Romeo e Giulietta di Shakespeare, Appunti di Inglese

Scarica Romeo e Giulietta di Shakespeare e più Appunti in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! ROMEO AND JULIET Plot: In Verona the fight between Capulet and Montague breaks into violence. First Act: Romeo Montague reveals to Benvolio (cousin) that he is in love with Rosaline(she doesn’t love him). After learning that Rosaline will be at a party at the Capulets' house that evening Romeo's friends persuade him to attend in disguise. Romeo meets Juliet there, and they fall in love at first sight. During the party they discover that their families are professed enemies. Second Act: From the Capulets' garden Romeo hears Juliet express her love for him. They declare their love and their desire to be married. This act ends with the secret wedding in the chapel by the friendly priest, Friar Laurence, who has expressed the hope that their marriage may end the families' quarrel. Third Act. This is the longest act and it can be divided into two parts: that of public events, full of action and movement, and the part devoted to private events. Mercutio, Romeo's friend, is killed by Tybalt, Juliet's cousin, during a street fight. In revenge Romeo kills Tybalt and is banished (by Prince Escalus) from Verona and must stay in Mantua. The act ends with Romeo and Juliet's wedding night at the Capulets' house. Fourth Act. To avoid the marriage with Count Paris arranged by her father, Juliet takes a drug, given to her by Friar Laurence, which will make her appear to be dead on the morning of her wedding. The friar sends a messenger to Mantua, but, before he arrives, Romeo hears that Juliet is dead and decides to return to Verona. Fifth Act. Romeo arrives at Juliet's tomb and takes some poison, dying as he kisses her lips. At that moment Juliet wakes from the trance and seeing Romeo dead beside her, she stabs herself with his dagger. Characters: Romeo Montague firstly is presented as a man belonging to the “courtly love convention” (intense adoration and respect for a chaste and impossible lady). When he first sees Juliet, he compares her to the brilliant light of the torches that illuminate the Capulet's great hall; Juliet=light that frees him from his dark melancholy. In the famous balcony scene Romeo links Juliet to the sunlight, daylight and the light emanating from angels. → Love for Juliet makes him dynamic and courageous (risks his life to be near her). At the end he commits suicide rather than live without Juliet, which is the ultimate proof of his loyalty and love for her. Juliet Capulet is beautiful, rebellious, kind and loving. At the beginning she appears as an obedient child. Her first meeting with Romeo causes her to move towards maturity. She immediately shows determination and strength. She belongs to no characterisation, classification or idealisation: she is a real woman. Just like Romeo, she compares their love to light, first to point out the speed at which their romance is moving, but also to suggest that their love is just like lightning, a break in the blackness of the night sky. When she wakes up and finds Romeo dead beside her, she kills herself because of her strong love, just as Romeo did. Juliet's suicide, in fact, needs more determination than Romeo's because while he swallows poison, she kills herself with a dagger + Romeo&Juliet are on the same level + Women have always been seen as weak, Juliet is strong. Setting: Shakespeare chose the italian city of Verona because italians were popularly considered violent and passionate. The social context is featured by struggles between two families (Montagues and Capulets) that gain political control of the city. → reason why most of the action happens out-of-doors Themes: The power of love. Romeo and Juliet's love is so powerful that is > than their families, their loyalties, or even their lives. Passion and violence. The same passion leads to violence, from Tybalt's death to the lovers' suicides. The two families' hate is as strong as the two lovers' love. Individual against society. What the lovers want as individuals conflicts with what their families and society want. The Capulets, the Montagues and the townspeople do not want to stop feuding just because two teenagers love each other. It is only the final horrible tragedy which gets them to change. The power of fate. At the beginning of the play, in the prologue, the chorus states that Romeo and Juliet are 'star-cross'd lovers, meaning that their love will end tragically. This info is given immediately so that the spectator can focus better on the dynamic. The tragic ending results from a pattern which includes the elements of chance and incomplete knowledge. Style: Rhythms are regular, rhymes are common (in couplets). Imagery is about oxymora: life and death, love and hate, dark and light, Montagues and Capulets, peace and fighting. Comedy or Tragedy? TRAGEDY COMEDY ● Tragic role played by chance; the protagonists must fight against external forces that make their relationship difficult, but, unlike the great tragic heroes, they experience no inner struggle. ● Begins with the material for a comedy like the instant attraction of the young lovers, the masked balls, the comic servants and the superficial life of street fights. ⇒This play differs from the comedy because knowledge is not for everybody, but only for the two protagonists and, even then, not completely. Speed is the medium of 'fate': in the last scene time wins because less than a minute's hesitation would have saved the lives of Romeo and Juliet. The prologue CHORUS Two households, both alike in dignity (In fair Verona, where we lay our scene), From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean. 5 From forth the fatal loins of these two foes A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life, Whose misadventured piteous overthrows Doth with their death bury their parents' strife. The fearful passage of their death-marked love CHORUS In the beautiful city of Verona, where our story takes place, a long-standing hate between two families erupts into violence, and citizens stain their hands with the blood of their fellow citizens. 5 Two unlucky children of these enemy families become lovers and commit suicide. Their unfortunate deaths put an end to their parents' feud. For the next two hours, we will watch the story of their doomed love