http://leafprobably.com/2008/08/26/shakespeares-romeo-and-juliet-as-told-by-shannon/ I’m not sure how old Shannon is, exactly, but I thought that her retelling of the story was enlightening. At least until I got to the comments and read where she’s never read the play and was just cobbling together from the movie (Luhrman, in this case) and apparently the ballet. That part’s a bit painful.
Category: Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet remains popular due to its tragic love story, relatable characters, and universal themes of love, fate, and the clash between youth and age. Its enduring popularity is also attributed to its poetic language and captivating storytelling, as well as its numerous adaptations and cultural references. The play has been adapted countless times in film, theatre, and literature and continues to be studied and performed worldwide, making it one of Shakespeare’s most beloved works.
Browse the text of Romeo and Juliet entire play here.
You Do Realize Romeo And Juliet Is A Tragedy, Not A Romance, Right?
A question from the audience!
What is the cause of the tragedy in Romeo and Juliet?
Is this an open and debatable question, or is it one that has a specific answer that popular opinion gets wrong? The tragedy of Romeo and Juliet is not in the romantic notion “Oh no, it’s so sad they couldn’t be together!” It’s in the stupidity of the adults who don’t see the error of their ways until Fate kills their children for them and says “Now do you get it???” Or is it? Discuss. Or perhaps I’ve misinterpreted the question about the “cause” of the tragedy? Bonus question – what do you think happens after the conclusion of the play? Do you think that Capulet and Montague really do learn their lesson, and the feud is over? Or are they merely going through the paces (for some reason the images of Heat Miser and Snow Miser from Year Without A Santa Claus just came to mind…), and will be at each other’s throats again 5 minutes after the Prince dismisses them? Oh dear god somebody gouge out my brain for thinking of this, but I blame Disney…..could you imagine Romeo & Juliet : The Sequel? !
Rebel Shakespeare (Salem, Mass) : Romeo and Juliet
http://www.rebelshakespeare.org Christine and Keri, my new friends in the neighborhood, have put up the schedule for their Romeo and Juliet. Rebel Shakespeare is acted by kids – perhaps Christine or Keri can chime in and tell us what age group will be performing this show? Friday August 22 5pm: The Athanaeum. Salem MA, outdoors in the garden… Friday nights they do a “speakers series” and Keri will be the speaker, and the kids will do the production. Very high class.
Saturday August 23 1pm: Mary Jane Lee Park, Salem MA. Saturday August 23 5pm: Open – Possibly Beverly or Marblehead.
Sunday August 24 1pm: Open – Possibly Beverly or Marblehead
Sunday August 24 5pm: Derby Square, Old Town Hall steps, Salem MA. Monday — Day off, or as they say in theatre “dark” day.
Tuesday August 26 1pm: The Senior Center, Salem MA Tuesday August 26 6pm: Palmer Cove Ballfield. Salem MA. Around the corner from Mary Jane Lee Park, the outfield will be Verona, and the lights will be turned on so everyone can be seen.
Wednesday August 27 1pm: Tentative — Moesley Woods Park, Newburyport MA. A natural wooded amphitheater with a giant rock sculpture/climbing thing that will be good for the balcony scene.
Wednesday August 27, 5pm: Winnekenni Castle, Haverhill MA. I love the idea of Romeo and Juliet performed by kids on a playground. Seems like such a natural setting, which I suppose could turn really dark once the killing begins.
Romeo and Juliet : Homework Help
(The conversation’s been a bit on the deep end lately so I thought I’d throw one in for the occasional student who comes by looking for homework help.) If you need help remembering the plot of Romeo and Juliet, study Friar Laurence’s confession in the final scene. He pretty much tells you the entire play:
Romeo and Juliet got married in secret, but then Romeo ends up getting banished when Tybalt is murdered. Juliet’s parents think she’s upset about Tybalt when really she’s upset about Romeo, and they arrange this hasty marriage to Paris. She comes to me saying that she’ll kill herself if I don’t do something, so I come up with a plan. I’ll give her a sleeping potion that makes everyone think she’s dead. Then I’ll write to Romeo, informing him that she’s not dead, and that he should come to the family tomb when she wakes up and take her away. But I discover that Romeo never received the letter! So I raced over to the tomb to rescue her myself, figuring that I’ll come up with a new plan once I can straighten everything out. But then I see Romeo and Paris both dead. I try to get Juliet to leave with me but she won’t go. I heard a noise that I went to explore, and when I came back, she’d killed herself. If you don’t believe me ask her nurse, she knew all about their wedding. It’s all my fault, I accept that, and throw myself on the mercy of the the law.
Between that speech and the opening prologue (“Two households…Verona….ancient grudge…..young lovers take their life….”) you’ve got the idea. Now, I’m not a big fan of saying “There you go, just study that and you’re all set.” If you do, you will have missed all the poetry (not to mention the sex and violence) in the middle. Think of this speech more as a set of pegs on which to hang the rest of the details of the play more easily for yourself. Who did Romeo kill? Tybalt. Who gave Juliet the sleeping potion? Friar Laurence. Why did Romeo think Juliet was dead? He never got Friar Laurence’s letter. And so on… Hope it helps!
Oh,When I Shall *Die*! Now I Get It!
Rosenbaum’s Shakespeare Wars continues to be the most serendipitous book I’ve ever read. By that I mean that I’m never quite sure when I’ll turn the page into a new chapter and he’ll be talking about something I was just talking about two days ago. In this case it’s the “When I shall die” line (as opposed to “When he shall die”) that we talked about last month. Certainly it’s supposed to be “Give me my Romeo, and when he shall die, cut him out in little stars….” rather than the version Luhrman gives us, “When I shall die, cut him out in little stars….” After all, if he’s not dead, why are you cutting him up? Oddly, though, my googling showed that most Shakespeare versions do in fact have it as I, not he. Rosenbaum gets to this near the end of his book, speaking of a trip to Bermuda. He even points out that most editors do indeed go with the “he” version (which is apparently Fourth Quarto) because the “I” version makes no sense. And what Rosenbaum offers (not his own hypothesis, but rather one he heard, though I do not have the book handy to quote the original author) immediately makes sense to me, I’m just not sure if I love or hate it. He goes back to the more bawdy version of “die”, namely “orgasm”. He says that Juliet, a mere 13 yrs old and not married, is to put it bluntly thinking about wedding sex, and how good it’s going to be. You have to admit, if you make that little word translation, it still fits. Now you’ve got an anxious young girl, in love but also certainly in lust, waiting for that big moment when … ummm….hmm, how can we say this and keep it clean? Shall we say, when she gets to consummate her marriage? It’s going to be so good, she tells herself, that all she’ll see are stars, and her Romeo. (I’m not sure when all the rest of the world comes into it, though?) I love it because it works, pretty much. It’s somewhat crude, it’s the sort of thing you don’t talk about when you talk about the story like it’s the greatest love story ever told, but sex is certainly a part of that type of love, and it’s certainly believable that a virginal bride-to-be is contemplating what it will be like. (Now that I’ve seen that interpretation, other parts begin to fall into place – “I have bought the mansion of a love, but not possessed it, and though I am sold, not yet enjoyed”???) I hate it because it destroys what I consider to be one of the most romantic lines in the entire play. It’s an opportunity for Juliet to explain how much Romeo means to her. Normally it’s the guy spouting all the poetry and the “You’re my world” stuff. Sometimes it’s nice to hear it back the other way. What would Juliet do without Romeo? She would repaint the heavens in his image, and the rest of world would say, “Wow, yeah, we like that better. Who is that guy?” 🙂 Thoughts? Nobody mentioned the sex interpretation the first time we discussed that line, so I’m curious if it is a popular interpretation.