“ a story that goes beyond death” ROMEO & JULIET by William Shakespeare “ a story that goes beyond death”

Shakespeare’s sources The Most Excellent and Lamentable Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet was written by William Shakespeare in the period between 1594 and 1596.  Its plot is based on an Italian tale, translated into verse as  The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet by Arthur Brooke in 1562. Shakespeare borrowed from Brooke’s tale but he stylistically transformed and enriched the plot in a more intense way with the vivid characterizations of the minor characters, including Benvolio, Romeo's cousin and close to the Prince, in the functions of a witness of the tragedy, the nurse (just mentioned by Brooke), which represents a time of comic lightness, and finally Mercutio, Shakespearean creature of extraordinary potential dramatic figure, who embodies the love of Dionysus and sees the woman only in its most material immediately.

Settings The story is set in the late 1500’s mostly in the town of Verona, Italy. However, when Romeo is banished from the city, not many actions are located in Mantua, a smaller town just a few miles away. Juliet's home in Verona according to the legend

The plot Act I : the meeting It starts with the dialogues about the conception of love between Romeo and his friends Mercutio and Benvolio and ends with the first meeting of Romeo and Juliet at the masked ball in Capulets’ home.

Act II: the secret wedding It turns around the relationship between lovers; Romeo climbs over the Capulet’s garden wall, hides in the garden below Juliet’s window and starts a dialogue with Juliet about love and their feelings. It ends with the secret wedding of the young lovers celebrated by Friar Laurence who is a defender of their love.

Act III: Romeo’s exile It’s full of action and movements; hate between the two families increases: Mercutio, Romeo’s friend, is killed by Tybalt, Juliet’s cousin. Romeo loses the control and during the clash he kills Tybalt. The prince of Verona decides to banish Romeo from the city. It ends with Romeo and Juliet’s wedding night.

Act IV: the potion Juliet decides to take a special potion made by Friar Laurence to avoid his coming marriage to Count Paris. This potion makes her apparently dead. Romeo discovers that Juliet is dead and quickly he comes back from Mantua to Verona.

Act V: death of the lovers Romeo buys a fast-acting poison from an apothecary and travels to Juliet’s tomb; he wants to die beside her. Paris is also at the Capulets’ crypt. He and Romeo fight, and Paris is killed. Romeo drinks the poison. Juliet awakens and stabs herself to death with Romeo’s dagger. The Capulets and the Montague break off their ancient hate and from now a long period of peace will reign over Verona. “Romeo & Juliet, animated tales” video

A tragicomedy Romeo and Juliet begins as a comedy but ends as a tragedy Elements of comedy: Love Masked ball ( a moment of entertainment ) Reconciliation between the enemy families after the death of the young spouses Elements of tragedy: Costant fight of the lovers against the forces which make difficult and forbidden their relationship Tragic role of the fate: the suicide of Romeo and Juliet

An element of comedy: reconciliation

Main characters Main characters

Romeo The son of Lord Montague and Lady Montague. A young man of about sixteen, Romeo is handsome, intelligent, sensitive, gentle, romantic. Impulsive and immature, his idealism and passion make him an extremely likable character and bring him to death. He lives in the middle of a violent feud but he is not at all interested in violence. His only interest is in love, in Juliet.

Juliet The daughter of Lord Capulet and Lady Capulet. A beautiful thirteen-year-old girl, she’s modern and passionate. She is a girl in an aristocratic family so she hasn’t the freedom to decide who she has to marry. She shows amazing courage in loving Romeo the son of her family’s great enemy.

Friar Lawrence A Franciscan friar, friend to both Romeo and Juliet. Kind, civic-minded and always ready with a plan: he secretly marries the two lovers in hopes that the union might eventually bring peace to Verona. As well as being a Catholic holy man, Friar Lawrence is also an expert in the use of mystical potions and herbs.

Nurse The nurse is Juliet’s friend and nursemaid. She looks after Juliet, as was usually the custom in royal families of the time period. The nurse also helps Juliet and Romeo meet with each other. She always does what she thinks is best for Juliet.

Themes Lack of knowledge Reflection about language made by Juliet which derives from bad communication( the absence of a rapid and effective vehicle of communication between all the characters ) Reflection about language made by Juliet She’s a real woman with no characterisation or idealisation; she overpasses the idea of courtlry woman: she uses a direct and modern language and believes in an unconventional love

Love Romeo and Juliet is certainly the most archetypal love story in the English language, it portrays only a very specific type of love: young, irrational, passionate But it is also chaotic and destructive, bringing death to friends, family, and to themselves. Romeo and Juliet’s youthful lust is one of many reasons why their relationship grows so intense so quickly; so their love is connected with death and violence, and finds it's greatest expression in their suicide.

The inevitability of fate “A pair of star-cross’d lovers take their life” Prologue The Chorus in the prologue, say that Romeo and Juliet are “star-crossed”—that is to say that fate (a natural power that derives from the movements of the stars) controls them. This sense of fate permeates the play. The characters also are quite aware of it: Romeo and Juliet constantly see predictions. When Romeo believes that Juliet is dead, he cries and said “Then I defy you, stars,” (act V) completing the idea that the love between Romeo and Juliet is in opposition to an adverse destiny. Romeo is into the hands of fate, his challenge is a losing battle but his determination to spend eternity with Juliet results in their deaths. 

realized by: Chiara Tavarozzi – Controller Francesca Di Maria – Task oriented Aldo De Curtis – Narrator Nicola D’Ambra – Group Oriented Maria Rosaria Licursi - Speaker

Sources & Bibliography http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romeo_and_Juliet Sparksnote.com Performer - culture&literature - M.Spiazzi, M.Tavella, M.Layton