Romeo & Juliet - Episode 4 - The Power Of Impulse And Really Bad Ideas!
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Romeo & Juliet - Episode 4 - The Power Of Impulse And Really Bad Ideas!
Romeo and Juliet Episode 4
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Hi, I\\u2019m Christy Shriver- and we\\u2019re here to discuss books that changed the world and changed us.\\xa0 Don\\u2019t forget, if you enjoy our work, please give us a rating, a comment- both \\u2013 with your podcast provider-also share an episode with a friend- that\\u2019s the only way we grow.
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I\\u2019m Garry Shriver- and this is the How to Love Lit Podcast.\\xa0 This is our fourth episode exploring the Shakespearean world of Romeo and Juliet.\\xa0 Week 1 we met our author, William Shakespeare and introduced the play through the iconic sonnet that sets the scene.\\xa0 Week 2- we explored the political world of Verona, met our feuding families and introduced the star-crossed lovers- Romeo and Juliet -ending by reading the beautiful words spoken to and from that glorious balcony where lovers to this day come as pilgrims.\\xa0 However, last week, Christy tried to destroy all of our fantasies of love at first sight and passionate adolescence by introducing an alternate reading of this famous passage and presenting a theory that Juliet is a young adult exerting power on the universe and changing a fate prescribed to her by her parents.\\xa0 It\\u2019s not that she\\u2019s not in love with Romeo, or so you propose- it\\u2019s that love is secondary to self-preservation or at least aligned with it- Romeo is an extremely good-looking young man- emphasis being that he\\u2019s her own age, and she\\u2019s facing\\xa0 the prospect of a life with an old geezer.\\xa0 However, we didn\\u2019t end there. \\xa0We ended our discussion; with life in Verona taking a darker turn:\\xa0 a street fight has gotten out of control and two people are dead: Mercutio and Tybalt.\\xa0 Romeo and Juliet, although technically married, have a huge problem- Romeo is the murderer.\\xa0 The Prince in an effort to be merciful has banished him from Verona, and he is basically on the run.\\xa0 We have left our story with our heroine in a tizzy.\\xa0 She, waivers perhaps for a minute but quickly decides she\\u2019s staying with Romeo.\\xa0 The nurse has promised to bring him up to her room for one last night of passion, if you want to put it that way, and we are now waiting to see what happens next.
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That\\u2019s where we are- ready to pick up our story in the flat middle, slightly after the climax with the murders- there is so much to say.\\xa0 In fact, so much so, that I am overwhelmed really, I could talk and talk (although I promise I wont) and still feel like we\\u2019re not doing justice to the text.\\xa0 I can\\u2019t tell you how much research has been done on this play, hundreds of years of analysis.. but just to give you a taste, I thought I\\u2019d bring up some fun facts.\\xa0 So one of the things that Shakespeare really makes a big deal about in this play, and we\\u2019ve made a big deal about it too, is the fact that Juliet is so young- between 13-14.\\xa0 Well, you know who else is young- Shakespeare when he wrote this play. This is an early play for him, and, this of course, is just me totally running my mouth- but I think a lot of the funsie stuff he does in this play is just to show off that he\\u2019s just that good.\\xa0 By the time Hamlet comes around, I think that debate has come and gone. But here\\u2019s what I mean by showing off- so back to Juliet\\u2019s age- obviously Shakespeare is making her so young that no one can miss that she\\u2019s too young to get married.\\xa0 Capulet even tells Paris that \\u201ctoo soon mard are those so early made.\\u201d\\xa0 But Shakespeare plays around with the number 14 for the rest of the play- as number symbolism was really popular at this time.\\xa0 Juliet\\u2019s name has 13 letters.\\xa0 She\\u2019s the 13th character to enter the stage.\\xa0 Romeo refers to her by name 14 times.\\xa0 There are 13 proper nouns on the Capulet\\u2019s list to the ball.\\xa0 14 males.\\xa0 Sonnets obviously have 14 lines.\\xa0 Romeo\\u2019s kiss to Juliet is between the 13th and 14th line he speaks to her!!\\xa0 The play begins on July 14th, a fortnight and three daysd before Lammas Day and concludes 13 days short of Juliet\\u2019s birthday.\\xa0 There is a major event in the play that occurs every 14 hours- beginning with Romeo meeting Juliet, then 14 hours later are married\\u2026fourteen hours fourteen hours all the way til their death.
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Now, I don\\u2019t know what\\u2019s weirder-that Shakespeare did that or that someone took the time to figure all that out.\\xa0 But what does it mean?
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I know, and yet I have no idea.\\xa0 I\\u2019ve read articles saying it reflects an indictment her age, others say it reflects a sonnet form and an emphasis on true love- I think it\\u2019s Shakespeare showing off the fact that he can do the number thing with the best of him.\\xa0 Who knows for sure, but one think I really do think is that \\xa0Shakespeare clearly loved Juliet and makes her the heart of the play\\u2026and I find that sweet.\\xa0 I like Juliet too, and I don\\u2019t like a lot of Shakespeare\\u2019s women.\\xa0 I definitely don\\u2019t like Ophelia from Hamlet nor either of the Julius Caesar ladies.\\xa0 They\\u2019re weak, but Juliet is not- and that brings us to our starting point because when we open up in Scene 3- we don\\u2019t find a strong Juliet- we find a dweeby- noodle-brained Romeo.\\xa0 He\\u2019s hiding in Friar Lawrence\\u2019s cell where Friar Lawrence is trying to explain to him that banishment isn\\u2019t all that bad- that he can stay there for a bit until the whole marriage thing comes out and they can get things sorted.
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Of course there\\u2019s more foreshadowing with the lines, \\u201cRomeo, affliction is enamored in thy parts, and thou art wedded to calamity.\\u201d
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I will say Romeo is a bit dramatic with the whole, I\\u2019m going to pull out my sword and kill myself routine, \\u201cTell me, Friar, in what vile part of this anatomy doth my name lodge?\\xa0 Tell me, that I may sack the hateful mansion.\\u201d\\xa0
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True, but the priest knew how to cheer him up.\\xa0 \\u201cHappiness courts thee in her best array, but like a mishaved and sullen wench thou pout\\u2019st upon thy fortune and thy love.\\xa0 Take heed, take heed, for such die miserable.\\xa0 Go, get thee to they love, as was decreed.\\xa0 Ascend chamber; hence and comfort her.\\xa0 but look, thou stay not till the watch be set, for then thou canst not pass to Mantua.\\u201d
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Which btw- in case anyone was wondering, Mantua is a only 20 miles away- not disasterous definitely\\xa0 Not an infinite distance.\\xa0 But you couldn\\u2019t tell by Romeo\\u2019s reaction.\\xa0 It does seem though that a quick stop at Juliet\\u2019s is enough to help him get over the edge of his despair.\\xa0 He replies after all the whining- \\u201cHow well my comfort is revived by this!\\u201d\\xa0 He seems to be cheered up.
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Yes- which is more than we can say for darling Juliet.\\xa0 She is really in trouble- and ironically- dramatic irony, btw- the audience knows it and she doesn\\u2019t .\\xa0 Her father has had a sudden change of mind- not only is he going to force his daughter to marry Paris against her will (which he wasn\\u2019t going to do, but he\\u2019s going to do marry her off on Thursday- since, according to him, doing it Wednesday would be rushing things.
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True- I\\u2019d say Juliet is unawares- when we see Juliet she is in the throws of love.\\xa0 This is the scene EVERYONE remembers from watching the movie in school\\u2026the nudity!!!\\xa0 And that was back when that was not done!!\\xa0
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You\\u2019re right.\\xa0 I remember showing this movie in class when we had a VCR and I was very strategic about fastfowarding through the right places.\\xa0 It was quite scandalous.
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\\xa0 This scene is such a contrast- you have the passionate good-bye of the lovers and then this abrupt cruelty of the dad.
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True- but before we get into the daddy issues- let\\u2019s talk birds \\u2013 they are so important here.\\xa0 The lark is the bird that sings in the morning; apparently and the nightingale is the bird that sings at night.\\xa0 Romeo and Juliet hear birds and Juliet is bemoaning the fact that Romeo has to go.\\xa0 I will say, again we see that Juliet has to be the practical one.\\xa0 Romeo does all this, \\u201cLet me be taken; let me be put to death.\\u201d \\xa0Let\\u2019s read it.\\xa0
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PAGE 151- ACT 3 Scene 5.
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Again we see light- light- dark dark..I\\u2019ve talked about all the contrasts in this play- starting with light and dark, but then life and death but I want to take a minute to think about just a little bit more.\\xa0 There are so so many big contrasts in this play- think about it Romeo/Juliet- montague/capulet- male/female- sexual violence/ sexual affection- hate-love, age- youth- tragedy- comedy- reality-dreams- public-private- This is a play of foils and extremes \\u2013 think the characters- there so many constrasts- and pairs- Benvolio versus Tybalt- Juliet has two moms- Juliet has two lovers- \\xa0the contrasts are so start and we\\u2019re getting ready to hit a big one.\\xa0 There really is something to notice here- think back to the prologue
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\\u201cTwo households both alike in dignity\\u2026then later it says- from forth the fatal loins of these TWO foes a PAIR of star-cross\\u2019d lovers take their life\\u2026I want to comment on it later, but it\\u2019s something to think about as we move forward towards the fast approaching end of the play. And the doubles are not just in the contrasts, they are also in the actual words- he repeats himself all the time.
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Why so many doubles- why so many twos- why so many contrasts?\\xa0
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We see it in the famous last words here- in fact, Let\\u2019s read the last words Romeo and Juliet say to each other- they are sad for their own sake- Romeo has climbed down the rope and she\\u2019s looking down from the balcony- more foreshadowing-
\\u201cO God, I have an ill-divining soul!\\xa0 Methinks I see thee, now thou art so low, as one dead in the bottom of a tomb.\\xa0 Either my eyesight fails or thou lookest pale.\\u201d
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And trust me, love, in my eyes so do you; dry blood drinks our blood.\\xa0 Adieu, Adieu!
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The first words Juliet says after Romeo leaves is in pairs, \\u201cO fortune, fortune! All men call thee fickle. If thou art fickle, what dost thou with him that is renowned for faith?\\xa0 Be fickle, fortune.\\xa0 For then, I hope, thou wilt not keep him long, but send him back.\\u201d\\xa0 She\\u2019s talking about Fortune bringing Romeo back to her- but there\\u2019s a lot of duality here-look at all the alliteration and repetition\\u2026in fact- and this is getting into the nerdy scholarship again- but a Shakspearean expert by the name of Robert Watson ran the numbers- and in Romeo and Juliet 1% of the words are actually pairs like this.\\xa0 These double words are all over the place- and beyond that -we have all the oxymorons and constrasts- no other Shakespearean play has as many doubles and constrasts as this one\\u2014but like I said it\\u2019s something to notice and think about when we get to the end, maybe we can make some sense to it.\\xa0 When we get to this part- we\\u2019re going to see not just double words- and double meaning- we are going to watch Juliet decide to live a double life\\u2026
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- let\\u2019s read these lines that change the story for Juliet\\u2026I\\u2019ll read Juliet then you read the mom-
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While we read notice that Juliet deliberately deceives her mom to think she\\u2019s talking about Tybalt- but it\\u2019s double-talk- it\\u2019s ironic\\u2026it\\u2019s all fake.\\xa0 It\\u2019s all duplicitous- but it\\u2019s mysterious to wonder why Shakespeare writes it quite this way.\\xa0 Something to thing about- I wonder wonder!!
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Shall we read! Shall we Read.
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Act 3, Scene five- Act 3 Scene 5!-I\\u2019ll read Juliet\\u2019s line, if you\\u2019ll read the mother.
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Read 153
When the dad comes in- it goes from bad to worse
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READ 153-161
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This language is abusive.\\xa0 It\\u2019s extreme and for the most part unjustified.\\xa0 What has changed that merits such an about face?\\xa0 Why such haste?\\xa0 Why such impulsivity?\\xa0 That makes a man talk to his young daughter with such rage and violence?\\xa0 \\xa0Romeo and Juliet are talking stars and fate, but we see here it\\u2019s character, not fate that is pushing people to extremes.\\xa0 You talked in the beginning about adults not acting like adults and that being the whole problem with this community- I think the argument could be made that poor impulsive control, something that is considered a childish trait- is the villain here.\\xa0 The dad has abandoned his daughter; the mother has abandoned her daughter; and finally, even the nurse has abandoned Juliet.\\xa0 Romeo has waltzed off and left her.\\xa0 Juliet is totally alone at this point in the play.\\xa0 I can\\u2019t think of a way for a young teenage girl to be more isolated than this.
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I like the way you phrased that- because that\\u2019s another thing about this play that is unusual.\\xa0 There is no villain- not really. In literature we think of conflicts being man versus man- like an external conflict- but we\\u2019ve killed off Tybalt- the only human antagonist- then sometimes we think of man versus himself- and sure- Romeo is a little extreme and I would argue perhaps weak and hapless at times, I\\u2019m not sure I\\u2019d want my daughters getting involved with Romeo, but he\\u2019s definitely not villain- .\\xa0 Who is the villain here?\\xa0 Is it fate itself?\\xa0 The prologue hints that it\\u2019s fate- but it also hints that the antagonist is something else.\\xa0 There\\u2019s always been one line in the prologue that has always bothered me (and I know I keep referring back to the prologue- but if you listen to us long enough- or if you have ever heard our very first episode on the Scarlet Letter where I talk a whole lot about this- I contend that the author gives away the story in the first sentence or two of the play- and in this case- it\\u2019s undoubtedly true- but the final line of the sonnet is this \\u201cWhich, but their children\\u2019s end, naught 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.\\u201d\\xa0 What has bothered me about those lines is the idea of being able to sit through this play in 2 hours- that\\u2019s absolutely not possible.\\xa0 We can barely talk aobut it over the course of a month.\\xa0 Now, I know Elizabethan people were way more auditory than we are and probably talked faster with no intermissions- but in what world can you perform a Shakesperean plan in 2 hours?\\xa0 It\\u2019s never made since until I heard this one guy say, it makes sense if you think about it metaphorically instead of literally- this is a play about rushing thorugh things- rushing through decisions- it\\u2019s about impulsivity.\\xa0
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Well, Romeo and Juliet are rash and impulsive but that\\u2019s understandable, really. They\\u2019re teenagers.\\xa0 They are beautiful, in love, in lust- whatever you want to call it.\\xa0 It makes sense and doesn\\u2019t hurt anyway.\\xa0 In fact, who are we to judge passion when it\\u2019s an expression of youthful\\xa0 idealism- that\\u2019s one of the great things about being young.\\xa0 You aren\\u2019t jaded yet.
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True- but what is Friar Lawrence doing rushing to marry them?\\xa0 Then Capulet is rushing to marry off his daughter.\\xa0 Then Friar Lawrence coming up with these strange and impulsive solutions. \\xa0With each impulsive decision comes an escalation- and things are going to escalate and escalate. In Act 4, Juliet reveals to the Friar that she is being forced to marry Paris.\\xa0\\xa0 She\\u2019s very emphatic that that is not going to happen, \\u2018O bid me leap, rather than marry Paris, from off the battlements of any tower, or walk in thievish ways, or bid me lurk where serpents are; chain me with roaring bears, or hide me nightly in a chartle house, o\\u2019re covered quite with dead men\\u2019s rattling bones, with reeky shanks and yellow chopless skulls; or bid me go into a new-made grave and hide me with a dead man in his tomb- things that to hear them told, have made me tremble- and I will do it without fear or doubt to live an unstained wife to my sweet love.\\u201d
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I\\u2019d say she\\u2019s made her point- my favorite is \\u201cchain me with roaring bears\\u201d.
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Do you like that better than the yellow chopless skulls she wants to be covered in?\\xa0
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I get the impression she doesn\\u2019t like Paris.\\xa0 And of course the Friar comes up with the strange plan to drink poison that will make her look dead for 24 hours.\\xa0
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\\u201cRead 173 lines 95-120
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These lines are so ridiculous and yet so tragic to me, first of all he says, unless because you\\u2019re a woman and you\\u2019re not brave enough- he\\u2019s the coward here.\\xa0 Why doesn\\u2019t he just take her to Mantua heself.\\xa0 But instead she agrees- Juliet tragically says, \\u201cLove give me strength, and strength shall help afford.\\xa0 Farewell, dear father!\\u201d\\xa0 She trusts, and from my perspective, she is betrayed by them all\\u2026I\\u2019m even going to say a little bit by Romeo, although I\\u2019m fearful to hate on him too much.\\xa0 I wish he had stayed back or at least done a little better by her, but he trusted Friar Lawrence too.\\xa0 Juliet leave the presence of the friar, goes back home, carries on these phony conversations with her parents telling everyone exactly what they want to hear then she goes into her room all by herself and drinks poison.\\xa0
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\\xa0I cannot imagine putting any more pressure on a little girl- never mind that she\\u2019s a teenager child just being introduced to love for the first time, something that would be overwhelming and exhausting for anyone at any time-Shakespeare doesn\\u2019t let up on her- Tybalt killed, Sex with Romeo- getting screamed at by her parents, running to the priest to be confronted by a man who thinks he\\u2019s marrying her in a couple of days, being given poison to drink by a man who she trusts- then going back to face everyone...\\xa0 When she finally perceives that she must act alone she faces her own fears braver than most adults could.\\xa0 What a soliloquy we are about to hear as Shakespeare takes us into Juliet\\u2019s mind\\u2026.
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Let me set this up- for those who don\\u2019t remember the details of the story- so, Friar Lawrence\\u2019s plan is that she drink this potion and allow herself to be buried alive into this vault or catabombs- the kind they have in Italy or New Orleans if you\\u2019ve seen the vampire show The Originals- it\\u2019s where all the witches congregate.\\xa0 So, the plan is she\\u2019s going to wake up in the vault with all of her dead relatives trusting that Friar Lawrence is going to tell someone who\\u2019s going to tell Romeo who\\u2019s going to show up and get her.\\xa0 That\\u2019s the plan she\\u2019s going over in her mind.
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It\\u2019s terrifying.\\xa0
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Well here it is\\u2026Read soliloquy\\u2026page 183
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I\\u2019d say that fails the say outloud test- if you say that out loud- you might talk yourself out of it.\\xa0 \\xa0
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And yet, she drinks.\\xa0 She\\u2019s desperate; she takes a risk; it\\u2019s the only hope she sees.\\xa0 But of course, we, the audience are forced to ask the question- are you doing the thing?\\xa0 Is all this double-talk, double speech, all this rushing, all this impulsiveness\\u2026is it the right thing?
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\\xa0Well, we can\\u2019t know the answer to that question by the end of Act 4. As you might expect from such a concoted plan\\u2014the end of Act 4 is total chaos. So, far all is going to plan-when the family finds Juliet they all regret what they did.\\xa0 The nurse, her mom, her dad\\u2026lots of repetition\\u2026look look\\u2026help..help..she\\u2019s dead\\u2026she\\u2019s dead\\u2026o woeful..o woeful, woeful day\\u2026to murder to murder our somenity\\u2026oh child oh child\\u2026and then we saw another weird contrast- as Capulet pronounces\\u2026.All things that we ordained festival turn from their office to black funeral; our instruments to melancholy bells, our wedding cheer to a sad burial feast, our solemn hymns to sullen dirges change, our bridal flowers serve for a buried corpse, and all things change them to the contrary.
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Well, of course, Friar Lawrence who knows all this is a fake says all these very comforting but cliched lines\\u2026\\u201d Heaven and yourself had part in his fair maid; now heaven hath all, and all the better is it for the maid\\u2026 sort of like, well, she\\u2019s in a better place.\\xa0 She\\u2019s fine.\\xa0
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Friar Lawrence\\u2026that guy\\u2026I do think he\\u2019s\\xa0 not a bad person, he\\u2019s just so dang irresponsible, although he doesn\\u2019t practice what he preaches..I do think he does give some great advice way back in Act 2- when he says, Therefore, love moderately, long love doth so, too swift arrives as tardy as too slow.\\xa0 And then again when he says, \\u201cWisely and slow; they stumble that run fast.\\u201d\\xa0\\xa0
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And next week, we will see more running, nothing moderate, lots of stumbling as we get to the tragic conclusion of everyone\\u2019s favorite doomsday love story!!
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