Insight Text Guide
Victoria Bladen
Romeo
and Juliet
William Shakespeare
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Copyright  Insight Publications 2010
First published in 2010, reprinted 2011 by
Insight Publications Pty Ltd
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National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry:
Bladen, Victoria.
William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet / by Victoria Bladen.
9781921411656 (pbk.)
Insight text guide.
For secondary school age.
Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616. Romeo and Juliet. Shakespeare, William,
1564-1616--Criticism and interpretation.
822.33
Printed in Australia by Ligare
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contents
Character map
Overview
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iv
1
About the author
1
Synopsis
2
Character summaries
4
Background & context
5
Genre, structure & language
8
Scene-by-scene analysis
13
Characters & relationships
35
Themes, ideas & values
41
Different interpretations
49
Questions & answers
54
Sample answer
63
References & reading
66
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iv
Insight Text Guide
CHARACTER MAP
Conflict between
Montague
Married
Lady
Montague
Married
Lady
Capulet
Capulet
Daughter
Son
Friar Lawrence
Paternal figure
to Romeo
Nurse
Servant to the
Capulets
Conducts marriage
Romeo
Son of Montague
Loves
Friends
Mercutio
Kinsman to the
Prince
Banishes
Juliet
Daughter of
Capulet
Kills
Cousins
Benvolio
A Montague
Assists
Cousins
Betrothed
Fight
Tybalt
A Capulet
Kills
Kinsmen
Escales
Paris
Kinsman to the
Prince
Kinsmen
Prince of Verona
Kills
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1
OVERVIEW
William Shakespeare (1564–1616) is one of the most renowned literary
figures from the English literary Renaissance (also referred to as the ‘early
modern period’). His dramatic and poetic work, written during an intensely
productive period from the late-sixteenth to the early-seventeenth century,
has proved capable of enduring well beyond his own time and place.
Translated into many languages, adapted for film, ballet, opera and graphic
novels, Shakespeare’s work has evolved into a cultural phenomenon,
meaningful and compelling to audiences of different periods and cultures.
Romeo and Juliet is one of Shakespeare’s most well known plays. This
guide is designed to help you navigate your way through the play, organise
your thinking and help you to write intelligently and competently about
the play in your essays and exams. Remember that Romeo and Juliet
is a play, created to be experienced as a performance on stage, even
though it is often first experienced as a written text or as a film. If you
are able to see the play performed you will gain a deeper understanding
of its shape, the characters, how the dramatic action unfolds and the
effect of Shakespeare’s language. Film adaptations will also help you to
understand the play, particularly if you are able to view different versions.
About the author
So who was Shakespeare? He was born in 1564, when Elizabeth I was on
the throne, and died in 1616 when James I was king. Born in Stratfordupon-Avon, in Warwickshire, William was the son of John Shakespeare,
a glove-maker, and his wife Mary, a gentleman’s daughter. He received
an education from the King’s New School, a grammar school in Stratford,
but never attended university. As a young man he fell in love with Anne
Hathaway, and they were married in 1582 after Anne became pregnant;
the child, Susanna, was born six months after the wedding. In 1585,
twins were born, Hamnet and Judith; Hamnet died when he was a
child. The marriage seems to have broken down subsequently and when
Shakespeare died he left to Anne only his ‘second-best bed’.
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2
In the late 1580s, Shakespeare moved to London and began his
career as a playwright. He joined a theatre company called The Lord
Chamberlain’s Men (also briefly known as Lord Hunsdon’s Men), under
the patronage of the Lord Chamberlain. The ensemble produced plays
that were performed at a venue called the Theatre. He acted, wrote plays
and shared in the profits of the theatre company. When the lease over
the land on which the Theatre was built expired in 1597, and a dispute
with the landlord arose, Shakespeare and his colleagues dismantled the
wooden building, took it across the river and reassembled it at Bankside,
south of the Thames. This theatre became the Globe, which opened in
1599. In London today, a close replica of the Globe now stands, near the
original site, in which Shakespeare’s plays are performed all year round.
When James I came to the throne in 1603, he became the patron of
the theatre company of which Shakespeare was part owner; the company
was therefore renamed the King’s Men. The king recognised the huge
potential of the theatre to reach many people; the theatre can perhaps
be thought of as the early seventeenth-century equivalent of television
in this regard. James wanted his reign to be associated with that power,
despite the fact that there is strong criticism of authority figures throughout
Shakespeare’s work.
Synopsis
Romeo and Juliet is a play about love in the midst of war. It is set in
Verona, Italy. The town is wracked by civic violence, the result of a bitter
and long-standing feud between two families, the Montagues and the
Capulets. Everyone fights, from the heads of the families, Montague
and Capulet, down to the servants of the respective families. Against
this backdrop of civil strife, something miraculous happens: two young
people fall in love. There is only one problem – one is a Montague, a
dreamy young man named Romeo, and the other a Capulet, beautiful
thirteen-year old Juliet. Thus the scene is set for a tense, dramatic and
life-threatening courtship.
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The play begins with a street brawl between the two factions, setting the
hostile scene. The Prince tries to restore order by threatening punishment
of death to the next person who starts a fight. Romeo, initially in love
with Rosaline, is persuaded by his companions to attend the Capulet ball
where he falls in love with Juliet, and Rosaline is quickly forgotten. The
entranced couple, however, has no sooner met than the two lovers are
devastated by the discovery that they belong to opposing families.
The second act sees Romeo evading his companions to sneak into the
Capulet orchard where he comes to Juliet’s balcony, the setting of one of
the most famous scenes in the play. The pair declare their love for each
other in poetic and passionate terms. Each is prepared to defy family
loyalties to be with the other. The next day Romeo visits Friar Lawrence to
arrange their marriage; the friar has concerns but agrees, thinking it will
heal the civil feud. Meanwhile Romeo’s friends Benvolio and Mercutio
are looking for him. Mercutio is annoyed that Romeo gave them the slip
the night before and a bawdy conversation follows. Mercutio is scornful
of Romeo’s love but happy that Romeo is back with the boys. Juliet’s Nurse
speaks to Romeo then returns to Juliet to tell her of the secret wedding
plan. The act ends with the marriage taking place at Friar Lawrence’s cell.
The third act begins with a fatal street fight. Romeo tries to keep the
peace between his feisty friend Mercutio and their enemy Tybalt, who
is furious at Romeo for intruding on the Capulet ball. Tybalt fatally stabs
Mercutio, and Romeo kills Tybalt in revenge. The Prince exiles Romeo
and the young lovers are distraught, both threatening suicide to Friar
Lawrence. They are able to have one night together before Romeo leaves
for Mantua. Meanwhile, Juliet’s parents have decided she is to marry
Paris, kinsman to the Prince. Juliet refuses and her father threatens to
disown her.
In the fourth act, Friar Lawrence proposes a risky plan. He will give
Juliet a sleeping potion so she will seem dead to her family. He will then
send a message to Romeo to meet Juliet at the tomb so they can escape
to Mantua and be together. Juliet takes the potion and is found ‘dead’ on
the morning of her planned wedding to Paris. Her mourning family and
Paris lay her in the tomb.
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In the final act of the tragedy Romeo, in Mantua, is told Juliet is dead.
He doesn’t receive Friar Lawrence’s message; the messenger is detained
due to a quarantine to impede the spread of the Plague. Romeo resolves
to commit suicide and lie next to Juliet. At the tomb, Paris is laying
flowers when Romeo arrives. A fight ensues and Romeo kills Paris before
entering the tomb and taking poison. Juliet wakes a moment too late and
Friar Lawrence, who also arrives too late, tries unsuccessfully to persuade
her to leave. Juliet stabs herself and the Prince and the families arrive to
survey the tragic scene. The Prince admonishes the feuding patriarchs
who finally agree to end the dispute.
Character summaries
Chorus: a character or characters that present the prologue (the
introductory overview of the drama which comes before the main
dramatic action begins) and a summary at the end of Act 1; both speeches
are in sonnet form.
Escalus: the Prince of Verona; has the unenviable task of trying to maintain
the peace between the warring Montagues and Capulets.
Paris: a young nobleman, kinsman to Escalus; wishes to marry Juliet and
is given Capulet’s permission.
Montague: head of the Montague household; Romeo’s father; an enemy
to Capulet.
Lady Montague: the wife of Montague; dies of grief when her son Romeo
is sent into exile.
Capulet: head of the Capulet household; Juliet’s father; an enemy to
Montague.
Lady Capulet: the wife of Capulet; a cold and distant mother to Juliet.
Romeo: son of Montague; falls in love with Juliet.
Juliet: daughter of Capulet; falls in love with Romeo.
Mercutio: kinsman to Escalus and a friend of Romeo; volatile, bawdy and
streetwise.
Benvolio: nephew to Montague, Romeo’s cousin and friend; benevolent
and moderate.
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Cousin Capulet: kinsman to Capulet.
Tybalt: a fiery Capulet, nephew to Lady Capulet, and Juliet’s cousin.
Friar Lawrence: a Franciscan friar; tries to help Romeo and Juliet by
marrying them in secret and later providing a sleeping potion for Juliet.
Friar John: another Franciscan.
Servants: attendants who prepare for the Capulet ball and the proposed
wedding between Juliet and Paris.
Balthasar: Romeo’s servant.
Abram: servant to Montague.
Sampson, Gregory and the Clown: Capulet servants.
Nurse: Juliet’s nurse; a maternal figure to Juliet.
Peter: servant to Juliet’s Nurse.
Page: servant to Paris.
Apothecary: chemist; sells the deadly poison to Romeo.
Three Musicians: group engaged for the Capulet ball and for the wedding
(that doesn’t take place) between Juliet and Paris.
BACKGROUND & CONTEXT
The play’s setting – Renaissance Italy
Italy was only unified as a country comparatively late in its history. In
Shakespeare’s day, and in the period in which Romeo and Juliet is set,
there was no such entity as ‘Italy’. Instead, cities and towns were their
own states. These were generally ruled over by a dominant family, such
as the Medici family in Florence. One exception was the republic of
Venice where the ruling body was elected. The powerful Catholic Church
was based in Rome and had alliances with some of the city-states, but
not others. Struggles between rival families for control of these city-states
were common, so the conflict-driven world of the play that Shakespeare
imagines is a highly plausible setting.
Although the play is set in strife-torn Verona, the central theme of two
people from conflicting social groups falling in love is one that we can
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imagine occurring in many other settings. One of the more contemporary
stories that Romeo and Juliet inspired was the musical West Side Story.
Set in New York in the 1950s, the lovers, Tony and Maria, come from rival
street gangs, the Sharks and the Jets.
Shakespeare’s historical context
Families
In Shakespeare’s time, there were severe limits and constraints on a
person’s social behaviour. Families had significant, if not complete,
control over whom a young person could marry. Family connections,
religion and financial factors were strong influencing factors. For the
nobility, politics played an important role; the monarch was required
to sanction all marriages as all connections could affect the political
landscape. There was also less personal privacy: young people had
limited opportunities to be alone and courtship would generally have
taken place subject to the control of families. When Juliet is forced by her
father to marry Paris, this excessive control he has over her reflects the
very real social power that fathers wielded within families. Women, and
particularly girls, were seen as potentially unruly and more susceptible
to their emotions and bodily desires than men. Fathers were expected
to control their daughters (and wives) and for a daughter to go against
the wishes of her father would have been rare, resulting in serious social
repercussions.
Nature
In Shakespeare’s time nature was imagined as ‘God’s Second Book’ (the
first book being the Bible), and a rich source of knowledge. This idea lies
behind Friar Lawrence’s moralising when he is collecting plants in the
garden.
Chain of Being
A common medieval and Renaissance idea was that everything in the
universe was subject to a hierarchy that went, in descending order: God,
angels, humans, animals, plants, rocks. It was thought that reason, and
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