Romeo & Juliet

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CONTENTS
1 Introduction…………………………………………………………………..3
1.1 Introduction……………………………….……………………………..3
1.2 Aim and research-question...……………....…………….....……………3
1.3 Background………………………………….…………………………..4
1.4 Method…………………………………..………………………………4
1.5 Material………………………………………….………………………4
2 Facts………………………………………………….......……………....……..4
2.1 Major Events………....……....………………...……………………………....…4
2.2 Quotations extracted from the major events……………….…..………..6
2.3 Facts about love...……………………………………………………….9
3 Analysis and discussion……………………………………………………....9
3.1 Analysis of the major events……..……………………………………...9
3.2 Analysis of the terms: love, the story and popularity…………………..10
3.3 Analysis of the characters………………………………………………10
3.4 Similar stories and their popularity……………....……………………..11
4 Conclusion.......................................................................................................11
4.1 Conclusion...............................................................................................11
4.2 Summary..................................................................................................11
5 Sources.............................................................................................................12
5.1 Internet sources........................................................................................12
5.2 Other sources...........................................................................................12

Characters
Prince Escalus: Prince of Verona
Count Paris: Kinsman of Prince Escalus; desires to marry Juliet.
Mercutio: Another kinsman of Prince Escalus; a friend of Romeo.
Capulets
Lord Capulet: Patriarch of the house of Capulet.
Lady Capulet: Matriarch of the house of Capulet; wishes Juliet to marry Paris.
Juliet: Daughter of the Capulets; the female protagonist.
Tybalt: Cousin of Juliet, nephew of Lady Capulet.
Montagues
Lord Montague: Patriarch of the house of Montague.
Lady Montague: Matriarch of the house of Montague.
Romeo: Son of the Montagues; the male protagonist.
Benvolio: Cousin and friend of Romeo.
Rosaline, an unseen character with whom Romeo briefly falls in love with before meeting Juliet.



1 Introduction
1.1 Introduction
The story of Romeo and Juliet is probably one of the most famous love stories in the world. The tragedy, written by William Shakespeare during the end of the 16th century is a simple yet touching story of forbidden love, hatred and of course death. The play was first published in quarto versions in 1597. The simplicity of the layout which makes the story easy to understand, coupled with the complex feelings that the theme deals with; made it one of the most popular plays during Shakespeare’s lifetime. Even today it has been highly praised by literary critics. The play has been dramatized in various forms, as theatrical plays, films and also in operatic forms uncountable times.
The scene is set in Verona of Italy where two families, the Montagues and the Capulets are rivalling for influence and power. The two teenagers are members of each of the families, thus making their love impossible. In the end, after a tragic misunderstanding, both of the lovers commit suicide.
The play ascribes different poetic forms to different characters, sometimes changing the form as the character develops. Romeo, for example, grows more adept at the sonnet form over time. Characters frequently compare love and death and allude to the role of fate. But this concept of tragic love was not new when Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet, as a matter of fact the play’s origin can be found in the traditions of tragic romance in ancient Greece.


1.2 Aim and research-questions
The aim of the subject is to specify and establish the factors that make the story so engaging and hence, in addition; find the reason why the reader feels so much empathy for the couple/main characters. The background of the latter question is that empathy often leads to affinity and therefore might make the play more engaging.
To determine what factors that are making the play so popular and interesting, it is necessary that the outline plot is analysed, it is also vital to gather information and facts about how humans react to love, because the main theme of the story of Romeo and Juliet is love. Are there any similarities between the outline plot and basic human reaction to love? Can we find any connection between the terms: love, the story, popularity?

By choosing parts of the story where major events occurs and essentially where the main characters express deeper feelings and thoughts, a brief character analyse can be done which might answer “Why the reader feels so much empathy for the couple/main characters”.
The aim is also to find stories with similar layouts. Do they, and if so, how do they differ from Romeo and Juliet? Furthermore, are they as popular as Romeo and Juliet?

1.3 Background
Love, stories of love and especially stories of tragic love has always affected people, love is a basic human feeling. It is not solely brightness, attachment, fascination, or enthusiasm, love might also be darkness, sadness or tragedy as proved in the play. By analysing and comparing the story of Romeo and Juliet one can learn more about love, one can also get a deeper understanding of the story – how can such a simple story be so charming?

1.4 Methods
To be able to analyse the outline plot it is natural that the story was thoroughly read. This also made it possible to find the major events - the parts where it is possible and easy to make a simple character analyse. Important quotations made by Romeo and Juliet were extracted. After reading through the novel, a synopsis of the story was used for keeping the memory fresh.
To find stories with similar layouts and to gather information about how people react to love the internet was searched for facts. All the information gathered were analyzed.

1.5 Material.
The main material was the story of Romeo and Juliet. A summary that was published together with the story was also used.

2 Facts
2.1 Major events
Event I
It is Sunday morning, and as servants of the two rivalling families meet, tension is built up. The Capulets and the Montagues almost clash together in a fight. When the scene calms down, Lady Capulet asks for her son Romeo. Benvolio describes the odd behaviour of Romeo, who apparently is sick in love, love that is unanswered. However Romeo seems to enjoy this misery.


Event II
The Capulets are having a masquerade, and Romeo together with his friends are secretly joining the party. At the masquerade, Romeo encounters Juliet for the first time. We are told that they approach each other whilst dancing continues around them. They start to speak in rhyme with each other, Romeo starts with developing a religious image for four lines, after which Juliet continues on the same image. The conversation continues in the same fashion, until the lines (fourteen of them) make up a sonnet , “the proper medium for love poetry”.
The lovers are suddenly brought back to earth when they understand that their love is forbidden. Romeo fearing for his life, leaves.

Event III
In this event, we find Romeo inside the Capulets’ orchard. He is looking up at the light shining in Juliet’s window. This is known as the famous balcony scene. After Romeo’s monologue Juliet comes out on the balcony, believing that she is alone, she starts so speak of her love for Romeo. Then she discovers that Romeo has overheard her “secrets”, she is embarrassed at first, but as they discover that their love is mutual, they start to discuss their inner feelings and even gently tease each other.

Event IV
Once again, the servants of the two families clash together, this time no one can stop the fight although Romeo tries in vain. In this event, Mercutio is killed. His slayer, Tybalt is then stroke down by Romeo. Romeo is then banned from Verona and has to hide for his life.

Event V
Whilst the fight goes on, Juliet fantasies about Romeo. When she is informed of the banishment of Romeo, she subsides into grief.

Event VI
Juliet decides to take a potion that has an anaesthetic effect. This way, she is able to avoid the marriage with County Paris (which her father has arranged) and reconnect with Romeo. It is arranged that Romeo shall receive the message that Juliet is in fact asleep and not really dead, but something goes wrong and Romeo never receives the message. Instead he is informed about her death and rushes from the safety of his shelter, buys some poison at an apothecary’s shop and heads for Verona. When he arrives at the tomb, County Paris is already there.


Event VII
At Juliet’s tomb, Romeo engages Paris into a duel, but he fights without any of the anger or hatred of earlier clashes fought by his servants; Paris is killed. Once Romeo spots Juliet (who is obviously dead but in reality only asleep) he looses the will to live and commits suicide by drinking the poison bought at the apothecary’s.

Event VIII
Juliet wakes up from her sleep and understands what has happened, she kisses the poison on Romeo’s lips and then, to ensure her death she stabs a dagger into her own breast.
2.2 Quotations extracted from the major events
Quotations extracted from event I
p11 “I have lost myself, I am not here, this is not Romeo, he’s some other where. – Romeo in dialogue with Benvolio about his love to Rosaline.

p11 “Bid a sick man in sadness make his will – A word ill urg’d to one that is so ill: In sadness, cousin, I do love a woman .
– Romeo in dialogue with Benvolio about his love to Rosaline.

p11 “ With cupid’s arrow, she hath Dian’s wit.”
– Romeo in dialogue with Benvolio about his love to Rosaline.

p11: “That when she dies, with beauty dies her store.”
– Romeo in dialogue with Benvolio about his love to Rosaline.

p11: “Do I live dead, that live to tell it now
– Romeo in dialogue with Benvolio about his love to Rosaline.

p12: “ Farewell, thou canst not teach me to forget.”
– Romeo in dialogue with Benvolio about his love to Rosaline.

Quotations extracted from event II
p23 “I dreamt a dream tonight.” – Romeo speaking about his dream.

p23 “In bed asleep, while they do dram things true.”
– Romeo speaking about his dream.

p24 “Some consequence yet hanging in the stars.” – Romeo about what he feels for the masquerade.
p27 “O she doth teach the torches to burn bright.” – Romeo picturing Juliet when he sees her for the first time

p28 “which mannerly devotion shows in this, for saints have hands that pilgrims’ hands touch, and palm to palm is holy palmers’ kiss.”
–Juliet in the sonnet between her and Romeo.

p29 “You kiss by th’ book.” – Juliet describing Romeo’s kiss

p30 “My only love sprung from my only hate! Too early seen unknown, and known too late! Prodigious birth of love it is to me, that I must love a loathed enemy.
–Juliet discovers that Romeo is in fact a Montague.

Quotations extracted from event III
p33 “But soft, what light trough yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun” – Romeo’s monologue hidden under Juliet’s balcony.

p34 “I am too bold, ‘tis not to me she speaks.” –Romeo’s monologue when Juliet appears”

p34 “Deny thy father and refuse thy name; or if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, and I’ll no longer be a Capulet.” – Juliet’s monologue on the balcony

p37 “My life were better ended by their hate, than death prorogued, wanting of thy love. – Romeo’s dialogue with Juliet.

p40 “Love goes toward love as schoolboys from their books, but love from love, toward school with heavy looks.” – Romeo’s monologue when Juliet has retired back to her room.

Quotations extracted from event IV
p61 “I do protest I never injuried thee, but love thee better than thou canst devise, till thou shalt know the reason of my love; And so, good Capulet, which name tender As dearly as mine own, be satisfied.” – Romeo refuses to duel Tybalt, Juliet’s cousin.

p62 “Hold Tybalt! Good Mercutio!” – Romeo intervenes when Tybalt and Mercutio are on the verge of fight.

Quotations extracted from event V
p69 “What storm is this that blows so contrary? Is Romeo slaughter’d? And is Tybalt dead? – Juliet’s reaction when she informed about the battle.

Quotations extracted from event VI
p70 “Shall I speak ill of him that is my husband?” – Juliet’s answer to her Nurse’s comments on Romeo.

p70 “But wherefore, villain, didst thou kill me cousin? That villain cousin would have kill’d my husband.” – Juliet after knowing the mortal fight between Romeo and Tybalt.

Quotations extracted from event VII
p111 “Good gentle youth, tempt not a desp’rate man, fly hence and leave me.” – Romeo warning County Paris at the tomb of Juliet.

p112 “By heaven, I love thee better than myself, For I come hither arm’d against myself. Stay not, be gone; live, and hereafter say, a madman’s mercy bid thee run away.” – Romeo warning County Paris at the tomb of Juliet.

p112 “In faith, I will. […] -A grave? O no, a lantern, slaughter’d youth; For here lies Juliet, and her beauty makes this vault a feasting presence full of light.”
– Romeo laying Paris in Juliet’s tomb after killing him in a duel

p112 – 114 “How oft when men are at the point of death have they been merry, which their keepers call A light’ning before death! O how may I call this a ligt’ning? O me love, my wife, death, that hath suck’d the honey of thy breath, hath had no power yet upon thy beauty: Thou are not conquere’d, beauty’s ensign yet is crimson in thy lips and thy cheeks, and death ‘s pale flag is not advanced there. Tybalt, liest thou there in thy blood sheet? O, what more favour van I do to thee than with that hand that cut thy youth in twain to sunder his that was thine enemy? Forgive me cousin. Ah, dear Juliet, why art thou yet so fair? Shall I believe that unsubstantial death is amorous, and that the lean abhorred monster keeps thee here in dark to be his paramour? For fear of that, I still will stay with thee, and never from this palace of dim night depart again. Here, here will I remain with worms that are thy chambermaids; O here will I set up my everlasting rest, And shake the yoke of inauspicious stars from this world-wearied flesh. Eyes, look your last! Arms, take your last embrace! And, lips, O you the doors of breath, seal with a righteous kiss a dateless bargain to engrossing death! Come bitter conduct, come, unsavoury guide! Thou desperate pilot, now at once run on the dashing rocks thy seasick weary bark! Here’s to my love! O true apothecary! Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die.”
– Romeo’s monologue at the grave of Juliet before drinking the poison bought at the apothecary’s.

Quotations extracted from event VIII
p116 “O churl, drunk all, and left no friendly drop to help me after? I will kiss thy lips, haply some poison yet doth hang on them, to make me die with a restorative. Thy lips are warm. […] –Yea, noise? Then I’ll be brief. O happy dagger, this is thy sheath; there rust, and let me die.” – Juliet’s monologue after discovering the corpse of Romeo and her final words before committing suicide.


2.3 Facts about love
There are an array of different types of love, but “the” love almost everyone thinks of when hearing the word is “the affectionate and sexual” love between two human beings. Love is actually absolute, in theory it can not be explained in words, just as music is absolute. Though there can be generalisations that might explain what love could be.
The definition of love is “a range of human emotions and experiences related to the senses of affection and sexual attraction.” Central emotions felt in love are excitement, happiness, euphoria and elation together with a kind of fascination for the person the lover is in love with. These emotions tend to dominate the lovers mind. The lover often finds it hard to concentrate and focus, instead - since the emotions of love dominate his/her mind - he/she wonder into thought about the person. This often leads to incomplete, deficient and unfinished sentences and phrases.
Unhappy love in other hand often leads to feelings such as depression, low self-esteem, anxiety, and rapid mood swings between depression and euphoria. Because of the rapid changes in mood felt by an unhappy lover, crestfallen love could be compared as analogue with bipolar disorder, a mental illness.
“Onset of symptoms generally occurs in young adulthood. Diagnosis is based on the person''''s self-reported experiences, as well as observed behaviour. Episodes of illness are associated with distress and disruption, and a relatively high risk of suicide.”
Therefore, it is not farfetched that extreme cases of unhappy love can lead to suicidal trains of thought.

3 Analysis and discussion
3.1 Analysis of the major events
In event I, as the story is presented to the reader, the first thing that happens is a build up of tension. But since the fight never occurs, some of the tension is still left when the story moves on. This is possibly one of the crucial factors which make the play so engaging; the background tension prevents a “puncture” of the story by attracting the audience’s interest. As Romeo does his first appearance, he directly reveals the fundamental idea behind the story: tragedy.
In event II where the Montagues attend to the Capulets’ masquerade, Romeo literally visits the “den of the lion” and meets Juliet for the first time. Because of these two factors, the tension is further built up. The audience now inevitably has to ask itself: Is there (Romeo and Juliet’s) love possible? Certainly the first appearance of Romeo gives us hints to the answer, but they’re only vague.
In event III the play deals with much more tender themes. The event is dominated with sonnet like dialogues between the two lovers. Interesting, Shakespeare once again give us hints about the ending by allotting the couple this form of dialogue. – Petrarch is famous for his love for the lady Laura. He is best remembered for the sonnets he wrote her, despite her marriage to another man. Indeed, the sonnet form later became related to the idea of unrequited love, among other themes.
It is in this event where a point of no return is reached. Romeo and Juliet are in love with each other. Question is, how can this situation be resolved?
In event IV Romeo is banned from Verona, this is where the story starts to head towards its peak. From here, stress is built up until event VII where the story reaches its climax. As Romeo is duelling Count Paris, he has already lost all faith in life because of Juliet’s death. One can only imagine the anger, sorrow and desperation felt by Romeo. Consequently, killing Count Paris must have felt as a sort of relief for Romeo.
In the last two events the audience’s suspicions are verified, the story is really a tragedy.
The main layout of the story can be concluded into:
1. Built up of tension and maintaining tension.
2. Build up of the love narrative.
3. Point of no return affecting both the love-plot and the tension.
4. Climax of love-plot and the tension.
5. Ending, which means tension is finally resolved.

3.2 Analysis of the terms: love, the story, popularity
All of these components are crucial in a traditional novel. Furthermore, the story keeps the audience engaged with the “tension-method” see “3.1 analysis of the major events”, page 9 throughout the whole story.
There are apparent similarities between the two descriptions of love see “2.3 facts about love”, page 9 and the love portrayed in the play. Since love is the main feature of the story, the story will appear neutral and “easily digested” by the majority. This in turn means that there might be some connection between the story and its popularity.
3.3 Analysis of the characters
In fact, little can be said about Romeo and Juliet, however that does not mean that they are dull. All the quotations see “2.1 Quotations extracted from the major events”, page 6 are neutral in the perspective that they do not really reveal much about the personalities, instead they express general feelings that the majority of the western population would feel. This means that we familiarise us selves with the characters and therefore get more engaged as the story progresses.

3.4 Similar stories
One of the most famous stories which obviously has the theme “unhappy love” is Tristan & Isolde, a tragic story of the adulterous love between the Cornish knight Tristan and the Irish princess Isolde. For more information please read the story of Tristan & Isolde
The story is as famous and, if not more; loved than the story of Romeo and Juliet. As a result we might be able to draw the conclusion that stories with a similar layout and theme have a good chance o...