Scarica RIASSUNTO ROMEO AND JULIET e più Temi in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! ROMEO AND JULIET PLOT Set in Verona, Romeo, a Montague, is infatuated by a girl called Rosaline, a Capulet. He goes to a fancy dress party organised by Lord Capulet to see her. Once there, however, he sees and instantly falls in love with Juliet, also a Capulet, completely forgetting Rosaline. Romeo and Juliet's families are bitter enemies and although they both realise everything is against them they declare their love for each other and their desire to get married. The following afternoon they are married secretly by Friar Laurence. However, before their wedding night Romeo kills Juliet's cousin in a duel, and in the morning he is forced to leave her. Friar Laurence tells Romeo to wait in Mantua until things calm down. If he ever returns to the city, he will be put to death. Juliet is then told she must marry Paris, who has been chosen by her parents, who do not know she is already married. She refuses - then agrees because she plans to fake her death and escape to be with Romeo, helped by Friar Laurence. She takes a sleeping potion and appears to be dead thus escaping marriage to Paris. Her parents lay her in a tomb. The Friar writes to Romeo to tell him of the plan but the letter never arrives. Romeo only hears the official news from his servant that Juliet is dead so he rushes back to Verona and to the Capulet vault. He finds her 'dead', and kills himself. Juliet finally wakes up, finds Romeo dead, and then kills herself. The tragic story is then revealed to the two families by Friar Laurence and they begin to understand how their hatred has ruined so many young people's lives. They finally agree to bring their feud to 'a glooming peace .. .' (' ... una lugubre pace'). THEMES The themes: love and hate Romeo and ]uliet is famous as a play about love and the possible tragic consequences of its youthful passion. But this is not the only aspect of love we can find in the play. Through the different characters Shakespeare explores the many different love relationships which exist: • infatuation - which Romeo has at the beginning of the play for Rosaline; • paternal love - how Juliet's father's good intentions aim at convincing her to marry Paris; • love in friendship - Mercutio's love for his friend Romeo, for which he will pay with his life; • a pure love - Romeo and Juliet's love, which in the end triumphs over hate. All these different forms of love, however, exist against a background of feudal hate which will have tragic consequences for all these relationships. It is this love/hate relationship which gives Shakespeare a depth and reality which previous writers had often overlooked. Shakespeare saw how nobody is completely pure or completely evil. The fate of Romeo and Juliet has to be seen as the complex consequence of everything going on around them which is beyond their control. It is true that they acted quickly, secretly and against the will of their parents but it was because their parents were caught up in a web of hate that they did so. It is this hate which kills them and not their love. The play, however, does not end with their deaths but with the consequences their deaths have on those around them.
