I can never forget my first day at school
Submitted by Wimal Ariyasena (BBU/EEC/2010-2011/P/50)
I can never forget my first day at school. I came to school early in the morning with my parents. Then, we met the principal and registered my name .After that, we went to meet my class teacher and worshiped her. She was a kind- hearted teacher. I was very afraid of going to my class room. There were many children in the class. Some were crying and some were chatting with others. After some time, the teacher came to the class room and all parents left. It was the first time of my life without my parents. I was alone and began to cry. At that time, one boy came to me and gave me a piece of cake. I stopped crying and began to play with him. Our teacher taught us how to write “ayanna” methodically. After that, the teacher gave us some time for playing. Finally, we had our lunch and got ready to go home. My father had come to pick me up. I came home and told my parents all the incidents, which I had faced at school.
D.N. Aloysius
Rajarata University of Sri Lanka
30.01.2011
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Sunday, January 23, 2011
External Degrees-2011 GAQ -Bhiksu University-Anuradhapura
The Lumber Room
Text Analysis
By H.Munro
The text under analysis is written by an outstanding British novelist and short story writer Hector Munro. Hector Hugh Munro (December 18, 1870 – November 13, 1916), better known by the pen name Saki, was a British writer, whose witty and sometimes macabre stories satirized Edwardian society and culture. He is considered a master of the short story and is often compared to O. Henry and Dorothy Parker. His tales feature delicately drawn characters and finely judged narratives. Saki's world contrasts the effete conventions and hypocrisies of Edwardian England with the ruthless but straightforward life-and-death struggles of nature. Nature generally wins in the end.
Owing to the death of his mother and his father's absence abroad he was brought up during his childhood, with his elder brother and sister, by a grandmother and two aunts. It seems probable that their stem and unsympathetic methods account for Munro’s strong dislike of anything that smacks of the conventional and the self-righteous. He satirized things that he hated. Munro was killed on the French front during the first world war.
In her Biography of Saki Munro’s sister writes: “One of Munro’s aunts, Augusta, was a woman of ungovernable temper, of fierce likes and dislikes, imperious, a moral coward, possessing no brains worth speaking of, and a primitive disposition.” Naturally the last person who should have been in charge of children. The character of the aunt in The Lumber-Room is Aunt Augusta to the life.
The story tells about a little orphan Nicholas who was trusted to his tyrannical and dull-witted aunt. One day Nicholas was “in disgrace”, so he duped his Aunt into believing that he was somehow trying to get into the gooseberry garden, but instead had no intention of doing so but did sneak into the Lumber Room. There a tremendous picture of a hunter and a stag opened to him. Soon his aunt tried to look for the boy and slipped into the rain-water tank. She asked Nicholas to fetch her a ladder but the boy pretended not to understand her, he said that she was the Evil One.
The story presents extremely topical subjects. Actually, the whole novel can be divided into two parts: Child’s world and Adult’s world. The author seems to be suggesting that adulthood causes one to lose all sense of fun, imagination. Adults become obsessed with insignificant trivialities, like the Aunt which is obsessed about punishing and nitpicking on the children. Children in Munro’s stories are very imaginative. Nicholas imagines the whole story behind the tapestry while the Aunt comes out with boring stories and ideas like a circus or going to the beach. She tries to convince Nicholas about the fun of a trip to the beach, of circus, but lacks the imagination to sound convincing. She describes the beach outing as beautiful and glorious but cannot say in detail how it will be beautiful or glorious because she is not creative. As for the Lumber room, it is symbolic of fun and imagination of the child’s world which is definitely lacking in the adult world. It emphasizes the destruction of life that adulthood and pride can bring. The Aunt’s world is full of warped priorities. She puts punishment and withholding of enjoyment as more important than getting to know and molding the lives of the children. She keeps all the beautiful and creative things of the house locked away in a lumber-room so as not to spoil them but in doing so, the purpose of the objects which is to beauty the house, is lost, leaving the house dull and colourless.
The excerpt is homogeneous. The story is narrated in the 3rd person. This allows the reader to access the situation and the characters in an unbiased and objective manner. This is especially so because the characters are complex, having both positive and negative viewpoints. The third person point of view is impersonal which fits the impersonal atmosphere of the household.
The text can be divided into several parts:
• The exposition, in which we learn about little Nicholas, his cousins and his strict aunt. Nicholas got into his aunt’s disgrace. So his cousins were to be taken to Jagborough sands that afternoon and he was to stay at home. The Aunt was absolutely sure that the boy was determined to get into the gooseberry garden because I have told him he is not to.
• The complication, when Nicholas got into an unknown land of lumber-room. Forbidden fruit is sweet and truly the lumber-room is described as a storehouse of unimagined treasure. Every single item brings life and imagination to Nicholas and is symbolic of what the adult of real world lacks. He often pictured to himself what the lumber-room was like, since that was the region that was so carefully sealed from youthful eyes. The tapestry brings to life imagination and fantasy within Nicholas, the interesting pots and candlesticks bring an aesthetic quality, visual beauty which stirs up his creative mind; and lastly a large square book full of coloured pictures of birds. And such birds! They allow Nicholas to learn in a fun and exciting way.
• The climax of the text. While the boy was admiring the colouring of a mandarin duck, the voice of his aunt came from the gooseberry garden. She got slipped into the rain-water tank and couldn’t go out. She demanded from the boy to bring her a ladder, but he said her voice didn’t sound like his aunt’s. You may be the Evil One tempting me to be disobedient. Justice must be done. The Aunt tasted the fruit of her own punishment on the children. She is accused of falling from grace, of lying to Nicholas about jam and thus termed the Evil One. She feels what it is like to be condemned.
• The denouncement. The Aunt is furious and enforces in the house. She maintained the frozen muteness of one who has suffered undignified and unmerited detention in a rain-water tank for thirty-five minutes. Nicholas was also silent, in the absorption of an enchanting picture of a hunter and a stag.
The plot is ordered chronologically, each episode is given with more and more emphasis. The author’s choice of vocabulary and stylistic devices is admirable. The author uses a large variety of stylistic devices, such as epithets, which can be divided into two categories: those, which are related to Child’s world (grim chuckle, alleged frog, unknown land, stale delight, mere material pleasure, bare and cheerless, thickly growing vegetation) and the one, which depicts a Grown-up’s world lacking any clear thinking (frivolous ground, veriest nonsense, considerable obstinacy, trivial gardening operation, unauthorized intrusion). They help the author to emphasize a deep dissension between generations, to convey a thrilling power of child’s creative mind. There are a lot of metaphors (often sustained) in the story: a circus of unrivalled merit and uncounted elephants (to lay stress on the Aunt’s narrow-mindness), the flawlessness of the reasoning, self-imposed sentry-duty (characterizes the Aunt as a very strict person), art of fitting keys into keyholes and turning locks, region that was so carefully sealed from youthful eyes, many golden minutes of a ridiculously short range. With the help of these stylistic means the offer unfolds a theme in which stupidity, moral degradation, hypocrisy and ambition play their sorry parts.
There are some similes in the text: Bobby won’t enjoy himself much, and he won’t race much either; the aunt-by-assertion (The author uses Nicholas’ own word choice to show that he does not accept his aunt’s authority over him. This also may be a subtle criticism of Nicholas’ rebellious attitude.); and some periphrases: the Evil One, the prisoner in the tank. (These devices provide author’s irony and essential clue to the character).
The author also enriches the story with a device of rhetorical question: But did the huntsman see, what Nicholas saw, that four galloping wolves were coming in his direction through the wood?; and hyperbole: How did she howl. The following stylistic devices contribute to the expressiveness of the text.
There are two traits always present in Hector Munro’s books, which single him out of commonplace writers, they are irony and witty. The style of writing is satirical in a humorous way. The author uses a witty tone to mimic characters in order to subtly criticize them. The criticism is done in a subtle way that is humorous. For example, Aunt's condescending tone in describing Nicholas’ prank: disgrace, sin, fell from grace. The author is obviously using the Aunt’s own word choice to reveal her self-righteous, holier-than-thou attitude. This is a subtle criticism of her arrogance which she is blind to.
The author uses irony to poke fun and criticize the Aunt. For instance, trip to Jagborough which is meant to spite Nicholas fails. Instead of being a punishment for the child, it became a treat for him whereas it became a torture to those who went. The Aunt’s conception of “the paradise”. The real paradise is the Lumber-room not the garden. This reveals the irony that the ideal world of an adult is dull and boring to that of a child.
The story is a remarkable insight into human character. It also reveals Aunt’s virtues and vices. In the story the Aunt is represented as a self-righteous and moralistic person. She uses a hypocritical tone and exaggerates a child’s prank comparing it to a grave sin. She thinks of herself as a wiser - she doesn’t like to be in the wrong. Being cold, lacking of love, she is more concerned with punishing the children: she keeps jam and goodies away from them, she bars them from the beautiful places in the house like the garden and lumber-room. Unable to understand and communicate with children, she is not even aware when her son’s feet was hurt. She dictates their lives for them, insisting on where they should go for entertainment. It is evident, that the author’s sympathy lies with the children.
The ending of the story reveals the author’s social comment about the differences between the world of the child and adult. Though the Aunt is furious, Nicholas is thinking about the hunter tricking the hounds by using the stag as a bait. It is a representative of his own life, he is like a hunter able to escape the hound (which represents his aunt and the dull reality of the adult world) by trickery and strategizing.
To sum up, the author’s style is remarkable for its powerful sweep, brilliant illustrations and deep psychological analysis. The story reveals he author’s great knowledge of man’s inner world. He penetrates into the subtlest windings of the child heart. Giving the author his due for brilliance of style and a pointed ridicule of many social vices, such as snobbishness, pretence, self-interest. The author’s attitude towards grown-ups is a little bit cynical. It’s quite obvious that when describing the hard-heartedness and indifference of Adult’s world he is not indignant but rather amused. His habitual attitude is that of expecting little or nothing of his fellow men. His ironical cynicism combined with a keen wit and power observation affords him effective means of portraying reality without shrinking before its seamy side. The charm of this story lies in its interesting plot and exciting situation. At the same time it conveys deep thought, keen observation and sharpness of characterization. These very qualities assure the author of an outstanding place in the annals of literature and in the hearts of all who love good stories.
Sources: www.durov.com/study/The_Lumber_Room-1...
D.N. Aloysius
Lecturer in English
Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities
Rajarata University of Sri Lanka
23.01.2011
Text Analysis
By H.Munro
The text under analysis is written by an outstanding British novelist and short story writer Hector Munro. Hector Hugh Munro (December 18, 1870 – November 13, 1916), better known by the pen name Saki, was a British writer, whose witty and sometimes macabre stories satirized Edwardian society and culture. He is considered a master of the short story and is often compared to O. Henry and Dorothy Parker. His tales feature delicately drawn characters and finely judged narratives. Saki's world contrasts the effete conventions and hypocrisies of Edwardian England with the ruthless but straightforward life-and-death struggles of nature. Nature generally wins in the end.
Owing to the death of his mother and his father's absence abroad he was brought up during his childhood, with his elder brother and sister, by a grandmother and two aunts. It seems probable that their stem and unsympathetic methods account for Munro’s strong dislike of anything that smacks of the conventional and the self-righteous. He satirized things that he hated. Munro was killed on the French front during the first world war.
In her Biography of Saki Munro’s sister writes: “One of Munro’s aunts, Augusta, was a woman of ungovernable temper, of fierce likes and dislikes, imperious, a moral coward, possessing no brains worth speaking of, and a primitive disposition.” Naturally the last person who should have been in charge of children. The character of the aunt in The Lumber-Room is Aunt Augusta to the life.
The story tells about a little orphan Nicholas who was trusted to his tyrannical and dull-witted aunt. One day Nicholas was “in disgrace”, so he duped his Aunt into believing that he was somehow trying to get into the gooseberry garden, but instead had no intention of doing so but did sneak into the Lumber Room. There a tremendous picture of a hunter and a stag opened to him. Soon his aunt tried to look for the boy and slipped into the rain-water tank. She asked Nicholas to fetch her a ladder but the boy pretended not to understand her, he said that she was the Evil One.
The story presents extremely topical subjects. Actually, the whole novel can be divided into two parts: Child’s world and Adult’s world. The author seems to be suggesting that adulthood causes one to lose all sense of fun, imagination. Adults become obsessed with insignificant trivialities, like the Aunt which is obsessed about punishing and nitpicking on the children. Children in Munro’s stories are very imaginative. Nicholas imagines the whole story behind the tapestry while the Aunt comes out with boring stories and ideas like a circus or going to the beach. She tries to convince Nicholas about the fun of a trip to the beach, of circus, but lacks the imagination to sound convincing. She describes the beach outing as beautiful and glorious but cannot say in detail how it will be beautiful or glorious because she is not creative. As for the Lumber room, it is symbolic of fun and imagination of the child’s world which is definitely lacking in the adult world. It emphasizes the destruction of life that adulthood and pride can bring. The Aunt’s world is full of warped priorities. She puts punishment and withholding of enjoyment as more important than getting to know and molding the lives of the children. She keeps all the beautiful and creative things of the house locked away in a lumber-room so as not to spoil them but in doing so, the purpose of the objects which is to beauty the house, is lost, leaving the house dull and colourless.
The excerpt is homogeneous. The story is narrated in the 3rd person. This allows the reader to access the situation and the characters in an unbiased and objective manner. This is especially so because the characters are complex, having both positive and negative viewpoints. The third person point of view is impersonal which fits the impersonal atmosphere of the household.
The text can be divided into several parts:
• The exposition, in which we learn about little Nicholas, his cousins and his strict aunt. Nicholas got into his aunt’s disgrace. So his cousins were to be taken to Jagborough sands that afternoon and he was to stay at home. The Aunt was absolutely sure that the boy was determined to get into the gooseberry garden because I have told him he is not to.
• The complication, when Nicholas got into an unknown land of lumber-room. Forbidden fruit is sweet and truly the lumber-room is described as a storehouse of unimagined treasure. Every single item brings life and imagination to Nicholas and is symbolic of what the adult of real world lacks. He often pictured to himself what the lumber-room was like, since that was the region that was so carefully sealed from youthful eyes. The tapestry brings to life imagination and fantasy within Nicholas, the interesting pots and candlesticks bring an aesthetic quality, visual beauty which stirs up his creative mind; and lastly a large square book full of coloured pictures of birds. And such birds! They allow Nicholas to learn in a fun and exciting way.
• The climax of the text. While the boy was admiring the colouring of a mandarin duck, the voice of his aunt came from the gooseberry garden. She got slipped into the rain-water tank and couldn’t go out. She demanded from the boy to bring her a ladder, but he said her voice didn’t sound like his aunt’s. You may be the Evil One tempting me to be disobedient. Justice must be done. The Aunt tasted the fruit of her own punishment on the children. She is accused of falling from grace, of lying to Nicholas about jam and thus termed the Evil One. She feels what it is like to be condemned.
• The denouncement. The Aunt is furious and enforces in the house. She maintained the frozen muteness of one who has suffered undignified and unmerited detention in a rain-water tank for thirty-five minutes. Nicholas was also silent, in the absorption of an enchanting picture of a hunter and a stag.
The plot is ordered chronologically, each episode is given with more and more emphasis. The author’s choice of vocabulary and stylistic devices is admirable. The author uses a large variety of stylistic devices, such as epithets, which can be divided into two categories: those, which are related to Child’s world (grim chuckle, alleged frog, unknown land, stale delight, mere material pleasure, bare and cheerless, thickly growing vegetation) and the one, which depicts a Grown-up’s world lacking any clear thinking (frivolous ground, veriest nonsense, considerable obstinacy, trivial gardening operation, unauthorized intrusion). They help the author to emphasize a deep dissension between generations, to convey a thrilling power of child’s creative mind. There are a lot of metaphors (often sustained) in the story: a circus of unrivalled merit and uncounted elephants (to lay stress on the Aunt’s narrow-mindness), the flawlessness of the reasoning, self-imposed sentry-duty (characterizes the Aunt as a very strict person), art of fitting keys into keyholes and turning locks, region that was so carefully sealed from youthful eyes, many golden minutes of a ridiculously short range. With the help of these stylistic means the offer unfolds a theme in which stupidity, moral degradation, hypocrisy and ambition play their sorry parts.
There are some similes in the text: Bobby won’t enjoy himself much, and he won’t race much either; the aunt-by-assertion (The author uses Nicholas’ own word choice to show that he does not accept his aunt’s authority over him. This also may be a subtle criticism of Nicholas’ rebellious attitude.); and some periphrases: the Evil One, the prisoner in the tank. (These devices provide author’s irony and essential clue to the character).
The author also enriches the story with a device of rhetorical question: But did the huntsman see, what Nicholas saw, that four galloping wolves were coming in his direction through the wood?; and hyperbole: How did she howl. The following stylistic devices contribute to the expressiveness of the text.
There are two traits always present in Hector Munro’s books, which single him out of commonplace writers, they are irony and witty. The style of writing is satirical in a humorous way. The author uses a witty tone to mimic characters in order to subtly criticize them. The criticism is done in a subtle way that is humorous. For example, Aunt's condescending tone in describing Nicholas’ prank: disgrace, sin, fell from grace. The author is obviously using the Aunt’s own word choice to reveal her self-righteous, holier-than-thou attitude. This is a subtle criticism of her arrogance which she is blind to.
The author uses irony to poke fun and criticize the Aunt. For instance, trip to Jagborough which is meant to spite Nicholas fails. Instead of being a punishment for the child, it became a treat for him whereas it became a torture to those who went. The Aunt’s conception of “the paradise”. The real paradise is the Lumber-room not the garden. This reveals the irony that the ideal world of an adult is dull and boring to that of a child.
The story is a remarkable insight into human character. It also reveals Aunt’s virtues and vices. In the story the Aunt is represented as a self-righteous and moralistic person. She uses a hypocritical tone and exaggerates a child’s prank comparing it to a grave sin. She thinks of herself as a wiser - she doesn’t like to be in the wrong. Being cold, lacking of love, she is more concerned with punishing the children: she keeps jam and goodies away from them, she bars them from the beautiful places in the house like the garden and lumber-room. Unable to understand and communicate with children, she is not even aware when her son’s feet was hurt. She dictates their lives for them, insisting on where they should go for entertainment. It is evident, that the author’s sympathy lies with the children.
The ending of the story reveals the author’s social comment about the differences between the world of the child and adult. Though the Aunt is furious, Nicholas is thinking about the hunter tricking the hounds by using the stag as a bait. It is a representative of his own life, he is like a hunter able to escape the hound (which represents his aunt and the dull reality of the adult world) by trickery and strategizing.
To sum up, the author’s style is remarkable for its powerful sweep, brilliant illustrations and deep psychological analysis. The story reveals he author’s great knowledge of man’s inner world. He penetrates into the subtlest windings of the child heart. Giving the author his due for brilliance of style and a pointed ridicule of many social vices, such as snobbishness, pretence, self-interest. The author’s attitude towards grown-ups is a little bit cynical. It’s quite obvious that when describing the hard-heartedness and indifference of Adult’s world he is not indignant but rather amused. His habitual attitude is that of expecting little or nothing of his fellow men. His ironical cynicism combined with a keen wit and power observation affords him effective means of portraying reality without shrinking before its seamy side. The charm of this story lies in its interesting plot and exciting situation. At the same time it conveys deep thought, keen observation and sharpness of characterization. These very qualities assure the author of an outstanding place in the annals of literature and in the hearts of all who love good stories.
Sources: www.durov.com/study/The_Lumber_Room-1...
D.N. Aloysius
Lecturer in English
Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities
Rajarata University of Sri Lanka
23.01.2011
External Degree-GAQ-Seminar-16.01.2011Bhiksu University-Anuradhapura
Buddhasravaka Bhiksu University
Anuradhapura
External Degree Programme (English) 2010/2011
English Literature (ENE-102)
Paper 11
First year -EN-102- English Literature www.aloysiusdn.com
Paper 02- Three Hours aloysiusrjt@gmail.com
Romeo and Juliet Summary
We meet our hero, Romeo, after a duel between the servants of two enemy families of Verona: the Montagues and the Capulets. Romeo Montague is pining away for Rosaline, a girl we never see. Juliet Capulet, age thirteen, has just heard that Paris, Verona's attractive young bachelor, would like to marry her. The two will meet that night at a masquerade ball at the Capulets' house. Romeo and his friends have decided to crash the Capulet ball – in costume – because Rosaline is on the guest list. Romeo meets Juliet there instead, and they fall madly in love. Afterwards, they discover they are members of rival families, but they are still in love. Romeo stays after the party under Juliet's balcony, and the two use this romantic meeting to plan their marriage. This is where things get sticky. Romeo meets with Friar Laurence to arrange the marriage, and Juliet confides in her nurse, who has basically raised her, to act on her behalf and meet Romeo. The Nurse meets Romeo and his friend Mercutio. Romeo tells her to get Juliet to Friar Laurence's, where the two will be married.
Meanwhile, Benvolio, another member of the Montague posse, runs into Tybalt Capulet, who is angry about the Montagues crashing his family party the other night. Romeo, freshly married, strolls into the middle of a tense situation, and as things escalate, Tybalt kills Mercutio. Stricken by grief, Romeo promptly challenges Tybalt to a duel and kills him. Romeo runs away before all of Verona shows up. The Prince of Verona rules that Romeo won't be killed, but banished from Verona. This all puts a damper on the new marriage.
Juliet hears from the Nurse that her new husband has murdered her cousin. She is doubly sad about the death and murder. Mostly Juliet just wants to see her banished husband. The Nurse finds Romeo hiding at Friar Laurence's, and the Friar hatches a plan. Romeo can spend his wedding night with Juliet, but then he must run away, while the Friar finds some way to get the Prince of Verona to pardon Romeo. The marriage will be made public upon his return.
Meanwhile, back at the Capulet house, Paris is working even harder to wed Juliet, who is stricken by grief. Lord Capulet decides a wedding (to Paris) is just the thing to distract her, as he does not know she's already a bride. Juliet spends her wedding night with Romeo, and as he leaves in the morning, she finds out she is to be married to Paris in two days. She refuses and has a violent fight with her parents. Even her nurse thinks she should marry Paris, since Romeo is "as good as dead" to her.
Juliet, trying to figure out what to do, runs over to Friar Laurence's, where she has a weird kiss with Paris. After Paris leaves, she threatens to kill herself. The Friar adds another bit to his plan, and gives her an herbal concoction that will make her appear to be dead for 42 hours.. She goes home, agrees to marry Paris, and takes the poison with the intention of looking dead on the morning of her wedding and being taken to the Capulet tomb where Romeo can find her and everyone can live happily ever after.
Sadly, Romeo is hiding in Mantua, out of the loop, and the news of Juliet's "death" makes it to Romeo before word of the Friar's plan. He buys some poison so he can go to Juliet's grave and kill himself. At her grave, he finds Paris, whom he murders, and then breaks into Juliet's tomb, where he spends some time with Juliet's "dead" body.
He drinks the poison and dies just in time for Juliet to wake up and find him dead. The Friar, who apparently shows up at some point, also finds Romeo dead, and tries to convince Juliet to run away. She refuses and kisses Romeo to find that his lips are still warm – she just missed him. He doesn't have enough poison on his lips to kill her, too, so she takes her own life with a dagger. Capulets, Montagues, and the Prince of Verona show up to the tomb and find the dead lovers. Friar Laurence is dragged in to confess everything. The two lords of the rival houses are moved by their dead children's love story and agree to end the feud.
Themes
Forcefulness of Love
Romeo and Juliet is the most famous love story in the English literary tradition. Love is naturally the play’s dominant and most important theme. The play focuses on romantic love, specifically the intense passion that springs up at first sight between Romeo and Juliet. In Romeo and Juliet, love is a violent, ecstatic, overpowering force that supersedes all other values, loyalties, and emotions. In the course of the play, the young lovers are driven to defy their entire social world: families. Love is the overriding theme of the play, but a reader should always remember that Shakespeare is uninterested in portraying a prettied-up, dainty version of the emotion, the kind that bad poets write about, and whose bad poetry Romeo reads while pining for Rosaline. Love in Romeo and Juliet is a brutal, powerful emotion that captures individuals and catapults them against their world, and, at times, against themselves.
The powerful nature of love can be seen in the way it is described, or, more accurately, the way descriptions of it so consistently fail to capture its entirety. At times love is described in the terms of religion, as in the fourteen lines when Romeo and Juliet first meet. Juliet, perhaps, most perfectly describes her love for Romeo by refusing to describe it: Romeo and Juliet does not make a specific moral statement about the relationships between love and society, religion, and family; rather, it portrays the chaos and passion of being in love, combining images of love, violence, death, religion, and family in an impressionistic rush leading to the play’s tragic conclusion.
Love as a Cause of Violence
The themes of death and violence permeate Romeo and Juliet, and they are always connected to passion, whether that passion is love or hate. The connection between hate, violence, and death seems obvious. But the connection between love and violence requires further investigation.
Love, in Romeo and Juliet, is a grand passion, and as such it is blinding; it can overwhelm a person as powerfully and completely as hate can. The passionate love between Romeo and Juliet is linked from the moment of its inception with death: Tybalt notices that Romeo has crashed the feast and determines to kill him just as Romeo catches sight of Juliet and falls instantly in love with her. From that point on, love seems to push the lovers closer to love and violence, not farther from it. Romeo and Juliet are plagued with thoughts of suicide, and a willingness to experience it: in Act 3, scene 3, Romeo brandishes a knife in Friar Lawrence’s cell and threatens to kill himself after he has been banished from Verona and his love. Juliet also pulls a knife in order to take her own life in Friar Lawrence’s presence just three scenes later. After Capulet decides that Juliet will marry Paris, Juliet says, “If all else fail, myself have power to die”. Finally, each imagines that the other looks dead the morning after their first, and only, sexual experience (“Methinks I see thee,” Juliet says, “. . . as one dead in the bottom of a tomb”. This theme continues until its inevitable conclusion: double suicide. This tragic choice is the highest, most potent expression of love that Romeo and Juliet can make. It is only through death that they can preserve their love, and their love is so profound that they are willing to end their lives in its defense. In the play, love emerges as an amoral thing, leading as much to destruction as to happiness. But in its extreme passion, the love that Romeo and Juliet experience also appears so exquisitely beautiful that few would want, or be able, to resist its power.
Individual versus Society
Much of Romeo and Juliet involves the lovers’ struggles against public and social institutions that either explicitly or implicitly oppose the existence of their love. Such structures range from the concrete to the abstract: families and the placement of familial power in the father; law and the desire for public order; religion; and the social importance placed on masculine honor. These institutions often come into conflict with each other. The importance of honor, for example, time and again results in brawls that disturb the public peace.
Though they do not always work in concert, each of these societal institutions in some way present obstacles for Romeo and Juliet. The enmity between their families, coupled with the emphasis placed on loyalty and honor to kin, combine to create a profound conflict for Romeo and Juliet, who must rebel against their heritages. Further, the patriarchal power structure inherent in Renaissance families, wherein the father controls the action of all other family members, particularly women, places Juliet in an extremely vulnerable position. Her heart, in her family’s mind, is not hers to give. The law and the emphasis on social civility demands terms of conduct with which the blind passion of love cannot comply. Religion similarly demands priorities that Romeo and Juliet cannot abide by because of the intensity of their love. Though in most situations the lovers uphold the traditions of Christianity (they wait to marry before consummating their love), their love is so powerful that they begin to think of each other in blasphemous terms. For example, Juliet calls Romeo “the god of my idolatry,” elevating Romeo to level of God. The couple’s final act of suicide is likewise un-Christian. The maintenance of masculine honor forces Romeo to commit actions he would prefer to avoid. But the social emphasis placed on masculine honor is so profound that Romeo cannot simply ignore them.
It is possible to see Romeo and Juliet as a battle between the responsibilities and actions demanded by social institutions and those demanded by the private desires of the individual. Romeo and Juliet’s appreciation of night, with its darkness and privacy, and their renunciation of their names, with its attendant loss of obligation, make sense in the context of individuals who wish to escape the public world. But the lovers cannot stop the night from becoming day. And Romeo cannot cease being a Montague simply because he wants to; the rest of the world will not let him. The lovers’ suicides can be understood as the ultimate night, the ultimate privacy.
Inevitability of Fate
In its first address to the audience, the Chorus states that Romeo and Juliet are “star-crossed”—that is to say that fate (a power often vested in the movements of the stars) controls them This sense of fate permeates the play, and not just for the audience. The characters also are quite aware of it: Romeo and Juliet constantly see omens. When Romeo believes that Juliet is dead, he cries out, “Then I defy you, stars,” completing the idea that the love between Romeo and Juliet is in opposition to the decrees of destiny. Of course, Romeo’s defiance itself plays into the hands of fate, and his determination to spend eternity with Juliet results in their deaths. The mechanism of fate works in all of the events surrounding the lovers: the feud between their families (it is worth noting that this hatred is never explained; rather, the reader must accept it as an undeniable aspect of the world of the play); the horrible series of accidents that ruin Friar Lawrence’s seemingly well-intentioned plans at the end of the play; and the tragic timing of Romeo’s suicide and Juliet’s awakening. These events are not mere coincidences, but rather manifestations of fate that help bring about the unavoidable outcome of the young lovers’ deaths.
The concept of fate described above is the most commonly accepted interpretation. There are other possible readings of fate in the play: as a force determined by the powerful social institutions that influence Romeo and Juliet’s choices, as well as fate as a force that emerges from Romeo and Juliet’s very personalities.
Sources: www.enotes.com/romeo-and-juliet
Canterbury Tales
The Canterbury Tales begins with the General Prologue, a detailed introduction and description of each of the pilgrims journeying to Canterbury to catch sight of the shrine to Sir Thomas a Becket, the martyred saint of Christianity, supposedly buried in the Cathedral of Canterbury since 1170. The pilgrims, a mixture of virtuous and villainous characters from Medieval England, include a Knight, his son the Squire, the Knight's Yeoman, a Prioress, a Second Nun, a Monk, a Friar, a Merchant, a Clerk, a Man of Law, a Franklin, a Weaver, a Dyer, a Carpenter, a Tapestry-Maker, a Haberdasher, a Cook, a Shipman, a Physician, a Parson, a Miller, a Manciple, a Reeve, a Summoner, a Pardoner, the Wife of Bath, and Chaucer himself. They each bring a slice of England to the trip with their stories of glory, chivalry, Christianity, villainy, disloyalty, cuckoldry, and honor. Some pilgrims are faithful to Christ and his teachings, while others openly disobey the church and its law of faithfulness, honor, and modesty.
The pilgrimage begins in April, a time of happiness and rebirth. They pilgrims hope not only to travel in this blessed time, but to have a rebirth of their own along the way. The pilgrimage consists of these characters journeying to Canterbury and back, each telling two tales in each direction, as suggested by the host. At the conclusion of the tales, the host will decide whose story is the best. The Knight is the first to tell a story, one made up properly of honor and chivalry. His tale is followed by the Miller's opposite tale of dishonor and frivolity. Chaucer frequently places tales of religion and Christ-like worship with tales of unfaithful women and cuckolded men. The Reeve, the Cook, and the Man of Law tell the next stories, while the host interjects his opinions throughout. There are several rivalries that grow from within the intertext, including the small quarrels between the Friar and Summoner and between the Miller and Reeve. Between each tale, most pilgrims have a prologue, in which they tell about themselves or allow Chaucer to illustrate the dynamics of the group. The Friar and the Summoner develop a minor feud, in which they each tell tales of ill-will towards the other's profession, and the Pardoner brings his own immoral behavior into the Tales. The Wife of Bath is a memorable character and is often thought of as a primordial feminist who acts on her own terms instead of those of the man.
The Canterbury Tales are not fully completed, for the original task of having each pilgrim tell two tales is never realized. Furthermore, two of the tales are begun and then suddenly cut off before their grand conclusion, such as the Squire's Tale and the Tale of Sir Thopas. Some of the pilgrims never even tell one story, such as the Tapestry-Maker and the Haberdasher, and the destination of Canterbury is not explicitly mentioned in the pilgrims' prologues or Chaucer's Retraction.
Chaucer concludes his tales with a Retraction, asking for mercy and forgiveness from those whom he may have offended along his course of storytelling and pilgrimage. He hopes to blame his ignorance and lack of education on any erroneous behavior or language, for he believes that his intentions were all moralistic and honorable. In the end, he gives all credit to Jesus Christ.
The Lumber room
The Lumber room is the text for analysis, which represents an ironical story written by a well-known British novelist and short story writer Hector Munro.
Hector Hugh Munro is best known in a literature word under a pseudonym Saki. He is acclaimed for his witty, sometimes whimsical, often cynical and bizarre short stories; they are collected in Reginald (1904), The Chronicles of Clovis (1911), Beasts and Super-Beasts (1914), and other volumes. Included among his other works are two novels, The Unbearable Bassington (1912) and When William Came (1914). Moreover, he is believed to be a master of the short story and is often compared to O.Henry.
His father was an officer in the Burma police. After the death of Munro's mother, Saki, at the age of two, was sent to Broad gate Villa, in Pilton village near Barnstaple, North Devon to be raised by aunts who frequently resorted to corporal punishment. Although these aunts were probably well-intentioned, they brought him up in a regime of strictnessIs this Essay helpful? Join OPPapers to read more and access more than 325,000 just like it!
get better grades and severity. This left an indelible mark on his character, and is immortalized in a number of his short stories, especially Sredni Vashtar and The Lumber Room.
In her Biography of Saki Munro's sister writes: "One of Munro's aunts, Augusta, was a woman of ungovernable temper, of fierce likes and dislikes, imperious, a moral coward, possessing no brains worth speaking of, and a primitive disposition." Naturally the last person who should have been in charge of children. The character of the aunt in The Lumber-Room is Aunt Augusta to the life.
The story describes one day of as little orphan Nicolas who was guarded by dictatorial, biased and however haughty aunt Agusta. This very day Nicolas was s in disgrace as his aunt believed. He put a frog into his bread-and milk at breakfast table and was banned to go to a fascinating Jags borough expedition with his cousins. Besides, the gooseberry garden was a forbidden fruit. While reading, the truth comes to the light - this... Read Full Essay
Text Analysis
The Lumber Room
The text under analysis is written by an outstanding British novelist and short story writer Hector Munro. Hector Hugh Munro (December 18, 1870 – November 13, 1916), better known by the pen name Saki, was a British writer, whose witty and sometimes macabre stories satirized Edwardian society and culture. He is considered a master of the short story and is often compared to O. Henry and Dorothy Parker. His tales feature delicately drawn characters and finely judged narratives. Saki's world contrasts the effete conventions and hypocrisies of Edwardian England with the ruthless but straightforward life-and-death struggles of nature. Nature generally wins in the end.
Owing to the death of his mother and his father's absence abroad he was brought up during his childhood, with his elder brother and sister, by a grandmother and two aunts. It seems probable that their stem and unsympathetic methods account for Munro’s strong dislike of anything that smacks of the conventional and the self-righteous. He satirized things that he hated. Munro was killed on the French front during the First World War.
In her Biography of Saki Munro’s sister writes: “One of Munro’s aunts, Augusta, was a woman of ungovernable temper, of fierce likes and dislikes, imperious, a moral coward, possessing no brains worth speaking of, and a primitive disposition.” Naturally the last person who should have been in charge of children. The character of the aunt in The Lumber-Room is Aunt Augusta to the life.
The story tells about a little orphan Nicholas who was trusted to his tyrannical and dull-witted aunt. One day Nicholas was “in disgrace”, so he duped his Aunt into believing that he was somehow trying to get into the gooseberry garden, but instead had no intention of doing so but did sneak into the Lumber Room. There a tremendous picture of a hunter and a stag opened to him. Soon his aunt tried to look for the boy and slipped into the rain-water tank. She asked Nicholas to fetch her a ladder but the boy pretended not to understand her, he said that she was the Evil One.
The story presents extremely topical subjects. Actually, the whole novel can be divided into two parts: Child’s world and Adult’s world. The author seems to be suggesting that adulthood causes one to lose all sense of fun, imagination. Adults become obsessed with insignificant trivialities, like the Aunt which is obsessed about punishing and nitpicking on the children. Children in Munro’s stories are very imaginative. Nicholas imagines the whole story behind the tapestry while the Aunt comes out with boring stories and ideas like a circus or going to the beach. She tries to convince Nicholas about the fun of a trip to the beach, of circus, but lacks the imagination to sound convincing. She describes the beach outing as beautiful and glorious but cannot say in detail how it will be beautiful or glorious because she is not creative. As for the Lumber room, it is symbolic of fun and imagination of the child’s world which is definitely lacking in the adult world. It emphasizes the destruction of life that adulthood and pride can bring. The Aunt’s world is full of warped priorities. She puts punishment and withholding of enjoyment as more important than getting to know and molding the lives of the children. She keeps all the beautiful and creative things of the house locked away in a lumber-room so as not to spoil them but in doing so, the purpose of the objects which is to beauty the house, is lost, leaving the house dull and colourless.
The excerpt is homogeneous. The story is narrated in the 3rd person. This allows the reader to access the situation and the characters in an unbiased and objective manner. This is especially so because the characters are complex, having both positive and negative viewpoints. The third person point of view is impersonal which fits the impersonal atmosphere of the household.
The text can be divided into several parts:
• The exposition, in which we learn about little Nicholas, his cousins and his strict aunt. Nicholas got into his aunt’s disgrace. So his cousins were to be taken to Jagborough sands that afternoon and he was to stay at home. The Aunt was absolutely sure that the boy was determined to get into the gooseberry garden because I have told him he is not to.
• The complication, when Nicholas got into an unknown land of lumber-room. Forbidden fruit is sweet and truly the lumber-room is described as a storehouse of unimagined treasure. Every single item brings life and imagination to Nicholas and is symbolic of what the adult of real world lacks. He often pictured to himself what the lumber-room was like, since that was the region that was so carefully sealed from youthful eyes. The tapestry brings to life imagination and fantasy within Nicholas, the interesting pots and candlesticks bring an aesthetic quality, visual beauty which stirs up his creative mind; and lastly a large square book full of coloured pictures of birds. And such birds! They allow Nicholas to learn in a fun and exciting way.
Sources www.oppapers.com/essays/Text-Analysis
Victorian Poets
Victorian Poets include:
• Matthew Arnold
• Charlotte Bronte
• Emily Bronte
• Elizabeth Browning
• Robert Browning
• Ralph Waldo Emerson
• Gerard Manley Hopkins
• Rudyard Kipling
• Christina Rossetti
• Dante Gabriella Rossetti
• Alfred Tennyson
• Oscar Wilde
Victorian Poetry
The Victorian Period literally describes the events in the age of Queen Victoria’s reign of 1837-1901. The term Victorian has connotations of repression and social conformity; however in the realm of poetry these labels are somewhat misplaced. The Victorian age provided a significant development of poetic ideals such as the increased use of the Sonnet as a poetic form, which was to influence later modern poets. Poets in the Victorian period were to some extent influenced by the Romantic Poets such as Keats, William Blake, Shelley and W. Wordsworth. Wordsworth was Poet Laureate until 1850 so can be viewed as a bridge between the Romantic period and the Victorian period. Wordsworth was succeeded by Lord Tennyson, Queen Victoria's favorite poet.
Victorian Poetry was an important period in the history of poetry, providing the link between the Romantic movement and the modernist movement of the 20th Century. It is not always possible to neatly categorize poets in these broad movements. For example Gerard Manley Hopkins is often cited as an example of a poet who maintained much of the Romantics sensibility in his writings.
Female Victorian Poets
Before the Victorian era there were very few famous female poets. In the early nineteenth century writing was still seen as a predominantly male preserve. However despite views such as this the Victorian period saw the emergence of many important female poets.
The Bronte sisters were perhaps better known for their romantic novels but their poetry, especially that of Emily Bronte, has received more critical acclaim in recent years. Many have suggested that her works were a reflection of the difficulties women of that period faced. Other significant female poets include Elizabeth Browning and Christina Rossetti. Christina Rossetti in some ways could be viewed as a more typical Victorian poet. Her poetry reflected her deep Anglican faith and frequently pursued themes such as love and faith.
Sources: www.poetseers.org/the_great_poets/vic
What is Victorian poetry?
Victorian poetry is classified poetry written in England during the time of Queen Victoria. It followed the Romantic movement, and is marked by darker qualities and subjects.
Romanticism offers an idealized look at the world. Life are beautified, and the human pursuit of knowledge and power as a wonderful thing. Romantic poetry also tends to personify and beautify nature. The poet attempts to connect himself to nature and relate with it. For example, in his poem "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud", William Wordsworth compares himself to a drifting cloud, and then rejoices in the beauty of a field of daffodils.
Victorian Poetry, however, is much harsher and realistic. During the Victorian era, people became aware of the grave social injustices in their world, and therefore many people didn't like the romanticized version of society. Victorian poetry tends to deal with more serious and realistic subjects, such as child labor, slavery, and other such social injustices. It often called for social reform, as in Elizabeth Barrett Browning's "The Cry of the Children". In this poem, Browning write of the atrocity of slavery, and the damage it has done to children and families.
Victorian poetry marks society's progression from the carefree notions of Romanticism to a state of social awareness and reform.
Sources: wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_victorian
D.N. Aloysius
Lecturer in English
Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities
Rajarata University of Sri Lanka
15.01.2011
Anuradhapura
External Degree Programme (English) 2010/2011
English Literature (ENE-102)
Paper 11
First year -EN-102- English Literature www.aloysiusdn.com
Paper 02- Three Hours aloysiusrjt@gmail.com
Romeo and Juliet Summary
We meet our hero, Romeo, after a duel between the servants of two enemy families of Verona: the Montagues and the Capulets. Romeo Montague is pining away for Rosaline, a girl we never see. Juliet Capulet, age thirteen, has just heard that Paris, Verona's attractive young bachelor, would like to marry her. The two will meet that night at a masquerade ball at the Capulets' house. Romeo and his friends have decided to crash the Capulet ball – in costume – because Rosaline is on the guest list. Romeo meets Juliet there instead, and they fall madly in love. Afterwards, they discover they are members of rival families, but they are still in love. Romeo stays after the party under Juliet's balcony, and the two use this romantic meeting to plan their marriage. This is where things get sticky. Romeo meets with Friar Laurence to arrange the marriage, and Juliet confides in her nurse, who has basically raised her, to act on her behalf and meet Romeo. The Nurse meets Romeo and his friend Mercutio. Romeo tells her to get Juliet to Friar Laurence's, where the two will be married.
Meanwhile, Benvolio, another member of the Montague posse, runs into Tybalt Capulet, who is angry about the Montagues crashing his family party the other night. Romeo, freshly married, strolls into the middle of a tense situation, and as things escalate, Tybalt kills Mercutio. Stricken by grief, Romeo promptly challenges Tybalt to a duel and kills him. Romeo runs away before all of Verona shows up. The Prince of Verona rules that Romeo won't be killed, but banished from Verona. This all puts a damper on the new marriage.
Juliet hears from the Nurse that her new husband has murdered her cousin. She is doubly sad about the death and murder. Mostly Juliet just wants to see her banished husband. The Nurse finds Romeo hiding at Friar Laurence's, and the Friar hatches a plan. Romeo can spend his wedding night with Juliet, but then he must run away, while the Friar finds some way to get the Prince of Verona to pardon Romeo. The marriage will be made public upon his return.
Meanwhile, back at the Capulet house, Paris is working even harder to wed Juliet, who is stricken by grief. Lord Capulet decides a wedding (to Paris) is just the thing to distract her, as he does not know she's already a bride. Juliet spends her wedding night with Romeo, and as he leaves in the morning, she finds out she is to be married to Paris in two days. She refuses and has a violent fight with her parents. Even her nurse thinks she should marry Paris, since Romeo is "as good as dead" to her.
Juliet, trying to figure out what to do, runs over to Friar Laurence's, where she has a weird kiss with Paris. After Paris leaves, she threatens to kill herself. The Friar adds another bit to his plan, and gives her an herbal concoction that will make her appear to be dead for 42 hours.. She goes home, agrees to marry Paris, and takes the poison with the intention of looking dead on the morning of her wedding and being taken to the Capulet tomb where Romeo can find her and everyone can live happily ever after.
Sadly, Romeo is hiding in Mantua, out of the loop, and the news of Juliet's "death" makes it to Romeo before word of the Friar's plan. He buys some poison so he can go to Juliet's grave and kill himself. At her grave, he finds Paris, whom he murders, and then breaks into Juliet's tomb, where he spends some time with Juliet's "dead" body.
He drinks the poison and dies just in time for Juliet to wake up and find him dead. The Friar, who apparently shows up at some point, also finds Romeo dead, and tries to convince Juliet to run away. She refuses and kisses Romeo to find that his lips are still warm – she just missed him. He doesn't have enough poison on his lips to kill her, too, so she takes her own life with a dagger. Capulets, Montagues, and the Prince of Verona show up to the tomb and find the dead lovers. Friar Laurence is dragged in to confess everything. The two lords of the rival houses are moved by their dead children's love story and agree to end the feud.
Themes
Forcefulness of Love
Romeo and Juliet is the most famous love story in the English literary tradition. Love is naturally the play’s dominant and most important theme. The play focuses on romantic love, specifically the intense passion that springs up at first sight between Romeo and Juliet. In Romeo and Juliet, love is a violent, ecstatic, overpowering force that supersedes all other values, loyalties, and emotions. In the course of the play, the young lovers are driven to defy their entire social world: families. Love is the overriding theme of the play, but a reader should always remember that Shakespeare is uninterested in portraying a prettied-up, dainty version of the emotion, the kind that bad poets write about, and whose bad poetry Romeo reads while pining for Rosaline. Love in Romeo and Juliet is a brutal, powerful emotion that captures individuals and catapults them against their world, and, at times, against themselves.
The powerful nature of love can be seen in the way it is described, or, more accurately, the way descriptions of it so consistently fail to capture its entirety. At times love is described in the terms of religion, as in the fourteen lines when Romeo and Juliet first meet. Juliet, perhaps, most perfectly describes her love for Romeo by refusing to describe it: Romeo and Juliet does not make a specific moral statement about the relationships between love and society, religion, and family; rather, it portrays the chaos and passion of being in love, combining images of love, violence, death, religion, and family in an impressionistic rush leading to the play’s tragic conclusion.
Love as a Cause of Violence
The themes of death and violence permeate Romeo and Juliet, and they are always connected to passion, whether that passion is love or hate. The connection between hate, violence, and death seems obvious. But the connection between love and violence requires further investigation.
Love, in Romeo and Juliet, is a grand passion, and as such it is blinding; it can overwhelm a person as powerfully and completely as hate can. The passionate love between Romeo and Juliet is linked from the moment of its inception with death: Tybalt notices that Romeo has crashed the feast and determines to kill him just as Romeo catches sight of Juliet and falls instantly in love with her. From that point on, love seems to push the lovers closer to love and violence, not farther from it. Romeo and Juliet are plagued with thoughts of suicide, and a willingness to experience it: in Act 3, scene 3, Romeo brandishes a knife in Friar Lawrence’s cell and threatens to kill himself after he has been banished from Verona and his love. Juliet also pulls a knife in order to take her own life in Friar Lawrence’s presence just three scenes later. After Capulet decides that Juliet will marry Paris, Juliet says, “If all else fail, myself have power to die”. Finally, each imagines that the other looks dead the morning after their first, and only, sexual experience (“Methinks I see thee,” Juliet says, “. . . as one dead in the bottom of a tomb”. This theme continues until its inevitable conclusion: double suicide. This tragic choice is the highest, most potent expression of love that Romeo and Juliet can make. It is only through death that they can preserve their love, and their love is so profound that they are willing to end their lives in its defense. In the play, love emerges as an amoral thing, leading as much to destruction as to happiness. But in its extreme passion, the love that Romeo and Juliet experience also appears so exquisitely beautiful that few would want, or be able, to resist its power.
Individual versus Society
Much of Romeo and Juliet involves the lovers’ struggles against public and social institutions that either explicitly or implicitly oppose the existence of their love. Such structures range from the concrete to the abstract: families and the placement of familial power in the father; law and the desire for public order; religion; and the social importance placed on masculine honor. These institutions often come into conflict with each other. The importance of honor, for example, time and again results in brawls that disturb the public peace.
Though they do not always work in concert, each of these societal institutions in some way present obstacles for Romeo and Juliet. The enmity between their families, coupled with the emphasis placed on loyalty and honor to kin, combine to create a profound conflict for Romeo and Juliet, who must rebel against their heritages. Further, the patriarchal power structure inherent in Renaissance families, wherein the father controls the action of all other family members, particularly women, places Juliet in an extremely vulnerable position. Her heart, in her family’s mind, is not hers to give. The law and the emphasis on social civility demands terms of conduct with which the blind passion of love cannot comply. Religion similarly demands priorities that Romeo and Juliet cannot abide by because of the intensity of their love. Though in most situations the lovers uphold the traditions of Christianity (they wait to marry before consummating their love), their love is so powerful that they begin to think of each other in blasphemous terms. For example, Juliet calls Romeo “the god of my idolatry,” elevating Romeo to level of God. The couple’s final act of suicide is likewise un-Christian. The maintenance of masculine honor forces Romeo to commit actions he would prefer to avoid. But the social emphasis placed on masculine honor is so profound that Romeo cannot simply ignore them.
It is possible to see Romeo and Juliet as a battle between the responsibilities and actions demanded by social institutions and those demanded by the private desires of the individual. Romeo and Juliet’s appreciation of night, with its darkness and privacy, and their renunciation of their names, with its attendant loss of obligation, make sense in the context of individuals who wish to escape the public world. But the lovers cannot stop the night from becoming day. And Romeo cannot cease being a Montague simply because he wants to; the rest of the world will not let him. The lovers’ suicides can be understood as the ultimate night, the ultimate privacy.
Inevitability of Fate
In its first address to the audience, the Chorus states that Romeo and Juliet are “star-crossed”—that is to say that fate (a power often vested in the movements of the stars) controls them This sense of fate permeates the play, and not just for the audience. The characters also are quite aware of it: Romeo and Juliet constantly see omens. When Romeo believes that Juliet is dead, he cries out, “Then I defy you, stars,” completing the idea that the love between Romeo and Juliet is in opposition to the decrees of destiny. Of course, Romeo’s defiance itself plays into the hands of fate, and his determination to spend eternity with Juliet results in their deaths. The mechanism of fate works in all of the events surrounding the lovers: the feud between their families (it is worth noting that this hatred is never explained; rather, the reader must accept it as an undeniable aspect of the world of the play); the horrible series of accidents that ruin Friar Lawrence’s seemingly well-intentioned plans at the end of the play; and the tragic timing of Romeo’s suicide and Juliet’s awakening. These events are not mere coincidences, but rather manifestations of fate that help bring about the unavoidable outcome of the young lovers’ deaths.
The concept of fate described above is the most commonly accepted interpretation. There are other possible readings of fate in the play: as a force determined by the powerful social institutions that influence Romeo and Juliet’s choices, as well as fate as a force that emerges from Romeo and Juliet’s very personalities.
Sources: www.enotes.com/romeo-and-juliet
Canterbury Tales
The Canterbury Tales begins with the General Prologue, a detailed introduction and description of each of the pilgrims journeying to Canterbury to catch sight of the shrine to Sir Thomas a Becket, the martyred saint of Christianity, supposedly buried in the Cathedral of Canterbury since 1170. The pilgrims, a mixture of virtuous and villainous characters from Medieval England, include a Knight, his son the Squire, the Knight's Yeoman, a Prioress, a Second Nun, a Monk, a Friar, a Merchant, a Clerk, a Man of Law, a Franklin, a Weaver, a Dyer, a Carpenter, a Tapestry-Maker, a Haberdasher, a Cook, a Shipman, a Physician, a Parson, a Miller, a Manciple, a Reeve, a Summoner, a Pardoner, the Wife of Bath, and Chaucer himself. They each bring a slice of England to the trip with their stories of glory, chivalry, Christianity, villainy, disloyalty, cuckoldry, and honor. Some pilgrims are faithful to Christ and his teachings, while others openly disobey the church and its law of faithfulness, honor, and modesty.
The pilgrimage begins in April, a time of happiness and rebirth. They pilgrims hope not only to travel in this blessed time, but to have a rebirth of their own along the way. The pilgrimage consists of these characters journeying to Canterbury and back, each telling two tales in each direction, as suggested by the host. At the conclusion of the tales, the host will decide whose story is the best. The Knight is the first to tell a story, one made up properly of honor and chivalry. His tale is followed by the Miller's opposite tale of dishonor and frivolity. Chaucer frequently places tales of religion and Christ-like worship with tales of unfaithful women and cuckolded men. The Reeve, the Cook, and the Man of Law tell the next stories, while the host interjects his opinions throughout. There are several rivalries that grow from within the intertext, including the small quarrels between the Friar and Summoner and between the Miller and Reeve. Between each tale, most pilgrims have a prologue, in which they tell about themselves or allow Chaucer to illustrate the dynamics of the group. The Friar and the Summoner develop a minor feud, in which they each tell tales of ill-will towards the other's profession, and the Pardoner brings his own immoral behavior into the Tales. The Wife of Bath is a memorable character and is often thought of as a primordial feminist who acts on her own terms instead of those of the man.
The Canterbury Tales are not fully completed, for the original task of having each pilgrim tell two tales is never realized. Furthermore, two of the tales are begun and then suddenly cut off before their grand conclusion, such as the Squire's Tale and the Tale of Sir Thopas. Some of the pilgrims never even tell one story, such as the Tapestry-Maker and the Haberdasher, and the destination of Canterbury is not explicitly mentioned in the pilgrims' prologues or Chaucer's Retraction.
Chaucer concludes his tales with a Retraction, asking for mercy and forgiveness from those whom he may have offended along his course of storytelling and pilgrimage. He hopes to blame his ignorance and lack of education on any erroneous behavior or language, for he believes that his intentions were all moralistic and honorable. In the end, he gives all credit to Jesus Christ.
The Lumber room
The Lumber room is the text for analysis, which represents an ironical story written by a well-known British novelist and short story writer Hector Munro.
Hector Hugh Munro is best known in a literature word under a pseudonym Saki. He is acclaimed for his witty, sometimes whimsical, often cynical and bizarre short stories; they are collected in Reginald (1904), The Chronicles of Clovis (1911), Beasts and Super-Beasts (1914), and other volumes. Included among his other works are two novels, The Unbearable Bassington (1912) and When William Came (1914). Moreover, he is believed to be a master of the short story and is often compared to O.Henry.
His father was an officer in the Burma police. After the death of Munro's mother, Saki, at the age of two, was sent to Broad gate Villa, in Pilton village near Barnstaple, North Devon to be raised by aunts who frequently resorted to corporal punishment. Although these aunts were probably well-intentioned, they brought him up in a regime of strictnessIs this Essay helpful? Join OPPapers to read more and access more than 325,000 just like it!
get better grades and severity. This left an indelible mark on his character, and is immortalized in a number of his short stories, especially Sredni Vashtar and The Lumber Room.
In her Biography of Saki Munro's sister writes: "One of Munro's aunts, Augusta, was a woman of ungovernable temper, of fierce likes and dislikes, imperious, a moral coward, possessing no brains worth speaking of, and a primitive disposition." Naturally the last person who should have been in charge of children. The character of the aunt in The Lumber-Room is Aunt Augusta to the life.
The story describes one day of as little orphan Nicolas who was guarded by dictatorial, biased and however haughty aunt Agusta. This very day Nicolas was s in disgrace as his aunt believed. He put a frog into his bread-and milk at breakfast table and was banned to go to a fascinating Jags borough expedition with his cousins. Besides, the gooseberry garden was a forbidden fruit. While reading, the truth comes to the light - this... Read Full Essay
Text Analysis
The Lumber Room
The text under analysis is written by an outstanding British novelist and short story writer Hector Munro. Hector Hugh Munro (December 18, 1870 – November 13, 1916), better known by the pen name Saki, was a British writer, whose witty and sometimes macabre stories satirized Edwardian society and culture. He is considered a master of the short story and is often compared to O. Henry and Dorothy Parker. His tales feature delicately drawn characters and finely judged narratives. Saki's world contrasts the effete conventions and hypocrisies of Edwardian England with the ruthless but straightforward life-and-death struggles of nature. Nature generally wins in the end.
Owing to the death of his mother and his father's absence abroad he was brought up during his childhood, with his elder brother and sister, by a grandmother and two aunts. It seems probable that their stem and unsympathetic methods account for Munro’s strong dislike of anything that smacks of the conventional and the self-righteous. He satirized things that he hated. Munro was killed on the French front during the First World War.
In her Biography of Saki Munro’s sister writes: “One of Munro’s aunts, Augusta, was a woman of ungovernable temper, of fierce likes and dislikes, imperious, a moral coward, possessing no brains worth speaking of, and a primitive disposition.” Naturally the last person who should have been in charge of children. The character of the aunt in The Lumber-Room is Aunt Augusta to the life.
The story tells about a little orphan Nicholas who was trusted to his tyrannical and dull-witted aunt. One day Nicholas was “in disgrace”, so he duped his Aunt into believing that he was somehow trying to get into the gooseberry garden, but instead had no intention of doing so but did sneak into the Lumber Room. There a tremendous picture of a hunter and a stag opened to him. Soon his aunt tried to look for the boy and slipped into the rain-water tank. She asked Nicholas to fetch her a ladder but the boy pretended not to understand her, he said that she was the Evil One.
The story presents extremely topical subjects. Actually, the whole novel can be divided into two parts: Child’s world and Adult’s world. The author seems to be suggesting that adulthood causes one to lose all sense of fun, imagination. Adults become obsessed with insignificant trivialities, like the Aunt which is obsessed about punishing and nitpicking on the children. Children in Munro’s stories are very imaginative. Nicholas imagines the whole story behind the tapestry while the Aunt comes out with boring stories and ideas like a circus or going to the beach. She tries to convince Nicholas about the fun of a trip to the beach, of circus, but lacks the imagination to sound convincing. She describes the beach outing as beautiful and glorious but cannot say in detail how it will be beautiful or glorious because she is not creative. As for the Lumber room, it is symbolic of fun and imagination of the child’s world which is definitely lacking in the adult world. It emphasizes the destruction of life that adulthood and pride can bring. The Aunt’s world is full of warped priorities. She puts punishment and withholding of enjoyment as more important than getting to know and molding the lives of the children. She keeps all the beautiful and creative things of the house locked away in a lumber-room so as not to spoil them but in doing so, the purpose of the objects which is to beauty the house, is lost, leaving the house dull and colourless.
The excerpt is homogeneous. The story is narrated in the 3rd person. This allows the reader to access the situation and the characters in an unbiased and objective manner. This is especially so because the characters are complex, having both positive and negative viewpoints. The third person point of view is impersonal which fits the impersonal atmosphere of the household.
The text can be divided into several parts:
• The exposition, in which we learn about little Nicholas, his cousins and his strict aunt. Nicholas got into his aunt’s disgrace. So his cousins were to be taken to Jagborough sands that afternoon and he was to stay at home. The Aunt was absolutely sure that the boy was determined to get into the gooseberry garden because I have told him he is not to.
• The complication, when Nicholas got into an unknown land of lumber-room. Forbidden fruit is sweet and truly the lumber-room is described as a storehouse of unimagined treasure. Every single item brings life and imagination to Nicholas and is symbolic of what the adult of real world lacks. He often pictured to himself what the lumber-room was like, since that was the region that was so carefully sealed from youthful eyes. The tapestry brings to life imagination and fantasy within Nicholas, the interesting pots and candlesticks bring an aesthetic quality, visual beauty which stirs up his creative mind; and lastly a large square book full of coloured pictures of birds. And such birds! They allow Nicholas to learn in a fun and exciting way.
Sources www.oppapers.com/essays/Text-Analysis
Victorian Poets
Victorian Poets include:
• Matthew Arnold
• Charlotte Bronte
• Emily Bronte
• Elizabeth Browning
• Robert Browning
• Ralph Waldo Emerson
• Gerard Manley Hopkins
• Rudyard Kipling
• Christina Rossetti
• Dante Gabriella Rossetti
• Alfred Tennyson
• Oscar Wilde
Victorian Poetry
The Victorian Period literally describes the events in the age of Queen Victoria’s reign of 1837-1901. The term Victorian has connotations of repression and social conformity; however in the realm of poetry these labels are somewhat misplaced. The Victorian age provided a significant development of poetic ideals such as the increased use of the Sonnet as a poetic form, which was to influence later modern poets. Poets in the Victorian period were to some extent influenced by the Romantic Poets such as Keats, William Blake, Shelley and W. Wordsworth. Wordsworth was Poet Laureate until 1850 so can be viewed as a bridge between the Romantic period and the Victorian period. Wordsworth was succeeded by Lord Tennyson, Queen Victoria's favorite poet.
Victorian Poetry was an important period in the history of poetry, providing the link between the Romantic movement and the modernist movement of the 20th Century. It is not always possible to neatly categorize poets in these broad movements. For example Gerard Manley Hopkins is often cited as an example of a poet who maintained much of the Romantics sensibility in his writings.
Female Victorian Poets
Before the Victorian era there were very few famous female poets. In the early nineteenth century writing was still seen as a predominantly male preserve. However despite views such as this the Victorian period saw the emergence of many important female poets.
The Bronte sisters were perhaps better known for their romantic novels but their poetry, especially that of Emily Bronte, has received more critical acclaim in recent years. Many have suggested that her works were a reflection of the difficulties women of that period faced. Other significant female poets include Elizabeth Browning and Christina Rossetti. Christina Rossetti in some ways could be viewed as a more typical Victorian poet. Her poetry reflected her deep Anglican faith and frequently pursued themes such as love and faith.
Sources: www.poetseers.org/the_great_poets/vic
What is Victorian poetry?
Victorian poetry is classified poetry written in England during the time of Queen Victoria. It followed the Romantic movement, and is marked by darker qualities and subjects.
Romanticism offers an idealized look at the world. Life are beautified, and the human pursuit of knowledge and power as a wonderful thing. Romantic poetry also tends to personify and beautify nature. The poet attempts to connect himself to nature and relate with it. For example, in his poem "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud", William Wordsworth compares himself to a drifting cloud, and then rejoices in the beauty of a field of daffodils.
Victorian Poetry, however, is much harsher and realistic. During the Victorian era, people became aware of the grave social injustices in their world, and therefore many people didn't like the romanticized version of society. Victorian poetry tends to deal with more serious and realistic subjects, such as child labor, slavery, and other such social injustices. It often called for social reform, as in Elizabeth Barrett Browning's "The Cry of the Children". In this poem, Browning write of the atrocity of slavery, and the damage it has done to children and families.
Victorian poetry marks society's progression from the carefree notions of Romanticism to a state of social awareness and reform.
Sources: wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_victorian
D.N. Aloysius
Lecturer in English
Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities
Rajarata University of Sri Lanka
15.01.2011
External Degree -GAQ 16.01.2011-Bhiksu University-Anuradhapura
Romeo and Juliet
William Shakespeare
Setting
The play takes place in the town of Verona.
Background information
The Montagues and Capulets are two rivalry families.They are involved in a family feud that goes back years before any of the members were born.Yet the feud still continues due to the fact that neither family is ready to forgive and forget the past. Even the townspeople are involved because the families do not keep the feud in the privacy of their own home but have been seen fighting in the public streets and displaying violence. They disrupt the peace of Verona and even Prince Escalus personally had to break up a fight, where the family members were heavily fined. They were also given a warning that another public fight could result in death. While this is occurring Romeo, the main character, is getting over his last love, Rosaline, and was very upset. Juliet of the Capulet household has just been introduced to a wealthy young man, Paris, who her parents wish her to marry. Yet she does not love him.
Characters
• Romeo is a Montague. He falls in love with Juliet and proceeds to marry her. He is a tragic character. He is characterized as hasty and emotional. He is young.
• Juliet- She is a Capulet. She falls in love with Romeo. She believes marriage should be for love. She is also characterized as hasty. She is young
• Lord Capulet- He is Juliet's father. He is strict, harsh, not understanding. He wants her to marry Paris.
• Lady Montague-She is Romeo's mother. She is very busy and strict.
• Lord Montague-He is Romeo' father. He is stubborn and not willing to forgive.
• County Paris- He is kinsman of Prince. He cares about Juliet and wishes to marry her.
• Prince Escalus- He is Prince of Verona. He wants to call a truce and end the family feud.
• Friar Lawrence- He is the Priest in Verona. He weds Romeo and Juliet hoping it will unite both families. Instead it causes fighting. He later gives Juliet sleeping potion. He helps Romeo out.
• Friar John-He was supposed to deliver a letter to Romeo about Juliet, but Romeo did not get it.
• The Nurse- She cared for Juliet during childhood. She wants Juliet to be happy. She is very talkative.
• Mercutio-He is a good friend of Romeo
• Balthasar-He is a servant amd a friend of Romeo.
• Benvolio- He is a friend of Romeo
• Tybalt- He is a nephew of Lady Capulet. He has a bad temper.
• Samson- He is a Capulet servant
• Gregory-He is a Capulet servant
Plot summary
Romeo (Montague), who is in love with Rosaline, goes to a party in an effort to forget her or to ease his broken heart. At this party he met Juliet, and immediately fell in love with her. He later finds out that she is a Capulet, the rival family of the Montagues. He decides that he loves her anyway and they confess their love for each other during the very famous "balcony scene" in which they agree to secretly marry the next day. Friar Lawrence agrees to marry them in an effort to end the feuding between the families. Unfortunately, the fighting gets worse and Mercutio (Montague) , a good friend of Romeo's, ends up in a fight with Tybalt (Capulet), Juliet's cousin. Tybalt kills Mercutio, which causes Romeo to kill Tybalt in an angry rage. For this, Romeo is banished from Verona.
At the same time, the Capulet's are planning Juliet's marriage to Paris. Juliet does not want to marry this man so she arranges with Friar Lawrence to fake her own death with a sleeping potion that will make everyone think that she is dead. Friar Lawrence promises to send word to Romeo to meet her when the potion wears off and to rescue her to Mantua, where Romeo is currently staying. There they would live happily ever after. Unfortunately, Romeo does not receive this message on time and upon hearing of her "death" goes to Juliet's tomb where he drinks poison and dies. When Juliet's potion wears off, she awaken's to find her lover's corpse. She then proceeds to stab herself with Romeo's dagger. The two families find the bodies and their shared sorrow, finally make peace with each other.
Themes
• Hastiness- Romeo is hasty to fall in and out of love. The two are too hasty to get married; they never thought about what could go wrong.
• Infatuation- Romeo and Juliet, in all probability, were not really in love. They were infatuated with each other. They were in love with the idea that they were in love. They could not have fallen so deeply in love with only one conversation.
• Selfishness- Everyone in this play (except Benvolio) acts selfishly. Juliet never told her parents about Romeo and did the selfish act of faking her death, which greatly upset them. The Capulets were selfish for making Juliet marry a man that she did not love. Both of the families were selfish for continuing the fighting. Friar Lawrence ran away when they saw the two families go into the tomb. He wanted to prevent himself from getting in trouble. Tybalt was selfish for killing Mercutio. Romeo was not thinking of Juliet as he killed her cousin.
Key Issues
• Feuding- The feuding of the families was the whole reason for the tragedy. They should have reconciled their differences years ago. They didn't even know what they were fighting about.
• Stereotypes-Some members of the Capulets and Montagues have never even met and yet they hate each other. Why? Because of a person's last name.
• Dreams- The whole story had occurred in a dream which foretold their fate . This was a warning for Romeo yet he chose to ignore it.
• Decisions- Many difficult decisions had to be made. Friar's decision to marry them was difficult. He could have told their parents. He risked taking the responsibility for marrying them knowing it might cause upheaval. Juliet had the difficult decision of how to get out of marrying Paris. She was also confronted with the dilemma of whether to appease her parents and follow their wishes which would mean marrying Paris or follow her heart and marry Romeo. The families made the decision to end their feud to prevent any more unnecessary deaths.
• Sacrifices- Romeo and Juliet were willing to sacrifice their relationship with their families in order to be together.
• Fate- It was considered fate that they would meet and fall in love and then die for each other. Fate brought them together as well as ended their lives. It was in the stars.
Moral lessons
There is more to love than lust. Romeo and Juliet did not take the time to get to know each other and form a deep intimate relationship. They rushed into their relationship. They were also very young to be experiencing love . Even people much older than them do not know what love means. It may have really been true love that was mutually felt by both of them though.
Labels mean nothing- Their last name was a label. Their names were what almost kept them apart. . But love saw through that. They saw each other in secrecy and soon fell madly in love. Love sees no barriers.
Listen to advice-If the families had listened to the Prince of Verona and made peace, then Mercutio and Tybalt would not have died. If Romeo and Juliet would have listened to the advice given to them by the Friar then they would not have died so young. The Friar cautioned them about acting hasty and irrational. But instead the star-crossed lovers meet the fate of death.
Don't seek revenge-The families sought revenge for things that did not even involve them and happened years ago. They needed to forgive and forget. Yet when both parties are stubborn it takes the death of two young lovers for them to realize that their actions were wrong. . Tybalt called Romeo a villain and dared him to fight. With his refusal Mercutio began to fight Tybalt to defend the family name. Romeo tries to stop them, but it is too late when Tybalt kills Mercutio. In anger and guilt Romeo than retaliates and catches Tybalt. In Romeo's rashness Tybalt dies.
Don't act hastily- This involves the manner in which Romeo and Juliet acted. They should have thought things through first before they jumped into matrimony. Matrimony is a lifetime thing and not just a teenage phase.
D.N. Aloysius
Lecturer in English
Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities
Rajarata University of Sri Lanka
23.01.2011
William Shakespeare
Setting
The play takes place in the town of Verona.
Background information
The Montagues and Capulets are two rivalry families.They are involved in a family feud that goes back years before any of the members were born.Yet the feud still continues due to the fact that neither family is ready to forgive and forget the past. Even the townspeople are involved because the families do not keep the feud in the privacy of their own home but have been seen fighting in the public streets and displaying violence. They disrupt the peace of Verona and even Prince Escalus personally had to break up a fight, where the family members were heavily fined. They were also given a warning that another public fight could result in death. While this is occurring Romeo, the main character, is getting over his last love, Rosaline, and was very upset. Juliet of the Capulet household has just been introduced to a wealthy young man, Paris, who her parents wish her to marry. Yet she does not love him.
Characters
• Romeo is a Montague. He falls in love with Juliet and proceeds to marry her. He is a tragic character. He is characterized as hasty and emotional. He is young.
• Juliet- She is a Capulet. She falls in love with Romeo. She believes marriage should be for love. She is also characterized as hasty. She is young
• Lord Capulet- He is Juliet's father. He is strict, harsh, not understanding. He wants her to marry Paris.
• Lady Montague-She is Romeo's mother. She is very busy and strict.
• Lord Montague-He is Romeo' father. He is stubborn and not willing to forgive.
• County Paris- He is kinsman of Prince. He cares about Juliet and wishes to marry her.
• Prince Escalus- He is Prince of Verona. He wants to call a truce and end the family feud.
• Friar Lawrence- He is the Priest in Verona. He weds Romeo and Juliet hoping it will unite both families. Instead it causes fighting. He later gives Juliet sleeping potion. He helps Romeo out.
• Friar John-He was supposed to deliver a letter to Romeo about Juliet, but Romeo did not get it.
• The Nurse- She cared for Juliet during childhood. She wants Juliet to be happy. She is very talkative.
• Mercutio-He is a good friend of Romeo
• Balthasar-He is a servant amd a friend of Romeo.
• Benvolio- He is a friend of Romeo
• Tybalt- He is a nephew of Lady Capulet. He has a bad temper.
• Samson- He is a Capulet servant
• Gregory-He is a Capulet servant
Plot summary
Romeo (Montague), who is in love with Rosaline, goes to a party in an effort to forget her or to ease his broken heart. At this party he met Juliet, and immediately fell in love with her. He later finds out that she is a Capulet, the rival family of the Montagues. He decides that he loves her anyway and they confess their love for each other during the very famous "balcony scene" in which they agree to secretly marry the next day. Friar Lawrence agrees to marry them in an effort to end the feuding between the families. Unfortunately, the fighting gets worse and Mercutio (Montague) , a good friend of Romeo's, ends up in a fight with Tybalt (Capulet), Juliet's cousin. Tybalt kills Mercutio, which causes Romeo to kill Tybalt in an angry rage. For this, Romeo is banished from Verona.
At the same time, the Capulet's are planning Juliet's marriage to Paris. Juliet does not want to marry this man so she arranges with Friar Lawrence to fake her own death with a sleeping potion that will make everyone think that she is dead. Friar Lawrence promises to send word to Romeo to meet her when the potion wears off and to rescue her to Mantua, where Romeo is currently staying. There they would live happily ever after. Unfortunately, Romeo does not receive this message on time and upon hearing of her "death" goes to Juliet's tomb where he drinks poison and dies. When Juliet's potion wears off, she awaken's to find her lover's corpse. She then proceeds to stab herself with Romeo's dagger. The two families find the bodies and their shared sorrow, finally make peace with each other.
Themes
• Hastiness- Romeo is hasty to fall in and out of love. The two are too hasty to get married; they never thought about what could go wrong.
• Infatuation- Romeo and Juliet, in all probability, were not really in love. They were infatuated with each other. They were in love with the idea that they were in love. They could not have fallen so deeply in love with only one conversation.
• Selfishness- Everyone in this play (except Benvolio) acts selfishly. Juliet never told her parents about Romeo and did the selfish act of faking her death, which greatly upset them. The Capulets were selfish for making Juliet marry a man that she did not love. Both of the families were selfish for continuing the fighting. Friar Lawrence ran away when they saw the two families go into the tomb. He wanted to prevent himself from getting in trouble. Tybalt was selfish for killing Mercutio. Romeo was not thinking of Juliet as he killed her cousin.
Key Issues
• Feuding- The feuding of the families was the whole reason for the tragedy. They should have reconciled their differences years ago. They didn't even know what they were fighting about.
• Stereotypes-Some members of the Capulets and Montagues have never even met and yet they hate each other. Why? Because of a person's last name.
• Dreams- The whole story had occurred in a dream which foretold their fate . This was a warning for Romeo yet he chose to ignore it.
• Decisions- Many difficult decisions had to be made. Friar's decision to marry them was difficult. He could have told their parents. He risked taking the responsibility for marrying them knowing it might cause upheaval. Juliet had the difficult decision of how to get out of marrying Paris. She was also confronted with the dilemma of whether to appease her parents and follow their wishes which would mean marrying Paris or follow her heart and marry Romeo. The families made the decision to end their feud to prevent any more unnecessary deaths.
• Sacrifices- Romeo and Juliet were willing to sacrifice their relationship with their families in order to be together.
• Fate- It was considered fate that they would meet and fall in love and then die for each other. Fate brought them together as well as ended their lives. It was in the stars.
Moral lessons
There is more to love than lust. Romeo and Juliet did not take the time to get to know each other and form a deep intimate relationship. They rushed into their relationship. They were also very young to be experiencing love . Even people much older than them do not know what love means. It may have really been true love that was mutually felt by both of them though.
Labels mean nothing- Their last name was a label. Their names were what almost kept them apart. . But love saw through that. They saw each other in secrecy and soon fell madly in love. Love sees no barriers.
Listen to advice-If the families had listened to the Prince of Verona and made peace, then Mercutio and Tybalt would not have died. If Romeo and Juliet would have listened to the advice given to them by the Friar then they would not have died so young. The Friar cautioned them about acting hasty and irrational. But instead the star-crossed lovers meet the fate of death.
Don't seek revenge-The families sought revenge for things that did not even involve them and happened years ago. They needed to forgive and forget. Yet when both parties are stubborn it takes the death of two young lovers for them to realize that their actions were wrong. . Tybalt called Romeo a villain and dared him to fight. With his refusal Mercutio began to fight Tybalt to defend the family name. Romeo tries to stop them, but it is too late when Tybalt kills Mercutio. In anger and guilt Romeo than retaliates and catches Tybalt. In Romeo's rashness Tybalt dies.
Don't act hastily- This involves the manner in which Romeo and Juliet acted. They should have thought things through first before they jumped into matrimony. Matrimony is a lifetime thing and not just a teenage phase.
D.N. Aloysius
Lecturer in English
Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities
Rajarata University of Sri Lanka
23.01.2011
Buddhasravaka Bhiksu University- External Degree- GAQ-Seminar-16.01.2011
Romeo and Juliet
The play begins with a large fight between the Capulets and the Montagues, two prestigious families in Verona, Italy. These families have been fighting for quite some time, and the Prince declares that their next public brawl will be punished by death. When the fight is over, Romeo’s cousin Benvolio tries to cheer him of his melancholy. Romeo reveals that he is in love with a woman named Rosaline, but she has chosen to live a life of chastity. Romeo and Benvolio are accidentally invited to their enemy’s party; Benvolio convinces Romeo to go.
At the party, Romeo locks eyes with a young woman named Juliet. They instantly fall in love, but they do not realize that their families are mortal enemies. When they realize each other’s identities, they are devastated, but they cannot help the way that they feel. Romeo sneaks into Juliet’s yard after the party and proclaims his love for her. She returns his sentiments and the two decide to marry. The next day, Romeo and Juliet are married by Friar Lawrence; an event witnessed by Juliet’s Nurse and Romeo’s loyal servant, Balthasar. They plan to meet in Juliet’s chambers that night.
Romeo visits his best friend Mercutio and his cousin Benvolio but his good mood is curtailed. Juliet’s cousin, Tybalt, starts a verbal quarrel with Romeo, which soon turns into a duel with Mercutio. Romeo tries to stop the fight but it is too late: Tybalt kills Mercutio. Romeo, enraged, retaliates by killing Tybalt. Once Romeo realizes the consequences of his actions, he hides at Friar Lawrence’s cell.
Friar Lawrence informs Romeo that he has been banished from Verona and will be killed if he stays. The Friar suggests Romeo spend the night with Juliet, then leave for Mantua in the morning. He tells Romeo that he will attempt to settle the Capulet and Montague dispute so Romeo can later return to a united family. Romeo takes his advice, spending one night with Juliet before fleeing Verona.
Juliet’s mother, completely unaware of her daughter's secret marriage to Romeo, informs Juliet that she will marry a man named Paris in a few days. Juliet, outraged, refuses to comply. Her parents tell her that she must marry Paris and the Nurse agrees with them. Juliet asks Friar Lawrence for advice, insisting she would rather die than marry Paris. Fr. Lawrence gives Juliet a potion which will make her appear dead and tells her to take it the night before the wedding. He promises to send word to Romeo - intending the two lovers be reunited in the Capulet vault.
Juliet drinks the potion and everybody assumes that she is dead — including Balthasar, who immediately tells Romeo. Friar Lawrence’s letter fails to reach Romeo, so he assumes that his wife is dead. He rushes to Juliet’s tomb and, in deep grief, drinks a vial of poison. Moments later, Juliet wakes to find Romeo dead and kills herself due to grief. Once the families discover what happened, they finally end their bitter feud. Thus the youngsters' deaths bring the families together. Romeo And Juliet is a true tragedy in the literary sense because the families gather sufficient self-knowledge to correct their behaviour but not until it is too late to save the situation.
Montagues
Romeo — sole heir to the Montague fortune
Lord Montague — Romeo’s father
Lady Montague — Romeo’s mother
Benvolio — Romeo’s cousin
Balthasar — Romeo’s faithful servant
Abraham — Montague servant
Capulets
Juliet — sole heir to the Capulet fortune
Lord Capulet — Juliet’s father
Lady Capulet — Juliet’s mother
Tybalt — Juliet’s cousin
The Nurse — Juliet’s faithful Nurse
Peter — Capulet servant
Sampson — Capulet servant
Gregory — Capulet servant
Peripheral characters
Friar Lawrence — friend and advisor to Romeo and Juliet
Mercutio — Romeo’s best friend; Prince’s kinsman
Prince Escalus — Prince of Verona; kinsman to Mercutio and Paris
Paris — Loves Juliet
Rosaline — Romeo’s first love who never actually appears in the play
Friar John — Friar Lawrence’s friend
Apothecary — Romeo’s acquaintance in Mantua
Scene summaries
Prologue
The prologue to this play essentially summarizes the entire story. Two prominent families (the Montagues and the Capulets) from the city of Verona are at war with one another. These families have battled against each other for quite some time, but things have recently become even worse. From these households, two people will fall in love, but their “star-cross’d” relationship will end in death. Once these two people die, the families will finally end their bitter feud. The familial grudge, the lovers, and their untimely death will be the topic of this two hour play.
Act I, Scene i
Sampson and Gregory, two Capulet servants, discuss how much they despise the Montague family. The two make puns about how they would like to defeat the Montague men and sexually conquer the Montague women. Their banter is interrupted when they spot two Montague servants. Gregory and Sampson try to determine the best way to begin a fight without being held accountable, and Sampson decides to bite his thumb at the Montagues. As this is considered a strong insult, Abraham and Balthasar, the two Montague men, take offense and begin a verbal quarrel. Benvolio from the Montague side sees this fight and draws his sword to force peace upon both parties. When Tybalt from the Capulet side sees this, he draws his own sword and informs Benvolio that he hates peace as much as he hates all Montagues. A widespread fight breaks out and Lords Capulet and Montague attempt to enter the fray. Their wives force them to stay out of the brawl, a command which is soon reinforced by Prince Escalus. The Prince decrees that the Montagues and Capulets have disturbed the peace too many times, and future disturbances will be punished by death. With that, everybody leaves, except for Montague, Lady Montague, and their nephew, Benvolio.
Montague demands to know how the fight began, and Benvolio explains what happened. Lady Montague is less concerned with the fight than she is with her melancholy son, Romeo. She asks Benvolio if he has seen Romeo, and Benvolio says that he has seen his depressed cousin wandering among the sycamores outside the city. The Montagues are distressed over their son’s sadness and they confide that Romeo will not explain the source of his misery. When Benvolio sees his cousin approaching, he tells Lord and Lady Montague that he will find the source of Romeo’s problems. Romeo’s parents quickly leave, and Romeo approaches Benvolio. He informs Benvolio that he is miserable because he is in love with a woman named Rosaline who does not return his affection. Furthermore, she does not return any man’s affection because she wants to live a life of chastity. Benvolio encourages Romeo to forget about Rosaline by focusing on other beautiful women. Romeo insists that there are no other women for him, and Benvolio vows to prove him wrong.
Act I, Scene ii
Capulet and Paris, one of the Prince’s kinsmen, walk together and discuss Paris’ desire to marry Juliet. Capulet is happy about this request, but he insists that Paris should wait two years because Juliet is not even 14 years old yet. Capulet tries to console Paris by saying that he is throwing a party that would serve as the perfect place for Paris to woo Juliet. Capulet gives a guest list to a servant named Peter and tells him to invite the guests. As Paris and Capulet walk away, Peter reveals that this will not be an easy task because he cannot read. Fortunately, Romeo and Benvolio wander by at that moment and Romeo reads the list aloud. Peter feels relieved and invites Romeo and Mercutio to the masquerade feast, provided that they are not Montagues. Benvolio persuades Romeo to go to the party to get his mind off Rosaline. Romeo agrees, but only because he saw Rosaline’s name on the list.
Act I, Scene iii
At the Capulet house, Lady Capulet tells the Nurse to find Juliet. When Juliet enters the room, Lady Capulet tells the Nurse to leave so she can speak in privacy. She quickly thinks better and tells the Nurse to stay so she can help her. The Nurse immediately reminisces back to Juliet’s youth and states that Juliet is the most beautiful child the Nurse has taken care of. She says that she hopes she will see Juliet married some day, at which point Lady Capulet brings up her subject. She asks Juliet if she wants to get married, and Juliet replies that she hasn’t given the subject much thought. Lady Capulet tells Juliet that Paris will be at the party tonight, and that he would make a fine husband. Juliet succumbs to her mother’s will and says that she will see whether or not she could love him. The conversation is cut short when a servant tells them that the feast is ready.
Act I, Scene iv
Romeo, Benvolio, and their friend Mercutio gather with other guests and walk towards the Capulet’s feast. Romeo wonders how they will get into the feast without being recognized, despite the fact that they are all wearing masks. Mercutio tries to cheer Romeo up by telling him that he must dance at the party. Ever the melancholy one, Romeo replies that he is too depressed to dance. Mercutio then begins one of the most famous speeches from any Shakespeare play when he begins speaking about Queen Mab. At first, Mercutio is lighthearted, but he soon becomes angry. Romeo calms Mercutio down and reveals one final bit of depressing news. He says that he has a terrible feeling about this party, and he fears that death is in the stars. Still, Romeo and his friends make their way into the feast.
Act I, Scene v
The feast begins and all is well. Capulet greets all his guests and everybody is having a wonderful time. Romeo spots Juliet from across the room and he immediately forgets about Rosaline. Tybalt hears Romeo’s voice and becomes enraged. He attempts to start a fight, but Capulet refuses to have any blood shed in his home. Tybalt vows that he will get his revenge at a later time. Meanwhile, Romeo is so smitten by Juliet’s beauty that he asks her to kiss him. The two speak in metaphors that proclaim Romeo as a pilgrim and Juliet as the saint who can redeem him. Juliet agrees to stand still while Romeo eliminates his sin through her lips, but Juliet then realizes that his sin is now in her mouth. Romeo happily takes his sin back by kissing her again. The Nurse interrupts them and sends Juliet to speak with her mother. Romeo learns that Juliet is the daughter of his mortal enemy just as Benvolio tells him it is time to leave. As everybody departs, Juliet nonchalantly asks the Nurse to name certain people. When the Nurse labels Romeo as a Montague, Juliet is devastated.
Act II, Scene i
Romeo feels compelled to stay at Juliet’s house because that is where his heart belongs. He climbs over the wall and into the orchard while his friends taunt him from the other side. Mercutio mocks Romeo’s feelings for Rosaline, but when Romeo does not surface, he and Benvolio go home.
Act II, Scene ii
Romeo hides in the Capulet’s orchard and sees Juliet in her window. Romeo quietly professes his love for her and compares her to various beautiful elements in the world. He remains hidden while Juliet laments over her predicament. Once Romeo is certain that Juliet is as distraught as he is, he makes his presence known. At first, Juliet is startled and slightly angry to know that he invaded her private lamentations. Juliet demands to know why he is there and how he got there. Romeo tells her that the power of his love helped him climb the high walls, and Juliet’s demeanor softens. Romeo and Juliet proclaim their love to one another, and it is clear that they are both serious. However, Juliet wants more proof. After the Nurse calls her inside, Juliet tells Romeo that if he is serious about his vow that he will have word of their marriage tomorrow. He tells Juliet to send somebody to him at 9:00 so they may discuss the subject of marriage. Romeo and Juliet regretfully part for the night, but both are excited about what the day will bring.
Act II, Scene iii
Friar Lawrence is introduced into the play while he tends to his garden. He explains that some plants and flowers have medicinal qualities while others can lead to horrible things. He turns this into a metaphor for the actions of people by stating that a similar battle of good and evil rages within the hearts of men. Friar Lawrence is interrupted when Romeo enters the scene. At first, Friar Lawrence thinks that Romeo spent his night sinning with Rosaline. Romeo informs him that he has “forgot that name and that name’s woe.” Friar Lawrence is happy to hear this until Romeo informs him that he spent the night with his enemy. He tells Friar Lawrence that he is in love with Juliet, and Friar Lawrence is astonished. He justifies Romeo’s change of heart by saying that young men love with their eyes, not with their hearts. Romeo convinces him that his love is true, and that he and Juliet wish to be married immediately. Though reluctant at first, Friar Lawrence gives his consent in hope that this marriage will end the rivalry between Montague and Capulet. Before Romeo leaves, Friar Lawrence advises him to slow down because “they stumble that run fast.”
Act II, Scene iv
Benvolio and Mercutio want to know where Romeo was last night. He never returned to his father’s house, where Tybalt sent him a letter challenging him to a duel. Mercutio and Benvolio are concerned with Romeo’s ability to fight in a duel with his recent melancholic state. Before they can speculate further, Romeo enters the scene. The three banter back and forth and Romeo is clearly in a better mood than he was the last time he saw them. Their playful banter is cut short when the Nurse and Peter enter the scene. Mercutio pokes fun at the Nurse until she asks to speak to Romeo in privacy. Mercutio and Benvolio exit, reminding Romeo to meet them at his father’s house for dinner.
The Nurse is angry at Mercutio’s behavior, which initially makes her suspicious of Romeo’s intentions. She is relieved to hear that Romeo fully plans to marry Juliet. He tells the Nurse that Juliet must find a way to go to church that evening because that is when they will be wed. Romeo also tells the Nurse that he will send his servant to the Capulet house with a rope ladder so Romeo can climb up to Juliet’s window that night.
Act II, Scene v
Juliet impatiently awaits news from the Nurse because she is eager to hear what Romeo said of their marriage. When the Nurse arrives, she procrastinates and avoids giving Juliet the good news. She complains of her aching bones and the incredible heat, and Juliet humors her with mock sympathy. Finally, the Nurse tells Juliet what she has been waiting to hear: she and Romeo will be wed tonight.
Act II, Scene vi
Friar Lawrence and Romeo wait for Juliet in Friar Lawrence’s cell. Friar Lawrence hopes that this wedding is a good idea and that it will not end with sorrow. Romeo is convinced that nothing could end in sorrow because Juliet fills him with so much joy. Juliet enters the cell, where she and Romeo exchange their vows of love. Friar Lawrence sees that the two do indeed love one another, and he performs the wedding ceremony.
Act III, Scene i
Benvolio and Mercutio walk through the streets of Verona and Benvolio suggests that they should go home for the day. He says that if they stay out they are bound to run into the Capulets and a quarrel will be inevitable. Mercutio does not care if they encounter the Capulets; in fact, he wishes they would. His wishes are soon granted because Tybalt and his men enter the scene. Mercutio spurs Tybalt on with a battle of words, while Benvolio tries to convince Tybalt to settle this matter peacefully.
Before Tybalt can respond, Romeo approaches the group. Tybalt tells Romeo that he is a villain, and it is clear that Tybalt wants to fight. However, Romeo wishes to keep the peace because he is now married to Juliet. He tells Tybalt that he has no quarrel with the Capulets and that he considers their name as important as his own. Mercutio is outraged at Romeo’s attempts at peace, and he draws his sword. Tybalt draws his sword and the two begin to duel. Romeo attempts to stop their fight and Tybalt takes that opportunity to stab Mercutio from under Romeo’s arm.
While Tybalt and his men flee, Mercutio reveals the true nature of his wound. He curses the houses of Montague and Capulet before he dies. Romeo immediately realizes that his love for Juliet softened him to the point where he lost his honor and his friend. He vows vengeance and is consumed with rage by the time Tybalt returns. He tells Tybalt that Mercutio’s soul has not gone far and that one of their souls must join him. Romeo and Tybalt engage in a sword fight, and Tybalt falls down dead. Benvolio convinces Romeo to flee because he will surely be killed for this offense. Romeo shouts “I am fortune’s fool” and hastily exits the scene.
The citizens of Verona, the Prince, the Montagues, and the Capulets enter the scene, demanding to know what happened. Benvolio explains that Romeo had good intentions, but he is responsible for Tybalt’s death. Lady Capulet demands justice, but the Prince angrily interrupts her. He says that two people have already died and there is no need to make more men join them. The Prince banishes Romeo from Verona and proclaims that if Romeo is found within Verona’s walls, he shall be killed.
Act III, Scene ii
Juliet impatiently waits for nighttime to fall so she can be with Romeo. The Nurse enters her room with the ladder from Romeo, and Juliet can see that something is wrong. At first, Juliet misunderstands and she thinks that Romeo and Tybalt are both dead. The Nurse clarifies the situation and says that Romeo killed Tybalt and is now banished. Juliet feels betrayed and she cannot believe her misfortune. She soon forgives Romeo, and gives the Nurse her ring to give to Romeo. Despite all that has happened, Juliet still wants to spend a first and final night with her husband.
Act III, Scene iii
Romeo hides in Friar Lawrence’s cell, waiting to learn of his punishment. When Friar Lawrence tells him that he will live, but he has been banished, Romeo is devastated. He claims that there is no life outside of Verona and away from Juliet. Friar Lawrence tries to talk some sense into Romeo by reminding him that he could have been murdered for his actions. However, Romeo is too consumed by his grief to listen to logic, and he continues to throw a near temper tantrum until the Nurse arrives.
The Nurse convinces him to stand up and “be a man” for Juliet’s sake. Once he hears her name, Romeo comes to and inquires about his wife. The Nurse informs him that she weeps for her banished husband and for her murdered cousin. Romeo grabs his sword and attempts to cut out the part of him where his vile name lies. Friar Lawrence stops him and tells him to stop acting “womanish.” Friar Lawrence suggests that Romeo spend the night with Juliet, just as he intended. At the light of day, Romeo is to flee to Mantua, where he will wait until Friar Lawrence can put an end to the familial feuds. Friar Lawrence tells Romeo that he will send his servant to Mantua to update Romeo on his progress. The Nurse and Romeo both agree with this plan, and she gives Romeo Juliet’s ring. Romeo says ‘good-bye’ and prepares to leave.
Act III, Scene iv
Paris returns to the Capulet’s house late on Monday night to see what Juliet said of their potential marriage. Capulet tells Paris that he and his wife have not yet spoken to Juliet regarding that matter because of the deaths that occurred earlier that day. Capulet assumes that Juliet will obey him, and he tells Paris that they will be married on Thursday. Capulet tells Lady Capulet to tell Juliet the good news before she goes to sleep.
Act III, Scene v
It is early Tuesday morning and Romeo and Juliet awake from their night together. Juliet tells Romeo that it is not time for him to leave yet, but he insists that he must go. His maturity rapidly fades and he tells Juliet that he would rather stay with her. She takes on the mature role and tells him that he must leave. The Nurse enters and tells Juliet that her mother is on her way to her chambers. Romeo and Juliet share a final kiss before he escapes through her window. As he leaves, she has a vision of him lying in a tomb.
Lady Capulet enters the room and thinks that Juliet’s distress is over Tybalt’s death. She tries to console her by saying that they will send somebody to avenge Tybalt’s death by killing Romeo. Lady Capulet then switches to the ‘happy’ news of her visit and informs Juliet that she will marry Paris on Thursday. To her mother’s astonishment, Juliet adamantly refuses to have anything to do with that plan. Lord Capulet enters the room and learns of his daughter’s refusal. He threatens her and tells her that she will marry Paris, whether she likes it or not. He storms out of the room.
Juliet tries to plea with her mother, but Lady Capulet will not listen. Juliet turns to the Nurse and begs for her help. The Nurse tells Juliet that Romeo is banished and Paris is a fine young man. She recommends that Juliet go to confession and move on with her life. Juliet realizes that the Nurse is no longer on her side and she agrees to go to confession. Once the Nurse leaves, Juliet reveals that she is going to ask Friar Lawrence for his advice. If he cannot help her, she will resort to suicide.
Act IV, Scene i
Friar Lawrence and Paris discuss the upcoming wedding and Friar Lawrence tries to convince him that Thursday is too soon. Paris reveals that Juliet has been devastated by Tybalt’s death and Lord Capulet thinks this wedding will revive her spirits. Juliet enters the room and tries to avoid Paris’ talk of love and marriage. She asks Friar Lawrence if she can make confession and Paris exits. Once they are alone, Juliet begs Friar Lawrence to help her. She says that if she cannot avoid this marriage, she will certainly kill herself.
Friar Lawrence realizes how dire this situation is and tells Juliet that he has a plan. Juliet will pretend to agree with the marriage to make her family happy. On Wednesday night, she will drink a potion that will induce a sleep that is so deep that she will appear dead. Thursday morning, her family will find her and think she is dead. They will put her in the Capulet tomb, where she will sleep for 42 hours. Friar Lawrence will send word to Romeo about his plan, and Romeo will be waiting in the tomb when Juliet awakens. Then the two can live out the rest of their days together in Mantua.
Act IV, Scene ii
Despite Juliet’s initial disapproval, Lord Capulet, the Nurse, and several servants prepare for the wedding that is to take place in two days. Juliet returns from ‘confession’ and begs her father’s forgiveness. He is thrilled to see that Juliet has returned to her obedient ways and he forgives her immediately. He is so happy by Juliet’s transformation that he decides to hold the wedding on Wednesday instead of Thursday. Juliet asks the Nurse to help her prepare for her wedding and they exit together. Lady Capulet tells her husband that it is late, but he says that he will stay and make sure that everything is perfectly prepared for tomorrow.
Act IV, Scene iii
Juliet tells her mother and the Nurse that she does not need any more help and that she wishes to be left alone. Unaware of what is about to happen, they exit. Juliet is afraid to drink the potion because she has many concerns. At first, she is scared that the potion will not work and that she will have to marry Paris in the morning. Then she becomes scared that Friar Lawrence gave her poison to ensure that she could not tell anybody about his role in her and Romeo’s marriage. Juliet also worries that she might die in the tomb, either by suffocation or by fear. Finally, Juliet imagines that Tybalt’s spirit is going after Romeo and she dismisses her fears. She drinks the potion and falls down as if dead.
Act IV, Scene iv
Capulet, Lady Capulet, the Nurse, and the servants make the last minute preparations for the wedding. While they happily celebrate, they are unaware that Juliet would rather feign death than participate in this occasion. Capulet announces that Paris has arrived and sends the Nurse to Juliet’s room to prepare her for the wedding.
Act IV, Scene v
The Nurse cheerfully enters Juliet’s chambers and tries to wake her. At first, she thinks that Juliet is heavily asleep, but she soon comes to the conclusion that Juliet is dead. Soon after, Lady Capulet rushes into the room and screams for help upon her realization. Capulet, Paris, Friar Lawrence, and the musicians enter the room, and chaos ensues. The true depth of the Capulet’s love for their daughter is revealed as they mourn their terrible loss. Friar Lawrence tries to console them by saying that Juliet is in Heaven now. Capulet states that their happy wedding celebration will now be transformed into a mournful funeral. Everybody leaves except for the musicians, who are not at all concerned with what just took place.
Act V, Scene i
It is Thursday morning and Romeo is waiting to hear news from Verona. Balthasar, Romeo’s servant, enters and tells Romeo that Juliet is dead; he saw her corpse in the Capulet vault. Balthasar does not have any news from Friar Lawrence, so Romeo tells him to return with fast horses, a pen, and paper. Overcome with grief, Romeo remembers that there is an impoverished apothecary in Mantua. Despite the fact that it is illegal to buy poison there, the apothecary grudgingly sells Romeo some poison because he is desperate for money. Romeo exits with the poison, determined to leave this world with his wife.
Act V, Scene ii
Friar Lawrence meets with his friend, Friar John, and asks for the letter Romeo sent. Friar John delivers the terrible news that he was unable to go to Mantua due to the threat of plague. Therefore, he could not deliver Friar Lawrence’s letter to Romeo, so Romeo could not know anything of Friar Lawrence’s new plan. Friar Lawrence asks for a crowbar and attempts to sneak into the Capulet tomb, where Juliet will awaken shortly.
Act V, Scene iii
Outside of the Capulet monument, Paris and a page keep watch for intruders. Romeo and Balthasar approach the tomb, and Romeo bids Balthasar to deliver a letter to Montague. Romeo tells Balthasar that he is just going inside to retrieve Juliet’s ring, and Romeo tells him to leave lest he be killed. Dubious of Romeo’s intentions, Balthasar hides in the churchyard. When Romeo approaches the tomb, Paris recognizes him as the man who murdered Tybalt. He tries to keep Romeo from entering, and they engage in a duel. Romeo kills Paris and the page flees from the scene. Once Romeo realizes who he murdered, he drags Paris inside the vault to bury him with the rest of the deceased Capulets.
Romeo stands next to Juliet and marvels at how beautiful she is, even in death. He kisses her for the last time, drinks his poison, and dies by his wife’s side. Meanwhile, Friar Lawrence arrives and asks Balthasar to enter the tomb with him. Balthasar declines and Friar Lawrence enters alone. He sees that Paris is dead, as is Romeo. To Friar Lawrence’s horror, he can hear people approaching and Juliet awakens. He bids her to leave with him, but she will not go. He flees before his role in the tragedy can be revealed.
Juliet sees that Romeo is dead and he did not leave any poison for her. She kisses him for the last time and plunges a dagger into her heart. Just as she dies, help arrives in the form of a watch and Paris’ page. They discover the three dead bodies and immediately call for help. The Prince arrives, along with the Capulets and the Montagues, and all suspects are called in. Montague reveals that his wife died over the grief she felt over her son’s banishment. The Prince demands to know what happened, and Friar Lawrence relates the entire story. He asks to receive his rightful blame, but the Prince says that they cannot condemn a holy man. Balthasar and the page give their sides of the story, and the truth is revealed when the Prince reads Romeo’s letter to his father. Capulet and Montague shake hands and end the feud that caused so many innocent people to die.
Summary of major Romeo and Juliet characters
Romeo Montague
Romeo is the only son of Lord and Lady Montague. He is young, impulsive, and above all else, passionate. Once Romeo sets his heart on something—or someone—he is convinced that there are no other alternatives. At the beginning of the play, Romeo is so heartbroken over Rosaline that he can barely function. He devotes every waking breath and thought to the woman he cannot have, but he forgets about her as soon as he lays his eyes upon Juliet. Once he meets her, his ideas of love mature with him. While he can finally grasp the true meaning of love, he is still unable to control his impulsive behaviors. As a result, Romeo acts before he thinks, and he often suffers consequences that could have otherwise been avoided. The most obvious case of this type of behavior is when Romeo drinks poison because he believes his wife is dead. If he had thought about the ramifications of his plans before he acted upon them, Romeo could have potentially lived a long life with his Juliet.
Juliet Capulet
Though she is not yet 14 years old, Juliet’s maturity far exceeds that of Romeo. At first, she seems to be merely obedient and her actions strive to please those she cares about. As the play progresses and Juliet falls in love with Romeo, she becomes rational, strong, and mature. She chooses her words wisely and rarely acts on impulse. When Romeo was banished from Verona, Juliet could have easily packed her bags and left with him. Instead, she chose to do the logical thing and wait for a time when they could be peacefully reunited. Unfortunately, there would never be a time for them to reunite. When Juliet realizes this, she chooses death over life without her husband. However, it is important to note that she kills herself over her pure grief, not because she needs a man to survive.
Friar Lawrence
Though he is a kind and religious man who often gives good advice, Friar Lawrence is also responsible for a great deal of conflict in this play. He frequently comes up with good-intentioned schemes that make situations worse than they need to be. It is quite possible that if he didn’t secretly marry Romeo and Juliet, the Capulets and Montagues could have ended their quarrel. If he did not allow Romeo to sneak into Juliet’s room before fleeing for Mantua, there is a good chance that the lovers would have felt less passionate about each other. If he did not concoct a mystical potion to make Juliet appear dead, two lives could have been saved. Of course, Friar Lawrence cannot be blamed for all that happened. Romeo and Juliet’s largest downfall was fate—Father Lawrence simply lent fate a helping hand.
The Nurse
Juliet’s Nurse is a kind, funny woman who loves Juliet as if she were her own child. She has nursed Juliet since infancy and the two of them are extremely close to one another. She goes out of her way to make Juliet happy, and she only wants what is best for her. The Nurse is Juliet’s only friend and confidante until she gives Juliet advice that she doesn’t want to hear.
Mercutio
Mercutio is Romeo’s best friend and the Prince’s kinsman. He is a clever, witty character who loves to make puns. His cold logic is the foil to Romeo’s love-crazed personality. Mercutio is a good friend to Romeo, Benvolio, and nearly everybody he meets—so long as they are not Capulets. Mercutio strongly believes in honor and self-respect, which is why he becomes so enraged when Romeo allows Tybalt to verbally attack him.
Tybalt
Tybalt is Juliet’s cousin and he is deeply loved by his family. He typically thinks with his sword, not with his head. He is easily angered and it does not take much persuasion for him to draw his sword. He takes great joy in fighting, especially when he fights with the hated Montagues and of course Romeo.
Study questions and discussion items
1. Compare and contrast Romeo and Juliet. Do you think they complement each other’s personalities, or do you think they bring out each other’s negative qualities?
2. Compare and contrast Mercutio and Tybalt. Do you think they hate each other because of the familial feud, or do you think there is a larger reason?
3. Compare and contrast the Montagues and Capulets. Do you think either family’s actions are more justified than the other?
4. Consider the accelerated timeline of this play. Do you think Shakespeare condensed the events into five days for a reason?
5. Consider the way that Juliet’s family reacted when she refused to marry Paris in comparison to the way they acted when they thought she died. Do you think their outrage at Juliet’s death was genuine?
6. Discuss Mercutio’s role in the play. Aside from his death, what made his character important?
7. Discuss the role of the servants in the play. Aside from serving the main characters, what is their ultimate purpose?
8. Discuss the role of Paris in the play. Why do you think Shakespeare included him?
9. Discuss Juliet’s relationship with the Nurse. Why do you think the two of them are so close?
10. Discuss Shakespeare’s use of humor. Do you think it lightened the overall tone of this play?
Romeo and Juliet Essay topics
1. Describe Romeo and Juliet’s relationship. Given the short amount of time that they knew each other, do you think they could have really loved one another? Give examples to support your position.
2. Discuss Friar Lawrence’s role in the tragic ending of this play. Consider his involvement in Romeo and Juliet’s marriage, Romeo’s banishment, and Juliet’s mystical potion while you form your answer.
3. What is Romeo’s idea of love? Is his love real, or is it merely puppy love? Compare his feelings for Rosaline with his feelings for Juliet while you answer these questions.
4. What is the purpose of the Prologue? Why did Shakespeare forewarn his audience of the events that take place throughout the rest of the play?
5. Describe the relationships between parents and their children. Consider how Romeo’s parents treat him compared to how Juliet’s parents treat her. Also consider how the Capulets and Montagues react upon hearing of Romeo and Juliet’s deaths.
Romeo and Juliet quotes
Tybalt: "What, drawn and talk of peace? I hate the word.
As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee."
Benvolio: 'Alas, that love so gentle in his view,
Should be so tyrannous and rough in proof.'
Nurse: 'Why, he's a man of wax.'
Lady Capulet: 'Verona's summer hath not such a flower.'
Romeo: 'O she doth teach the torches to burn bright!
It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night.'
Mercutio: 'Romeo! Humors! Madman! Passion! Lover!
Appear thou in the likeness of a sigh.
Speak but one rhyme and I am satisfied.
Cry but "Ay me," pronounce but "love" and "dove".'
Romeo: 'He jests at scars that never felt a wound.'
Juliet: 'O Romeo, Romeo, Wherefore art thou Romeo?'
Juliet: 'What's in a name? That which we call a rose
by any other name would smell as sweet.'
Juliet: 'My bounty is as boundless as the sea.
My love as deep. The more I give to thee,
The more I have, for both are infinite.'
Romeo: 'Then I defy you stars!'
Friar Lawrence: 'And here I stand, both to impeach and purge
Myself condemned and myself excused.'
Prince: 'For never was a story of more woe
Than this of Juliet and her Romeo.'
Sources: www.wikisummaries.org/Romeo_and_Juliet
D.N. Aloysius
Lecturer in English
Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities
Rajarata University of Sri Lanka
23.01.2011
The play begins with a large fight between the Capulets and the Montagues, two prestigious families in Verona, Italy. These families have been fighting for quite some time, and the Prince declares that their next public brawl will be punished by death. When the fight is over, Romeo’s cousin Benvolio tries to cheer him of his melancholy. Romeo reveals that he is in love with a woman named Rosaline, but she has chosen to live a life of chastity. Romeo and Benvolio are accidentally invited to their enemy’s party; Benvolio convinces Romeo to go.
At the party, Romeo locks eyes with a young woman named Juliet. They instantly fall in love, but they do not realize that their families are mortal enemies. When they realize each other’s identities, they are devastated, but they cannot help the way that they feel. Romeo sneaks into Juliet’s yard after the party and proclaims his love for her. She returns his sentiments and the two decide to marry. The next day, Romeo and Juliet are married by Friar Lawrence; an event witnessed by Juliet’s Nurse and Romeo’s loyal servant, Balthasar. They plan to meet in Juliet’s chambers that night.
Romeo visits his best friend Mercutio and his cousin Benvolio but his good mood is curtailed. Juliet’s cousin, Tybalt, starts a verbal quarrel with Romeo, which soon turns into a duel with Mercutio. Romeo tries to stop the fight but it is too late: Tybalt kills Mercutio. Romeo, enraged, retaliates by killing Tybalt. Once Romeo realizes the consequences of his actions, he hides at Friar Lawrence’s cell.
Friar Lawrence informs Romeo that he has been banished from Verona and will be killed if he stays. The Friar suggests Romeo spend the night with Juliet, then leave for Mantua in the morning. He tells Romeo that he will attempt to settle the Capulet and Montague dispute so Romeo can later return to a united family. Romeo takes his advice, spending one night with Juliet before fleeing Verona.
Juliet’s mother, completely unaware of her daughter's secret marriage to Romeo, informs Juliet that she will marry a man named Paris in a few days. Juliet, outraged, refuses to comply. Her parents tell her that she must marry Paris and the Nurse agrees with them. Juliet asks Friar Lawrence for advice, insisting she would rather die than marry Paris. Fr. Lawrence gives Juliet a potion which will make her appear dead and tells her to take it the night before the wedding. He promises to send word to Romeo - intending the two lovers be reunited in the Capulet vault.
Juliet drinks the potion and everybody assumes that she is dead — including Balthasar, who immediately tells Romeo. Friar Lawrence’s letter fails to reach Romeo, so he assumes that his wife is dead. He rushes to Juliet’s tomb and, in deep grief, drinks a vial of poison. Moments later, Juliet wakes to find Romeo dead and kills herself due to grief. Once the families discover what happened, they finally end their bitter feud. Thus the youngsters' deaths bring the families together. Romeo And Juliet is a true tragedy in the literary sense because the families gather sufficient self-knowledge to correct their behaviour but not until it is too late to save the situation.
Montagues
Romeo — sole heir to the Montague fortune
Lord Montague — Romeo’s father
Lady Montague — Romeo’s mother
Benvolio — Romeo’s cousin
Balthasar — Romeo’s faithful servant
Abraham — Montague servant
Capulets
Juliet — sole heir to the Capulet fortune
Lord Capulet — Juliet’s father
Lady Capulet — Juliet’s mother
Tybalt — Juliet’s cousin
The Nurse — Juliet’s faithful Nurse
Peter — Capulet servant
Sampson — Capulet servant
Gregory — Capulet servant
Peripheral characters
Friar Lawrence — friend and advisor to Romeo and Juliet
Mercutio — Romeo’s best friend; Prince’s kinsman
Prince Escalus — Prince of Verona; kinsman to Mercutio and Paris
Paris — Loves Juliet
Rosaline — Romeo’s first love who never actually appears in the play
Friar John — Friar Lawrence’s friend
Apothecary — Romeo’s acquaintance in Mantua
Scene summaries
Prologue
The prologue to this play essentially summarizes the entire story. Two prominent families (the Montagues and the Capulets) from the city of Verona are at war with one another. These families have battled against each other for quite some time, but things have recently become even worse. From these households, two people will fall in love, but their “star-cross’d” relationship will end in death. Once these two people die, the families will finally end their bitter feud. The familial grudge, the lovers, and their untimely death will be the topic of this two hour play.
Act I, Scene i
Sampson and Gregory, two Capulet servants, discuss how much they despise the Montague family. The two make puns about how they would like to defeat the Montague men and sexually conquer the Montague women. Their banter is interrupted when they spot two Montague servants. Gregory and Sampson try to determine the best way to begin a fight without being held accountable, and Sampson decides to bite his thumb at the Montagues. As this is considered a strong insult, Abraham and Balthasar, the two Montague men, take offense and begin a verbal quarrel. Benvolio from the Montague side sees this fight and draws his sword to force peace upon both parties. When Tybalt from the Capulet side sees this, he draws his own sword and informs Benvolio that he hates peace as much as he hates all Montagues. A widespread fight breaks out and Lords Capulet and Montague attempt to enter the fray. Their wives force them to stay out of the brawl, a command which is soon reinforced by Prince Escalus. The Prince decrees that the Montagues and Capulets have disturbed the peace too many times, and future disturbances will be punished by death. With that, everybody leaves, except for Montague, Lady Montague, and their nephew, Benvolio.
Montague demands to know how the fight began, and Benvolio explains what happened. Lady Montague is less concerned with the fight than she is with her melancholy son, Romeo. She asks Benvolio if he has seen Romeo, and Benvolio says that he has seen his depressed cousin wandering among the sycamores outside the city. The Montagues are distressed over their son’s sadness and they confide that Romeo will not explain the source of his misery. When Benvolio sees his cousin approaching, he tells Lord and Lady Montague that he will find the source of Romeo’s problems. Romeo’s parents quickly leave, and Romeo approaches Benvolio. He informs Benvolio that he is miserable because he is in love with a woman named Rosaline who does not return his affection. Furthermore, she does not return any man’s affection because she wants to live a life of chastity. Benvolio encourages Romeo to forget about Rosaline by focusing on other beautiful women. Romeo insists that there are no other women for him, and Benvolio vows to prove him wrong.
Act I, Scene ii
Capulet and Paris, one of the Prince’s kinsmen, walk together and discuss Paris’ desire to marry Juliet. Capulet is happy about this request, but he insists that Paris should wait two years because Juliet is not even 14 years old yet. Capulet tries to console Paris by saying that he is throwing a party that would serve as the perfect place for Paris to woo Juliet. Capulet gives a guest list to a servant named Peter and tells him to invite the guests. As Paris and Capulet walk away, Peter reveals that this will not be an easy task because he cannot read. Fortunately, Romeo and Benvolio wander by at that moment and Romeo reads the list aloud. Peter feels relieved and invites Romeo and Mercutio to the masquerade feast, provided that they are not Montagues. Benvolio persuades Romeo to go to the party to get his mind off Rosaline. Romeo agrees, but only because he saw Rosaline’s name on the list.
Act I, Scene iii
At the Capulet house, Lady Capulet tells the Nurse to find Juliet. When Juliet enters the room, Lady Capulet tells the Nurse to leave so she can speak in privacy. She quickly thinks better and tells the Nurse to stay so she can help her. The Nurse immediately reminisces back to Juliet’s youth and states that Juliet is the most beautiful child the Nurse has taken care of. She says that she hopes she will see Juliet married some day, at which point Lady Capulet brings up her subject. She asks Juliet if she wants to get married, and Juliet replies that she hasn’t given the subject much thought. Lady Capulet tells Juliet that Paris will be at the party tonight, and that he would make a fine husband. Juliet succumbs to her mother’s will and says that she will see whether or not she could love him. The conversation is cut short when a servant tells them that the feast is ready.
Act I, Scene iv
Romeo, Benvolio, and their friend Mercutio gather with other guests and walk towards the Capulet’s feast. Romeo wonders how they will get into the feast without being recognized, despite the fact that they are all wearing masks. Mercutio tries to cheer Romeo up by telling him that he must dance at the party. Ever the melancholy one, Romeo replies that he is too depressed to dance. Mercutio then begins one of the most famous speeches from any Shakespeare play when he begins speaking about Queen Mab. At first, Mercutio is lighthearted, but he soon becomes angry. Romeo calms Mercutio down and reveals one final bit of depressing news. He says that he has a terrible feeling about this party, and he fears that death is in the stars. Still, Romeo and his friends make their way into the feast.
Act I, Scene v
The feast begins and all is well. Capulet greets all his guests and everybody is having a wonderful time. Romeo spots Juliet from across the room and he immediately forgets about Rosaline. Tybalt hears Romeo’s voice and becomes enraged. He attempts to start a fight, but Capulet refuses to have any blood shed in his home. Tybalt vows that he will get his revenge at a later time. Meanwhile, Romeo is so smitten by Juliet’s beauty that he asks her to kiss him. The two speak in metaphors that proclaim Romeo as a pilgrim and Juliet as the saint who can redeem him. Juliet agrees to stand still while Romeo eliminates his sin through her lips, but Juliet then realizes that his sin is now in her mouth. Romeo happily takes his sin back by kissing her again. The Nurse interrupts them and sends Juliet to speak with her mother. Romeo learns that Juliet is the daughter of his mortal enemy just as Benvolio tells him it is time to leave. As everybody departs, Juliet nonchalantly asks the Nurse to name certain people. When the Nurse labels Romeo as a Montague, Juliet is devastated.
Act II, Scene i
Romeo feels compelled to stay at Juliet’s house because that is where his heart belongs. He climbs over the wall and into the orchard while his friends taunt him from the other side. Mercutio mocks Romeo’s feelings for Rosaline, but when Romeo does not surface, he and Benvolio go home.
Act II, Scene ii
Romeo hides in the Capulet’s orchard and sees Juliet in her window. Romeo quietly professes his love for her and compares her to various beautiful elements in the world. He remains hidden while Juliet laments over her predicament. Once Romeo is certain that Juliet is as distraught as he is, he makes his presence known. At first, Juliet is startled and slightly angry to know that he invaded her private lamentations. Juliet demands to know why he is there and how he got there. Romeo tells her that the power of his love helped him climb the high walls, and Juliet’s demeanor softens. Romeo and Juliet proclaim their love to one another, and it is clear that they are both serious. However, Juliet wants more proof. After the Nurse calls her inside, Juliet tells Romeo that if he is serious about his vow that he will have word of their marriage tomorrow. He tells Juliet to send somebody to him at 9:00 so they may discuss the subject of marriage. Romeo and Juliet regretfully part for the night, but both are excited about what the day will bring.
Act II, Scene iii
Friar Lawrence is introduced into the play while he tends to his garden. He explains that some plants and flowers have medicinal qualities while others can lead to horrible things. He turns this into a metaphor for the actions of people by stating that a similar battle of good and evil rages within the hearts of men. Friar Lawrence is interrupted when Romeo enters the scene. At first, Friar Lawrence thinks that Romeo spent his night sinning with Rosaline. Romeo informs him that he has “forgot that name and that name’s woe.” Friar Lawrence is happy to hear this until Romeo informs him that he spent the night with his enemy. He tells Friar Lawrence that he is in love with Juliet, and Friar Lawrence is astonished. He justifies Romeo’s change of heart by saying that young men love with their eyes, not with their hearts. Romeo convinces him that his love is true, and that he and Juliet wish to be married immediately. Though reluctant at first, Friar Lawrence gives his consent in hope that this marriage will end the rivalry between Montague and Capulet. Before Romeo leaves, Friar Lawrence advises him to slow down because “they stumble that run fast.”
Act II, Scene iv
Benvolio and Mercutio want to know where Romeo was last night. He never returned to his father’s house, where Tybalt sent him a letter challenging him to a duel. Mercutio and Benvolio are concerned with Romeo’s ability to fight in a duel with his recent melancholic state. Before they can speculate further, Romeo enters the scene. The three banter back and forth and Romeo is clearly in a better mood than he was the last time he saw them. Their playful banter is cut short when the Nurse and Peter enter the scene. Mercutio pokes fun at the Nurse until she asks to speak to Romeo in privacy. Mercutio and Benvolio exit, reminding Romeo to meet them at his father’s house for dinner.
The Nurse is angry at Mercutio’s behavior, which initially makes her suspicious of Romeo’s intentions. She is relieved to hear that Romeo fully plans to marry Juliet. He tells the Nurse that Juliet must find a way to go to church that evening because that is when they will be wed. Romeo also tells the Nurse that he will send his servant to the Capulet house with a rope ladder so Romeo can climb up to Juliet’s window that night.
Act II, Scene v
Juliet impatiently awaits news from the Nurse because she is eager to hear what Romeo said of their marriage. When the Nurse arrives, she procrastinates and avoids giving Juliet the good news. She complains of her aching bones and the incredible heat, and Juliet humors her with mock sympathy. Finally, the Nurse tells Juliet what she has been waiting to hear: she and Romeo will be wed tonight.
Act II, Scene vi
Friar Lawrence and Romeo wait for Juliet in Friar Lawrence’s cell. Friar Lawrence hopes that this wedding is a good idea and that it will not end with sorrow. Romeo is convinced that nothing could end in sorrow because Juliet fills him with so much joy. Juliet enters the cell, where she and Romeo exchange their vows of love. Friar Lawrence sees that the two do indeed love one another, and he performs the wedding ceremony.
Act III, Scene i
Benvolio and Mercutio walk through the streets of Verona and Benvolio suggests that they should go home for the day. He says that if they stay out they are bound to run into the Capulets and a quarrel will be inevitable. Mercutio does not care if they encounter the Capulets; in fact, he wishes they would. His wishes are soon granted because Tybalt and his men enter the scene. Mercutio spurs Tybalt on with a battle of words, while Benvolio tries to convince Tybalt to settle this matter peacefully.
Before Tybalt can respond, Romeo approaches the group. Tybalt tells Romeo that he is a villain, and it is clear that Tybalt wants to fight. However, Romeo wishes to keep the peace because he is now married to Juliet. He tells Tybalt that he has no quarrel with the Capulets and that he considers their name as important as his own. Mercutio is outraged at Romeo’s attempts at peace, and he draws his sword. Tybalt draws his sword and the two begin to duel. Romeo attempts to stop their fight and Tybalt takes that opportunity to stab Mercutio from under Romeo’s arm.
While Tybalt and his men flee, Mercutio reveals the true nature of his wound. He curses the houses of Montague and Capulet before he dies. Romeo immediately realizes that his love for Juliet softened him to the point where he lost his honor and his friend. He vows vengeance and is consumed with rage by the time Tybalt returns. He tells Tybalt that Mercutio’s soul has not gone far and that one of their souls must join him. Romeo and Tybalt engage in a sword fight, and Tybalt falls down dead. Benvolio convinces Romeo to flee because he will surely be killed for this offense. Romeo shouts “I am fortune’s fool” and hastily exits the scene.
The citizens of Verona, the Prince, the Montagues, and the Capulets enter the scene, demanding to know what happened. Benvolio explains that Romeo had good intentions, but he is responsible for Tybalt’s death. Lady Capulet demands justice, but the Prince angrily interrupts her. He says that two people have already died and there is no need to make more men join them. The Prince banishes Romeo from Verona and proclaims that if Romeo is found within Verona’s walls, he shall be killed.
Act III, Scene ii
Juliet impatiently waits for nighttime to fall so she can be with Romeo. The Nurse enters her room with the ladder from Romeo, and Juliet can see that something is wrong. At first, Juliet misunderstands and she thinks that Romeo and Tybalt are both dead. The Nurse clarifies the situation and says that Romeo killed Tybalt and is now banished. Juliet feels betrayed and she cannot believe her misfortune. She soon forgives Romeo, and gives the Nurse her ring to give to Romeo. Despite all that has happened, Juliet still wants to spend a first and final night with her husband.
Act III, Scene iii
Romeo hides in Friar Lawrence’s cell, waiting to learn of his punishment. When Friar Lawrence tells him that he will live, but he has been banished, Romeo is devastated. He claims that there is no life outside of Verona and away from Juliet. Friar Lawrence tries to talk some sense into Romeo by reminding him that he could have been murdered for his actions. However, Romeo is too consumed by his grief to listen to logic, and he continues to throw a near temper tantrum until the Nurse arrives.
The Nurse convinces him to stand up and “be a man” for Juliet’s sake. Once he hears her name, Romeo comes to and inquires about his wife. The Nurse informs him that she weeps for her banished husband and for her murdered cousin. Romeo grabs his sword and attempts to cut out the part of him where his vile name lies. Friar Lawrence stops him and tells him to stop acting “womanish.” Friar Lawrence suggests that Romeo spend the night with Juliet, just as he intended. At the light of day, Romeo is to flee to Mantua, where he will wait until Friar Lawrence can put an end to the familial feuds. Friar Lawrence tells Romeo that he will send his servant to Mantua to update Romeo on his progress. The Nurse and Romeo both agree with this plan, and she gives Romeo Juliet’s ring. Romeo says ‘good-bye’ and prepares to leave.
Act III, Scene iv
Paris returns to the Capulet’s house late on Monday night to see what Juliet said of their potential marriage. Capulet tells Paris that he and his wife have not yet spoken to Juliet regarding that matter because of the deaths that occurred earlier that day. Capulet assumes that Juliet will obey him, and he tells Paris that they will be married on Thursday. Capulet tells Lady Capulet to tell Juliet the good news before she goes to sleep.
Act III, Scene v
It is early Tuesday morning and Romeo and Juliet awake from their night together. Juliet tells Romeo that it is not time for him to leave yet, but he insists that he must go. His maturity rapidly fades and he tells Juliet that he would rather stay with her. She takes on the mature role and tells him that he must leave. The Nurse enters and tells Juliet that her mother is on her way to her chambers. Romeo and Juliet share a final kiss before he escapes through her window. As he leaves, she has a vision of him lying in a tomb.
Lady Capulet enters the room and thinks that Juliet’s distress is over Tybalt’s death. She tries to console her by saying that they will send somebody to avenge Tybalt’s death by killing Romeo. Lady Capulet then switches to the ‘happy’ news of her visit and informs Juliet that she will marry Paris on Thursday. To her mother’s astonishment, Juliet adamantly refuses to have anything to do with that plan. Lord Capulet enters the room and learns of his daughter’s refusal. He threatens her and tells her that she will marry Paris, whether she likes it or not. He storms out of the room.
Juliet tries to plea with her mother, but Lady Capulet will not listen. Juliet turns to the Nurse and begs for her help. The Nurse tells Juliet that Romeo is banished and Paris is a fine young man. She recommends that Juliet go to confession and move on with her life. Juliet realizes that the Nurse is no longer on her side and she agrees to go to confession. Once the Nurse leaves, Juliet reveals that she is going to ask Friar Lawrence for his advice. If he cannot help her, she will resort to suicide.
Act IV, Scene i
Friar Lawrence and Paris discuss the upcoming wedding and Friar Lawrence tries to convince him that Thursday is too soon. Paris reveals that Juliet has been devastated by Tybalt’s death and Lord Capulet thinks this wedding will revive her spirits. Juliet enters the room and tries to avoid Paris’ talk of love and marriage. She asks Friar Lawrence if she can make confession and Paris exits. Once they are alone, Juliet begs Friar Lawrence to help her. She says that if she cannot avoid this marriage, she will certainly kill herself.
Friar Lawrence realizes how dire this situation is and tells Juliet that he has a plan. Juliet will pretend to agree with the marriage to make her family happy. On Wednesday night, she will drink a potion that will induce a sleep that is so deep that she will appear dead. Thursday morning, her family will find her and think she is dead. They will put her in the Capulet tomb, where she will sleep for 42 hours. Friar Lawrence will send word to Romeo about his plan, and Romeo will be waiting in the tomb when Juliet awakens. Then the two can live out the rest of their days together in Mantua.
Act IV, Scene ii
Despite Juliet’s initial disapproval, Lord Capulet, the Nurse, and several servants prepare for the wedding that is to take place in two days. Juliet returns from ‘confession’ and begs her father’s forgiveness. He is thrilled to see that Juliet has returned to her obedient ways and he forgives her immediately. He is so happy by Juliet’s transformation that he decides to hold the wedding on Wednesday instead of Thursday. Juliet asks the Nurse to help her prepare for her wedding and they exit together. Lady Capulet tells her husband that it is late, but he says that he will stay and make sure that everything is perfectly prepared for tomorrow.
Act IV, Scene iii
Juliet tells her mother and the Nurse that she does not need any more help and that she wishes to be left alone. Unaware of what is about to happen, they exit. Juliet is afraid to drink the potion because she has many concerns. At first, she is scared that the potion will not work and that she will have to marry Paris in the morning. Then she becomes scared that Friar Lawrence gave her poison to ensure that she could not tell anybody about his role in her and Romeo’s marriage. Juliet also worries that she might die in the tomb, either by suffocation or by fear. Finally, Juliet imagines that Tybalt’s spirit is going after Romeo and she dismisses her fears. She drinks the potion and falls down as if dead.
Act IV, Scene iv
Capulet, Lady Capulet, the Nurse, and the servants make the last minute preparations for the wedding. While they happily celebrate, they are unaware that Juliet would rather feign death than participate in this occasion. Capulet announces that Paris has arrived and sends the Nurse to Juliet’s room to prepare her for the wedding.
Act IV, Scene v
The Nurse cheerfully enters Juliet’s chambers and tries to wake her. At first, she thinks that Juliet is heavily asleep, but she soon comes to the conclusion that Juliet is dead. Soon after, Lady Capulet rushes into the room and screams for help upon her realization. Capulet, Paris, Friar Lawrence, and the musicians enter the room, and chaos ensues. The true depth of the Capulet’s love for their daughter is revealed as they mourn their terrible loss. Friar Lawrence tries to console them by saying that Juliet is in Heaven now. Capulet states that their happy wedding celebration will now be transformed into a mournful funeral. Everybody leaves except for the musicians, who are not at all concerned with what just took place.
Act V, Scene i
It is Thursday morning and Romeo is waiting to hear news from Verona. Balthasar, Romeo’s servant, enters and tells Romeo that Juliet is dead; he saw her corpse in the Capulet vault. Balthasar does not have any news from Friar Lawrence, so Romeo tells him to return with fast horses, a pen, and paper. Overcome with grief, Romeo remembers that there is an impoverished apothecary in Mantua. Despite the fact that it is illegal to buy poison there, the apothecary grudgingly sells Romeo some poison because he is desperate for money. Romeo exits with the poison, determined to leave this world with his wife.
Act V, Scene ii
Friar Lawrence meets with his friend, Friar John, and asks for the letter Romeo sent. Friar John delivers the terrible news that he was unable to go to Mantua due to the threat of plague. Therefore, he could not deliver Friar Lawrence’s letter to Romeo, so Romeo could not know anything of Friar Lawrence’s new plan. Friar Lawrence asks for a crowbar and attempts to sneak into the Capulet tomb, where Juliet will awaken shortly.
Act V, Scene iii
Outside of the Capulet monument, Paris and a page keep watch for intruders. Romeo and Balthasar approach the tomb, and Romeo bids Balthasar to deliver a letter to Montague. Romeo tells Balthasar that he is just going inside to retrieve Juliet’s ring, and Romeo tells him to leave lest he be killed. Dubious of Romeo’s intentions, Balthasar hides in the churchyard. When Romeo approaches the tomb, Paris recognizes him as the man who murdered Tybalt. He tries to keep Romeo from entering, and they engage in a duel. Romeo kills Paris and the page flees from the scene. Once Romeo realizes who he murdered, he drags Paris inside the vault to bury him with the rest of the deceased Capulets.
Romeo stands next to Juliet and marvels at how beautiful she is, even in death. He kisses her for the last time, drinks his poison, and dies by his wife’s side. Meanwhile, Friar Lawrence arrives and asks Balthasar to enter the tomb with him. Balthasar declines and Friar Lawrence enters alone. He sees that Paris is dead, as is Romeo. To Friar Lawrence’s horror, he can hear people approaching and Juliet awakens. He bids her to leave with him, but she will not go. He flees before his role in the tragedy can be revealed.
Juliet sees that Romeo is dead and he did not leave any poison for her. She kisses him for the last time and plunges a dagger into her heart. Just as she dies, help arrives in the form of a watch and Paris’ page. They discover the three dead bodies and immediately call for help. The Prince arrives, along with the Capulets and the Montagues, and all suspects are called in. Montague reveals that his wife died over the grief she felt over her son’s banishment. The Prince demands to know what happened, and Friar Lawrence relates the entire story. He asks to receive his rightful blame, but the Prince says that they cannot condemn a holy man. Balthasar and the page give their sides of the story, and the truth is revealed when the Prince reads Romeo’s letter to his father. Capulet and Montague shake hands and end the feud that caused so many innocent people to die.
Summary of major Romeo and Juliet characters
Romeo Montague
Romeo is the only son of Lord and Lady Montague. He is young, impulsive, and above all else, passionate. Once Romeo sets his heart on something—or someone—he is convinced that there are no other alternatives. At the beginning of the play, Romeo is so heartbroken over Rosaline that he can barely function. He devotes every waking breath and thought to the woman he cannot have, but he forgets about her as soon as he lays his eyes upon Juliet. Once he meets her, his ideas of love mature with him. While he can finally grasp the true meaning of love, he is still unable to control his impulsive behaviors. As a result, Romeo acts before he thinks, and he often suffers consequences that could have otherwise been avoided. The most obvious case of this type of behavior is when Romeo drinks poison because he believes his wife is dead. If he had thought about the ramifications of his plans before he acted upon them, Romeo could have potentially lived a long life with his Juliet.
Juliet Capulet
Though she is not yet 14 years old, Juliet’s maturity far exceeds that of Romeo. At first, she seems to be merely obedient and her actions strive to please those she cares about. As the play progresses and Juliet falls in love with Romeo, she becomes rational, strong, and mature. She chooses her words wisely and rarely acts on impulse. When Romeo was banished from Verona, Juliet could have easily packed her bags and left with him. Instead, she chose to do the logical thing and wait for a time when they could be peacefully reunited. Unfortunately, there would never be a time for them to reunite. When Juliet realizes this, she chooses death over life without her husband. However, it is important to note that she kills herself over her pure grief, not because she needs a man to survive.
Friar Lawrence
Though he is a kind and religious man who often gives good advice, Friar Lawrence is also responsible for a great deal of conflict in this play. He frequently comes up with good-intentioned schemes that make situations worse than they need to be. It is quite possible that if he didn’t secretly marry Romeo and Juliet, the Capulets and Montagues could have ended their quarrel. If he did not allow Romeo to sneak into Juliet’s room before fleeing for Mantua, there is a good chance that the lovers would have felt less passionate about each other. If he did not concoct a mystical potion to make Juliet appear dead, two lives could have been saved. Of course, Friar Lawrence cannot be blamed for all that happened. Romeo and Juliet’s largest downfall was fate—Father Lawrence simply lent fate a helping hand.
The Nurse
Juliet’s Nurse is a kind, funny woman who loves Juliet as if she were her own child. She has nursed Juliet since infancy and the two of them are extremely close to one another. She goes out of her way to make Juliet happy, and she only wants what is best for her. The Nurse is Juliet’s only friend and confidante until she gives Juliet advice that she doesn’t want to hear.
Mercutio
Mercutio is Romeo’s best friend and the Prince’s kinsman. He is a clever, witty character who loves to make puns. His cold logic is the foil to Romeo’s love-crazed personality. Mercutio is a good friend to Romeo, Benvolio, and nearly everybody he meets—so long as they are not Capulets. Mercutio strongly believes in honor and self-respect, which is why he becomes so enraged when Romeo allows Tybalt to verbally attack him.
Tybalt
Tybalt is Juliet’s cousin and he is deeply loved by his family. He typically thinks with his sword, not with his head. He is easily angered and it does not take much persuasion for him to draw his sword. He takes great joy in fighting, especially when he fights with the hated Montagues and of course Romeo.
Study questions and discussion items
1. Compare and contrast Romeo and Juliet. Do you think they complement each other’s personalities, or do you think they bring out each other’s negative qualities?
2. Compare and contrast Mercutio and Tybalt. Do you think they hate each other because of the familial feud, or do you think there is a larger reason?
3. Compare and contrast the Montagues and Capulets. Do you think either family’s actions are more justified than the other?
4. Consider the accelerated timeline of this play. Do you think Shakespeare condensed the events into five days for a reason?
5. Consider the way that Juliet’s family reacted when she refused to marry Paris in comparison to the way they acted when they thought she died. Do you think their outrage at Juliet’s death was genuine?
6. Discuss Mercutio’s role in the play. Aside from his death, what made his character important?
7. Discuss the role of the servants in the play. Aside from serving the main characters, what is their ultimate purpose?
8. Discuss the role of Paris in the play. Why do you think Shakespeare included him?
9. Discuss Juliet’s relationship with the Nurse. Why do you think the two of them are so close?
10. Discuss Shakespeare’s use of humor. Do you think it lightened the overall tone of this play?
Romeo and Juliet Essay topics
1. Describe Romeo and Juliet’s relationship. Given the short amount of time that they knew each other, do you think they could have really loved one another? Give examples to support your position.
2. Discuss Friar Lawrence’s role in the tragic ending of this play. Consider his involvement in Romeo and Juliet’s marriage, Romeo’s banishment, and Juliet’s mystical potion while you form your answer.
3. What is Romeo’s idea of love? Is his love real, or is it merely puppy love? Compare his feelings for Rosaline with his feelings for Juliet while you answer these questions.
4. What is the purpose of the Prologue? Why did Shakespeare forewarn his audience of the events that take place throughout the rest of the play?
5. Describe the relationships between parents and their children. Consider how Romeo’s parents treat him compared to how Juliet’s parents treat her. Also consider how the Capulets and Montagues react upon hearing of Romeo and Juliet’s deaths.
Romeo and Juliet quotes
Tybalt: "What, drawn and talk of peace? I hate the word.
As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee."
Benvolio: 'Alas, that love so gentle in his view,
Should be so tyrannous and rough in proof.'
Nurse: 'Why, he's a man of wax.'
Lady Capulet: 'Verona's summer hath not such a flower.'
Romeo: 'O she doth teach the torches to burn bright!
It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night.'
Mercutio: 'Romeo! Humors! Madman! Passion! Lover!
Appear thou in the likeness of a sigh.
Speak but one rhyme and I am satisfied.
Cry but "Ay me," pronounce but "love" and "dove".'
Romeo: 'He jests at scars that never felt a wound.'
Juliet: 'O Romeo, Romeo, Wherefore art thou Romeo?'
Juliet: 'What's in a name? That which we call a rose
by any other name would smell as sweet.'
Juliet: 'My bounty is as boundless as the sea.
My love as deep. The more I give to thee,
The more I have, for both are infinite.'
Romeo: 'Then I defy you stars!'
Friar Lawrence: 'And here I stand, both to impeach and purge
Myself condemned and myself excused.'
Prince: 'For never was a story of more woe
Than this of Juliet and her Romeo.'
Sources: www.wikisummaries.org/Romeo_and_Juliet
D.N. Aloysius
Lecturer in English
Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities
Rajarata University of Sri Lanka
23.01.2011
Preliminary Test-23.01.2011-Results Bhiksu University-Anuradhapura-
S/N Reg. No.Marks Grade
01 50 45 C
02 85 50 C
03 52 50 C
04 88 35 D
05 49 65 B
06 48 25 D
07 74 45 C
08 65 35 D
09 84 75 A
10 89 45 C
11 90 45 C
12 86 35 D
13 54 45 C
14 75 55 C
15 55 45 C
16 46 70 B
17 58 45 C
18 77 50 C
19 66 40 C
20 61 45 C
21 57 65 B
22 60 20 E
23 70 40 C
24 59 40 C
D.N. Aloysius
Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities
Rajarata University of Sri Lanka
23.01.2011
01 50 45 C
02 85 50 C
03 52 50 C
04 88 35 D
05 49 65 B
06 48 25 D
07 74 45 C
08 65 35 D
09 84 75 A
10 89 45 C
11 90 45 C
12 86 35 D
13 54 45 C
14 75 55 C
15 55 45 C
16 46 70 B
17 58 45 C
18 77 50 C
19 66 40 C
20 61 45 C
21 57 65 B
22 60 20 E
23 70 40 C
24 59 40 C
D.N. Aloysius
Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities
Rajarata University of Sri Lanka
23.01.2011
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