Romeo and Juliet; synopsis:

Romeo and Juliet is a romantic tragedy made by William Shakespeare around the 15- century.

 

The story begins with a brawl between the Capulet Family and the Montague Family in the streets of Verona.

 

When we first meet Romeo Montague, he’s grief-stricken by the fact that he’s in love with Roseline whom has vowed to remain chaste for the rest of her life. His father’s nephew, Benvolio Capulet, stumbles by. He gives Romeo a stolen invitation to the masquerade party in the Montague’s house.

 

At the party Romeo and Juliet meet each other, both unaware of that the other belong to their rivals, they fall in love. And later, get married by Friar Laurence.

 

The next thing that happens is that Tybalt Montague challenges Romeo to a duel, but Romeo resists and Mercutio (Romeo’s allied) appears, and spite Romeo’s will, he takes the challenge in his stead. Tybalt kills Mercutio and runs from the scene. Romeo then, furious that Tybalt killed his best friend, he kills Tybalt. And the Prince orders Romeo to be banned from Verona.

 

Juliet is forced by her parents to marry Count Paris, a relation to the Prince. Juliet doesn’t want this, so she visits Friar Laurence and asks for a potion that will make her seem dead in two days.

 

Romeo’s personal servant, or page, learns of this and hurries of towards were Romeo’s staying and tells him what’s happened. And before Father Laurence reaches Romeo to tell him that his wife, Juliet, will wake up in one day so that they can live forever happy; Romeo hurries back to Verona, the city which he’s banned from, and buys an illegal potion that will kill Romeo instantly when consumed. He then visits Juliet’s grave, takes the potion and dies besides Juliet, still unknowing of that Juliet is not really dead.

 

Juliet wakes up the second after only to find Romeo dead beside her. She’s mourns over Romeo’s death and stabs herself with a dagger, or in Baz Lhurmans adaptation; she shoots herself.

 

Romeo and Juliet; History

Romeo and Juliet, the version we know written by Shakespeare, has mainly derived from a lesser known poem by Arthur Brooke, Romeus and Juliet. This poem consisted in more than 3000 sentences. One of the differences in Shakespeare’s version is that he depicts Juliet as 13 rather then 16, as in Brooke’s version.

 

The “Capulet and Montague” family names have derived from two political fraction of Arthur Brooke’s time. The idea that the Capulet and the Montagues were rivals probably comes from their different political views.

 

William Shakespeare:

William Shakespeare was born in 1564 and grew up in England in London. He’s father was in man with a lot of influence on the local people and had a lot of respect as a moneylender. Little is known about William’s childhood, and it’s common to presume that he went to a Christian grammar school in London, according to gradesaver.com.

 

He wrote many stageplays and poems, including comedies, tragedies and such.

 

Se også:

http://www.daria.no/skole/?tekst=10185