ROMEO AND JULIET Acts 3 & 4: Gender in Verona Earthly Order

Being a Man in Verona: Benvolio (Well-wisher, Benevolent will) I pray thee, good Mercutio, let’s retire. The day is hot, the Capels are abroad, And, if we meet, we shall not scape a brawl, For now, these hot days, is the mad blood stirring (p. 62, 3.1.1-4) •  Galenic medicine: men are hot and dry,

women are cold and moist •  ñHeat = ñMasculinity = More aggression, violence

Being a Man in Verona: Mercutio (Mercurial, volatile, quick-witted)

Couple it with something; make it a word and a blow. (p. 63, 3.1.39)

Turning Point • Romeo’s “vile submission” • Mercutio’s Death •  Tybalt’s Death

Romeo’s Return to Man’s World This gentleman, the prince’s near ally, My very friend, hath got his mortal hurt In my behalf—my reputation stained With Tybalt’s slander—Tybalt, that an hour Hath been my cousin. O sweet Juliet, Thy beauty hath made me effeminate And in my temper softened valor’s steel! (p. 67,

3.1.108-114)

Art thou a man? “Art thou a man? Thy form cries out thou art; Thy tears are womanish, thy wild acts denote The unreasonable fury of a beast. Unseemly woman in a seeming man! … Thou pout’st upon thy fortune and thy love.” (pp. 80-81, 3.3.109-144)

Authority in Verona • Capulet

•  3.5.150-158, 161-169, 177-197 pp. 90-92 •  What kind of father is Capulet?

• Prince’s interventions •  1.1.80-102, pp. 7-8; 3.1.185-196, p. 70; [and then again later

5.3.188-end, pp. 124-126] •  What kind of ruler is the prince?

Bonds between women broken • Capulet’s Wife to Juliet: “I have done with thee” (p. 93,

3.5.205) •  Juliet about Nurse: “Thou and my bosom henceforth shall

be twain” (p. 94, 3.5.242)

Gender Norms •  Femininity and Masculinity

•  What are some attributes of each of these ends of the gender spectrum according to the world of Verona?

Gender Norms • Violation of norms=challenge to power structure

Action and Femininity • Suicide:

•  If in thy wisdom thou canst give no help / Do thou but call my resolution wise / And with this knife I’ll help it presently. (p. 97, 4.1.52-54)

• Protecting her chastity: •  I will do it without fear or doubt, / To live an unstained wife to my

sweet love (p. 98, 4.1.87-88)

Drinking the Potion • What does Juliet worry about before she drinks the

potion? • How does she overcome these worries? •  Is she in control of her life at this moment?

•  In the belief system of Verona, should she be in control of her life at this moment?

Capulet as “cot-quean” I’ll not to bed tonight; let me alone. I’ll play the housewife for this once. (p. 101, 3.2.42-43)

My heart is wondrous light, Since this same wayward girl is so reclaimed. (3.2.46-47)

Servants • Peter and the Musicians (4.5)

•  What are they talking about? •  How does this conversation relate to the rest of the play?

ROMEO AND JULIET Act 5 “A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life”

Elizabethan Cosmic Order •  “For the Elizabethans the moving forces of history were

Providence, fortune, and human character” (Tillyard)

Wheel of Fortune

Fortune • Romeo: I can read “mine own fortune in my misery” (p.

16, 1.2.61) • Romeo: “O, I am fortune’s fool!” (p. 68, 3.1.135) •  Juliet: “O Fortune, Fortune! All men call thee fickle” (p. 87,

3.5.60) •  Friar: “Unhappy fortune!” (p. 115, 5.2.17)

Ptolemaic Universe

Romeo and Fate •  “My dreams presage some joyful news at hand” (p. 111,

5.1.2)

Defying the Stars •  “for my mind misgives / Some consequence, yet hanging

in the stars” (p. 27, 1.4.106-107) •  “Then I defy you, stars!” (p. 112, 5.5.24) •  “shake the yoke of inauspicious stars / From this world-

wearied flesh” (p. 120, 5.3.111-112)

Curses •  “A plague a both your houses!” (p. 66, 3.1.90 & 105) •  Letter to Romeo halted by fear of “infectious

pestilence” (p. 115, 5.2.10)

Light • Paris: “Give me thy torch, boy . . . Yet put it out” (p. 116,

5.3.1-2) • Romeo: “For here lies Juliet, and her beauty makes / This

vault a feasting presence full of light” (p. 119, 5.3.85-86)

Punishment • Prince: “See what a scourge is laid upon your hate, / That

heaven finds means to kill your joys with love. / And I, for winking at your discords too, / Have lost a brace of kinsmen. All are punished.” (p. 128, 5.3.292-295)

“A glooming peace this morning with it brings” • Capulet: “O brother Montague, give me thy hand. / This is

my daughter’s jointure” (p. 128, 5.3.296-297) • Montague: “There shall no figure at such rate be set / As

that of true and faithful Juliet” (p. 128, 5.3.301-302)

Coming up . . . •  9/17: Walker in reader (pp. 7-15) •  9/19: Kappel and Walsh in reader (pp. 1-3; 17-18) •  9/24: “Hero and Leander” (link on elearning) Pyramus and

Thisbe in reader (pp. 5-6), ballad recordings (link on elearning), & 5 elements assignment due

•  9/26: Library & Discussion Day •  10/1: Review •  10/3: Exam 1