The play tellsItalyDaughter of noble CapuletJulietAndMontague 's sonRomeoThey love each other sincerely and swear to each other, but they are obstructed by the feud between the two families from generation to generation.[1]
Although Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy, the love itself of the two young men and heroines is not sad.They not only love each other, but also boldly pursue their love and fight with their lives.Their love power makes them dare to face family hatred and challenge obstacles in life.In order to pursue a new mode of life, they are not afraid to be the lamb of atonement. Therefore, although their death is the end of life, they have won moral victory and finally reconciled the two hostile families.In this sense, many scholars and critics call this play an optimist tragedy, which is what people are used to sayingTragicomedy。[2]
Title
Romeo and Juliet
Foreign name
Romeo and Juliet、The Most Excellent and Lamentable Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet[12](Original name in English)
Romeo and Juliet The Most Excellent and Lamentable Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet[12](Original name in English)
Author
William Shakespeare
Creation era
About 1595
literary genre
Theatre
Number of words
seventy-three thousand
content validity
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Romeo and Juliet
Capulet and Montague are two families in the same city. These two families have deep feuds and often fight with weapons.The Montague family has a son namedRomeo, 17 years old, dignified in character and learning, is a young man that everyone likes very much.But he fell in love with Rosalan, a girl who did not like him. When he heard that Rosalan would go to Capulet's party, he decided to sneak into the banquet hall.So Romeo gave up Rosalan for Romeo's sake, and his friends gave up Rosalan for Romeo to find a new girl. He and his friends put on masks for their own purposes and sneaked into the banquet hall.
So, at this banquet, he was the only daughter of the Capulet familyJulietDeeply attracted.That night, Juliet was the main character of the banquet. At the age of 13, she was as beautiful as a fairy.Romeo goes forward to express his love to Juliet, who also likes Romeo.However, neither side knew the identity of the other.After the truth came out, Romeo still could not get rid of his love for Juliet.He climbed over the wall and entered Capulet's orchard, just in time to hear Juliet calling Romeo at the window.Obviously, it was love at first sight.
The next day, Romeo went to see the neighborhoodMonasteryOfpriest, please help.The priest agreed to Romeo's request and thought it was a way to resolve the conflict between the two families.Romeo through Julietwet nurseJuliet was invited to the monastery and married under the auspices of the priest.At noon that day, Romeo met Juliet's cousin Tibert in the street.Tibert wanted to duel with Romeo, but Romeo was unwilling to duel, but his friend Mauchucio felt that Romeo had no face, so Mauchucio dueled with Tibert, and was killed by Tibert.Romeo was furious and pulled out his sword to avenge his friend, so Tibert was killed by Romeo.
After many negotiations, the ruler of the city decided to expel Romeo and ordered him to be executed if he dared to return.Juliet is very sad. She loves Romeo very much.Romeo did not want to leave. After being persuaded by the priest, he agreed to leave temporarily and go to Mandoa.[13]That night, he crept into Juliet's bedroom and spent his wedding night.The next day, Romeo had to start his exile.As soon as Romeo left, the noble Count Paris came to propose again.Capulet was very satisfied and ordered Juliet to get married next Thursday.
Juliet went to the priest to find a way. The priest gave her a medicine, which was like death after taking it, but it would wake up in 42 hours.The priest promised that she would send someone to call Romeo and would soon dig the grave, so that she and Romeo could fly away.Juliet acted according to her plan. She took medicine the night before the wedding, and the next day the wedding naturally became a funeral.The priest immediately sent someone to inform Romeo.However, Romeo knew the wrong news before the priest's messenger arrived.He came to Juliet's tomb in the middle of the night, killed the Count Paris who was blocking him, and dug the tomb. After kissing Juliet, he took out the poison he had brought with him and drank it down and died beside Juliet.When the priest arrived, Romeo and Paris were dead.At this time, Juliet also woke up.There were more and more people. The priest ran away before he could take Juliet into consideration.When Juliet saw the dead Romeo, she didn't want to live alone in the world. She didn't find the poison, so she pulled out Romeo's sword and stabbed herself, fell on Romeo and died.The parents of both families came, and the priest told them the story of Romeo and Juliet.After losing their children, the parents of both families woke up, but it was too late.Since then, the two families have eliminated their grievances and cast a gold statue for Romeo and Juliet in the city.[3]
Creation background
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historical background
The love tragedy between Romeo and Juliet is said to be true in history. It happened in 1303ItalyVeronaCity.It was also quotedDante《Divine Comedy》As evidence.But this is hard to say.however,Ancient RomeIt is true that there is a folklore about a pair of lovers falling in love with each other. During the long oral transmission, the story and details are constantly supplemented and enriched, and gradually evolved into the legend of Romeo and Juliet.
At the beginning of the 16th century, Italian Luigi da Porto wrote a short story, the love story between Romeo and Juliet, which has already been shown in the novel.Bandello In 1554, he wrote his novel Romeo and Juliet by taking materials from folklore and drawing lessons from previous works on this subject.
Bandello andBojiaqiuAlthough of the same genusThe RenaissanceTime, but one after the other, nearly 200 years apart.In Bandalo's time, Italy's politics and economy have shown a decline. Time has changed and the world is declining. Many vulgar romantic novels have emerged as the times require, as reflected in the creation of novels.Bandalo, however, painstakingly wroteHumanismThe spirit of Romeo and Juliet.Bandalo is good at weaving stories of twists and turns, ups and downs, and is good at describing the tragic conflicts of passion and telling beautiful stories.As a result, this work was quickly photographed by many artists, who took materials from it for re creation.
The moon comes first when you are near the water.Just five years after Bandalo's novel came out, the French Pierre Bouardo translated it into French.However, this time, the French only acted more as the setter, but the British people admired Ben's novels very much.The Englishman Yiyingte translated the French version of Boudou into English.About a dozen British writers have obtained inspiration and materials for their second creation from this touching story of Italian sadness.Shakespeare wrote the tragedy Romeo and Juliet.[4]
background of times
Shakespeare lived in an era when many countries in Italy and Europe were carrying out an ideological and cultural movement, that is, the Renaissance.During this period, the European feudal society gradually disintegrated, and the capitalist mode of production was bred in the feudal society matrix. Humanism was the ideological weapon of the bourgeois anti feudal struggle during the Renaissance, and also the central idea of the bourgeois progressive literature during this period.Its main contents are as follows: First, use human nature to oppose theocracy;Second, use individuality liberation to oppose asceticism;Third, oppose obscurantism with reason.Among them, personality liberation is proposed against the asceticism advocated by the feudal society, which requires the working people to restrain their desires, give up struggle, and give up worldly happiness. It affirms worldly life, believes that worldly happiness is above everything, and the purpose of life is to pursue personal freedom and personal happiness.Shakespeare's early works mainly publicized this kind of humanistic thought, and Romeo and Juliet was a love tragedy with anti feudal consciousness against this background.[5]
VeronaOfking, maintain peace between Montague and Capulet families
Paris
Princelyrelative, engaged to Juliet, and finally killed by Romeo in Capulet's ancestral tomb
Mercutio
The prince's relative, Romeo's friend, was killed by Tibert in a conflict
Capulet
Count Capulet
Capulet Family Elder
Lady Capulet
Female elder of Capulet family
Juliet
Capulet's daughter, Romeo's lover
Tybalt
Juliet's cousin was killed by Romeo
Rosaline
Capulet's niece, Romeo's lover in the early stage of the drama
Montague
The Earl of Montague
Montague Family Elder
Madame Montague
Montague Female Elder
Romeo
The son of Montague, met Juliet at the dance, and then made a private engagement with her for life
Detailed introduction
Character name
Introduction
Romeo
Romeo was lucky at first. He fell in love with a woman who also loved him, but he stabbed Juliet's cousin to death because of his youth, and later was exiled by the family.Juliet pretended to die for him. His brain was also hot, and he dueled with Paris.After discovering that his lover had "died", he impulsively ended his life without having time to find out the truth.He swallowed the poison decisively and wrote a great hymn for the beauty of love.After he committed suicide, Juliet woke up.The young lovers began to feel each other's deep feelings, and then experienced the same pain of losing their loved ones. Finally, they took the same way to prove their loyalty and belief in love.[6]
Juliet
Juliet is the daughter of the patriarch of the big family. She has no worries about food and clothing, and lives a comfortable life. She is lucky in material terms, but in the love she values more, she was abandoned by God.First, her father forced her to marry. She did not like the future husband, Count Paris, whom her father had chosen for her.She struggled against the shackles of fate, but her father still insisted on his own opinion. In desperation, she went to Elder Lawrence for help. Lawrence kindly provided her with a strategy with fatal loopholes.[6]
Paris
Paris is one of Juliet's admirers. Juliet's pretended death originated from his proposal to Juliet's father, and Juliet was deeply in love with Romeo at that time. It can be said that without Paris's proposal, there would be no pretended death of Juliet, and there would be no final suicide of Romeo and Juliet.From the perspective of the whole story, Paris pursues his lover hard and can't get it. Let him know that he is pursuing an impossible result, but he never expected that he would also pursue the death of his lover.People can't help sympathizing with his fate. He not only didn't get Juliet's love, but also lost his life pointlessly.In a word, a typical feature of Paris' character is his strong possessiveness for love.Although he also knew that a twisted melon was not sweet, his love for Juliet made him have no courage to fulfill the love between Juliet and Romeo. His thousands of pursuits eventually led to the tragedy of Juliet's death.[6]
Mercutio
Although Mauricio didn't play much, he left a deep impression.He is warm, brave, optimistic, cheerful, humorous and humorous. As Romeo's adviser, he cares about the love between Romeo and Juliet.When Romeo was humiliated, Mercutio stepped forward and did everything for his friend.[7]
friar Laurence
Father Lawrence is resourceful, courageous, knowledgeable and loving. Although he is a church member, he is not an accomplice of the pedantic, stubborn and unreasonable feudal rulers. He tries his best to help Romeo and Juliet fight for love.[7]
Appreciation of works
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Theme
Romeo and JulietWilliam ShakespeareAn early tragedy in which the son of Montague is depictedRomeoAnd the daughter of CapuletJulietIt was love at first sight. In order to pursue free love, they dared to ignore family feuds, disobey their father's orders, and even die for love.This is Shakespeare's tragedyromanticismThe most lyrical tragedy is also a song againstfeudalism, advocating freedom and equality, personality liberation, and marriage autonomy.
In Romeo and Juliet, a series of accidental plots make the family feud and sincere love form a contradiction, and constantly aggravate the contradiction, so that the contradiction can not be resolved in a satisfactory way, and can only choose the final destruction.Therefore, the first thing that this drama leaves to people is the regret for the inevitable and unavoidable tragic ending, the gratification for the family reconciliation caused by martyrdom, and the reflection on the inevitable tragic factors in human society and human nature.This tragedy consists of two parts: the love of the hero and heroine and the dispute between the two families.The former is the main one, while the latter is the social background of the former and the main cause of the tragedy. It is secondary in the play and the foil of the theme. But because it has universal social significance, it forms an integral part of the play, rather than just playing a background role.
It can be seen in the play that the conflict is the hatred and confrontation between the two families, but the large-scale direct conflict between the two families has basically ended by the third act. After three acts and two scenes, the plot begins to turn to the struggle within Juliet's family.The main conflict of the tragedy is the confrontation between Romeo and Juliet's love and the hatred of the two familieshumanitarianismAndthe medieval timesThe conflict of feudal morality is the conflict between the new world and the old world.This old world has been described in a variety of ways in some of Shakespeare's historical plays. In this play, it is shown in the struggle between two irreconcilable noble families;The world of new characters, new ideas, are vividly reflected in Romeo, Juliet, Mercutio and other images, and these characters live in accordance with the humanitarian morality of love and friendship. They are free from all restrictions and prejudice for the sake of human dignity, personality independence, personality liberation, freedom of love and loyalty and purity of love,Even though the two families are separated by such an irreconcilable barrier, facing the supremacy of parental authority and the tough relationship between them, they also dare to break through, fight and pursue their own happiness. This fighting spirit and courage not only come from love and for love, but alsoHumanismpersonSocial idealThe author is optimistic about this kind of ideological struggle, but as aRealismIt is impossible for the writer to end the love between Romeo and Juliet with comedy. Under the rule of the deep-rooted old forces, Romeo and Juliet can only become the inevitable victims of this struggle.[8]
artistic characteristics
Dramatic conflict
Conflicts and coincidences in plays are common artistic techniques used by writers, as is the case with Shakespeare's plays. He created a series of conflicts and coincidences in Romeo and Juliet, which filled the tragic plot with many accidental factors.The two families are full of hatred, but the children of the enemy like each other;Romeo sneaks into the enemy's house to hold a dance, but is not exposed. Romeo and Juliet get to know each other and fall in love at first sight, resulting in conflict, which forms the basis of the conflict in the play.
At the end of the dance, Romeo refused to go home and secretly came to the balcony of Juliet's bedroom. Coincidentally, he heard Juliet calling his name gently, and the two had a chance to show their feelings to each other;Next, the nurse sent a message to make both parties more certain of their feelings, and Father Lawrence helped the two people form a secret couple, which accelerated the plot progress;On the contrary, the Prince's lighter sentence separated Romeo and Juliet, making the conflict turn and deepen.The friend sent by Father Laurence to deliver the letter happened to meet a father who needed to save the child and delayed his trip. At that time, his cousin Benvolio happened to tell Romeo Juliet the "death" earlier.Juliet's parents asked her to marry Count Paris. Juliet did not dare to defy her publicly, but Father Lawrence gave her an idea. He gave her a bottle of medicine that would wake up after 42 hours of coma, which resulted in a tragic outcome.
The conflict of the drama seems to originate from accidental factors. Tilbert recognized Romeo who was stopped by his uncle at the dance. It happened that he also liked his cousin. The hatred of the aristocratic family combined with his own personal love made it reasonable for Tilbert to go to fight Romeo.Romeo and his friend encounter Tilbert and have a conflict. The result is very tragic.Romeo's friend, Tilbert and Paris were killed successively, which not only aggravated the dramatic conflict but also foreshadowed the tragic ending of Romeo's love with Juliet.However, the contingency in tragedy is inextricably linked with the social reality.First of all, youth and love are inevitable choices in the growth of life, and cannot be separated from personal good ideals. The reason why the love tragedy of "Romeo and Juliet" has become a masterpiece is that it expresses that all human beings share the flower of life.Secondly, the realistic basis of love and marriage in medieval Europe was first the needs of families and families. Like other places in the world, individuals had almost no right to choose, which inevitably conflicted with the accidental marriage of love. Moreover, the love between Romeo and Juliet just ran counter to the will and interests of the family and lost the legitimate realistic basis.Thirdly, according to the aristocratic cultural tradition, it is legal for European nobles or individuals to duel privately, and both sides of the duel may not be legally responsible for the other's disability or death.Therefore, Romeo and Tilbert fought each other and killed two lives, but no one intervened. On the contrary, when the two heroes both died in love, the attendants immediately appeared.All of this is a series of coincidence conflicts in the dramatic plot, as if it is always wrong and full of contingency.But occasionally it is caused by the inevitable factors of the real world, which is the basis of the authenticity of Shakespeare's tragedy and the climax art of promoting the plot.[9]
style
Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy, but its strong lyricism and youth make it mixed with strong comedy elements.The play consists of five acts.In the first act, Shakespeare concentrated the strong contrast between love and sorrow, sadness and joy on Romeo.The second act is the most youthful and lyrical one in the play.In the garden under the moon, two young people talk to each other about their hearts and love. They have gone beyond the walls of family feuds and stayed in the paradise of love.The bright and beautiful images of the sun, moon, stars, torches, etc. are in sharp contrast to the boundless darkness. Other dark images in the play include nightmares, blood stains, graves, hell, etc.The night seems to be the death lurking everywhere.The night is boundless, love is invincible.Dawn brings marriage and separation.Act III The death of Tibert makes the plot go from bad to worse. After that, Romeo is exiled and Juliet is forced to marry by her parents. The lovers fall from the happiness of their new marriage to the abyss of pain.As the tragedy continues to develop, the rhythm of this contrast between sadness and joy is also accelerating.In the fourth act, Shakespeare arranges this mixed feeling of sadness and joy between the scenes. On the one hand, Capulet's whole family is happily preparing for Juliet's wedding, and on the other hand, Juliet and Romeo suffer immeasurably when they are separated.In the last scene, Romeo and Juliet choose to die to defend their pure love. The audience cannot help but feel sympathy and sadness for them. But the end of the story ends with the drama scene of two families making up, which brings a little comfort to the audience.The feud between Montague and Capulet caused the servants of the two families to fight when they met.But the children of the two families fell in love at first sight. Romeo and Juliet, the lovers, risked betraying their families to pursue happiness.Although the two families have deep hatred, the children of the two families are affectionate. This contrast constitutes a strong dramatic effect.In the whole play Romeo and Juliet, there are two kinds of scenes, sad and happy, alternating, contrasting with each other, making the play relaxed, sad and happy.
Shakespeare also used clown images and gags and other common artistic means in comedy to interweave joy and sadness in tear jerking tragedies.For example, in the play, Juliet's nurse is a clown in a skirt. She likes to be cheerful and often makes people laugh with funny words and actions.Peter, the servant, is a wonderful partner with his wet nurse in the play.When the whole family was preparing for Juliet's wedding, they found that the young lady was "dead". At the most tense moment of the plot, Shakespeare had ingeniously arranged a scene where Peter and the musician were fooling around, which brought a gag like episode to the tragedy.[7]
form
Romeo and Juliet is a poetic drama with plain verse. Shakespeare used many poetic forms in his drama.In the musician's opening remarks, he used sonnets, while Romeo and Juliet used moreBlank verseForm of.Shakespeare often usesiambic pentameter The style of writing in plain verse is flexible and changeable, with a higher intonation than ordinary speech, and closer to spoken language than ordinary poetic style. It can be used not only as the grand language of emperors, but also as the whispering between lovers.Shakespeare also gave different language styles to different characters. For example, Father Lawrence usedsermonandEpigramIn style, Juliet's nurse especially uses the non rhyme style, which is similar to the daily spoken dialogue.Shakespeare will also choose different language styles according to different scenes. For example, when Romeo is talking about Rosaland, he uses Petrarch's sonnets to describe the beauty of women. The exaggeration in them makes people feel unattainable.When Romeo met Juliet, he used a popular short poem to express himself on the balcony, but Juliet directly interrupted him: "Do you love me?" It can be seen that Juliet cared about Romeo's sincerity rather than poetic exaggeration.In addition, Shakespeare also used language to show the closeness between people. For example, Juliet used monosyllabic words for Romeo and official language for Count Paris.[7]
Influence of works
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The play has been adapted into opera, symphony, ballet, film and television works for many times.French composerCournot He wrote this play as an opera and a musical《West City Story》It is also adapted from the play.Russian composerTchaikovskyComposer with "Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture"ProgofievHe wrote ballet music for the play, which was popular with the public.The 1996 film version was titled《Romeo and Juliet Post modern Passion》ByHollywoodartistLeonardo DiCaprioandClaire DeansStarring, he won many awards at the Berlin Film Festival in 1997.In 2001, French musicianGerard PresgurvicThe play was independently adapted into a French musical. After its premiere in Paris, it has been touring around the world. In April 2007, it performed in Taipei, and will perform in Hong Kong and mainland China in 2008.There is also a TV animation version, which is produced by Japanese animation companiesGONZOResponsible for production and broadcast on April 4, 2007.[10]
Russian poetPushkin"In addition to Romeo and Juliet, the enchanting creations described by Shakespeare, the most wonderful characters in all tragedies are the elegant, affectionate, noble and argumentative Mauchucio, a model of contemporary young knights.The poet chose him as the representative of the Italians, who were the most fashionable people in Europe at that time, known as the French in the 16th century. "[7]
Chinese TranslatorsZhu Shenghao"Romeo and Juliet" is Shakespeare's early lyric tragedy, and also the most beautiful and sentimental love song after the Song of Solomon. There is no profound analysis of human nature here, but it sincerely expresses the aspirations of young men and women all over the world. Love not only overcomes death, but also eliminates the feud between the two ethnic groups;In this sense, it is undoubtedly a comedy to eulogize the supremacy of love.[5]
About the author
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William Shakespeare(William Shakespare, 1564-1616)The RenaissanceDramatist and poet of the period.Shakespeare was born in central England on April 23, 1564StratfordA wealthy citizen family in the cityGrammar schoolHaving studied, learningLatinLiterature and rhetoric.Later, when his family was in decline, he helped his father in business. Around 1578, he went to London alone to make a living. It was said that he had worked as a groom or a servant. At that time, he was regarded as the "lowest occupation".Later, he became an actor and screenwriter. With the troupe touring around the country, he had extensive contact with the life of all social strata.He played the role of《Hamlet》The ghost and other supporting actors in the film also served as directors, but they mainly wrote scripts. At the beginning, they were just processing old scripts, gradually rewriting them or creating their own.He later became a shareholder of the troupe, returned home from London around 1613, and died on April 23, 1616.[11]
