ROMEO AND JULIET
ROMEO AND JULIET
The play begins with a sonnet, spoken as prologue, where the emotional experience of the lovers is explored in relation both to their social context and ideas of love, destiny and death
FirstAct. The first act covers a whole day and opens in a Verona street. This act is a series of dialogues about the courtly concept of love, holy devotion and idealisation of the object of desire. It ends with the meeting of the two main characters: Romeo, the son of Lord Montague a Veronese family that is gripped in a bloody feud with the Capulets, and Juliet, Lord Capulet’s daughter.
SecondAct. The second act is concentrated on the development of the relationship between Romeo and. Juliet. This act ends with a ceremony: the secret wedding of the two lovers celebrated in the chapel by Friar Laurence.
ThirdAct. This is the central act; it is the longest and there is public and private event and action and movement.
FourthAct. It is the preparatory act to the final tragedy. The characters are divided into two groups, each living a different story. It is the shortest act:.
FifthAct. The fifth act consists of three scenes. The first breaks the unity of place, moving from Verona to Mantua, where Romeo has gone, after being banished from Verona for killing Tybalt, Juliet’s cousin. In the last scene there is the explanation: Romeo finds Juliet’s sleeping body in her family tomb after she has drunk the potion, and he believes her to be dead. He decides to kill himself, then Juliet wakes up from her sleep. Out of fear and love she killed herself with a dagger and said “Oh happy dagger”. The death of the young couple ends the feud between their families.
- makes the plot depend crucially on messages: he stresses the ease with which messages can go wrong. The pattern of action is marked by simple gestures. The main themes are two:
- The lack of knowledge, which necessary derives from bad communication. Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy of not knowing and unawareness.
- The reflection upon language made by Juliet who shows a tendency to use realism in her language. She is set within the courtly love and stands for innocence. She belongs to no characterisation classification or idealisation; she is a real woman