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!