context

• Shakespeare's plays can be divided into Histories (e.g. Henry VI), Comedies (e.g. Midsummer’s Nights Dream), and Tragedies (e.g. Romeo and Juliet)
• Shakespeare wrote for the Lord Chamberlain’s Men (later, the King’s Men), tailoring his characters and writing style to his talented actors like Richard Burbage
• Romeo and Juliet was suspected to have been written at the beginning of Shakespeare’s career around 1597-1579
• Shakespeare wrote during the Renaissance, a period of artistic expression freedom from the 14th to 17th centuries
• Shakespeare's plays were the mass media of London during the Elizabethan and Jacobean era, emphasizing the importance of entertainment in his works
• Shakespeare wrote for a "cross-class" audience, incorporating both lower-class humor and refined language in his plays
• The Globe was Shakespeare’s theatre, but Romeo and Juliet was first performed at the Theatre and then The Curtain, both open-air venues
• In Romeo and Juliet, female characters like Juliet were played by pre-pubescent boys due to the ban on women acting
• Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet was inspired by earlier works like Arthur Brooke’s The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet (1562) and William Painter’s Palace of Pleasure (pre-1580)
• The first edition of Romeo and Juliet was published in 1597 as the First Quarto, followed by a longer Second Quarto in 1599, with subsequent quartos leading up to the First Folio in 1623
• Romeo and Juliet has been adapted into various productions, including Bernstein's West Side Story and Baz Luhrmann’s 1996 Romeo + Juliet
• Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy, following Aristotle's elements like catharsis and hamartia, with influences from Senecan tragedy evident in its violence
• Shakespeare set Romeo and Juliet in Verona, Italy, to provide a geographically distant setting for the audience to experience catharsis and escape from their mundane lives
• Shakespeare set his plays in foreign lands to critique society and explore subversive themes without being accused of treason, adding a sense of 'foreignness' to the play
• In Romeo and Juliet, the setting in Verona, Italy, known for its Catholicism, added to the play's themes of passion and conflict
• Anti-Catholicism in England during the Elizabethan era influenced the audience's view of the Friar in Romeo and Juliet as a potentially untrustworthy character
• In Elizabethan England, the Friar in "Romeo and Juliet" would have been viewed with suspicion or as untrustworthy due to the war with Catholic Spain, where being Catholic could lead to imprisonment
• Religion was central to Elizabethan life and significantly influenced the considerations of the morality of Romeo and Juliet’s affair
• In the Elizabethan era, religion was the entirety of one’s life, unlike today where it is often seen as an addition to one’s life
• The audience's religious stance is crucial in understanding the impact of the play, especially concerning issues like suicide, which had varying views in different historical periods
• The concept of sin, particularly Juliet's disobedience to her father and the young couple embodying the sin of hubris, plays a significant role in "Romeo and Juliet"
• The tragic ending of "Romeo and Juliet" can be interpreted as a manifestation and re-assertion of traditional Christian Divine Justice, despite the evolving beliefs of the Elizabethans away from such traditions
• The Elizabethan era was defined by its fixation on order, highlighted by concepts like the Ordered Great Chain of Being and the Harmony of the Spheres
• Astronomy in the Elizabethan era taught that the Earth was the center of the universe, influencing Juliet's allusions to the heavens and stars in the play
• In the Elizabethan era, women were seen as lesser than men, objectified, and considered property, impacting the portrayal of women in "Romeo and Juliet"
• Marriage was a central goal for women in the Elizabethan era, and women were often seen as objects within marriage, contributing to the objectification of women in society
• Shakespeare challenges gender norms in "Romeo and Juliet" by portraying both Romeo and Juliet as active characters, subverting the passive role expected of women in marriage
• Shakespeare draws on the archetype of the Petrarchan Lover in "Romeo and Juliet," where Romeo's pursuit of both Rosaline and Juliet reflects elements of unrequited love
• Courtly love, including ideas like love at first sight and dying for one’s true love, is glorified and romanticized in "Romeo and Juliet"
• Courtly love, a Medieval ideal, was glorified and romanticized in Romeo and Juliet, but the presence of sex in their relationship somewhat undermines the idealization of selfless and romantic love
• Courtly love had rules for men to follow to show true love, such as not eating or sleeping, isolating themselves, and forgetting old love when a new one comes along
• In Romeo and Juliet, Romeo displays characteristics typical of a courtly lover, like staying up late and not sleeping when in love
• Romeo must forget Rosaline as Juliet becomes his 'star-crossed' lover, showcasing the aspect of forgetting old love when a new one comes along
• Romeo and Juliet's language becomes elevated with imagery and syntax, using the sonnet structure associated with romantic love when they meet for the first time
• Romeo's language towards Juliet includes heavenly metaphors, suggesting he sees her as a pure and peaceful woman, emphasizing her purity and illuminating presence
• Romeo and Juliet's affair embodies both erotic love (eros) and selfless, coupling love (agape), reflecting a move towards marriages formed from love rather than duty to one's family in Shakespeare's time
• Fate, a central concept in Elizabethan society, is prominent in Romeo and Juliet, with the idea of predestination and the movement of the Spheres determining one's fate
• Explicit violence was more public in Elizabethan times, with fights like those between the Montagues and Capulets not being uncommon, reflecting a society with a paradoxical revulsion and attraction to violence
• Shakespeare's plays, including Romeo and Juliet, evolve from a delight in representing violence for entertainment to a philosophical discussion about it, with Romeo struggling with the concept of violence throughout the play
• Context is crucial in understanding the relationship between the ideas in the text and the contexts of the text, with factors like literary contexts, social structures, and cultural contexts playing a significant role