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Romeo And Juliet, Themes and Context - Coggle Diagram
Romeo And Juliet
Key Scenes and Quotes
Act 1: Establishing Fight, Paris marriage to J discussed, R&J meet at the Capulet ball.
Scene 5: Romeo and Juliet meet and immediately start flirting. R uses a lot of religious imagery here- running theme in his interactions with Juliet. They also learn they are from opposing families, but view it as more of an unexpected inconvenience than anything
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Romeo: "Oh, she doth teach the torches to burn bright!"
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Romeo: "My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand"
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Juliet: "My only love, sprung from my only hate!"
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Scene 1: Two Capulet servants banter in a sexist manner, before a fight between them and the Montagues breaks out. Benvolio attempts to de-escalate; Tybalt re-escalates. Both Lords are about to join the fray when Prince Escalus arrives and breaks up the fight. Lord and Lady Montague ask Benvolio to talk to Romeo, who has been absent all day. Romeo reveals he is "in love" with Rosaline, but it's unrequited.
Romeo is absent from the initial fight. This immediately sets him apart from the traditional forms of expressing masculinity demonstrated by Tybalt- aggression and pack loyalty.
Tybalt to Benvolio: "What, drawn and talk of peace? I hate the word, as I hate hell, all Montagues and thee. Have at thee, coward!"
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Act 2: R&J meet (balcony scene), Tybalt has challenged Romeo to a duel, R&J marry
Scene 2: Balcony scene
Romeo monologues about how awesome Juliet is, and listens in on her doing the same. Eventually they talk and arrange to meet up tomorrow for marriage, having exchanged professions of love.
Romeo: "It is the east, and Juliet is the sun."
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Act 3: Tybalt slays Mercutio when Romeo refuses to fight; Romeo slays him in return. Romeo is banished. Romeo and Juliet consummate their marriage before she discovers Romeo's murder, and Paris is told he can marry J early to cheer her up.
Scene 1: Romeo is telling his friends the good news but is intercepted by Tybalt. He challenges R to a duel, but R does not accept due to him being J's cousin, and his love for her being extended to all the members of her family. Mercutio is enraged by Romeo's submission. Tybalt and Mercutio fight with Mercutio killed. A grieving Romeo fights and kills Tybalt, before fleeing. R is banished by the Prince.
Romeo to Tybalt: "Mercutio's soul is but a little way above our heads, staying for thine to keep him company. Either thou or I, or both, must go with him."
Demonstrates Romeo's intense love for Mercutio- wants to avenge him so badly he doesn't care who dies, so long as someone can keep him company
Romeo's grief response is to return to the traditional masculine structure with a desire for revenge violence. Provided there's death, he doesn't care who accompanies Mercutio here.
Act 4: Juliet and the Friar plan to have J appear dead so she doesn't have to marry P; Friar consents because J threatens suicide. Plan is carried out and J discovered "dead".
Act 5: Romeo learns of Juliet's "Death" and rushes to her tomb, buying a vial of poison on the way. R fights and kills Paris after being challenged for interrupting P's mourning; Romeo kills himself with poison, Juliet wakes and stabs herself, everyone arrives and repents and mourns forevermore etc.
- TARGET MINIMUM- 4 QUOTES PER SCENE
- INCLUDE ALL THE IMPORTANT QUOTES
- EVERY QUOTE HAS A POINT- IF IT DOESN'T DON'T ADD IT
Themes and Context
Love
Religious Imagery: Romeo often refers to Juliet as a 'saint' or a 'shrine', and to himself as a 'pilgrim'- most evident in 1.5. Links to deifying your partner, and shows how meaningfully he perceives Juliet by putting her on par with God
Romeo moves on rapidly from Rosaline. Is Shakespeare making a criticism of the faux infatuation of courtly love- or is he implying that all of Romeo's youthful passion is less than genuine?
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Love is chaotic, fickle and inextricably linked with violence and lust.
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Context
Courtly Love
Romeo is pursuing a woman (Rosaline) at the start of the play- Serves as a contrast for his 'pure' love for Juliet?
Elizabethan tradition- Male performatively pursues a woman who can never be with him, typically either upper class or married
R&J lapse into the form of a Sonnet when speaking to each other- a traditional love poem of the time, of which Shakespeare had written several. Demonstrates their intense love for each other
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Lust and Libido
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A majority of R&J's descriptions of each other are based on physical characteristics. Less so for Romeo, but his deification of J isn't exactly based on personality. Is S implying that they are confusing lust with love?
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