Romeo and Juliet

DramaturgyBy

Paul Rycik

Renaissance Ideas

• The Heavens• The Earth• The Body• Essay: “A Plague on Both Your

Houses”

he Heavens• Shakespearean tragedy is all about people who

have done things that disturb the order of the universe, the very heavens themselves cannot take our Earthly folly.

• In the Middle Ages, the heavens were conceived as layers of crystal spheres that encircled the world. On these spheres moved the planets and stars whose motions formed a very fixed path. Outside the spheres was Heaven itself and its Angelic orders leading up to the Emphereon where God himself dwelled.

• Ptolemaic Spheres• The Planets

Ptolemaic Spheres• The Renaissance concept

of the how the universe worked was due mostly to the writings of Ptolemy, a Greco -Egyptian scientist from the second century A. D.

• Ptolemy’s universe is based on a theory that everything has a hierarchy from the planets to our own bodies.

• The picture on the right, shows the Earth as the center of this universe. The Earth is surrounded by planets and stars which circle around it. These stars and planets have power over the Earth and its seasons.

Ptolemaic Spheres 2

•This drawing illustrates Earth’s place among the cosmos. Each circle represents the stars and planets that rotated around the Earth in an crystal orbit. Above the spheres was Heaven with its angelic orders and God himself in his own sphere controlling everything.

The Planets

The study of the movement of the planets and stars, was of great importance to people of the Renaissance- people saw their children’s futures in the motions of the planets that their children were born under. Some of the planets that play crucial roles in Romeo and Juliet include:

The SunThe MoonMercury

Mars The Earth

Mercury• The planet under which Mercutio was born • "Such as he is joined with,

quicksilver." • Quicksilver is the Old English for the metal Mercury. The metal

Mercury is the only element on the Periodic Table that is liquid at room temperature, so it courses and flows quickly. Likewise Mercutio acquiesces and changes mood fast and unpredictably.

• Those born under Mercury are mercurial (or chameleon-like): they are hot with those who are hot, cold with cold, and so on.

Children born under Mercury • “He governeth in man's body the tongue, memory, cogitation, hands

and thighs.He hath dominion over the frenzy, madness, melancholy, falling sickness, cough, rheum and the abundance of distilling spittle, and generally all things are subject unto him; and he hath two mansions, Gemini and Virgo.”“If he be Lord of the nativity, he maketh the children stout, wise and apt to learn, modest, secret, and eloquent; of person small, lean, pale of visage, smooth haired, fair eyes, hard and bony handed. This planet giveth name to Wednesday.”

-The Book of Secrets of Albertus Magnus, ed. Michael Best and Frank Brightman. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1973.

The Sun• The Sun, (the planet that governs Leos) is Juliet’s birth planet.

• Juliet was born on July 31, so she is a Leo.

• The Sun was associated with reason and it produced children that were able to think rationally. Therefore Juliet is muchmore reasonable than Romeo because of her birth.If he be Lord of the nativity he maketh the children born trusty, lofty, wise, just, courteous, religious, and obedient unto their parents; of person corpulent, their hair inclined to yellow, tall, large limbed, doing all things with a grace; and if this planet be well placed, he causeth long life. This planet giveth denomination to Sunday. -The Book of Secrets of Albertus Magnus, ed. Michael Best and Frank Brightman. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1973.

The Earth

• The Earth was thought to be surrounded by four circles made of the four elements. Opposite elements naturally repel- Water and fire cannot endure each other. Likewise elements attract- birds are mostly air so they can rise through Earth and water, whereas we humans are attracted to Earth so we fall. Thus Renaissance scholars explained what we now call gravity.

The Moon

• The Moon, because of its monthly cycle, was thought to represent inconsistency and changeability, So Juliet is afraid that Romeo is making an oath that soon will be broken.

• The Moon was supposed to represent feminine qualities, (above all changeability and fickle natures). In addition, women’s menstrual cycles were in sync with the cycle of the moon.

“If she be Sovereign of the nativity, she maketh the children born honest inconstant, loving wet and moist places, and given to see strange countries; of stature tall, white and effiminate. She giveth name to Monday”.

- The Book of Secrets of Albertus Magnus, ed. Michael Best and Frank Brightman. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1973.)

“O swear not by the moon” –Juliet, Act II, ii

Mars• Mars is the planet that Tybalt was probably born

under because it has the most domination over choler. Mars was the God of war in Roman mythology.

The Body

In addition to the power of the stars, there were four chemicals, (humours), which controlled human emotions-

• Choler • Phlegm • Blood • Melancholy

Choler• Choler is the humour of fire- it is what causes a

man to be angry and short-tempered

• Tybalt is dominated by Choler- he is even called “The Fiery Tybalt.”

• Too much choler caused diseases. All feverish diseases such as flu, cholera, and the dreaded Bubonic Plague, were caused by choler.– He hath influence in the tertian fever

[malaria], pestilence [the plague], and continual ague [fever], The Book of Secrets of Albertus Magnus, ed. Michael Best and Frank Brightman. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1973.)

Phlegm

• Phlegm’s element is water: it is thoughtful, peaceful, passive and imaginative

• Water is also lazy and corpulent• Phlegm dominates primarily in

winter months, which is why during winter we frequently get colds.

Blood• Blood is made of the element air- it was

responsible for passions such as love.• Romeo is dominated by hot blood,

which Shakespeare explains is the humour of love:Hot blood begets hot thoughts, and hot      thoughts beget hot deeds, and hot deeds is love.-Troilus and Cressida, Act 3, Scene 1

Melancholy• Melancholy, also known as black bile,

was an element of Earth. A melancholic person was frequently sad and pensive.

• Romeo’s father explains the symptoms of melancholy in Act I, when he speaks of Romeo’s misery after being rejected by Rosaline:

In his chamber (he) pens himself,Shuts up his windows, locks far daylight outAnd makes himself an artificial night:Black and portentous must this humour prove,Unless good counsel may the cause remove.-Romeo and Juliet, Act I, Scene I, lines 137-141

“A Plague on Both Your Houses!”

• Although Romeo and Juliet is primarily an exploration of love, it also has a powerful message about the nature of hate. Shakespeare characterizes hate as a plague. When Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet, England had just suffered another outbreak of Bubonic plague, so Shakespeare personified hate as a plague to play to force his audiences to realize hate’s destructive power.

• Choler, the humour for anger, was thought to cause the plague when it is imbalanced, so an abundance of hate was regarded as lethal for the Elizabethans.

• Mercutio’s remark “A plague on both your houses,” is immediately followed by “I have it and soundly too.” Like a plague, this hate has infected others.

The Four Elements• Chaos-

The medieval interpretation of the creation is that before the beginning of the universe, earth, water, air and fire were at constant war with each other, they were completely jumbled together and had no order to them. This was known as chaos. When God created the universe, it is said that his spirit of love, cut through this chaos and separated these forces into the parts that then became the ordered universe. Everything from the stars to the earth, to our own bodies are made of these four basic forms. These elements manifest themselves as the four humours.

Astrology• As the Ptolomaic Spheres rotated around the Earth, The

various planets had their effect different times of the year. People born under different planets were predominantly effected by that planet’s humour.

• The humours were also effected by the seasons, as shown in this picture.The play takes place in early July, so the dominant humour is choler, (at least during the day). In the coolof night, love can blossom.

Images in Romeo and Juliet

• In Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare explores the emotions love and hate, and conjures up two images that personify them- the image of a rose for love, and the image of a plague for hate. Every time love is mentioned it is compared to a rose in passages such as: “This bud of love” or “the fairest flower of all the field” or even, “Is love a tender thing? It pricks like thorns.” Hate however, is personified as a plague, most notably when Mercutio says: “A plague on both your houses!” and follows with, “I have it, and soundly too.” Mercutio realizes that the feud between the Capulets and Montagues is a plague, and he is a victim of it. Using these images Shakespeare presents a very powerful and very simple message: Love is beautiful, brief, and full of thorns, but hate is a plague that only leads to death.

A Rose, by many other names

• The Rose Theatre• Roses in Love and Religion• “As the bud is eaten by the

envious worm”

Roses in Love and Religion

• It is an old tradition in romance to compareone’s beloved to a goddess. This is why Romeo calls Juliet a saint when they first meet.

• From medieval times to now, roseswere symbols of the Virgin Mary, extolling the virtues of purity, chastity,

and beauty . When Romeo or Juliet are compared to roses, they remind us of the virtues that the flower represents.

• Shakespeare weaves the Romantic and the Sacred together in the image of a rose, and declares that “Love is but a flower;” a Rose.

Love and Roses in Medieval Religion

• The power of love in religion is great- the noted Shakespeare scholar Peter Saccio explains:“During the Renaissance, love was the glue of the whole universe, God is love, according to Dante, and his love formed the universe out of chaos and moves the planets and the stars.”

• Romeo seems to agree that love has such awesome power: “With love’s light wings did I o’erperch these walls,” (Rom. II, ii).

• In addition, when Romeo is denied love by Rosaline, he feels that he is himself in chaos, “Mis-shapen chaos of well-seeming forms,”(Rom. I, i)

In Paradiso, the poet Dante Alighieri envisions Heaven as a giant white rose with circles of light converging around one point

Romantic Love and Roses• There are many references to

flowers in Romeo and Juliet, several of them pertain to love.– Is love a tender thing? It pricks like thorn, (Romeo, I.

i)– This bud of love, may prove a beauteous flower

( Juliet, I. iv)– Flower as she was… the fairest flower in all the field.

(Capulet, IV. v) his image of love being as pure as natureAnd as powerful as god’s love is the way it isportrayed in Romeo and Juliet.

As the Bud is Bitten…Roses personify the love that Romeo and Juliet have for each other. Yet, roses are frail flowers and easily destroyed. Cankers, little worms that eat flowers, also Are mentioned in the play, as metaphors for hate.

“Cankered with peace, to part your cankered hate” –Escalus, Act 1, scene I

“As the bud is bitten by the envious worm” -Benvolio, Act I, scene i“And where the worser is predominent (in man) Full soon the canker death eats up that plant.”-Friar Lawrence, Act II, scene iii

The story of Romeo and Juliet is like a rose, infectedBy the hate of envious families.

The Rose Theatre• The Rose was built in 1587 by Phillip Henslowe, a clever

theatrical impresario who also owned several bear-bating arenas.

• The Rose was fairly small compared to the later Globe theatre, which held over 2,500 people. The Rose was home to The Admiral’s Men, Shakespeare’s rival theatre company.

• No one really knows if Romeo and Juliet premiered at the Rose. Records indicate that Phillip Henslowe did produce some of Shakespeare’s plays, so it is logical to assume that they were put on in his theatre

• In 1989, the Rose Theater was partially excavated under the streets of London. Since then a high-profile campaign has been undertaken to finish the excavation and to restore the Rose, (sponsored by actors such as Sir Ian McKellen and Dustin Hoffman). So far, the plans have not been fulfilled.

“What’s In a Name?”• All the names is Romeo and Juliet mean something that

explains the character:

• Romeo – Pilgrim. When Romeo first meets Juliet, he calls himself, (or more specifically his lips) a pilgrim. Even before that, Romeo is searching for a woman to love and when he finds her, he feels like a sinner that is going on a pilgrimage to seek purification from Juliet, his saint.

• Tybalt- A Tybalt is a fencing move. Because Tybalt is such a great fighter, it is appropriate that his name is the name of a fencing move

• Escalus- Escalus means “Scales” in Italian. Escalus is a judge of both the Capulet and the Montegues, so his name reflects his function

• Juliet- Juliet’s name is probably a relation to the Roman house of “Julia” who were descended from Venus.

• Prudence- The Nurse’s name is Prudence because she is a sensible person; she isn’t romantic, she just says whatever she wants and thinks in a very earthy sort of way.

Selected BibliographyBooks

• Shakespeare, William. “Romeo and Juliet”, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare adapted from William Shakespeare’s First Folio printed 1623 by Isaac Iggard and Edward Blaunt.New York: Random House Value Publishing, Inc. 1975.

• Shapiro, James. 1599: A Year in the Life of Shakespeare. Faber and Faber, 2005.

• Schmidt, Alexander. Shakespeare’s Lexicon and Quotation Dictionary Dover Publications; New Impression edition (June 1, 1971)

Videos• Eyre, Richard. (2001) Changing Stages: Shakespeare, Drama’s DNA. BBC Worldwide

• Wood, Michael. (2003) In Search of Shakespeare. BBC Worldwide.

Lecture Series• Krausnick, Dennis. “Shakespeare’s First Folio as a textual Resource”

Shakespeare and Company, Lennox MA; 2006.

• Saccio, Peter. “Shakespeare: The Word and the Action.” Dartmouth College, VA: 2001

Web• Best, Michael.

– Shakespeare's Life and Times. Internet Shakespeare Editions, University of Victoria: Victoria, BC, 2001-2005. <http://ise.uvic.ca/Library/SLT/>. Retrieved Oct. 13th, 2006.

• Rose Theatre Trust:- History of the Rose Copyright 2006. Retrieved 10/13/06 from http://www.rosetheatre.org.uk/index.php