Reflect Analysis/#9
In Shakespear's play Romeo and Juliet, the structure of the world setting is in a clear order, which includes strong but trackable patterns and an obvious shape that makes the whole play a success.
Patterns in the play help audience understand the timeline of the story, and also serve to enhance the important clues of the play. The story about Romeo and Juliet takes place in a city called Verona, where there are two major families, the Montague and the Capulet, having an "ancient feud" that disturbs the peace of the society for a long time. The two major characters in the play, Romeo from Montague and Juliet from Capulet, are star-crossed lovers who fall in love with each other in one sight. The play starts with a fight between these two families in order to introduce the significant characters and to demonstrate that the existed conflict between the two families as well, which is a foreshadow showing that the love story taking place in the play can not have a happy ending. It is obvious that the first fighting part takes place at day time when it's hot outside. Looking through the whole play, we can see the two fighting parts both take place at day time, referring to the lines "Good morrow, cousin" (1.1.150) and "Is the day so young?" (1.1.151) which appear right after the first fighting part. Also, the two balcony scenes are at night, suggesting by Juliet's words "O, swear not by the moon, th' inconstant moon, that monthly changes in her circled orb, lest that thy love prove likewise variable" (2.2.108-110). The pattern of the play is basically following the rule of one fighting part in one Act, one balcony scene in another. Beginning with a fight in Act 1, Act 2 has the first balcony scene. Then there is another fighting part and loving part (balcony scene) in Act 3 and 4. Act 5 ends up with a fight between Romeo and Paris, and the two major characters killing themselves. Therefore, it makes sense that each Act has a climax with either a fighting part or a balcony scene. The reason why Shakespear puts the fighting parts and the loving parts at different time is related to the climate of the play. Verona is at summer time when Romeo meets Juliet. On one hand. it's usually very hot outside at daytime and is reasonable to think about people can easily lose their temper based on the unbearable temperature, and thus these two bloody sections happen at daytime with hot weather. On the other hand, night is much cooler in summer and is more quiet and secret as well which provides more space for the star-crossed lovers to express their love for each other. That's why both balcony scenes take place at night.
Along with the patterns seen in the play, the images also differ from one another depending on which Act they are in. Images are different because of the time. At daytime it is more public, for there are more people gathering in a place, whereas there are fewer characters showing up at night. Shakespear draws the images for Romeo and Juliet staying together at night to indicate that their love is secret and romantic. It is clear that different patterns include different time and climate, and images are also drawn depending on the patterns. It is wise to follow the climax of each Act to form different images for different scenes. For example, the image of Act 1 is chaotic and kind of bloody. After a big fight taking place on the street in Verona, Romeo attends the party holding by the Capulets without their invitation. When he sees Juliet at the first time he is completely attracted by her, although the party is full of young ladies and servants. And Romeo can hardly approach Juliet. Moving to Act 2, the image is more peaceful and quiet. And there are also fewer people appearing in the Act. So Romeo has the chance to get closer to Juliet. A special image which is different from those in 4 Acts is drawn in the last Act, where both Romeo and Juliet die and citizens wake up in chaos to gather together. This image helps find a solution to end the "ancient feud" between two families and further illustrates that love is not a solution to the conflict but the death. This is how Shakespear sets up the world of the play and gives audience clues to help understand the meaning of the story.
Patterns in the play help audience understand the timeline of the story, and also serve to enhance the important clues of the play. The story about Romeo and Juliet takes place in a city called Verona, where there are two major families, the Montague and the Capulet, having an "ancient feud" that disturbs the peace of the society for a long time. The two major characters in the play, Romeo from Montague and Juliet from Capulet, are star-crossed lovers who fall in love with each other in one sight. The play starts with a fight between these two families in order to introduce the significant characters and to demonstrate that the existed conflict between the two families as well, which is a foreshadow showing that the love story taking place in the play can not have a happy ending. It is obvious that the first fighting part takes place at day time when it's hot outside. Looking through the whole play, we can see the two fighting parts both take place at day time, referring to the lines "Good morrow, cousin" (1.1.150) and "Is the day so young?" (1.1.151) which appear right after the first fighting part. Also, the two balcony scenes are at night, suggesting by Juliet's words "O, swear not by the moon, th' inconstant moon, that monthly changes in her circled orb, lest that thy love prove likewise variable" (2.2.108-110). The pattern of the play is basically following the rule of one fighting part in one Act, one balcony scene in another. Beginning with a fight in Act 1, Act 2 has the first balcony scene. Then there is another fighting part and loving part (balcony scene) in Act 3 and 4. Act 5 ends up with a fight between Romeo and Paris, and the two major characters killing themselves. Therefore, it makes sense that each Act has a climax with either a fighting part or a balcony scene. The reason why Shakespear puts the fighting parts and the loving parts at different time is related to the climate of the play. Verona is at summer time when Romeo meets Juliet. On one hand. it's usually very hot outside at daytime and is reasonable to think about people can easily lose their temper based on the unbearable temperature, and thus these two bloody sections happen at daytime with hot weather. On the other hand, night is much cooler in summer and is more quiet and secret as well which provides more space for the star-crossed lovers to express their love for each other. That's why both balcony scenes take place at night.
Along with the patterns seen in the play, the images also differ from one another depending on which Act they are in. Images are different because of the time. At daytime it is more public, for there are more people gathering in a place, whereas there are fewer characters showing up at night. Shakespear draws the images for Romeo and Juliet staying together at night to indicate that their love is secret and romantic. It is clear that different patterns include different time and climate, and images are also drawn depending on the patterns. It is wise to follow the climax of each Act to form different images for different scenes. For example, the image of Act 1 is chaotic and kind of bloody. After a big fight taking place on the street in Verona, Romeo attends the party holding by the Capulets without their invitation. When he sees Juliet at the first time he is completely attracted by her, although the party is full of young ladies and servants. And Romeo can hardly approach Juliet. Moving to Act 2, the image is more peaceful and quiet. And there are also fewer people appearing in the Act. So Romeo has the chance to get closer to Juliet. A special image which is different from those in 4 Acts is drawn in the last Act, where both Romeo and Juliet die and citizens wake up in chaos to gather together. This image helps find a solution to end the "ancient feud" between two families and further illustrates that love is not a solution to the conflict but the death. This is how Shakespear sets up the world of the play and gives audience clues to help understand the meaning of the story.
Comments
Post a Comment