Category: Romeo and Juliet

Romeo and Juliet

• 3004 total lines; longer than average play and tragedy (average play: 2777; average tragedy: 2890)
• At 14 lines, the Choruses for both Acts One and Two are the shortest of its kind in the Canon
• At 244 lines, Act Three, Scene Five is the longest of its kind in the Canon
• Act One: 718 lines; longer than average (average play: 590, average tragedy: 647)
• Act Two: 666 lines; longer than average (average play: 568, average tragedy: 573)
• Act Three: 794 lines; longer than average (average play: 576, average tragedy: 633)
• Act Four: 401 lines; shorter than average (average play: 563, average tragedy: 555)
• Act Five: 425 lines; shorter than average (average play: 480, average tragedy: 465)
• 426 lines of prose (14.18% of total lines [as opposed to The Comedy of Errors: 13.31%, Titus Andronicus: 1.39%, The Taming of the Shrew: 20.82%, 1HenryVI: 0.37%, 2HenryVI: 16.64%, 3HenryVI: 0.14%, Richard III: 2.89%, Love’s Labor’s Lost: 35.08%, The Two Gentlemen of Verona: 26.81%, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream: 19.75%])
• 499 rhyming lines (16.61% of total lines [as opposed to Comedy: 20.10%, Titus: 2.42%, Taming: 3.93%, 1HenryVI: 9.79%, 2HenryVI: 3.16%, 3HenryVI: 5.37%, Richard III: 7.55%, LLL: 40.86%, 2Gents: 35.08%, and Midsummer: 43.5%])
• 26 scenes; more than average (average play: 21; average tragedy: 23)
• only 33 characters (slightly less than average, less than average for tragedy [average play: 36, average tragedy: 41])

OK, let’s take on a major concept of the play. When asked what Romeo and Juliet is about, most will say love, or young love, or youth, or fate, or hate. Ask me, and I’ll say: it’s about two hours long

cue rim-shot

Look, it’s right there in the prologue: “two hours’ traffic of our stage” (1Chorus, 12). Now, I might sound a little facetious here, but it’s to put forth a serious point. I would go so far as to say that this play is about TIME, and what happens when we rush, when we don’t have enough time to think.
Continue reading “A Time to Plan”

In Romeo and Juliet, the Capulets are a fascinating family.
Continue reading “Welcome to the Capulet Family (Dys)Function”

From the opening Prologue we know that Romeo and Juliet are going to end up dead, will “take their life” (1Chorus, 6). And the death references abound, but a few are pure foreshadowing:
Continue reading “Momento Mori”