Tiger’s Reviews > Romeo and Juliet > Status Update

Congrats. I've been re-reading and re-memorizing the sonnets (I knew about fifteen, now only ten by heart). Of course, there are several sonnets embedded in this play, the party scene--"My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand / To smooth my rough touch with a gentle kiss.." is part of one, along with, "Two of the fairest stars in all the heavens,/ Having some business, did entreat her eyes / To twinkle in their spheres 'till they return/ What if her eyes were there, they in her head? / The brightness of her cheek would far outshine/ Those stars as daylight doth a lamp..." I don't seem to be getting the rhymes for the sonnet right. When I taught the play, I did it as a critique of sonnet style, which here contrasts with colloquialism, especially the Nurse's. Her wonderful illiteracy, and the Messenger's--from whom Romeo would never have learned of the Capulet party if the guy could read. Have you seen Zefirelli's? Wonderful, though of course with the music he turns it almost into a ballet/opera--the natural tendency of Italian drama. They either dance or shout.
As for "Wherefore art thou Romeo," "wherefore" means WHY, while most American students think it means Where are you. No. Why are you that hated name Montague? Of course, it's a flimsy plot: the tragedy would be averted if the Messenger met Romeo on the road. He doesn't.

Hi dear friend Alan
Each time we read the play we discover new things with the pleasure of reading and the taste of savoeuring the way events were constructed . I found an analysis concerning themes analysis and understood and discovered a great link between arab way of plotting mainly what concerns poetry (in arabic poetry lovers never get married but seperated) and it s the case here.
Fate plays an important role in Romeo and Juliet. Romeo feels that he cannot control the course of his life. He speaks out to whoever directs [his] sail (I.4) Does fate actually control the course of events or does everyone play a part? If Juliet had not made such a show of obedience, Capulet may not have changed the wedding date. If there had been more time, Friar John may have managed to get the message to Romeo in time and he would not have killed himself in Juliet's tomb. If Mercutio hadn't jumped into a fight with Tybalt, he wouldn't have been killed. He may also have survived if Romeo had not stepped between them. In either case, Tybalt and Romeo probably wouldn't have fought, Tybalt wouldn't have been killed, and Romeo wouldn't have been banished. There are several events that could have ended differently if someone had acted in just a slightly different manner or arrived just a moment earlier / later. Can this be blamed on fate?