Chronicle of a Death Foretold (3-24)

You cut right to the heart of Marquez’s novel this morning by likening it to a murder mystery and noticing the contradictory facts. On one level, Marquez parodies the murder mystery form. His narrator has come back to his hometown to uncover the truth surrounding the murder of Santiago Nasar. The irony, of course, is that everyone knows who killed him; indeed, everyone knew who was going to kill him before the crime took place.

The narrator also returns intent on weighing the events objectively and recreating in his mind the conditions of that day. From the get-go, though, something seems wrong. We’re told that Nasar passed many people on the way to his death that day, “and he remarked to all of them in a casual way that it was a very beautiful day” (4). Furthermore, “many people coincided in recalling that it was a radiant morning” (4). All seems well until the narrator tells us that most of the people he talks to “agreed the weather was funereal,” bleak and cloudy (4). Your insight into these contradictions is very good. Remember, too, that the narrator’s purpose is to piece together an accurate depiction of the events.

One hint for tonight’s reading: pay close attention to the description of Bayardo San Roman and think of literary archetypes that he might resemble.

Their Eyes Were Watching God, Chapters 17-18

The blog is back.

There is a lot to talk about in Chapters 17-18 with Tea Cake beating Janie and the traumatic event of the hurricane. Tea Cake’s abuse of Janie, and the admiration he gains from his friends, makes Tea Cake a more complicated character than we thought. A number of you realized that, though Janie loves Tea Cake in a more mature and complete way than she did Joe Starks, there are disturbing parallels between Tea Cake and Jody. These parallels are worth looking at more closely to discover just how they are the same and, more importantly, how they are different.

You are also beginning to see the religious significance with which Janie understands her relationship with Tea Cake. Our discussion about the essay question revealed that Janie experiences the light of God in her relationship with Janie. This inner light also relates to the African creation myth she muses about. God’s love allows her love, her spark, to shine and find Tea Cake’s spark. Janie alludes to this revelation of light in Chapter 18 when she and Tea Cake shelter from the storm. She tells him that before she met him he “wuz fumblin’ round and God opened de door” to let the light in (157). Light in the transfiguration reveals God’s presence and God’s love through Jesus. By God showing Janie the light of love by opening the door to her relationship with Tea Cake, Janie discovers more than the love of her life. Tea Cake is an expression of African American culture steeped in a history of forced labor and the expression of the humans spirit through a rich tradition of community and music.

Interestingly, a number of you connected God’s illumination of Janie’s love to the purchase of the streetlamp earlier in the book. Joe buys the town and artificial light to avoid “scufflin’ over all dese stumps and roots in the dark” (44). You noted that Joe’s attempt to cast light reveals the god-like position he wants to claim in the town. You also noted that Joe’s light is artificial, not the natural (or supernatural) light of God. The knowledge that Joe’s light creates, therefore, is human knowledge and fallible.

You also noted that the obstacles Joe’s light reveals are human made obstacles: stumps, the remnants of trees after humans have cut them down. However, you didn’t note how Joe wants to illuminate the path not to show the way but to avoid the stumps (past human actions) and roots, symbolizing where the people came from. It is perhaps understandable that Joe would like to avoid his roots, as his ancestors were likely enslaved Africans. Avoiding the past allows him to adopt the trappings of success in white culture. However, by lighting the roots and teaching Janie to avoid tripping over them, Joe also avoids the strength of community and cultural expression of his roots.

Joe illuminates roots in order for Janie to avoid them; God opens the door to the light that leads Janie to her roots.

Romeo and Juliet, 5.3.1-165

I enjoyed your discussion of fate and free will today. So inspired, in fact, that I decided to ask you to write about the relationship between these two forces on your test on Friday.

Getting ready to commit suicide, Romeo announces that he is ready to “shake the yoke of inauspicious stars/From this world-wearied flesh” (5.3.111-2). You discovered that inauspicious means lacking in good fortune, and we talked about how a yoke directs beasts of burden in a field. Romeo clearly feels that fate, represented by the stars, has not treated him well (though if he just shut up and paid attention to Juliet, he’s see that she’s still alive). The stars have so far steered him to unhappiness, seemingly separated from Juliet forever. You reiterated the question, though, whether one may cast off the yoke of one’s fate.

By committing suicide, Romeo believes he has taken over control of his life from “he that hath the steerage of my course” in 1.4. Romeo metaphorically compares himself to a ship being steered by another force toward “Some consequence yet hanging in the stars” before he enters the party at which he meets Juliet (1.4.119, 114). He then revisits the metaphor in 5.3, calling himself the “desperate pilot” who “now at once ru on/The dashing rocks thy seasick weary bark” (5.3.117-8). The bark, or ship, is Romeo’s life, and he is now steering, not fate or some other force, or so he believes. He decides to end his journey suddenly upon the rocks rather than wait for the ship to find calmer waters and for the seasickness to end.

Romeo and Juliet, 5.1 and 5.2

You began today contemplating Romeo’s line “I defy you stars!” (5.1.25). You noted that Romeo believes he will trick his fate by committing suicide. Romeo in this scene decides that the stars, his fate, intends for him and Juliet to be apart for eternity, so he takes matters into his own hand. Balthazar has just told him that Juliet’s “immortal part,” her soul, “with angels lives” (5.1.20). Believing that love he has for Juliet purifies his soul, Romeo decides to outwit fate and join his “immortal part” with hers. Romeo clearly does not consider his catechism, which teaches him that suicide is a mortal sin and will doom him.

Regardless of whether Romeo foolishly disregards the sinfulness of his act, he acts. Though you did not mention it, Romeo’s course raises the question of fate versus freewill that you discussed back in Act 3.

A few good bits from today: In Romeo’s opening line, “If I can believe the flattering truth of sleep,” contains an oxymoron. Flattery always has an element of untruth in it. So, “flattering truth” contradicts itself. Later, Romeo asserts that “love’s shadows are so hidden in joy” reviving the theme that darkness, shadow, gives cover to the joy of their love, reminding the reader that their love upsets the usual order of things. Lastly, Romeo echoes Friar Lawrence’s concern with the dual nature of all things as he talks about the “fatal cannon’ womb” (5.1.69). A womb brings fort life, and a cannon ends life.

Romeo and Juliet 3.5

Today was a bit chaotic but fun. The discussion digressed a bit, but I think the digression into the nature of fate, fortune, and free will was worthwhile. The controversy arose of out of your discussion of Juliet’s line, “O Fortune, Fortune, all men call thee fickle” (3.5.60). Besides personifying fortune, or fate, Juliet apostrophizes Fortune and reacts to her change in fortune by noting that all humans see Fortune as capricious. However, the question arose as to whether Fortune could be fickle ever. If a life is fated, the path of that life is determined before it begins. It cannot deviate from the path; or can it? We discussed fate for a bit, but never really looked into the role of free will in the play or in relation to fate. We will return to this discussion when we get to Act 5.

The other main point from today’s discussion is that Juliet is now without an ally in her household and relies, as Romeo does, on Friar Lawrence. By suggesting that Romeo is a “dishclout” in comparison to Paris, who is “An eagle,” the nurse advises Juliet to marry Paris and forget Romeo. In response, Juliet calls the Nurse, “Ancient damnation, O most wicked fiend,” and banishes the Nurse from her heart: “Thou and my bosom henceforth shall be twain” (3.5.348, 354).

Romeo and Juliet, 3.3-3.4

This must be quick. In general, I liked your discussion today very much. You focused more on the specific connotations of individual words to support your interpretations. This specificity bodes well for your essays due in Moodle on Monday.

You did well to parse Romeo’s self-centered and pitiful whining. The discussion about the passage in which he considers “carrion flies” more fortunate than he because they may “seize/on the white wonder of dear Juliet’s hand” revealed how self-pitying he is (3.3.36-37). He sees himself worse off than flies that eat dead flesh. You also noted that his word “seize” suggests that Juliet is in danger of being seized without him.

Friar Lawrence chides Romeo as being like a clumsy soldier who burns himself by exploding the gunpowder outside the gun. He also calls him “womanish” in his tears and “beastly” in his behavior. Both, Friar Lawrence suggests, reveal how immature Romeo is.

Your discussion was far more detailed than I have time to reflect here. However, I do want to leave you with an example of good, detailed analysis. You quoted Friar Lawrence’s line that Romeo’s “noble shape is but a form of wax” (3.3.136). You focused on the word, wax. You remembered that in 1.3 Lady Capulet describes Paris as a man of wax and that Juliet was not impressed as wax is malleable and melts in the heat (of passion). Friar Lawrence here suggests that Romeo is not as noble as his name, clothes, and birth would suggest. His form is wax, or artificial, not real, and it is malleable, changeable, inconstant, and therefore ignoble and unmanly.

Romeo and Juliet, 3.2

Today’s discussion had its strengths and its weaknesses. Though I tried several times to get you to pay closer attention to particular words and to read the connotations of them, only a few of you took up the challenge. You are all very good at figuring out the way Shakespeare’s lines drive the plot or reveal character, but you still need practice deepening your analysis in support of your readings. However, you did well to understand the main action of the scene and to connect Juliet’s speeches to motifs in the play, particularly night and fate, which you deftly linked in the star imagery in the scene.

Juliet apostrophizes night and Romeo: “Come night, come Romeo, come though day in night” (3.2.17). This line evokes Romeo’s 1.1 attempt to make an artificial night in his room during the day. When he was in love with Rosaline, he could only enjoy his misery in darkness. Here, Juliet refers to night when her love can come out. Romeo, her “day in night” is a star; he burns brightly during the night, which except in church, is the only time she has seen him.

The depiction of Romeo as a star also ties into the theme of fate in the play. Sailors direct their sails, to paraphrase Romeo’s premonition in 1.4, and Juliet uses Romeo to guide her path. Stars are also a symbol for fate as we have seen with the epithet, “star-crossed lovers.” So, Juliet ties her fate to Romeo.

In your reading of Juliet’s line “I have bought the mansion of a love,” you began to read closely (3.2.28). Mansions are big, grand houses, purchased to hold rich possessions and big families. Also, they display the wealth of their owners, the way that Romeo’s beauty will display Juliet’s superficial wealth. Here, Juliet has paid for her love by exchanging wedding vows but has not consummated her ownership of the love in their wedding night. Interestingly, Shakespeare gives his young heroine sexual desire; she’s eager for the night to arrive so she can take possession of her love. She imagines herself an equal partner in this night, not merely one to be possessed.

Your discussion of the oxymoronic rant that Juliet gives forth after hearing that Tybalt died at Romeo’s hand was less satisfactory. When you write about an oxymoron over the weekend, I hope you will look closely at the rich imagery. After today’s class, I feel that I must defend young Juliet against your cynicism a bit. You saw the oxymorons as indicative of her capricious attitude toward Romeo and her fickle attitude toward love. Might they also indicate her deep and profound confusion?

Romeo and Juliet, 3.1

Life turns difficult for the young lovers in Act 3. Newly married and still without the opportunity to consummate his marriage, Romeo kills Tybalt in a brawl. He blames fate: “O, I am fortune’s fool!” (3.1.142). As you discussed in class today, Romeo believes the fateful stars toy with him; he is their plaything. That his fortune is tied to two deaths in this scene foreshadows his untimely end. But, so does Romeo’s refusal to accept responsibility for his actions. You and Mercutio refused to let him off the hook, however.

Twice Mercutio curses the Capulets and the Montagues with his dying breaths: “A plague o’ both houses!” (3.1.94, 111). As a member of neither warring household, Mercutio finds himself collateral damage to feud. He even blames Romeo for causing his death by stepping between him and Tybalt. Romeo, however, passes the blame onto Juliet: “O sweet Juliet,/They beauty hat made me effeminate/And in my temper softened valor’s steel” (3.1.118-20). He implies that his connection to Juliet has unmanned him. His attraction to her beauty distracted him from his manly honor and he forgot how he is supposed to act when challenged by his enemy. The steel of his valor (as if we’ve seen any evidence of Romeo’s valor to this point) weakens when exposed to the heat of Juliet’s beauty.

During discussion today, you were right to hold Romeo accountable for Tybalt’s death. Though you allowed room for the passion of Romeo’s anger, you also noted that Romeo decides to pursue Tybalt. He apostrophizes fury (remember the furies from The Odyssey) as he consciously vows revenge: “And fire-eyed fury be my conduct now” (3.1.129). In compensation for his former effeminacy, Romeo asks that fury now guide his actions.

Romeo and Juliet, 2.5 and 2.6

I don't have much to time today, so I can do little more than to urge you to be more respectful of each other during discussions. Particularly those of you sitting at the end of the table away from the Student Commons talked constantly while classmates were speaking. I promise to be more vigilant about reminding you during class to pay attention to each other.

The speeches that begin and end 2.5 are worth going back over. You hit some key images, like a wish that love's messenger flew with "swift Cupid's wings" (2.5.9) and Juliet's argument that "love's heralds should be thoughts" (2.5.4), but you didn't take the time to consider all the connotations of these lovely images.

You did pick up on Friar Lawrence's ambivalence about the wedding. He's willing to marry the passionate young lovers even though he acknowledges "These violent delights have violent ends" (2.6.9). The love Romeo and Juliet express for each other clearly delights them, but is also dangerous. You were good at seeing the contradictions in Friar Lawrence's stance, but you did not recall 2.3. Remember that Friar Lawrence believes that the nature of all things is double. Whether one gets medicine or poison from a plant depends upon how one cultivates the plant. So, Friar Lawrence can believe that the relationship has the potential for a violent end and proceed because he believes he can engineer the more positive of the two possible outcomes.

Romeo and Juliet, 2.3-2.4

It is getting late and my ability to write is fading fast, so I will make this short. The strategy of focusing on smaller pieces of scenes seemed to work well today, especially for 2.3, about which you sustained a long and interesting discussion. For some reason, you resisted discussing 2.4. Perhaps it was the number of ribald puns, or that Shakespeare’s prose is more difficult to penetrate than his verse. Whatever the case, you did not get to discuss Mercutio’s attitude toward Tybalt or the threat that Tybalt poses.

In contrast, your discussion of 2.3 was very good. The main point of your discussion was that Friar Lawrence recognizes the dual nature of all things; that is, all things have the capacity for good and bad. The earth nourishes life and is a grave: “The earth that’s natures mother is her tomb” (2.3.29). Even a flower, like the bud that Juliet compares to the love between her and Romeo in 2.2, can kill or heal: “Within the infant rind of this weak flower/poison hath residence and medicinal power” (2.3.23-24).

You likened this double-natured bud to the love of Romeo and Juliet, which is joyful but also filled with insidious, poisonous power. Even in this scene, Friar Lawrence, after chiding Romeo’s fickleness, recognizes the dangerous and the beneficial possibilities of the union between the two young lovers. He tells Romeo to proceed, “Wisely and slowly. They stumble that run fast” (2.3.101), yet he agrees to perform the wedding because he sees the possibility that it end the feud. So, while he suggests that Romeo acts like a little kid who can’t keep up with a fast-moving love and who may stumble as he pursues, Friar Lawrence also tells Romeo the marriage might, “turn your households’ rancor to pure love” (2.23.99).

Romeo and Juliet, 2.2

I felt like echoing Juliet’s plaintive “Ay me,” after class today. Don’t get me wrong, there were moments of brilliance, but today’s conversation lacked the cohesion and focus of yesterday’s. After class I wondered why this would be the case. I concluded that yesterday’s discussion mainly centered on 14 lines of poetry, and today’s discussion aimed to encompass 205. With so much ground to cover, no wonder the discussion jumped from topic to topic. Obviously, there will be many days when you have read more than a few lines of poetry. However, it may be more productive to break the reading down into smaller units. Someone, perhaps one of your much missed ailing fellows, might begin tomorrow’s discussion by explicitly stating the portion of the scene she would like to discuss. Only when the class agrees to move will the discussion shift to another portion of the reading.

Some of today’s interpretive nuggets:

Romeo’s pledge to be “new baptized” if Juliet loves him connects with the religious motif (2.2.54). Rosaline used to be Romeo’s religion, but if Juliet anoints him with his love his religion will be altered. Best quip: Juliet’s baptized Romeo, he’s just waiting for confirmation. He doesn’t get any by the end of the scene. That will have to wait until they’re married.

Juliet says of her love for her new crush, “My bounty is as boundless as the sea” (2.2.140). You noted that the sea is not only broad and deep, but it is driven by powerful currents and can be unpredictably destructive. Of course, one of the greatest forces that governs the movement of the sea is the gravitational pull of the moon that determines the tides. Thus, though Juliet tells Romeo not to swear his love “by the moon, th’ inconstant moon,” she suggests that her love may be governed by the force of the changeable moon (2.2.114).

Romeo and Juliet, 2 Prologue and 2.1

Days like today give me hope. I was heartened especially by your discussion of the sonnet that makes up the prologue of Act 2. Most impressively, you started to see the connotations of words and images and how they reveal the characters of the two young lovers. For instance, you noted that the characterization of Romeo’s feelings for Rosaline as “desire” that “on his death bed lie” suggests that Romeo’s feelings for his former flame are not quite finished (2 Prologue.1). They live still, but are dying out. Similarly, you pointed out that “young affection,” Romeo’s youthful feelings for Juliet, “gapes to be his heir” (2 Prologue.2).

Affection, clearly, is not the same as desire, but the way Shakespeare writes the lines, affection can grow into desire if it inherits the passion from old desire. Desire is personified as the possessor of rich passion, and affection is personified as the eager heir. You also noted that Romeo’s desire ages quickly and is not something long lived.

I also enjoyed your analysis of the description of Romeo and Juliet “alike bewitched by the charm of looks” (2 Prologue.6). You noted that those who are bewitched are under a spell and not themselves. The charm, also, is not a deep knowledge of one another but “looks,” the outward appearance of the two young lovers. It remains to be seen whether the affection can mature into desire and love.

We also talked again about Mercutio’s baser, more physical image of love as being something sexual. I mentioned that his delineation of Rosaline’s body parts is a poetic technique called a blazon.

Romeo and Juliet, 1.5

Okay, so my scolding seems to have worked for today at least. Please remember what I said today next week when we return to discussing Romeo and Juliet. Also, keep using literary terms in your discussion so that you get familiar with these concepts. Terms such as antithesis, paradox, metaphor, conceit, etc. are valuable tools of literary criticism.

Though, as Aloise pointed out, your discussion jumped around a bit within the scene, you did hit nearly all the major parts, including Capulet’s scolding of Tybalt, the sonnet exchange between Romeo and Juliet, and the portentous lines at the end of the scene. The one part of the scene you barely touched on was Romeo’s quick heresy in his religion of Rosaline. The lines in which he notices Juliet are extremely important for understanding his motivations over the next several scenes at least: “She doth teach the torches to burn bright!/It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night/As a rich jewel in an Ethiop’s ear” (1.5.51-3). Notice how Juliet’s brightness fits within the motif of light vs. dark in the play. Remember, this a lad who creates an artificial night during the day to mope about his unrequited love. Now, here is a beauty that casts aside all darkness, a mentor for artificial light in darkness. She shines in contrast to her dark surroundings the way a star shines at night or a pearl contrasts with dark skin.

I applaud your recognition of the sonnet that organizes the first lines that include Romeo and Juliet’s first exchange. The structure of the lines does set their meeting apart from the rest of the scene. That they alternate quatrain for quatrain, for example, building on each other’s thoughts, in a form that usually expresses a single voice, does suggest a kind of affinity for one another. It also suggests that both are very familiar with the literature about love. Thus, Juliet can remark regarding Romeo’s first kiss, “You kiss by th’ book” (1.5.122). This line does connect with the book conceit in 1.3, but it also suggests that Romeo kisses by recipe, a recipe that Juliet has read. You’re absolutely correct that Juliet’s remark indicates that Romeo shares her lack of actual experience with physical love. They both just know the poetry.

Romeo and Juliet, 1.4

As I mentioned in class today, as short as it was, today was the best discussion of Romeo and Juliet that you have had so far. The reason for that may be the 10 or so minutes you spent looking at specific passages before discussing. Your examination of Shakespeare’s language was enriched. The down side of taking time to pore over the text and to examine passages closely is that we did not get to discuss the whole scene. In particular, we missed Romeo and Mercutio’s debate about love, and we missed Mercutio’s Queen Mab speech. We can spend some time tomorrow on these important speeches.

What you did discuss included Romeo’s misgivings upon entering the Capulet’s party that foreshadows the end of the play, including the “vile forfeit” of his death (1.4.118). Sarah even picked up on the pun in which a vial is the instrument of Romeo’s forfeiture of his life. Thinking about the term vile, you noted that his death was a bad death, one that forfeited his life perhaps for no good reason. Some of you, though, thought his forfeit bought a peace between the feuding families. You even noted that “forfeit” is an economic term, according to the gloss, which suggests that Romeo did not have the wherewithal to pay for the continued use of his life. In a sense, this is true. He does not have adult awareness and patience that would have bought him time enough to work out his problems.

You also said interesting things about Romeo’s reference to his “despised life closed in my breast” (1.4.117). I noted that “despised life” is a metonymy for heart, as one’s heart, the organ that pumps life’s blood through one’s veins, is enclosed in one’s breast. You quickly noted that the heart is an appropriate symbol for Romeo’s life, given that his life is ruled by his emotions, his heart. The intimacy Romeo has with his heart, closed within his chest as it is, seems contradictory to his giving himself over to some “consequence hanging in the stars” (1.4.114). He seems to renounce personal responsibility over his life and give the power of agency to distant and mystical objects. However, as someone pointed out, as Romeo’s fate is tied to his emotions, his heart, perhaps it is not so great a contradiction.

Lastly, you spent some time talking about the beginning of the scene in which Romeo laments, “Being but heavy, I will bear the light” (1.4.12). Heavy refers to the sadness of his soul, making it feel like lead. He lacks the “nimble soles” (another pun) of his friends (1.4.15). There is also a good deal of poetic tension in this line as Shakespeare uses antithesis, heavy versus light, in this line. Antithesis is one of Shakespeare’s favorite poetic techniques. More specific kinds of antitheses are oxymoron and paradox. In this line, Romeo’s heaviness disqualifies him from dancing and feeling light. He will, however, bear the light for/of others.

Notice that knowing certain terms like metonymy and antithesis makes literary analysis easier. Print the “Poetic Terms” document off Moodle and begin to learn them.

Romeo and Juliet, 1.3

I think that one of the problems with discussion so far this semester is that you are unclear about how to read Romeo and Juliet. One of the enduring aspects of the play is its tragic plot. Part of your task is to figure out how that plot unfolds toward the untimely demise of the young lovers. Translating, or paraphrasing, Shakespeare’s poetry into prose that makes sense to you, as you have been doing, will take you a good understanding of the plot.

However, a more profound (from my point-of-view) pleasure in reading Romeo and Juliet is to discover the nuances of Shakespeare’s language and the texture that language gives to his themes of love, attraction, family honor, fate, youth, and time, to name a few. The difference between paraphrasing and such analysis is the difference between being satisfied with the gloss of the Nurse’s line, “he’s a man of wax” to describe Paris and analyzing for more meanings and connections (1.3.82).

To merely paraphrase, one needs look no further than the gloss, which tells you that the Nurse means that Paris is the ideal form of a man. However, the image of “a man of wax” means so much more. As Summer pointed out, wax is easily molded. Some might find this quality attractive in a potential mate, but would Juliet? Wax is also cold and lifeless. Wax also melts when near heat. Think of what is often compared to heat in poetry? Love and passion are represented as hot. The summer sun, which later Romeo and Juliet will use to describe the force that ripens their love (also see Capulet’s line in 1.2 about Juliet not being ripe), would likely melt Paris if her passion didn’t.

So, by not stopping our “reading” with the paraphrase, we discover that the image of Paris as a man of wax makes perfect sense of why Juliet is so cool to her mother’s description of Paris. Lady Capulet describes Paris as the ideal form of a man, handsome and wealthy. To her 28-year-old mind, Paris is the perfect object for a woman’s affections. To 13-year-old Juliet, who dreams of passion, Lady Capulet’s description is of a boring grownup. Thus, Juliet equivocates, “I’ll look to like, if looking liking move” (1.3.103).

I also want to remind you of two terms: conceit and equivocation. A conceit is an extended metaphor that organizes a speech, poem, or other literary work. Equivocation is making it seems as if you agree to something when you don’t, or lying while seeming to tell the truth.

Romeo & Juliet, 1.2

I feel that we’ve been around this block before, but today’s class was as unfocused and as unruly as any in recent memory. You often didn’t listen to each other, and some of you took every opportunity to have whispered conversations to each other while classmates were trying to hold a discussion about Act 1, Scene 2. If the fact that such activity communicates a lack of respect for your classmates and me is not enough of a deterrent, remember, I grade your discussions.

Happily, some of you managed to eke out some fine insights into the play. You seemed particularly interested in Capulet’s solicitude of his daughter’s happiness. He tells the eager Paris, “My child is yet a stranger in the world” (1.2.8). You noted that the word stranger suggests that Juliet does not know the ways of the world. She’s still an outsider, living a cloistered existence. You might also have noted that Capulet refers to Juliet as “My child” rather than has “my daughter,” emphasizing her inexperience and innocence,

Capulet also compares Juliet to a fruit or flower, urging Paris to wait “two more summers” before he thinks “her ripe to be a bride” (1.2.10-11). Juliet here is his hothouse orchid. If you think about the ripening process of plants, you also will recognize that it is a process of aging and decay. Ripe fruit bears a pungency unknown to unripe fruit, as well as a fullness and sweetness of flavor. Very soon, in the heat of summer (remember heat also represents passion), ripeness turns to decay, symbolic of a lost innocence.

Interestingly, Capulet also tells Paris that Juliet must consent to marry him, and to test Paris’s resolve he invites him to his party to see other beautiful women, “Earth-treading stars,” in comparison to Juliet (1.2.25). Think about the connotations of stars and how they shine in contrast to the night sky. This image will return.

You also spent some time noticing that Benvolio, who gives the same advice to Romeo that Capulet gave to Paris, suggests that women, or loving women is like a disease. He counsels Romeo to go to the Capulet feast, there to compare Rosaline to other beauties, to “Compare her face with some that I shall show./And I will make thee think thy swan a crow” (1.2.93-4). The swan and crow antithesis picks up the motif of contrasting light to dark, by the way. Benvolio urges Romeo to “Take thou some new infection to the eye,/And the rank poison of the old will die” (1.2.51-2). The beauty of a woman is likened to an infection, something virulent and dangerous, something so insidious that takes over one’s body against one’s will, just like a disease.

Benvolio has some strange ideas about medicine, but you all agreed that the site of the infection being Romeo’s eyes suggests how superficial his “disease” or love is. He bases his infatuation, what he calls his “devout religion” of his eyes on physical beauty alone (1.2.95).

Romeo and Juliet, 1.1

Though it took a while to settle into the discussion, you began the second semester well. If I were to encourage you to something in addition to focusing sooner, I would encourage you look more deeply at the connotations of words and evocative images.

With the exception of the battle of puns at the beginning, you hit each of the major sections of 1.1 from the old guys wanting to get into the fight, through the Prince’s breaking up the fight (though you didn’t address his important decree at the end), to Montagues concerns about his son, to Romeo’s mooning over Rosaline.

A few highlights from your discussion:

The Prince’s line, “Purple fountain issuing from your veins” (1.1.87). You noted that the peaceful flow of water from a fountain seems an incongruous image for the result of violent conflict. You also argued that a fountain is a permanent civic structure that provides water and beauty for a city. Therefore, the blood issued by violence mars the beauty of the town and pollutes it. Also, notice that the Prince colors the blood purple instead of red. Purple is the color of nobility, suggesting that the blood spilled by the Capulet/Montague feud is noble.

Romeo describing Rosaline’s immunity to his love: “From love’s weak childish bow she lives uncharmed” (1.1.219). Not only does Romeo view love as some magical force, a charm, he also implies his love for Rosaline is childish. It lacks the force necessary to turn Rosaline from her “Dian’s wit.” Blind Cupid lacks strength as well as vision. He identifies with Cupid’s blindness by creating an “artificial night” during the days when sunshine should make him happy (1.1.136).

Romeo also vows tells Benvolio, “Thou canst not teach me to forget” his love for Rosaline (1.1.246). He even goes as far as to say that even if he lost his sight, or his vision of Rosaline was obscured by another woman, he could not forget her: “He that is stricken blind cannot forget the precious treasure of his eyesight lost” (1.1.242-3). Rosaline he turns into treasure for his possession that will always be with him no matter how many beauties he sees.

I also liked the observation that when Benvolio guesses the cause of Romeo’s melancholy, Shakespeare reinforces Romeo’s status as “out of love” by putting the lines out of meter.

You also noted that Romeo uses a series of paradoxes and oxymorons to describe love, but you did not tease apart any of them. You might have, for instance, discussed Romeo’s depiction of love as “Misshapen chaos of well-seeming forms” (1.1.186). Chaos by its very nature is misshapen, it lacks order and sense. Therefore Shakespeare uses redundancy to reinforce the grotesque properties of love, which nonetheless seems “well.” Romeo says that love takes “forms,” an impossibility in chaos. The modifier, “well-seeming,” however belies the form. Though love seems to make sense and well formed, its façade is false because it hides the true double chaos that love really is. Don’t miss such fun opportunities for analysis in the future!