Romeo and Juliet

1. Romeo and Juliet Notes

2. Romeo and Juliet, I.v • Romeo falls in love with Juliet at first sight at the ball in the Capulets’ house. • Romeo  - the prototype of the Platonic lover - embodies the Renaissance code of courtly love - Juliet’s love makes him see things clearly - she’s his light, an ideal of beauty and perfection - she’s different from all others  IMAGES

3. alliteration, 2 SIMILES, personification  • Juliet is like a jewel in an Ethiop’s ear = bright, precious, standing out a dove trooping with crows = white, pure, beautiful • he starts using religious language (blessed)

4. when they start speaking, they create an Elizabethan sonnet, full of religious references, e.g. METAPHORS  • Juliet holy shrine = holy, pure, sacred • Romeo’s lips two blushing pilgrims = pay homage to the “saint”, are modest, inferior

5. A lot of words appealing to SIGHT  linked to courtly love and words appealing to TOUCH  evoking physical love

6. Juliet’s character  well disposed towards Romeo - returns his kiss - unconventional, simple, sincere, passionate

7. II.i “Balcony Scene” • Words suggesting DISTANCE • Romeo’s monologue THEMES  LOVE, BEAUTY, LIGHT* *Shakespeare’s plays were originally performed by daylight, so there are a lot of expressions helping the audience to imagine that it is a summer night

8. From his words, Romeo appears passionate, impulsive, tender, but quite conventional • Juliet is the really unconventional character - at first she’s frightened, then happy - her reflection on language shakes the medieval code

9. Plato’s Cratylus on the relationship between names and things: natural or conventional? • Juliet tries to “separate the name from the thing” • in the following lines she makes her unconventional nature explicit  describes the typical behaviour of the “courtly-love woman”, and says she is not like that

10. Three poetic compositions typical of love poetry are intertwined in the text the sonnet the epithalamion the aubade Shakespeare uses them and gives then new life

11. sonnet (the Prologue, the two «star-cross’d lovers) the two lovers’ first meeting (I.v) Elizabethan form language of courtly love, religious references: earthly passion balanced by the atmosphere of prayer their love is sealed by the lines they pronounce, they are joined forever from their first meeting

12. epithalamion an epithalamium (Latin form of Greek ἐπιθαλάμιον epithalamion from ἐπί epi "upon," and θάλαμος thalamos = nuptialchamber) is a poem written specifically for the bride on the way to her marital chamber

13. usually pronounced by the man, expressing his love and desire for the woman, and showing impatience for the wedding night to come • here (II.v), it takes the form of Juliet’s invocation of her bridal night • very passionate, honest, pure, chaste, totally unconventional

14. aubade an aubade is a morning love song (as opposed to a serenade, which is in the evening) it takes place at dawn between two lovers who have secretly spent the night together they are torn between their desire to stay and their fear of discovery

15. conflict traditionally expressed in a debate as to whether the light is the sun’s or the moon’s, whether the bird singing is a lark or a nightingale • here (III.v) the poetic form gains new intensity: we know that the secrecy is imposed by the feud, and by the fact that Romeo will die if he is discovered in Verona as audience, we also know that it will be the last time they have met, they have been together as husband and wife

16. THEMES LOVE, different views

17. ORDER V VIOLENCE • MALE PREDOMINANCE

18. TIME • COINCIDENCE, MISTAKES

19. DESTINY • OR FREE WILL?