BROADCASTS.com

b'

Romeo & Juliet - Episode 1 - Meet the author you already know - William Shakespeare!

\\xa0

Hi, I\\u2019m Christy Shriver- and we\\u2019re here to discuss books that changed the world and changed us, please look down on your phone, below where you just scrolled through the episodes and hit the five star. It really means something in podcast world.\\xa0 Also, please tell a podcast friend about us too.\\xa0

\\xa0

I\\u2019m Garry Shriver- this is the How to Love Lit Podcast. We are here in Memphis, TN, starting up school, and teachers across this city are pulling out those great beloved classes that have been synonymous with school teaching from what feels like the beginning of school- and so, as perhaps the most iconic of all classics-\\xa0 Today, we begin our series on Romeo and Juliet. Christy, this might be the only Shakespeare play I ever read in school (if I read it, which is still slightly dubious).

\\xa0

HA!!\\xa0 That\\u2019s about almost everyone- it is the one story everyone seems to know whether they read the play or not.\\xa0 Everyone seems to love it- although many would say they don\\u2019t like reading Shakespeare.\\xa0

\\xa0

Here\\u2019s a stat for you\\u2026on any given year, there are over 410 professional companies performing Shakespeare, some of those will be performing for the whole year according to the World Shakespeare Bibliography.\\xa0 That\\u2019s a lot especially when you think that these are mostly the same plays over and over again. \\xa0Let me put that number to you another way, if you spread out the performance hours in a row (which isn\\u2019t how it actually works, but just to get the image), there is a Shakespeare performance, on average, going on every hour of every day- always.

\\xa0

I\\u2019m really always intrigued by that.\\xa0 If you ask people if they sit around and read Shakespeare- almost everyone would say no, but if you look at what people are performing, watching, paying to see, Shakespeare remains very popular.\\xa0 In the summer he\\u2019s performed in parks all over the world.\\xa0 His plays sell out everywhere.\\xa0 Even here in small town Memphis, TN, we have the Tennessee Shakespeare Company that has its own theater, works in our schools and last year, even with Covid, had over 20 performances just of Romeo and Juliet with students working in classrooms with over 4000 students across our city.\\xa0 Shakespeare moves everyone- and among the Shakespeare greats, Romeo and Juliet perhaps moves more than any other play.

\\xa0

\\xa0I wondered about that myself and \\xa0Googled how many Romeo and Juliet Movies there are- a. number I didn\\u2019t actually find; the IMB has catalogued at least 34 - the two most popular being the one produced by Frank Zaferelli in 1968, followed by the one that came out in 1996 starring Leonardo Di\\u2019Caprio and Claire Danes.\\xa0 But of course, we can\\u2019t forget there are countless other movies and plays based on it like West Side Story which is set in New York; of course, it is a musical but it\\u2019s basically the same story. ( Which I would like to point out I played in the theater orchestra for a production of West Side Story and reading that music score was very challenging) \\xa0Christy, any theories about what makes Shakespeare so popular and what makes Romeo and Juliet the most popular of the popular?!\\xa0 If you agree that it is.

\\xa0

Well, it\\u2019s definitely up there.\\xa0 There are a couple of competing lists, but almost all of them have Midsummer Nights Dream, Romeo Juliet and Hamlet as the most produced plays he wrote.\\xa0 And as far as to why?\\xa0 It\\u2019s really amazing and I have my theories- although I will say his popularity is not universally accepted.\\xa0 I was at the AP reading last year, which is this deal where AP teachers spend a week grading exams for the College Board.\\xa0 Well, the lady who was reading essays next to me got in a discussion about this very thing, and she, as a very accomplished and successful English teacher, doesn\\u2019t really teach him anymore.\\xa0 She thinks it\\u2019s too hard for students to understand and there are better things to do.\\xa0 As for my part, I respectfully disagree.\\xa0 I adore Shakespeare, and I\\u2019ll try to make the case for why he\\u2019s worth tackling all the big words for. Most of the reasons I love him have to do with all the great things he says about life, but that\\u2019s not the only reason people love him- that\\u2019s for sure, I\\u2019ll throw out a few of the easy ones- For one thing, theater people LOVE performing and sometimes really reinventing Shakespeare- in some way or another.\\xa0 There are a gazillion ways you can interpret his work and, it\\u2019s always appropriate, he\\u2019s always relevant and the characters are easily adaptable- to just about any context without losing their essence.\\xa0 Let me explain what I mean,\\xa0 I\\u2019ve seen a bunch of different productions of Romeo and Juliet for example, one was very traditional.\\xa0 One was in modern language.\\xa0 One had Juliet in a wheel chair and everyone was a drug head.\\xa0 One even had a happy ending- if you can believe that.\\xa0 All of them were exceptional and enjoyable- you can\\u2019t really plagiarize a Shakespeare play- and not just because they\\u2019re 400 years old, but he copied the stories himself- you could say he refuses to accept the concept of plagiarism- and you just get the impression he wouldn\\u2019t care how you modified the details.\\xa0 There is a certain freedom about that.\\xa0 One time my Dad and I went to Nashville to watch a Shakespeare in the Park event there of a Midsummer\\u2019s Night Dream, and they had this Western theme going with all kinds of amazing musical things going on- and it was totally legit and probably my favorite Shakespeare performance to date.\\xa0 It was not a parody or a travesty of his work- all the words were there- the language was even traditional- it was a celebration of his idea and an exploration of how we could look at it.\\xa0 There is just an endless number of ways to do Shakespeare.\\xa0 And it makes it exciting and fun.

\\xa0

Well, for the non-literary person, what do you have to say about the fact that the language is actually difficult.\\xa0 Your friend was not wrong about that.\\xa0 Is it really enjoyable if you have to study it or know about it ahead of time to be fun?\\xa0 Because, for me, that\\u2019s a real drawback.

\\xa0

Well, I would say there is that problem- no doubt- but I would also say- there\\u2019s a nerdy fun side to the language and the more you know about the play and all the fun lines- the more fun it is- because I think we can all agree- you don\\u2019t really watch a Shakespeare play for the suspense of the surprise end.\\xa0 But\\xa0 I think it\\u2019s also fair to say you can still enjoy it without understanding everything- I don\\u2019t understand everything when I watch any play- sometimes even when I\\u2019ve really studied the play, but there\\u2019s slapstick humor, there\\u2019s action, there are even double-entendre\\u2019s for those who enjoy a good sexual innuendo from time to time.\\xa0 Shakespeare literally wrote for all the audiences of his day.\\xa0 Lots of his audience members were literally illiterate, but he also wrote for the cultured nobility- so he did have everyone in mind- and honestly, it seems there is something about people that hasn\\u2019t changed in 400 years- so we all fit within his range- and that\\u2019s kind of fun too.\\xa0 The idea that some of these lines are just as true today as they were in the 1590\\u2019s is pretty crazy if you think about it.

\\xa0

Shakespeare asks questions about love and death that we ask.\\xa0 He says things that we say or think, but he says them in a pretty way.\\xa0 I know this sounds nerdy and unbelievable, but I actually don\\u2019t get tired of teaching Shakespeare plays, and when I teach them (which I don\\u2019t every year),but when I do I read the same lines six times a day and I don\\u2019t get tired of them- and I promise you_ I\\u2019m not that intellectual.\\xa0 I\\u2019m really not.\\xa0 I\\u2019m going to point this out when we read the text- the words move all of us- and I\\u2019ve seen these words move students from small town Arkansas as young as ages 14 all the way to sophisticated doctorate professors in the Globe theater.\\xa0

\\xa0

Well, I have to be honest, I\\u2019m reading these with you for the first time, and since we\\u2019re just getting started, you\\u2019re going to have to make this case for me\\u2026and although you keep trying to persuade me to stick with the original text,\\xa0 I am very thankful for the good people at No Fear Shakespeare.

\\xa0

Well, I think I can bring you around, but Garry, before we swing all the way down to the land of love, Verona, Italy, and I know we need to get into the text, but since we didn\\u2019t get into Shakespeare\\u2019s life when we did Julius Caesar, without getting too into the weeds give us the short version of Shakespeare\\u2019s life and times at least as it pertains to understanding this piece.

\\xa0

Honestly, it\\u2019s super-surprising, considering how legendary he is, that he\\u2019s very much a mystery.\\xa0 Some people actually think he didn\\u2019t even exist.

\\xa0

True- there is that conspiracy, but I don\\u2019t buy it- the main reason being that in 2015, my dad took me to London for a short but wonderful week long Shakespeare vacstion- and on that trip we visited Stratford upon Avon, saw the house they think he was born in, the place where his fancy house used to be, the home where his daughter lived AND his tombstone.\\xa0 I walked away convinced he was a real person.

\\xa0

Well, there is a conspiracy theory for that, but I\\u2019ll let people google it, the fact remains that we know very little of any certainty about this man except for a few basic historical documents.\\xa0 WE know he was born on April 23rd in 1568 in a small town called Stratford upon Avon to man named John Shakespeare, a relatively successful wool dealer and to a woman named Mary Arden (who supposedliy was of noble birth, but that\\u2019s all we know about her).\\xa0 We don\\u2019t know much about his education, his youth, or childhood (there is one scandalous rumor that he got in trouble for hanging out with some local hoodlums and got into trouble for deer-steeling).

\\xa0

Oh my- that can\\u2019t be good, but maybe it indicates he\\u2019s as playful as some of his most loveable characters.\\xa0

\\xa0

We do know for sure that he married Anne Hathaway before he was even 18, a girl seven years older than he was, but we don\\u2019t know for sure if there was true love.\\xa0

\\xa0

Indeed- and people have been speculating ever since that he didn\\u2019t like her very much- which I wonder about myself.\\xa0 In his will he left her his \\u201csecond best bed\\u201d- which doesn\\u2019t sound nice. Also, there\\u2019s also the famous lines from 12th Night where he says, \\u201cLet still the woman take an elder than herself; so wears she to him, so sways she level in her husband\\u2019s heart: for boy, however, we do praise ourselves, our fancies are more giddy and unfirm.\\xa0 More longing, wavering sooner lost and worn than women\\u2019s are.\\xa0 Then let thy love be younger than thyself or they affection cannot hold the bent.\\u201d\\xa0 - he seems to be saying- you\\u2019ll get tired of older womem, which all modern women would find offensive!

\\xa0

Well, and there\\u2019s the detail that she lived in Stratford and he in London for \\xa0most of the years of their married life.\\xa0

\\xa0

True, but he did go back every year and when he got rich, in 1597, he did build a really nice home there.\\xa0 So, who knows.\\xa0 It\\u2019s fun to speculate, and I really don\\u2019t think Shakespeare would mind at all.\\xa0 In fact, I think he\\u2019d love to think that his life inspired millions of rumors.\\xa0

\\xa0

It\\u2019s just amazing that a man who enjoyed the favor of Elizabeth the first and then James the First never mind many other extremely important people would have such little documentation about his life.\\xa0 His signature is on a couple of deeds, on a mortgage, on his will and that\\u2019s about it.\\xa0 We don\\u2019t really even know exactly what year he retired.\\xa0 We know he died on April 23rd, his birthday, ironically in 1616- but not even really of what.\\xa0 The record says this, \\u201cShakespeare, Drayton and Ben Jonson had a merie meeting, and it seems drank too hard.\\xa0 Shakespeare died of a fevour there contracted.\\u201d\\xa0

\\xa0

I know, a kind of funny way to go, for a man so famous for making people merry.\\xa0 It was his life\\u2019s calling, if you want to look at it that way.\\xa0 If you go to Stratford, which is a darling place to go, you can go to the church to visit his grave.\\xa0 It\\u2019s actually a really nice and fancy space for a little village church.\\xa0 There\\u2019s a flat stone that marks the spot where he\\u2019s buried.\\xa0 There are four lines that supposedly he wrote.\\xa0 He said this, \\u201cGood friend, for jesus\\u2019 sake, forbeare, to dig the dust enclosed here.\\xa0 Blessed be he that spares these stones, and curst be he that moves my bones.\\u201d\\xa0 So it seems he didn\\u2019t want to be moved after death.\\xa0

\\xa0

And it seems no one wants to challenge or risk getting involved with that curse.\\xa0 There was some discussion at one point of moving him to Westminster Abbey, but that didn\\u2019t happen.\\xa0 At one point they were renovating the church, the was a place where the earth caved in and created this big problem because someone could have gotten to the bones.\\xa0 No one wanted to risk getting the Shakespeare curse, so the Sexton watched over the hole in the ground for two days until they could finish the repair and seal the ground properly.\\xa0

\\xa0

That\\u2019s kind of a funny story- and sort of speaks to me of the allure, the romance, the myth- I don\\u2019t know the aura that is Shakespeare.\\xa0 Well, I guess we\\u2019ve made enough of his life, we need to get to the play- Romeo and Juliet actually is one of his earlier plays.\\xa0 It\\u2019s interesting, for some of us anyway, to watch Shakespeare grow up- his earlier plays are light- a lot about love, more fun, more comedy- in fact besides Titus Andronicus which is just a crazy violent unemotional play where they literally murder someone and put them in a pie to be eaten (which is its own dark comedy really)- almost all of his first 25 plays are comedies.\\xa0 Of course, it could be just growing up and maturing, but if we look what was happening in his personal life, we can see that tragedy hit him and if you want to think of it this way, a shadow kind of fell on him.\\xa0 The same man who was saying a \\u201crose by any other rose would smell as well\\u201d was now saying, \\u201cTo be or not to be- that is the question.\\u201d\\xa0 His greatest plays, his most mature plays, of course, are considered the great tragedies: Othello, Hamlet, King Lear- and he wrote those later in life.\\xa0 But Romeo and Juliet was an early play- and we can see it\\u2019s far lighter.\\xa0 In fact, half of it is a comedy.\\xa0 I think many scholars agree, until Tybalt\\u2019s death, there\\u2019s kind of a lightheartedness that makes you think, maybe this could go another way.

\\xa0

Well, of course, you know it won\\u2019t go another way- I\\u2019m not sure there\\u2019s a story more recognizable.\\xa0 We all know it\\u2019s going to end badly, even those of us who slept through most of the classes where we read it.\\xa0 Everyone knows the story.

\\xa0

So, true, but it doesn\\u2019t take away from any of it- in some sense, it\\u2019s comforting and unstressful to know they are going to die at the end.\\xa0 There\\u2019s nothing worse than getting attached to a character, falling in love with them, and then the author breaking your heart by killing them unexpectedly.\\xa0 So, we can detach from getting too absorbed in these two teens. Shakespeare wrote it that way on purpose- it\\u2019s like just in case, you didn\\u2019t know the story, I\\u2019m going to write a 14 spoiler read it to your right at the very first, and make sure we are all on the same page about what is going to happen before we take one step into Verona . \\xa0\\xa0

\\xa0

Which to me, seems a little risky for a writer.\\xa0 Was it different back in the day, did people like to know the ending (like the Greeks did)?\\xa0 Because most of us get really annoyed when movie trailers give away the whole movie.\\xa0 In fact, I always think if a movie producer thinks he needs to tell you the whole movie in the trailer for you to see it, then the movie must not be worth watching.\\xa0

\\xa0

Good question- and of course, in cse you don\\u2019t know what Garry\\u2019s talking about- Romeo and Juliet opens up with a prologue, and in the prologue, Shakespeare tells us the whole story.\\xa0 We\\u2019re going to read it in just a minute.\\xa0 For one thing, everyone DID already know the story of Romeo and Juliet.\\xa0 The original creator was Matteo Bandello, an Italian writer, but Shakespeare\\u2019s source was Arthur Brooke, an English poet who had written a very popular poem called The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet which was published about 30 years before Shakespeare wrote the play version.\\xa0 But that aside, There seems to be many thematic reasons for telling us the whole story first, and reasons worth thinking about,

\\xa0

\\xa0a few of which I really think we should have in our minds from the beginning before we read the play- and of course, it\\u2019s these reasons that I believe make this play particulary one of the most popular he wrote- although that\\u2019s arguable.

\\xa0

But First, to set up the story, \\xa0I want to talk about what is the difference between a comedy and a tragedy- the obvious difference being one ends in death and the other marriage.\\xa0 But there\\u2019s a second difference between comedy and tragedy, that we all really feel when we read comedies and tragedies, but we don\\u2019t really notice or pay attention to.\\xa0 In a tragedy- the person who experiences the sad thing is better than us.\\xa0 He or she is of noble birth.\\xa0 They make hard decisions and overcome things maybe we couldn\\u2019t overcome.\\xa0 We feel sad because they don\\u2019t deserve what happens to them. \\xa0They are BETTER than us. The author must build the character so that we feel like they were such good people, why did they have to die. And in fact, the world is worse because a great person has fallen- if you\\u2019re American, think Abraham Lincoln- a true American tragedy.\\xa0 We grieved because a great man doing a great thing was cut off.\\xa0 \\xa0\\xa0If the protagonist isn\\u2019t noble, it\\u2019s not a tragedy becase in the words of Catherine Zeta Jones in Chicago- they had it coming.\\xa0 Now let\\u2019s think about a comedy, we laugh because WE as viewers are better than the people in the play- and we can laugh AT them.\\xa0 One of my favorite comedians is Jack Black, and he does such ridiculous things, and there is a sense that he does things I have thought about doing, or have done, but not in my better moments- in the moments I\\u2019m afraid to admit.\\xa0 That\\u2019s what makes it funny.\\xa0 Will Ferrell, your favorite comedian, does the same thing.\\xa0 He\\u2019s absolutely ridiculous and in some sense every viewer who finds it funny sees himself as better than the character being created on the screen.

\\xa0

So- this is what is so unique about Romeo and Juliet- Shakespeare makes a half/comedy half/tragedy- at the beginning of this play- and pay attention to this, because Shakespeare goes to a lot of trouble of pointing this out specifically with the character of Romeo- these two are NOT better than us.\\xa0 I know they are of noble birth and all that, but in reality, the first scene of the play, we laugh st Romeo.\\xa0 He\\u2019s a ridiculous love-stricken teenager doing what we\\u2019ve all done in our worst moments- he pines.\\xa0 His friends make horrible fun of him, and the jokes are really bawdy and inppropriate.\\xa0 So, in a sense we\\u2019re better than him and we can laugh at both he and Juliet for being so impetuous.\\xa0 It feels silly and something we\\u2019ve all experienced.\\xa0 Juliet, although it\\u2019s more subtle has been created also in this extreme version.\\xa0 One thing to find interesting, in Arthur Brooke\\u2019s original version of Romeus and Juliette- Juliette is 16- in other contemporary versions performed during that time, she was usually 18.\\xa0 When Shakespeare created his version, he lowered her age significantly- he\\u2019s making these characters very specifically to be relatable and in the beginning it\\u2019s sweet, it\\u2019s endearing, but it\\u2019s also funny.\\xa0 However, by the end of the play, things have changed; we have found nobility of another kind in them- and they\\u2019ve become something of heroes. \\xa0They were forced to make grown up choices, which they didn\\u2019t do very well (and we\\u2019ll talk about that), but they did pursue the right kind of things- I\\u2019ll show what that means and how that is somewhat inspirational when we get there- but it\\u2019s worth thinking about all the way thorugh.\\xa0 This is a half comedy and a half tragedy.\\xa0

\\xa0

\\xa0Romeo and Juliet is one of the few Shakespeare plays that has a prologue- I think only six do, and Romeo and Juliet is the only one with the big Spoiler.\\xa0 Most prologues are setting up the story in some way- but here Shakepeare just gives away the whole story.\\xa0 So, don\\u2019t think these prologue things are just\\xa0 think Shakespeare did.\\xa0 The Romeo and Juliet prologue is unique- although I will say not every version includes it.\\xa0

\\xa0

Well, I\\u2019m afraid we\\u2019re letting the time get away so I think this may be a good place to start with the text- there\\u2019s more to set up- but why not let the Bard of Avon have a say and set it up for us?

\\xa0

Okay- but one more thing- why we do call Shakespeare the Bard.\\xa0 Where did that come from?\\xa0

\\xa0

Well, FYI- of course, as with all things-it\\u2019s a little contested.\\xa0 The Scots will tell you that Robert Burns is the Bard (go listen to our podcast on him for that discussion)- so there is a little saltiness perhaps in giving that title solely to Shakespeare.\\xa0 He\\u2019s definitely the Bard of Avon-but Avon is kind of a little place- he\\u2019s somewhat outgrown it. The word Bard means poet. Some say this actor\\xa0 David Garrik gave him the title when he said\'For the bard of all bards was a Warwickshire Bard\'. I really don\\u2019t know.\\xa0 He\\u2019s the poet of poets- so to speak, but honestly-- it is all part of the myth and mystery which is Shakespeare.

\\xa0

Okay- let\\u2019s do the prologue

\\xa0

Two households, both alike in dignity,In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.From forth the fatal loins of these two foesA pair of star-cross\'d lovers take their life;Whose misadventured piteous overthrowsDo with their death bury their parents\' strife.The fearful passage of their death-mark\'d love,And the continuance of their parents\' rage,Which, but their children\'s end, nought could remove,Is now the two hours\' traffic of our stage;The which if you with patient ears attend,What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.

\\xa0

\\xa0

Well, there\\u2019s a lot here- in fact- all the major themes are here- but we\\u2019ll take those one episode at a time.\\xa0 But the first thing to say is that this prologue is written as a sonnet.\\xa0 That means a lot of things, and I\\u2019m sure we\\u2019ll do way more podcasts on sonnets in general, but if you\\u2019re interested go back and listen to the one we did on Ozymandias by Percy Shelley.\\xa0 But what to take away here- for one thing- Sonnets are really regimented- they have lots of rules to follow- and that is one thing that connects them to what this play is about.\\xa0 For starters, remember how you just called Shakespeare the Bard- he considered himself a poet- and remember what poets do- they use structure, punctuation all the details of every word to take you to their main idea.\\xa0 Well, this play is about love (as sonnets most always are) (sonnets are from Italy too, btw as is our play, but that may be going one step too far- but- Rome and juliet the play is about the rules of love- but it\\u2019s also about what happens when you break those rules of love. If we just take a cursory look at just the words- look at all the contrasts- there\\u2019s a lot about death in this sonnet about love\\u2026there\\u2019s. grudge, a misadventure, death-marked love- rage, toil\\u2026but the underlying motivating theme of a sonnet is love and so is this play.\\xa0 The word love itself is uttered 128 times (mostly by Romeo, btw, 44 times but Juliet isn\\u2019t far behind with 33 utterances of the word. \\xa0This is play about the nature of love- and not just any kind of love, not the love of God, the love of a mother, the love of country- we\\u2019re talking about the good stuff- eros, to use the Greek word- romantic love.

\\xa0

\\xa0Another point to take away from structure and points to love is that Almost all of this play is written in Blank Verse

\\xa0

- what does that mean?

\\xa0

It means it\\u2019s written in iambic pentameter- just like this sonnet is- ba-rump barpum barpum and\\xa0 Pretty much every single dang line in this entire play has ten syllables to it, AND every other syllable is accented.\\xa0 The whole thing beats to the beat of the human heart- true true love indeed. Oh and one more detail

\\xa0

Listen to the line \\u201cTwo households, both alike in dignity.- it beats from the very beginning to the beat of our hearts- all of our hearts- isn\\u2019t that sweet.

\\xa0

It\\u2019s also sweet that this play is set in the beautiful Italian city of Verona- what a romantic setting.\\xa0 Want to tell us about Verona?

\\xa0

Of course, I do, although you\\u2019re the one who\\u2019s been there.\\xa0 It\\u2019s one of the most romantic cities in the world- a setting for not one but two Shakespeare plays, even though the town isn\\u2019t all that large, today a quarter of a million people call it home, about the same size as Venice, if you want to compare it to something. \\xa0Also, like Venice, People flock there literally by the millions.\\xa0 It\\u2019s in Northern Italy, about halfway between, Milan,a larger city and the center of the fashion world, and Venice- the city with all the canals, another one of the world\\u2019s most romantic places as well as another setting for a different Shakespeare play. A Merchant in Venice.\\xa0 But what\\u2019s fun about the whole Verona thing is that the town has a kind of magic about it that in part has to do with Romeo and Juliet although even without all the magic of Romeo and Juliet, it has its own amazing history.\\xa0 There\\u2019s actually a very large Roman amphitheater there- it\\u2019s fairly well preserved and they have outdoor operas there every year, as many as 15,000 people can fit inside.\\xa0 But of course, what it\\u2019s most famous for, at least for Americans, but I think for lots of people around the world is Juliet\\u2019s house.

\\xa0

Well, I have to be honest, that\\u2019s where my daughters and I wanted to go- and we went there because of that other wonderful movie \\u201cLetters to Juliet\\u201d- I had no idea before watching that movie that there are so many people who write letters to Juliet and there are women who actually write you back.\\xa0 It\\u2019s one of the things about the world that makes you love humanity.\\xa0 So kind and so fun.\\xa0 And going there did not disappoint.\\xa0 It\'s amazingly romantic.\\xa0

\\xa0

Which is even more incredible, considering Juliet is a fictional character!!!!\\xa0 She never lived at all, but people write her and she writes them back.\\xa0 You can see her balcony, her courtyard, even her tomb.\\xa0 That\\u2019s impressive for someone who didn\\u2019t exist.

\\xa0

Now back up, we don\\u2019t know that for sure \\xa0Matteo Badello, the originator of the story, was a monk from the late 1400s, and what we know about Bodello is that most of his stories were actually TRUE.\\xa0 So, I\\u2019m saying she\\u2019s real.\\xa0 If you take the Verona walking tour they will tell you as much. There was a family named the Del Capelli\\u2019s and they had a daughter and a residience in Verona in the 1300\\u2019s. \\xa0I\\u2019m not just saying that because I\\u2019m being romantic about it, although, as you know, I\\u2019m not above that, but I really kind of bought the narrative and I\\u2019m sticking with the story that these were real people at one time.

\\xa0

HA!\\xa0 Okay- fair enough.\\xa0 Now, I know I\\u2019m not a Shakespearean scholar, and I\\u2019m talking out of my area of expertise, but another thing I noticed in the literature is that Shakespeare\\u2019s tragedies are mostly political- think Julius Caesar, Hamlet, King Lear, McBeth, all those Henrys and Richards. They are about political themes and happenings in the context of big world events like taking over Rome, in the case of Julius Caesar. And his comedies are about love- and they are usually set OUTSIDE politics, sometimes outside the entire world like in the woods- I\\u2019m thinking Midsummer\\u2019s Night Dream- but they all seem like that.\\xa0 But with Romeo and Juliet, we seem to be seeing both-in a sense- it\\u2019s not political, like there are no wars going on, there are no kings or generals- but there is drama- and there is the context of some politics in the story- it\\u2019s not us versus an outside invader, it\\u2019s an ancient grudge- family stuff- stuff that in some sense- didn\\u2019t\\u2019 really need to happen\\u2026or maybe it did- it\\u2019s fate- there\\u2019s that mention.\\xa0 But it seems like there is a political context to this story.

\\xa0

And here we get into the good stuff- and things to think about as we move forward.\\xa0 At the time of Shakespeare love/ marriage- all that stuff is looked at differently than today.\\xa0 Garry give us a little history on how Shakespeare and his audiences would have thought about the politics of love and marriage.

\\xa0

\\xa0For one thing, women were nothing in the world- literally property.\\xa0 You could fall in love with the person you were married to, but that would be lucky, and definitely not a requirement.\\xa0 Women had zero way of supporting themselves except through marriage, so this was the main concern of any loving father.\\xa0 You legitimized and created higher social rank through marriage.\\xa0 It was actually legal to get married if you were a girl at the age of 12, for a boy at the age of 14.\\xa0 However, having said that- that didn\\u2019t happen very much.\\xa0 Most people waited and the average age for a girl to get married was between 20-29- that\\u2019s not all that different than America today where the average is 27 (although I will say, for our British audiences, you guys have changed a bit, the average age in England is 37.\\xa0 The main difference between marriage today and marriage in Elizabeth England is that today we DO marry for love, and not for politics- or social status.

\\xa0

Well, I think that is one ide that really resonates today with so many across time and place. How many children today fall in love with someone who is not their social status: either because of money, religion, even race.\\xa0 I was at Kroger during the quarantine and a couple of former students were there.\\xa0 They were getting groceries for a picnic and we got to tlking.\\xa0 I asked what they were up to and they flst out said, Mrs. Shriver, we\\u2019re Romeo and Juliet.\\xa0 What they meant by thst was not that they were planning their own deaths, but that their families did not accept their relationship and the reasons were social, political, however you want to view it in the traditional sense.\\xa0 So, you can see this play as challenging the traditional norms of the relationship between love and politics with what we might today call more modern ones.\\xa0

\\xa0

So, getting back to the love thing- I would assume then, that Shakespeare dropping Juliet\\u2019s age down to 13 would have caught the attention of the audiences- and they would have had a grossed out reaction- like \\u2013 oh that\\u2019s just wrong.\\xa0 That attitude being- too much- that\\u2019s too far.

\\xa0

\\xa0I think that\\u2019s absolutely the right reaction.\\xa0 The father has traded in his daughter for politics- what he\\u2019s doing is not a sign of taking care of her, but of using her and tht gets us back to politics.\\xa0 The play doesn\\u2019t really start off tlking about love, it starts off tslking about politics.

\\xa0

Very true- we begin, just like in Julius Caesar, with common people.\\xa0 In Julius Caesar, there were working guys out partying in this play, they\\u2019re servants- and one thing that I thought was weird is that they have British names- whereas the noble families have Italian names- explain that.

\\xa0

Yeah, I\\u2019m not really sure- but since we\\u2019re moving into the play (although I may want to bounce back to the prologue in a bit)- we see that these servants somewhat show us that this grudge isn\\u2019t something that isn\\u2019t or shouldn\\u2019t be a big deal.\\xa0 The grudge is called \\u201cAncient\\u201d with no explanation as to the reason for it- and the servants fight for apparently no reason at all.\\xa0 Also, when the servants talk about it, it\\u2019s just a bunch of silly mouthing.\\xa0

\\xa0

It reminds me of teenagers in the halls, \\u201cA dog of that house shall move me to stand\\u201d. I will take the wall of any man of maid of Montagues.\\u201d\\xa0 Then they start talking about thrusting the maidens to the walls- this is trash talk.

\\xa0

Total trash talk, they talk about their tools- their naked weapons- double-entendres abound- although my favorite line is this one and not sexual in nature.\\xa0 GREGORY says this, I will rom as I pass by (talking about when the Montagues are passing by)- and then they pass by- let\\u2019s read it.\\xa0 Remember, by the way that biting your thumb at someone is the same as flipping them off for us.\\xa0 But it does make it sounds the more silly.\\xa0

Read page nine

\\xa0

And here we\\u2019re introduced to two main characters besides Romeo and Juliet- and I want to make one more mention of a change Shakespeare made from the original Romeo and Juliet story- he changed the names of these two characters

\\xa0

We have Benvolio- Ben means Good- that\\u2019s the root of the word.

And then he changed this name Tybalt- which had to do with another populsr play at the time, but it was synonomous with being a rat- he\\u2019s just not a nice guy.\\xa0 So, we have a clear distinction between who is the good guy and who is the bad.\\xa0 Who wants peace, and who is just angry for. No reason.

\\xa0

And here is where I want us to end for today, we will get into the plot of the play next week, and hopefully gain some ground.\\xa0 Romeo is dropped into this political world, but he doesn\\u2019t want it- just like a lot of young people.\\xa0 \\xa0\\xa0He doesn\\u2019t care anything about anybody\\u2019s feud.\\xa0 He doesn\\u2019t even have a sense or interest in right and wrong like Benvolio or Tybalt.\\xa0 Let\\u2019s read his lines a short while later after the Prince breaks up the fight with the servants \\u2013 while everyone else is worrying about the outside world, Romeo has locked himself into a room to make an \\u201cartificial night\\u201d (which by the way will be a motif through the play)- but he\\u2019s in the dark hiding away from everything \\u2013 pining over his love for Rosaline, a cousin of Juliet.\\xa0 He\\u2019s all sad, Benvolio asks what\\u2019s wrong and he says this

\\xa0

(page 19)- Garry reads

\\xa0

So many oxymorons- brawling love, loving hate, feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick health.\\xa0 And it gets better read on

\\xa0

Garry reads the next lines.

\\xa0

And here we have Romeo and the comedic character- he\\u2019s hilarious.\\xa0 It\\u2019s all the end of the world for him because Rosaline won\\u2019t sleep with him.\\xa0 \\u201cShe is rich in beauty, only poor that when she dies, with beauty dies her store.\\u201d\\xa0 Benvolio says, \\u201cShe hath sworn that she will still live chaste?\\u201d\\xa0 to which Romeo says\\u2026..page 21

\\xa0

Well, Benvolio gives him the best advice ever- \\u201cForget to think of her...\\u201dRomeo asks how and he says, \\u201cBy giving liberty unto thine eyes.\\xa0 Examine other beauties.\\u201d

\\xa0

And of course, scene one ends with them off to the chase.\\xa0 The Barney character, if you like that show How I Met Your Mother- let me get you a girl!!!

\\xa0

And here\\u2019s the point I want to make by way of closing us out today.\\xa0 Romeo is a kid.\\xa0 He\\u2019s an average kid, not ambitious, not necessarily super virtuous obviously, definitely not evil.\\xa0 He\\u2019s someone we can laugh at- but this, as we are told in the prologue, is not a comedy. This is not a story that will end in marriage.\\xa0 It\\u2019s a tragedy, it\\u2019s about someone who is noble, and so we have to ask- why we do love this play- here\\u2019s my final thought on thst for today- we love this play- because one of the big ideas that pervades this play- is that there is nobility in all of us.\\xa0 And I think there really is.\\xa0 This is a true idea.\\xa0 But where does it come from, and how do we awaken it- somehow that is the idea that connects us to love.\\xa0 It is love, in this case, eros- romantic love, but maybe it broadens out father than that- but in this play it is eros- that can turn us into a hero.\\xa0 We are just average, but when we are in love, we can dream great things, fight great fights, stand up to great authorities, and in the end, we don\\u2019t even care how it ends- it was worth it.\\xa0 And that is the sweet endearing idea we are going to think about for the next five acts.\\xa0 The language is hard, it will definitely take us more than the two hours Shakespere promises in the prologue- but if we too have patience, \\u201cWhat here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.\\u201d\\xa0

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.