Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

Shakespeare Never Lets His Audience Forget That the Play Ends In

Tragedy

At the time the play was written, in 1595, everyone believed very

strongly in fate and the stars. London at the time was a walled city

of about 200,000, with seven gates providing access to the city from

the east, north and west. It was considered small and was

criss-crossed by narrow little streets and lanes. The various wards

each had a parish church that dominated the life of the close-knit

community. To the south and outside were slums and criminal hangouts,

and further out were huge estates and the agricultural lands. As the

population increased and the central area declined, the fashionable

people moved to the west of the city, near where the palace of

Westminster lay. Houses were rented out floor by floor and even room

by room. Even within the city slums were common, although they were

close to pleasant enough streets and squares. England was not a clean

place, neither were its people, for in these days there was a gutter

in the middle of the street, into which refuse would be emptied to be

washed away by the rain. Plague was particularly ravaging in 1592,

1593-94 and 1603. In these times the theatres were closed to avoid

contamination. Medical knowledge was poor and ills were "cured" by

amputation, leeching, blood-letting and ablution. The city was and

still is dominated by St Paul's Cathedral.

Of great significance for the times was religion. For many people,

religion was all they had and this is one of the reasons why

Shakespeare used omens, dreams and premonitions so much. Everyone at

this time could ...

... middle of paper ...

...l, however, is the brooding

force of Providence, acting through Fate to bring about these ironic

but regenerating ends: social and political justice. The Chorus

emphasises the force of fate by building suspense through the use of

premonition (a device which Shakespeare uses throughout this tragedy

to forecast the outcome of future events) and of words like "fatal,"

"star-crossed," "misadventured," and "death-marked." An Elizabethan

audience believing strongly in astrology and the occult, would give

its attention immediately to the Chorus. In the same manner, hearing

the social theme, the audience would have turned with more belief

because, as Shakespeare knew, the audience of his day would only

accept the tragedy of romantic love such as Romeo's and Juliet's only

if it were established in a recognisable social context.