Riassunto inglese Romeo & Juliet, Sintesi del corso di Letteratura Inglese

Scarica Riassunto inglese Romeo & Juliet e più Sintesi del corso in PDF di Letteratura Inglese solo su Docsity! Romeo&Juliet The chorus is a fourteen lines sonnet (three quatrains which are four-line stanzas and a final rhyming couplet in iambic parameters) performed by one man. "Two household" give an idea if division. Contrast between "ancient" and "young". Repetition "civil blood makes civil hands unclean". "Fatal loins" is an oxymoron. "Loins" --> lombi: it means genealogical lines and physical loins: loins is associated both with sexuality and birth. "From forth the fatal loins of these two foes" is an alliteration which create a connection among important words. "From forth the fatal loins of these two foes / A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life" it's a paradox. "The two hours traffic" it regards the duration of the tragedy. We can see the contrast between two forces: Eros and Thanatos. Act I Scena I Line 7: first mention of the word Montague by Sampson Line 39: Gregory is trying to find a pretext to fight "I will frown as I pass by and let them take it as they list. Line 56: "Well sir" by Sampson: the fight is beginning Line 63: "Part fools! Put up your sword. You know not what you do" Benvolio is trying to stop them and he reminds Jesus Christ on the crux. Line 80: Enter the Prince Escalus: he is a figure of order Line 137: we have a joke by sir Montague "away from light": Romeo makes an artificial night. Light could refer to: luce, leggero. There's a Petrarchan situation of a young man who is in love. Line 160: it means the phoneme I or eye or the exclamation --> "Ay" Line 168: Romeo: "Out of her favor where I am in love" he is playing with language Lines 171-183: Romeo: his it's not love, it's a convention, a formality. He is playing with Petrarchan conventions. There's no sincerity in this love. "loving hate" and "heavy lightness" are oxymorons Line 193: (Romeo) Shakespeare is using forms of the Petrarchan love "A madness most discreet" Line 198: the first time we see the word "love" (Benvolio) Lines 218-224: Romeo is joking Line 224: "I live dead" it's a big contraposition, a paradox. Scena II Lines 1-3: sir Capulet: sometimes he speak as a father such as in Petrarchan style, sometimes he seems to escape his role. Lines 7-11: sir Capulet: "she hath not seen the change of fourteen years" she is 13 years old, too young to marry Line 16: sir Capulet give Paris the permission of woo (corteggiare) her. Line 18: Juliet must marry the man she love so he said Paris to win her love Lines 30-31: sir Capulet is giving Paris the same advice Benvolio gave to Romeo ("Examine other beauties"): "Hear all; all see; and like her most whose merit most shall be" Lines 49-50: "eye" and "die" at the end of each verse Line 57: everything is going to start here "God gi' good-e'en I pray sir, can you read?" (servant) Between lines 64-70: Rosaline --> finally the girl has a name Line 87: Petrarchan religious reference "When the devout religion of mine eye/maintains such falsehood, then turn tears to fires" (Romeo) Line 91-92: Petrarchan exaggerate "The all-seeing sun/ne'er saw her match since first the world begun" (Romeo) Line 99: Romeo is going to the party Scena III Lines 12-15: (Nurse) time calculated by years Line 35: "Ay" is an anticipation of 'Ay' in line 52 Lines 51-58: The nurse repeat the joke of lines 17-49 Lines 89-95: (lady Capulet) Paris is like a book and Juliet could be his cover (metaphor) Line 99: "I endart mine eye" like an harrow of love (Juliet) Scena IV Lines 14-16: (Romeo) "I have a soul of lead" soul --> sword Line 17: Mercutio romanticize the situation Line 30: "I" two meanings: "aye" and "eye" which we found in the following line (Mercutio) Lines 35-39: Romeo is playing with language again Line 49: (Romeo) "I dreamt a dream tonight" it's the first time Romeo is actually serious. We have the theme of the dream (common in Midsummer night's dream") --> we dream what we are predisposed to dream Lines 54-95: (Mercutio) Shakespeare invented a tiny fairy and this could be considerate as the origin of the modern fairy. He is going to talk about dream, how we dream and what we dream of. This speech is completely different from the others in the play, probably because he wrote it the same period he wrote "Midsummer night's dream". It's a mad speech. Line 97: the word "nothing": we found it a lot of time because Shakespeare was fascinated with it (Romeo) Line 98: "fantasy" --> imagination (Mercutio) Line 108: (Romeo) astral influence upon human destiny Lines 107-113: (Romeo) He has a premonition and introduce the word "death". "He" is God: providential view. Scena V Line 25: sir Capulet "Tis gone 'tis gone 'tis gone!" reinforce the idea of time passing (obsession with time) Lines 30-34: (sir Capulet) something similar to the calculate of Juliet age by the nurse Lines 39-41: numerical time Line 42: Romeo sees Juliet and falls in love with her immediately (emotional time) Line 44: (Romeo) she is so luminous "She doth teach the torches to burn bright!" Lines 44-53: (Romeo) Juliet is like "a snowy dove trooping with crows" emerge love and hate: he admits that Rosaline love doesn't really existed Line 73: (sir Capulet) he is angry for Tybalt's behaviour Line 92: (Tybalt) "Now seeming sweet, convert to bitterest gall" and he will. Lines 93-106: Romeo approach Juliet. Their words construct a sonnet which end with a kiss. Romeo start with religious images and Juliet continues his joke in her speech ("lips as pilgrims") Line 107: Juliet is more concrete then Romeo and interrupts him "Then have my lips the sin that they have took" Line 120: (Romeo) he realizes what he have done. the paradox emerge: "My life is my foe's debt" Line 134: (Juliet) "name" it all depends on the names Line 135: (Juliet) "grave [...] wedding" opposition. Lines 138-141: (Juliet) "love [...] hate" and "early [...] late" Act II (it's a lovers duet) Line 1: (Chorus - it's a perfect sonnet) "New old desire doth in his deathbed lie": Romeo's affection for Rosaline Scena I Lines 1-10: Romeo wants to sleep with her Line 16: "eyes" mean stars Line 24: "glove" --> Shakespeare was the son of a glover Lines 16-25: Romeo use high poetry in order to express genuine feelings Line 28: "bright angel" religious image Lines 33-34: (Juliet) "Romeo" has two references: the young man Romeo and Romeo the Montague. "name": they are separated by the fact that they have different names Lines 38-41: (Juliet) you are what you are not how you're named Line 43: (Juliet) "rose" a cultural context made the rose a 'rose' (we need names because we live in a world of languages to identify each other) Lines 71/75/81/90: (Romeo) "eye" of Juliet; "eyes" of others; "eye" of Romeo; (Juliet) "Ay" means yes. Lines 105-106: (Juliet) "light love" - "dark night" Line 109: Juliet always stop Romeo she's Diana wit: we have the first reference to Greek mythology. Diana is associated with moon, virginity and hunt, she's a woman who refuse to surround her chastity. But Romeo is not being completely sincere: he's not in love with Rosaline, he is in love with love. We know that when people are in love they don't want to eat, they experience a lack of appetite, whereas Romeo when he sees Benvolio asks him when they are going to eat. Trivial oxymora shows that Romeo is playing with language. Romeo has the Petrarchan syndrome: the melancholy young man in love with somebody. On another street of Verona, Capulet walks with Paris, a noble kinsman of the prince. Paris wants to merry Juliet but Capulet states that is better to wait another two years because Juliet is not even fourteen. Capulet is a very tolerant father: he says that he trusts his daughter and that the girl will choose her own husband. He assures Paris that he favors him as a suitor and invites him to the traditional masquerade party he's holding that night. Capulet's servant walks around town trying to invite a list of people to Capulet's feast. A the trouble is that he can't read so he stops Benvolio and Romeo and asks them for help. Romeo sees Rosaline name on the list and Benvolio suggest him to go to the party to compare Rosaline to other girls and see how his swan become a crow. Romeo agrees but just to see Rosaline. So he gets to go to the party because he's a very literate person. The moment in which Romeo meets the servant is pure chance, but there is a logic in it. Everybody are going to the party to look at each other, it's all about eyes. Then we have the first reference to Juliet: she is called by his mother. Lady Capulet, Juliet and the nurse discuss the fact that Paris wants to merry Juliet and lady Capulet asks her daughter what does she think. Juliet replies that she has never thought about marriage but she (a very docile and obedient daughter) promises to her mother to look upon Paris during the party to see if she can love him. From this scene we understand that the nurse has a particular way to see life and sexuality: the nurse see Juliet as a potential object to sexuality while lady Capulet doesn't like this conversation and she sees marriage as a big ceremony. Juliet says she would not aloud herself to get involved more than her mother wants to. Romeo, Benvolio and their friend Mercutio are going to the Capulet's party. Romeo states that he will not dance because he's lovesick and that it would be better not to go to at all because he had a dream, a kind of premonition. Mercutio begins to mock Romeo transforming all of Romeo's statement about love into sexual metaphors. Mercutio responds with a long speech about Queen Mab of the fairies who supposedly brings dreams to sleeping humans. Shakespeare invented the term "fairy" and also put them in "Antonio and Cleopatra" (Antonio sees Cleopatra as a great fairy). The man point of Mercutio speech is that the dreams Queen Mad bring are related to the person who dreams them -lovers dream of love, soldiers of war. So we dream what we're predisposed to dream. At the end of this scene, Romeo feels that something bad is going to happen so Shakespeare introduce the theme of the influence of the stars upon human destiny. Astrological theme. In the V scene Romeo sees Juliet and she asks a serving man who she is. He answered that he doesn't know and Romeo is transfixed. Meanwhile Tybalt recognizes Romeo's voice. Capulet overhears him and tells him off because he knows that Romeo is a good boy, well regarded in Verona, so he doesn't want Tybalt to ruin the feast. This scene show us how Shakespeare is obsessed with time. Also in the earlier scene, lady Capulet tries to calculate Juliet's age. Now there is something similar: Capulet tries to calculate how long it was since he wore a mask. In another part of the room Romeo sees Juliet and he falls in love immediately. He realize that he never fell in love before so approaches her. Romeo sees Juliet as a source of illumination, she's bright in the dark, he compares her to a jewel in an Ethiopian's ear. He describes Juliet by comparisons. She is like a snowy dove in a pack of crows. So we always have the opposition between black and white, dark and light. So, Romeo approaches Juliet and their dialogue is based on religious metaphors. It is also a sonnet (we also have a Petrarchan convention: be in love with your enemy): Romeo calls Juliet "holy shrine" and compares himself to a pilgrim. Juliet is a saint and Romeo a pilgrim that wants to erase his sin: he tries to convince her to kiss him, since it's only through her kiss that he might be absolved. Also Romeo kiss Juliet and she takes the sin from him. Juliet then makes the logic leap that if she has taken Romeo's sin from him, his must now reside in her lips and so they must kiss again. Just as their second kiss ends, the nurse arrives and tells Juliet that her mother wants to speak with her. Romeo asks the nurse who Juliet's mother is. The nurse reply that lady Capulet is her mother. Romeo is devastated. He says he owes his life to an enemy. Juliet is just as struck with the mysterious man she has kissed her. She comments to herself that if he's already married, she feels she will die. In order to find out Romeo's identity without raising any suspicious, she asks the nurse to identify a series of young men. The nurse goes off and returns with the news that the man's Romeo and he's a Montague. Act II, prologue: The chorus delivers another short sonnet describing the new love between Romeo and Juliet: the hatred between the lover's families makes it difficult for them to find the time or place to meet at let their passion grow, but the prospect of their love gives each other the power and determination to elude the obstacles placed in their path. Act II, scene I: Having left the fest Romeo decide he cannot go home, he has to find Juliet so he climbs a wall bordering the Capulet property and leaps down into the Capulet orchard. Benvolio and Mercutio enter, calling out for Romeo. Mercutio mocks Romeo's feeling for Rosaline in an obscene speech. Mercutio and Benvolio exit under the assumption that Romeo doesn't want to be found. Romeo hears Mercutio's teasing and he says to himself " He jests at scars that never felt and wound. Juliet suddenly appears at the window above the spot where Romeo is standing. He compares her to the morning sun, furthermore beautiful then the moon it banished. Juliet musing to herself and unaware that Romeo is in the garden, ask herself why Romeo must be Romeo, a Montague and therefore an enemy to her family. Romeo responds to Juliet surprising her and she wonders how he found her and he tells her that that love led him to her. Juliet worries that Romeo will be murdered if he's found in the garden but Romeo refuses to budge claiming that Juliet's love would make him immune to his enemies. Juliet confesses she is in love with Romeo but she fears he will prove inconstant or false love. Romeo begins to swear to the moon that he loves her but she stops him because the moon represents mutability. Juliet is very rational, whereas Romeo is always so enthusiastic and sentimental. The nurse calls for Juliet and she goes inside for a moment. When she reappears she tells Romeo that she will send someone to him the next day to see if his love is honorable and if he intends to wed her. The Nurse calls again and Juliet withdraws. She appears at the window once more to set a time when her emissary should call on him: they settle on nine in the morning. Juliet goes back inside her chamber and Romeo departs in search of a monk to help him in this cause. The so-called balcony-scene is a crucial scene. Here language becomes one of the most important theme of the play. The two lovers questions the power of language. A major theme in Romeo and Juliet is the tension between social and families identity (represented by one's name) and one's inner identity, the distinction between private and public self: I occupy two domains. Juliet believes that names are a convention: love is generated from our own inner identity, so names are just words, they're pretentious. What you are and what you are called are two different things. Romeo is anagraphical Romeo Montague and also culturally Romeo Mantague, but he's also the person Juliet loves. We're in a world of language, we need names. At this point we have a paradox: Juliet needs Romeo's name in order to say: "Oh Romeo, Romeo, where fere art thou Romeo?" She says that if Romeo were not called Romeo or Montague he would still be the person she loves. And she gives an example: if we took away the denotative meaning from the word "rose", that flower would always smell like a rose. So names don't define us. But unfortunately the attempt to eliminate identity is impossible and self conflicting. Different aspect of the identity: we are not only what we are but also what the society made us. At this point the play begins to move into the direction of a tragedy: actually it seems to be a comedy because the lovers seems to come together, until the Third Act. We need language but at the same time language destroys us: a word can mangle (distruggere) us and can be mangle at the same time. So, society is defined by names: it is a play about names and identities. We are the point that Romeo is going to be punished. Shakespeare introduce a catholic concept: the purgatory (that we don't find in the Anglican Church. A name can murder like a bullet: a name is more powerful than a hand itself. In Act III, scene IV Capulet force Juliet to marry Paris and we start looking at the time in a calendar succession (days of the week) and this conception of the time regulate Capulet's process. Act III, scene V We now move to the garden scene, and we saw a change in time feelings: night and day are associated to birds while Juliet is trying to stop time and have a bad premonition. It's a prophetic irony: Romeo will die because of a poison (dry sorrow drinks our blood). After this scene we have a confrontation between Capulet and his daughter typical of the new comedy: old generation against the young one with angry: we have a patriarchal mentality. (Lady Capulet: I would the fool were married to her grave). Act IV Juliet become brave and courageous: she meet Friar Laurence and he give her a potion that will pretend her to be death so she could then escape with his lover. This symbolic death and resurrection is a theme that often Shakespeare uses in his plays as in Winter's Tale. With Shakespeare we are always near to comedy because at this point it seems everything is going to be fine at the end, there is a real possibility that thing going up well, but they will not. Also we know from the prologue that the lovers will die (and it is anticipated from the knife that she hold with herself which represents how she she is going to die), Before drinking the potion Juliet makes a toast to Romeo and Romeo will do the same after. At Act V, scene I Shakespeare reminds us about the letter that Romeo might have had received from friar Laurence, but this letter will never arrive and time will kill the lovers: people live in a world of letters that means also words and sometimes these will kill us. Act V, scene III there is still a symmetry of light and darkness in Juliet tomb, Romeo toast to Juliet to Die: time become physical and destroy such as words. After this scene Juliet wake up, see Romeo death and kill herself with his dagger: so Juliet dies by a Montague's dagger. With their death the two lovers reach eternity, immortality because their words are a work of art. They achieve immortality because their love is described by art. The way they died gives them eternity. We have a paradox: a conflict between art and life (it reminds us the Ode on a Grecian Urn which give this idea of art dependent on life. How to escape time will be one of Shakespeare's main theme in sonnets and plays. Shakespeare continually works on his plays because their are conceived not to be red but to be played on stage. And this is the reason why his plays are so fluent and malleable. Themes The Forcefulness of Love: love is the play's dominant and most important theme. The play focuses on the romantic love, specifically the intense passion that springs up at the first sight. In Romeo and Juliet love is even more powerful than other values, loyalties and emotions. Shakespeare is not interested in portraying that prettied-up love, the kind of love Romeo read while in love with Rosaline, but he wants to talk about the brutal, powerful emotion that captures individuals and catapults them against their world. Love is describe also in different ways: at the terms of religion, as it was a sort of magic and then even refusing to describe it. That's because love resists any metaphor and it's too powerful to be so easily contained or understood. Romeo and Juliet portrays the chaos and passion of being in love combining images of love, violence, death, religion and family in an impressionistic rich leading to the play's tragic conclusion. Death and Violence: this theme permeate Romeo&Juliet and it's always connected with passion. But the passionate love is linked, from the moment of its inception, with death. Tybalt noticed Romeo at the feast and wanted to kill him just as Romeo caught sight of Juliet and felt instantly in love with her. And then: Romeo and Juliet have many thoughts of suicide; Romeo brandishes a knife in friar Laurence cell and wanted to kill himself after he has been banished from Verona; Juliet also pulled a knife in order to take her own life in front of friar Laurence three scenes later. This continues since the inevitable end: a double suicide. This tragic choice is the most potent expression of love that they could make. Only through death they can preserve their love. The Individual Against the Society Public and social institution explicitly or implicitly are obstacles for Romeo&Juliet's love. The enmity between their families, coupled with the emphasis on loyalty and honor, create a profound conflict for Romeo&Juliet who must rebel against their heritages. The patriarchal structure power structure inherent in Renaissance falsifies, wherein the father controls the action of all other family members places Juliet in an extremely vulnerable position. Moreover, law and religion require terms of conduct that Romeo and Juliet cannot respect because of the intensity of their love. Though in most situation the two lovers uphold the tradition of Christianity (they wait to marry before consummating their love), they begin to think of each other in blasphemous terms (Juliet calls Romeo "the God of my idolatry" elevating Romeo to level of God) and the final act of suicide is definitely un-Christian. So it is possible to see Romeo&Juliet as a battle between responsibilities and actions demanded by social institutions and those demanded by private desires of the private desires of the individual. Romeo and Juliet's appreciation of the night, with its darkness and privacy and their renunciation of their names with its loss of obligation, make sense in the context of