romeo thinks that Juliet
is dead, sacrifices himself. Juliet seeing that Romeo is dead, slays
herself also.
Word Count: 915
Essay courtesy of Absolutely Free Online Essays
and appears here.
Planet Papers: Book Reports - Romeo and Juliet a site with more essays
