ROMEO AND JULIET
By William Shakespeare
DRAMATIS PERSONAE
Escalus, Prince of Verona
Paris, a young Nobleman, Kinsman to the Prince
Montague – Capulet: Heads of two Houses at variance with each other
Uncle to Capulet
Romeo, Son to Montague
Mercutio, Kinsman to the Prince and friend to Romeo
Benvolio, Nephew to Montague and friend to Romeo
Tybalt, Nephew to Lady Capulet
Friar Laurence, a Franciscan
Friar John, of the same Order
Balthasar, Servant to Romeo
Sampson, Gregory, Peter: Servants to Capulet
Abram, Servant to Montague
An Apothecary
Three Musicians
Chorus
Boy
Page to Paris
An officer
Lady Montague, Wife to Montague
Lady Capulet, Wife to Capulet
Juliet, Daughter to Capulet
Nurse to Juliet
Citizens of Verona; male and female relations to both Houses; Maskers, Guards, Watchmen and Attendants
SCENE:
During the greater part of the play in Verona; once, in the fifth act, at Mantua
Prologue
Enter chorus
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.
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
A pair of star-cross´d lovers take their life;
Whose misadventur´d piteous overthrows
Do with their death bury their parents´strife.
The fearful passage of their death-mark´d love,
And the continuance of their parents´rage,
Which, but their children´s end, naught could remove,
Is now the two hours´traffic of our stage;
The which if you with patient ears attend,
What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.
Act 1, Scene 1
VERONA, A PUBLIC PLACE
Enter SAMPSON and GREGORY, of the house of Capulet, armed with swords and bucklers
SAMPSON
Gregory, on my word, we'll not carry coals.
GREGORY
No, for then we should be colliers.
SAMPSON
I mean, an we be in choler, we'll draw.
GREGORY
Ay, while you live, draw your neck out o' the collar.
SAMPSON
I strike quickly, being moved.
GREGORY
But thou art not quickly moved to strike.
SAMPSON
A dog of the house of Montague moves me.
GREGORY
To move is to stir; and to be valiant is to stand:
therefore, if thou art moved, thou runn'st away.
SAMPSON
A dog of that house shall move me to stand: I will
take the wall of any man or maid of Montague's.
GREGORY
That shows thee a weak slave; for the weakest goes
to the wall.
SAMPSON
´Tis true; and therefore women, being the weaker vessels,
are ever thrust to the wall: therefore I will push
Montague's men from the wall, and thrust his maids
to the wall.
GREGORY
The quarrel is between our masters, and us their men.
SAMPSON
'Tis all one, I will show myself a tyrant: when I
have fought with the men, I will be cruel with the
maids, and cut off their heads.
GREGORY
The heads of the maids?
SAMPSON
Ay, the heads of the maids, or their maidenheads;
take it in what sense thou wilt.
GREGORY
They must take it in sense that feel it.
SAMPSON
Me they shall feel, while I am able to stand; and,
'tis known, I am a pretty piece of flesh.
GREGORY
'Tis well thou art not fish; if thou hadst, thou
hadst been poor John. Draw thy tool! here comes
two of the house of the Montagues.
Enter Abram and Balthasar
SAMPSON
My naked weapon is out: quarrel, I will back thee.
GREGORY
How! turn thy back and run?
SAMPSON
Fear me not.
GREGORY
No, marry; I fear thee!
SAMPSON
Let us take the law of our sides; let them begin.
GREGORY
I will frown as I pass by, and let them take it as
they list.
SAMPSON
Nay, as they dare. I will bite my thumb at them;
which is a disgrace to them, if they bear it.
ABRAHAM
Do you bite your thumb at us, sir?
SAMPSON
I do bite my thumb, sir.
ABRAHAM
Do you bite your thumb at us, sir?
SAMPSON
[Aside to GREGORY] Is the law of our side, if I say
ay?
GREGORY
No.
SAMPSON
No, sir, I do not bite my thumb at you, sir, but I
bite my thumb, sir.
GREGORY
Do you quarrel, sir?
ABRAHAM
Quarrel sir! no, sir.
SAMPSON
If you do, sir, I am for you: I serve as good a man as you.
ABRAHAM
No better.
SAMPSON
Well, sir.
Enter Benvolio, at a distance
GREGORY
Say 'better:' here comes one of my master's kinsmen.
SAMPSON
Yes, better, sir.
ABRAHAM
You lie.
SAMPSON
Draw, if you be men. Gregory, remember thy swashing blow.
Say 'better:' here comes one of my master's kinsmen.
SAMPSON
Yes, better, sir.
ABRAHAM
You lie.
SAMPSON
Draw, if you be men. Gregory, remember thy swashing blow.
They fight
BENVOLIO
Part, fools!
Put up your swords; you know not what you do.
Beats down their swords
Enter TYBALT
TYBALT
What! art thou drawn among these heartless hinds?
Turn thee, Benvolio, look upon thy death.
BENVOLIO
I do but keep the peace: put up thy sword,
Or manage it to part these men with me.
TYBALT
What! drawn, and talk of peace! I hate the word,
As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee:
Have at thee, coward!
What! art thou drawn among these heartless hinds?
Turn thee, Benvolio, look upon thy death.
BENVOLIO
I do but keep the peace: put up thy sword,
Or manage it to part these men with me.
TYBALT
What! drawn, and talk of peace! I hate the word,
As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee:
Have at thee, coward!
They fight
Enter, several of both houses, who join the fray; then enter Citizens, with clubs
First Citizen
Clubs, bills, and partisans! strike! beat them down!
Clubs, bills, and partisans! strike! beat them down!
Citizens
Down with the Capulets! down with the Montagues!
Enter CAPULET in his gown, and LADY CAPULET
CAPULET
What noise is this? Give me my long sword, ho!
LADY CAPULET
A crutch, a crutch! why call you for a sword?
CAPULET
My sword, I say! Old Montague is come,
And flourishes his blade in spite of me.
Enter MONTAGUE and LADY MONTAGUE
MONTAGUE
Thou villain Capulet,--Hold me not, let me go.
LADY MONTAGUE
Thou shalt not stir a foot to seek a foe.
Enter PRINCE, with his Train
PRINCE
Rebellious subjects, enemies to peace,
Profaners of this neighbour-stained steel,--
Will they not hear?-What, ho! you men, you beasts,
That quench the fire of your pernicious rage
With purple fountains issuing from your veins,-
On pain of torture, from those bloody hands
Throw your mistemper'd weapons to the ground,
And hear the sentence of your moved prince.
Three civil brawls, bred of an airy word,
By thee, old Capulet, and Montague,
Have thrice disturb'd the quiet of our streets,
And made Verona's ancient citizens
Cast by their grave beseeming ornaments,
To wield old partisans, in hands as old,
Canker'd with peace, to part your canker'd hate:
If ever you disturb our streets again,
Your lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace.
For this time, all the rest depart away:
You, Capulet; shall go along with me:
And, Montague, come you this afternoon,
To know our further pleasure in this case,
To old Free-town, our common judgment-place.
Once more, on pain of death, all men depart.
Exeunt Prince and attendants, Capulet, Lady Capulet, Tybalt, Citizens and Servants
MONTAGUE
Who set this ancient quarrel new abroach?
Speak, nephew, were you by when it began?
BENVOLIO
Here were the servants of your adversary,
And yours, close fighting ere I did approach.
I drew to part them: in the instant came
The fiery Tybalt, with his sword prepar´d;
Which, as he breath´d defiance to my ears,
He swung about his head and cut the winds,
Who, nothing hurt withal hiss'd him in scorn.
While we were interchanging thrusts and blows,
Came more and more and fought on part and part,
Till the Prince came, who parted either part.
LADY MONTAGUE
O! where is Romeo? Saw you him today?
Right glad I am he was not at this fray.
BENVOLIO
Madam, an hour before the worshipp'd sun
Peer'd forth the golden window of the east,
A troubled mind drave me to walk abroad;
Where, underneath the grove of sycamore
That westward rooteth from the city's side,
So early walking did I see your son.
Towards him I made, but he was ´ware of me
And stole into the covert of the wood:
I, measuring his affections by my own,
Which then most sought, where most might not be found
Who set this ancient quarrel new abroach?
Speak, nephew, were you by when it began?
BENVOLIO
Here were the servants of your adversary,
And yours, close fighting ere I did approach.
I drew to part them: in the instant came
The fiery Tybalt, with his sword prepar´d;
Which, as he breath´d defiance to my ears,
He swung about his head and cut the winds,
Who, nothing hurt withal hiss'd him in scorn.
While we were interchanging thrusts and blows,
Came more and more and fought on part and part,
Till the Prince came, who parted either part.
LADY MONTAGUE
O! where is Romeo? Saw you him today?
Right glad I am he was not at this fray.
BENVOLIO
Madam, an hour before the worshipp'd sun
Peer'd forth the golden window of the east,
A troubled mind drave me to walk abroad;
Where, underneath the grove of sycamore
That westward rooteth from the city's side,
So early walking did I see your son.
Towards him I made, but he was ´ware of me
And stole into the covert of the wood:
I, measuring his affections by my own,
Which then most sought, where most might not be found
Being one too many by my weary self
Pursu´d my humour, not pursuing his,
And gladly shunn'd who gladly fled from me.
MONTAGUE
Many a morning hath he there been seen,
With tears augmenting the fresh morning´s dew.
Adding to clouds more clouds with his deep sighs:
But all so soon as the all-cheering sun
Should in the farthest east begin to draw
The shady curtains from Aurora's bed,
Away from the light steals home my heavy son,
And private in his chamber pens himself,
Shuts up his windows, locks far daylight out
And makes himself an artificial night:
Black and portentous must this humour prove,
Unless good counsel may the cause remove.
BENVOLIO
My noble uncle, do you know the cause?
MONTAGUE
I neither know it nor can learn of him.
BENVOLIO
Have you importun´d him by any means?
MONTAGUE
Both by myself and many other friends:
But he, his own affections' counsellor,
Is to himself--I will not say how true--
But to himself so secret and so close,
So far from sounding and discovery,
As is the bud bit with an envious worm,
Ere he can spread his sweet leaves to the air,
Or dedicate his beauty to the sun.
Could we but learn from whence his sorrows grow.
We would as willingly give cure as know.
And gladly shunn'd who gladly fled from me.
MONTAGUE
Many a morning hath he there been seen,
With tears augmenting the fresh morning´s dew.
Adding to clouds more clouds with his deep sighs:
But all so soon as the all-cheering sun
Should in the farthest east begin to draw
The shady curtains from Aurora's bed,
Away from the light steals home my heavy son,
And private in his chamber pens himself,
Shuts up his windows, locks far daylight out
And makes himself an artificial night:
Black and portentous must this humour prove,
Unless good counsel may the cause remove.
BENVOLIO
My noble uncle, do you know the cause?
MONTAGUE
I neither know it nor can learn of him.
BENVOLIO
Have you importun´d him by any means?
MONTAGUE
Both by myself and many other friends:
But he, his own affections' counsellor,
Is to himself--I will not say how true--
But to himself so secret and so close,
So far from sounding and discovery,
As is the bud bit with an envious worm,
Ere he can spread his sweet leaves to the air,
Or dedicate his beauty to the sun.
Could we but learn from whence his sorrows grow.
We would as willingly give cure as know.
Enter ROMEO, at a distance
BENVOLIO
See, where he comes: so please you, step aside;
I'll know his grievance, or be much denied.
MONTAGUE
I would thou wert so happy by thy stay,
To hear true shrift. Come, madam, let's away.
See, where he comes: so please you, step aside;
I'll know his grievance, or be much denied.
MONTAGUE
I would thou wert so happy by thy stay,
To hear true shrift. Come, madam, let's away.
Exeunt MONTAGUE and LADY MONTAGUE
BENVOLIO
Good morrow, cousin.
ROMEO
Is the day so young?
BENVOLIO
But new struck nine.
ROMEO
Ay me! sad hours seem long.
Was that my father that went hence so fast?
BENVOLIO
It was. What sadness lengthens Romeo's hours?
ROMEO
Not having that, which, having, makes them short.
BENVOLIO
In love?
ROMEO
Out--
BENVOLIO
Of love?
ROMEO
Out of her favour, where I am in love.
BENVOLIO
Alas, that love, so gentle in his view,
Should be so tyrannous and rough in proof!
ROMEO
Alas, that love, whose view is muffled still,
Should, without eyes, see pathways to his will!
Where shall we dine? O me! What fray was here?
Yet tell me not, for I have heard it all.
Here's much to do with hate, but more with love:-
Why, then, O brawling love! O loving hate!
O anything, of nothing first created!
O heavy lightness! serious vanity!
Misshapen chaos of well-seeming forms!
Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire,
sick health!
Still-waking sleep, that is not what it is!
This love feel I, that feel no love in this.
Dost thou not laugh?
BENVOLIO
No, coz, I rather weep.
ROMEO
Good heart, at what?
BENVOLIO
At thy good heart's oppression.
ROMEO
Why, such is love's transgression.
Griefs of mine own lie heavy in my breast,
Which thou wilt propagate, to have it press´d
With more of thine: this love, that thou hast shown,
Doth add more grief to too much of mine own.
Love is a smoke raised with the fume of sighs;
Being purg´d, a fire sparkling in lovers' eyes;
Being vex'd, a sea nourish'd with lovers' tears:
What is it else? a madness most discreet,
A choking gall and a preserving sweet.
Farewell, my coz.
BENVOLIO
Soft! I will go along;
An if you leave me so, you do me wrong.
ROMEO
Tut! I have lost myself; I am not here;
This is not Romeo, he's some other where.
BENVOLIO
Tell me in sadness, who is that you love?
ROMEO
What! Shall I groan and tell thee?
BENVOLIO
Groan? Why, no;
But sadly tell me who.
ROMEO
Bid a sick man in sadness make his will;
Ah, word ill urg´d to one that is so ill.-
In sadness, cousin, I do love a woman.
BENVOLIO
I aim'd so near, when I suppos´d you lov´d.
ROMEO
A right good markman! -And she's fair I love.
BENVOLIO
A right fair mark, fair coz, is soonest hit.
ROMEO
Well, in that hit you miss: she'll not be hit
With Cupid's arrow; -she hath Dian's wit;
And, in strong proof of chastity well arm'd,
From love's weak childish bow she lives unharm'd.
She will not stay the siege of loving terms,
Nor bide the encounter of assailing eyes,
Nor ope her lap to saint-seducing gold:
O, she is rich in beauty, only poor,
That when she dies with beauty dies her store.
BENVOLIO
Then she hath sworn that she will still live chaste?
ROMEO
She hath, and in that sparing makes huge waste;
For beauty starv´d with her severity
Cuts beauty off from all posterity.
She is too fair, too wise; wisely too fair,
To merit bliss by making me despair:
She hath forsworn to love, and in that vow
Do I live dead that live to tell it now.
BENVOLIO
Be rul´d by me, forget to think of her.
ROMEO
O! teach me how I should forget to think.
BENVOLIO
By giving liberty unto thine eyes;
Examine other beauties.
ROMEO
'Tis the way
To call hers exquisite, in question more:
These happy masks that kiss fair ladies' brows,
Being black, put us in mind they hide the fair;
He that is strucken blind cannot forget
The precious treasure of his eyesight lost.
Show me a mistress that is passing fair,
What doth her beauty serve, but as a note
Where I may read who pass'd that passing fair?
Farewell: thou canst not teach me to forget.
BENVOLIO
I'll pay that doctrine, or else die in debt.
Exeunt
Good morrow, cousin.
ROMEO
Is the day so young?
BENVOLIO
But new struck nine.
ROMEO
Ay me! sad hours seem long.
Was that my father that went hence so fast?
BENVOLIO
It was. What sadness lengthens Romeo's hours?
ROMEO
Not having that, which, having, makes them short.
BENVOLIO
In love?
ROMEO
Out--
BENVOLIO
Of love?
ROMEO
Out of her favour, where I am in love.
BENVOLIO
Alas, that love, so gentle in his view,
Should be so tyrannous and rough in proof!
ROMEO
Alas, that love, whose view is muffled still,
Should, without eyes, see pathways to his will!
Where shall we dine? O me! What fray was here?
Yet tell me not, for I have heard it all.
Here's much to do with hate, but more with love:-
Why, then, O brawling love! O loving hate!
O anything, of nothing first created!
O heavy lightness! serious vanity!
Misshapen chaos of well-seeming forms!
Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire,
sick health!
Still-waking sleep, that is not what it is!
This love feel I, that feel no love in this.
Dost thou not laugh?
BENVOLIO
No, coz, I rather weep.
ROMEO
Good heart, at what?
BENVOLIO
At thy good heart's oppression.
ROMEO
Why, such is love's transgression.
Griefs of mine own lie heavy in my breast,
Which thou wilt propagate, to have it press´d
With more of thine: this love, that thou hast shown,
Doth add more grief to too much of mine own.
Love is a smoke raised with the fume of sighs;
Being purg´d, a fire sparkling in lovers' eyes;
Being vex'd, a sea nourish'd with lovers' tears:
What is it else? a madness most discreet,
A choking gall and a preserving sweet.
Farewell, my coz.
BENVOLIO
Soft! I will go along;
An if you leave me so, you do me wrong.
ROMEO
Tut! I have lost myself; I am not here;
This is not Romeo, he's some other where.
BENVOLIO
Tell me in sadness, who is that you love?
ROMEO
What! Shall I groan and tell thee?
BENVOLIO
Groan? Why, no;
But sadly tell me who.
ROMEO
Bid a sick man in sadness make his will;
Ah, word ill urg´d to one that is so ill.-
In sadness, cousin, I do love a woman.
BENVOLIO
I aim'd so near, when I suppos´d you lov´d.
ROMEO
A right good markman! -And she's fair I love.
BENVOLIO
A right fair mark, fair coz, is soonest hit.
ROMEO
Well, in that hit you miss: she'll not be hit
With Cupid's arrow; -she hath Dian's wit;
And, in strong proof of chastity well arm'd,
From love's weak childish bow she lives unharm'd.
She will not stay the siege of loving terms,
Nor bide the encounter of assailing eyes,
Nor ope her lap to saint-seducing gold:
O, she is rich in beauty, only poor,
That when she dies with beauty dies her store.
BENVOLIO
Then she hath sworn that she will still live chaste?
ROMEO
She hath, and in that sparing makes huge waste;
For beauty starv´d with her severity
Cuts beauty off from all posterity.
She is too fair, too wise; wisely too fair,
To merit bliss by making me despair:
She hath forsworn to love, and in that vow
Do I live dead that live to tell it now.
BENVOLIO
Be rul´d by me, forget to think of her.
ROMEO
O! teach me how I should forget to think.
BENVOLIO
By giving liberty unto thine eyes;
Examine other beauties.
ROMEO
'Tis the way
To call hers exquisite, in question more:
These happy masks that kiss fair ladies' brows,
Being black, put us in mind they hide the fair;
He that is strucken blind cannot forget
The precious treasure of his eyesight lost.
Show me a mistress that is passing fair,
What doth her beauty serve, but as a note
Where I may read who pass'd that passing fair?
Farewell: thou canst not teach me to forget.
BENVOLIO
I'll pay that doctrine, or else die in debt.
Exeunt
Reading and analyzing plays has been a hard work for me. Withal, I found interesting aspects of this literary genre, specifically in this extract of Romeo and Juliet. Firstly, I realized that I learn more about characters when they “directly” talk in the dialogues. I mean, in prose, the characters are described by the narrator, but in drama, you know their personalities by their speeches and dialogues. Besides, I found the drama plots more interesting and vivid than those written in prose. May be, the fact of “listening” to the characters arguing and fighting against others is something that adds closeness and reality to the drama. Finally, I would like to say that my favorite part of this extract of Romeo and Juliet was when Romeo started to use Paradoxes such as: “O brawling love! O loving hate! O heavy Lightness! Serious vanity!
ReplyDeleteI absolutely liked this part because I agree that when loving and living you may find such a contradiction. To sum up and reinforce this idea I will quote Francis Sagan’s contradictory but certain statement: "I have loved to the point of madness; that which is called madness, that which to me, is the only sensible way to love."
Maybe, it is a daring comment to say that, but “it is the first time that I am not interested in my English Literature Homework”. Indeed, I enjoy reading literature related to fiction, love, terror etc. However, one thing I don't like that much, perhaps even less than poetry, is plays. When I think of plays what comes to my mind is an “ostentatious, an exaggerated and a complex speech” I immediately think of Shakespeare and my torturous experience from childhood when I had to performance one of his plays “Romeo and Juliet” I must confess it was really hard for me to read and to learn this play in Spanish so, I cannot imagine the entire English version!!!
ReplyDeleteAlthough, many people like watching plays at the theatre, there are few who find out any enjoyment from reading plays. This is because the style and the prose are not written specifically to be read. Plays must be heard, seen and experienced through human performance, I mean; Plays must be written for stage.
What I like the most when reading a book is “to imagine all the scenes, the physic appearances of the characters, even when I do not know a word or an expression I try to look for it in order to understand the whole book” but when I started to read this play I could not finish it because the names of the characters were difficult to pronounce and there were many complex expressions to understand. Maybe, these reasons are excuses but it is not my fault that sometimes I get bored by reading plays. I do not know why; but when I read a play “my imagination gets stuck, and I cannot fire it.
This is the first time that I read Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare and was very difficult to me because first, it has many unknown words, not only in Old English, but also in other languages, which made me look away from the original idea that the author wanted to express. It becomes very difficult to appreciate the value of the original work.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, when I read the glossary, it was easy to me to understand it because the author describes very clearly the movements and the actions of each actor and each scene, and this makes me make a more obvious idea of what is happening at the moment of read it.
Second, there are a lot of characters in this play, for this reason, we need read it carefully and to pay attention to punctuation marks, as well, we need to make sure we get every scripts of each one of them to do not change anything about author's ideas.
One of the things that caught my attention was that this play was not develop in Paris which is supposedly the most appropriate place for a romantic work, and the first setting of this play is Verona; but the setting time was perfect because it was in the Renaissance (fourteenth or fifteenth century). In addition, I like the way Shakespeare’s use of dramatic structure, especially the tone passionate, romantic and violent. Moreover, I love the way Shakespeare begin the play with a 14-line prologue in the form of a Shakespearean sonnet, spoken by a Chorus and the use of poetic forms throughout the play.
Although, there were two men (Gregory and Sampson) who, at the beginning, speak bad about women, who said that they are weakest, but there are a men call Romeo who trample this kind of men with his romantic words.
Finally, I think Romeo is an ideal man who only existed in that time and in this play, but in spite of this, I have the hope to meet him in my real life.
Marcela Meneses
Romeo and Juliet is one of the most famous plays written by William Shakespeare, who wrote many other plays that have been translated into the principal languages. His dramatic pieces are being represented all over the world. In addition, with the passage of time, there has been considerable speculation about such matters as his physical appearance, sexuality, religious beliefs, and whether the works attributed to him were written by others, but this was not a problem for him to keep on writing.
ReplyDeleteRomeo and Juliet has always been an interesting film for me, however, I had never read it as a play. Reading it was very difficult for me because I did not understand some phrases, because the language the playwright used was Latin and this made the reading boring and some time I did not want to read more or I wanted to finish the reading quickly. On the contrary, when reading short stories, I wanted to finish them to know what happens at the end. Well, in this case, I had to wait to read the play in the classroom to understand it completely.
Well, on the other hand it is important to say that it was very difficult for me to pass from analyzing stories to analyzing plays, because the stories are shorter and there is only a person who narrates the whole story, unlike plays where sometimes readers have to pay attention to many character’s speeches, especially when there are a lot of characters.
Finally, I think that when we read a play, a short story or any literary genre is essential to do these analyses in a group, which could us give a major understand about the theme, setting, characters and the like important aspects that we can find in these literary genres.
by Veronica Mayorga N
Romeo and Juliet
ReplyDeleteAs time has passed, there have been numerous stories and legends written in ancient times about love, but not only about the extraordinary consequences that love has had on people but also how the apparent catastrophic effects that the lack of love or the fearful envy have taken some persons into inconceivable facts as suicides and even wars between kingdoms or households as it is in one of the best love plays that have existed widely in literature, Romeo and Juliet.
This tragedy written by the most relevant playwright of all times, exposes the melancholic tale of two lovers that were capable to give their feelings to each other without taking care of the real struggle their families had and it reminds me that truly love does not have any barrier or distance. Love as the bible says in 1 Corinthians 13:4-5, “love is patient, love is kind, it is not envious. Love does not brag, it is not puffed up. It is not rude, it is not self-serving, it is not easily angered or resentful.” This was exactly what Romeo and Juliet felt with their emblematic love.
Lamentably, this tale had a dreadful ending due to the unexpected deaths of this pair of lovers whose only purpose was to be together all life. Nevertheless, the end of the incessant dispute between these two households began the day they realized that that their conflict would only produce the death.
Ronald Palma
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ReplyDeleteIn the play “Romeo and Juliet”, published in 1597. From the outstanding British playwright Shakespeare, there are many unknown words and expressions and it is sure that it is like that due to the time in which it was written and the evident politeness that there is in this text; that´s why it was kind of exhaustive to me to search all the meanings of these words.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, I think I must emphasize the magnitude of the impact that this play has on the world of literature. This play has been one of the most performed in all Earth. Since its beginning it has been re-written many times taking it to the big screens and in this manner it has left footprint in the hearts of the members of the audience, including myself into this group.
Talking about its theme, it is impressive to see the love of the main characters (Romeo and Juliet), that decided to leave everything; their families, their dreams, their status and including their own lives for the love they felt.
Besides being Shakespeare an important recognized dramatist, this play makes him a real playwright because it can express the sad parts that sometimes love can have when there are relationships of enmity between two forces and in this case families.
One of the aspects that called my attention while I was reading the play was the ending that nobody expected because I really thought it was just going to be a happy ending as they are in fairy tales. However, that shows us that this tale maybe could be inspired by a true story and that means that real life is not as happy as we think.
Finally this play has been one of the best romantic plays that the theatrical world has had. I think William Shakespeare was a passionate playwright that had a world of imaginations in his mind and those great ideas written in simple papers has traveled through time, becoming today the most well-known story ever published on Earth.
Shakespeare has always been one of the most important authors in the universal literature, for that reason, I have always heard talk about him. In fact, this is the first time that I read one of his works, however, regarding to Romeo and Juliet, I had a contact with this story since I was a child; because of the children hour (El chavo) and the movies based on Romeo and Juliet’s book.
ReplyDeleteRomeo and Juliet’s play was a good exercise to analyze more about the real conflict in the story, and I could realize that Romeo and Juliet wasn’t just a love story but also a narrative about the loyalty, honor and passion. A clear example of loyalty was when the servants of both families Capuleto and Montesco fought to defend their families’ honor.
On the other hand, hate was another important feeling in this play. Since Capuleto and Motesco families didn’t stand each other, and owing to that fact, Romeo suffered as a sentenced. He couldn’t shout the name of his lover, because her lover’s love was forbidden to him, therefore who was dying alive.
yaneth vera
I watched the movie around 3 years ago, but I have to say that it is very different from the original version.
ReplyDeleteAs we know Shakespeare is a really well-known author, thus, this kind of works are interesting to read, although the text it's so difficult to read there are a lot of unknown vocabulary.
talking about the play's content, it is a honest proof of love at the beginnig is Romeo who fell in love with Julieta and he suffered because she did not show any sign of being intersting, but throught the time their love became one of the most beautiful and at the same time a tragedy because of the decisions they took to keep their love. Nowadays it is possible to see similar situations where the angry between families can affect their sons and tranform this angry in a big tragedy like in the case or Romeo and Juliet.
This play reflects the William Shakespeare's passion for literature, we can see feeling like love, angry, sadness, happiness, we can also see how can we enjoy our life complete but also how we can finish with her in an open and close of eyes.
Finally it is important to mention that thIs kind of plays caught my attention because of the nature of the content, a possible real situation, also because throught the reading your are imaginig the most minimun detail in order to comprehend the full play.
I think Romeo and Juliet is a classic of the literary world. It has become in a kind of heritage from history and strong inspiration to dramatists all over the world.
ReplyDeleteReading this playwright was just a different and a new experience because of several reasons; there was so much unknown vocabulary that inhibited the sequence of the reading, as I had to stop almost every second to look for the meaning of a word. A different experience because the structure of a playwright is completely different from tale’s. in this case the story is told in a particular way and that is what I really enjoyed about this as I automatically started imagining the voices that each character may had had and of course the British accent. I really like to had finally read, at least, a piece of this magnificent work and something that I realized and I find very curious is that I had not figured out there were so much characters in this story, (lol), so much that sometimes I got confused so I had to come back and read again who was who and what family they belonged to.
I must say that, even when it is said that a playwright is made to be performed in a stage and not to be read, there are some important things that we can learn about it. It was totally worthy for me to read Romeo and Juliet as it may enrich my whole perception about this kind of writing structure and the way play writers try to capture in their works the reality and the spontaneity of things which may be so hard.
I must say that reading a play is not easy, it takes a lot of concentration to understand the plot, and sometimes I feel confused because of the numerous complexities of each character. However, there are many stories that have become a success in theatrical representation, as in Romeo and Juliet.
ReplyDeleteWhen we talk about Romeo and Juliet everybody knows who the author is. In fact Hamlet is the most representative work of Shakespeare, if not because of the perfection of the play but because of his popularity as a playwright.
Romeo and Juliet is the story of two young lovers who are unable to make public their love and desire due to their family differences. The characters challenge society, their families and their longstanding beliefs and traditions, even when they know their love is forbidden and can never be. The most important is that they tried to show us that love is stronger than anything else that we know, and surpasses even death.
This master piece and this great playwriter gave lots of ideas on who to create great dramas during the years and centuries.
ReplyDeleteIn this play, we can observe how the definition of war and love are used often between these two families and how the impossible goes possible, and finally death rips out the esence of conviction, the esence of the real love between hate and rage.
Based on the way writing, I could imagine every feeling showed overthere by every actor and I could imagine the real sound of steel when battling, the rampage expression between those two families and their allies, and the doubt of love created by Romeo and the unknown path that he had to take.
As the theather lover than I am, I could say that every line made me feel, see and think of the whole enviroment, the appereance of every characters, the way the used to move and act, the age (era), and the culture.
ROMEO AND JULIETH .
ReplyDeleteWell, what I liked the most was the whole story, because as people know through the history it has been the most perfect love`s story because of the facts inside it and all those things that happens in it where the characters make people surprise about the story getting men and women feel this as their own, at least in their dreams all night long.
Actually, I never had read before the story and it was a good experience reading it by the first time in english because it did that I were focused on the story most of the time, demanding me to look for the meaning of each unknown word to understand it in a whole way the story but also the descriptions of the events inside it.
This story makes me feel all those beautiful things that I had lived in some little moments were you think everything is perfect and you do not need anything more than being happy. In spite of love`s stories are not my favorite ones, I enjoyed it so much as it was written with a good literary style.
ROMEO AND JULIET
ReplyDeleteFirst at all, I must say that Reading a play is not an easy work because of some specific reasons. The first one is because there is lot of characters who take part during the scenes and the other one is because you need to make connections when you are reading it in order to catch the essence of each act. As a clear difference when I read a tale was that there are less characters and they are shorter and less complex than a play. Even though I can say that plays are a interesting genre for me and that I really enjoy it not reading but acting.
As another interesting aspect that I also found, was the way that the author introduce the characters and the tone he put in order to give details and produce the audience suspense. For me the style he began to play the first scene was the major key, because if the beginning of the play is catching the rest of it would be too. Talking about this first Romeo and Juliet extract, for me it was really warm the way those young lovers had to live their hidden love and but at the same time the sacrifices that a person can make when love somebody passionately. Finally what I can conclude with this well known phrase is that “In war and love everything is valid’’.
TATIANA GUZMAN BENAVIDES
The play Romeo and Juliet is a story very interesting due to the way that events happens, also the real love between two persons that need to show a kind of love in many ways. Also, this relationship was a cruzade between two families that have different points of view according to the high life people.
ReplyDeleteThis play was wrote by a famous playwright, his name was a revelation, "William shakespeare". he wrote about many plays, some of them is Hamlet, which I read because my father was used to buy many books and that was a gift for me in one of my birthday. But this piece of Romeo and Juliet play was very difficult to read because there were some unknown vocabulary to me and also because that piece of his plays Romeo and Juleit was written in Latin in some fragments of it.
In order to read any other plays like this is it important to take into account the way as the playwright like to write, also the vocabulary that some of them use to give something special in a play. I think that a Play are very interesting, different and difficult at the same time; we have to pay attention to every events that happen within it to have an order of secuences and besides following the main purpose of stories.
We all know that Shakespeare was, and still is, one of the most relevant writers in history and somehow, we have an idea about his work. Personally, I just had a vague idea about the story of Romeo and Juliet, I have read some versions but when you read the real play as he wrote it, you actually realize how brilliant Shakespeare was and also, how complex his plays were.
ReplyDeleteThe story of Romeo and Juliet is about 2 persons struggling for the love they felt, they stayed strong and showed how big their love was, they did not even care about that legendary rivalry his ancestors have set, which made their love to be prohibited, and they stood together until the end.
What I like about this story is that it is not like the typical love story with a happy ending, it shows how difficult it can be to stand for the things you want, it shows that love nay be cruel and that sometimes, things would not turn out as we expect. Those aspects are present throughout the development of the whole story, in this case the ending is really tragic because they both kill themselves, so that is a paradox if we make a comparison with love.
On the other hand, analyzing this kind of plays is incredible tough because all the vocabulary; the English is pretty ancient so you read a single phrase and you have to look like for 10 words in the dictionary and also, because all of the expressions we don’t know and, some of them are really hard to find in a dictionary or the internet.
I enjoyed this exercise, it was quite demanding and the expression “star-crossed lovers” can be really useful in a future: D
I think that reading this kind of plays is so difficult because of the use of words in Old English and the use of lots of contractions that sometimes don’t allow the reader to understand the whole sense of the dialogues, and sometimes it is hard to get the meaning of the whole paragraph, so, it requires to read twice and even more than that.
ReplyDeleteAt the beginning I was lost; I didn’t understand what it was about. So, for that it took a lot of time. Another thing that confused me when reading this play was the interaction among different characters. At the end I didn’t know who were immersed in the conversation, and that didn’t allow me to get the real sense of the entire story.
Sincerely I prefer short stories, I really enjoyed Bill, Trifles, and the story Of a German student, but this one didn’t call my attention. It is maybe because of the plot, of the theme, and also because of the amount of characters. In a short story we just find three or four characters, while in a play the personae is not limited, so it can make the play boring.
Besides, both of them (plays and short stories)allow the reader to get into the story, so it is a good aspect of the two kind of writing, also that it allow the reader to foreshadow the end of the story.
Finally I would like to say that for me plays are not for reading, I think that they are just for being acted, so for this reason I prefer reading short stories.
By: Claudia Lorena Rincon
Comment of the play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
ReplyDeleteRomeo and Juliet is for me, one of the most beautiful and amazing Shakespeare’s works. Everybody who read this play felt in love and everybody would like to be “a Romeo”. What it happened in this play, sometimes happens nowadays, I mean that there are couples that are really in loved, and they can say that LOVE really exists, even though in this world there is lots of malevolence.
Equally, what the play transmits to us is something that we can experience currently because there are some persons who are really in love and their families oppose to them, they do not want that she or he pretends to have a relationship, probably because of different reasons according to them, sometimes it is because one of them comes from poor families or because they have had misunderstandings or any dispute in their lives.
Finally, today, most of the people do not think love exists; they say that nobody loves to nobody, and probably they are right because it is something that the Bible says: to the end of the last days, people would not have natural love; humans will be lovers of pleasures, money, lovers of themselves than lovers of GOD. However, Romeo and Juliet is not the biggest act of love, the biggest act of love ever showed was what God did for each one of us: to give his first-born son to die for us in order to our sins are forgiven, but all of us must wield faithfulness in such sacrifice.
ROMEO AND JULIET
ReplyDeleteBefore begining my comment about Romeo and Juliet, I would like to point out what Love means for me:Love is passion, Love is pain, Love is blind, Love is patience, Love is for worst and for better, Love is when you are down and your couple stays with you for getting your humor up,Love is when you are weak and your partner is there for giving you strength, Love is happiness and forever, Love is true and it does not look your position into the society, Love is merely Love.
For me, Romeo and Juliet is an attractive and amazing story that has made me reflect on how Love become interesting when a couple really wants to live each other, without caring is one of the partners is poor or rich, because the most important is the word Love that teaches the human being to value life and make sense our goals, therefore we sometimes think they are worthless by the fact of not having Love. But when we find Love, is like being born again.
Likewise, Romeo and Juliet is a charming and an appealing story that invites me keeping on believing inLove without shutting out the person who can make my life happy and meaningful while this unanimated body has vitality and my soul decides to leave this world. Also, it is no doubt that this is one of those fascinating story which makes revive the flowers of our garden whenLove waters and blooms them everlasting.
Yhoel Castillo Díaz
Romeo and Juliet is a romantic, dramatic and tragic playwright about a couple of teenage lovers who show us how real feelings can change people’s life. It is important to say that William Shakespeare had been one of the most famous dramatists of the history of the literature. Indeed, this play makes reminds me when I was in high school, and in every 23 April we celebrated the international language day, in which we read aloud poems and dramatize works of Shakespeare and Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra.
ReplyDeleteI think that Shakespeare aroused the romance of many generations. In fact, our parents recited his poems in order to declare their love to their puppy love. Unfortunately, we have lost the polite way to express romanticism to our platonic love. Besides the young people do not know the meaning of the phrase “I love you”. On the other hand, that play reminds me that it is awesome to fall in love and to have someone to share unforgettable moments with
Lastly, I consider that we should be more romantic as well as we were born to love and to feel that we are love Likewise, we used to make important decisions for following a person but as a consequence, we forget our friends and our family. For that reason, we should have a limit for our feelings and to think with our mind, not only with our heart. Also, we need to take into account that love is not perfect and we can meet wrong people who do not deserve our love; therefore, we should try to believe in love in spite of our blunders.
“For stony limits cannot hold love out,
And what love can do that dares love attempt…”
Romeo and Juliet is a characteristic work of a very recognized writer; Shakespeare who was, and still is, one of the most important writer in history. It is a story very remarkable for the way that the events happen and the manner how this story was written; in addition, the love that the main characters have and show during the entire story.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, when I watched television or sometimes when I heard about Romeo and Juliet, I thought it was a stupid story that someone wrote in order to earn money, obtain fame or was heartbroken and wanted to show his feelings of his broken heart. At the school, when I was a child, this story was taught as one work among others, that is to say, teacher taught me that Romeo and Juliet was a simple work like the other ones without importance and was not relevant.
What I really like is that Romeo and Juliet is not the same story that let us show a happy ending, it demonstrates how difficult can be in order to express your feelings to another one, you can find many difficulties; it illustrates how cruel or hard love may be. During our lives we can have the opportunity to say someone how we love her/him, however, this moment can be complex because sometimes we have no idea how to say “I love you” or “I want to be your husband”. In conclusion, love is not easy and we can find many trouble before showing our feelings and after that.
Romeo and Juliet an impossible love story written by William Shakespeare, consider the greatest dramatist due to his plays full of drama, romance, mystery and so on, it is well know that Shakespeare knew how to take the reader attention and with this love story he involves the reader in a mixture of feelings such as tragedy, love, hate and passion in each of the scenes that the reason why it is the most romantic story telling ever after.
ReplyDeleteMoreover, Romeo and Juliet should be the inspiration for other stories of hopeless love however the traditional story it is about a couple of lovers fighting against the world to make their love possible and at the end they achieve it, whereas in Shakespeare’s the lovers died at the end looking a solution for their love.
I’d like to point out that romanticism it is a good way to catch the reader attention and drama keeps him Reading and a genuine plot involves him into the story till he become one of the characters and that was what I felt when reading just a short extract of it; adding to that I must to say that despite the old English it is understandable.
Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
ReplyDeleteEven if it is an old Shakespeare’s tragedy, it will be everyday more valuable due to its quality in details being known as a lovely masterpiece, in that, it shows how literature can involve a great kind of feelings. In addition, this tragedy is a clear proof of Shakespeare’s talent, since he wrote each line with his whimsical inspiration, perhaps he knew that Romeo and Juliet will be one of the most important fortunes in literature and cultural inheritance.
Moreover, this masterpiece has the power to let us imagine and feel that we are in that century, since the British author shared with us the politics, the ideas and the thoughts which were relevant in that period, but what I really admire is that he did it with subtleness and in an implicit way. As a consequence, in each line we can perceive the sensibility of each one of the characters who had brave hearts, compromise and loyalty in each one of their behaviors and attitudes. It is clear that he was a really smart men, and this is why his lines make us think about love and unnecessary wars.
To sum up, Romeo and Juliet persuade as to believe and think about real and requited love, they invite us at least to try, to fight for what make us happy, for what we want as destiny. Sadly, in real live not all is an awesome dream full of passion and romanticism, this is why Shakespeare did not avoid the dark side of this society that change and evolve in such as insulting way. Fortunately, we can fight against injustices using as a weapon our love, love is the one and only weapon that can save us.
"ROMEO AND JULIET”
ReplyDeleteIn the first place, William Shakespeare shows us in his story of Romeo and Juliet a romantic play, where readers can see the love’s language or the way that we can use romanticism to express our love to another person. In addition, I think that each metaphor word used by Romeo and Juliet to communicate their love is strange; for instance, if someone says something to me like: “I am too bold, ‘tis not to me she speaks: two of the fairest stars in all the heaven, having some business, do entreat her eyes to twinkle in their spheres till they return.”, could be that I did not understand what he wanted to tell me.
Moreover, their love was passionate and platonic because of their thoughts; as well as, the exaggeration, modesty and emotion used by Romeo to express the Juliet’s beauty were excessive; furthermore, when Romeo described the physical aspect of Juliet in comparison with the moon; it was very extravagant and in my humble opinion all the scene was very honeyed.
For instance, comparing that period with our time I can say that people at that period are not worried about expressing feelings o making someone to fall in love with them, because it was around the love expressions, it could be because of they were influenced by the romanticism time. In exchange, actually people get to the point, people do not express with romanticism their feelings, it could be because of the technology or could be because of the work, fashion, etc.
In conclusion, to me the romanticism is more or less ridiculous, because words are words but the facts are more important, that is to say, before the way or the style used to win someone's heart or affections was fantastic because if you promised to do something you must kept it, for instance if I knew you but I do not remember you! (si te vi ni me acuerdo). The only thing that we must keep in mind is no matter the beauty, the nice words or money but the essence, the personality and the honesty displayed by our suitor, you do not believe in all what somebody tell you. Be patient!
ROMEO AND JULIET
ReplyDeleteWilliam Shakespeare
‘’LOVE’’, what a significant, subjective and confusing word.
Since we are going through our childhood times, we are taught to love others, and to be loved as well. Although, there is a relevant aspect our parents forgot to tell us about, and it is ‘’heartbreaking’’.
Now, What about Romeo and Juliet, was their love real? And was it real enough to overstepevery bounding around?
Well, I must say that this story is quite moving, and it makes us dreamand desire one similar for us, it enables to believe again, to trust and to think of a different world, in which real love does exist.
However, it becomes sad when we finish reading this magnificent piece, and our face get ‘’crashed’’ against reality, I could say it is a disappointing fact, because, if we see deep inside our society, we realize of a sudden, how unrealistic love is nowadays, not only because of ages change, but because of people distrust, nobody believes, faith is just a word some people use to draw different perspectives, even love in our families, respect and all those principles we were always hearing about in school, are disappearing, being exchanged for material and physical things.
I do not know the moment in which all these great human feelings switched and turned into a lie but, I can say, no matter how mean the world will keep going, my faith and love will never be disrupted, I will always love others, as it was once said: ‘’I cannot change the whole world but, I can do my best in the little place I am’’.
Carol Duque.
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