the prologue is fascinating...is it playing with the audience a little bit, like a gentle mockery? The Chorus insists that we look at what is about to occur as the only possible way to keep the peace between these two families. It offers us Romeo and Juliet as scapegoats, sacrifices for the greater good. In the bird's eye view this will all be worth while, The Chorus insists.
But of course we don't go to a play for the birds eye view. We want the granular. Romeo is in a state of impatient despair from beginning to end. Juliet is betrayed by her parents, and her Nurse, and ends up stabbing herself to death. The pair of star-crossed lovers won't get much comfort from the prologue. Nor would the audience. In fact, I think it might rile them up a bit.
is the Nurse wicked? I'm not sure. Does she give Juliet the advice she does (to marry Paris) because she is attempting to keep Juliet safe and nothing more? In Act 3 sc 5, the Nurse sticks up for Juliet as Old Capulet attacks her for ingratitude. But then after Capulet and Lady Capulet leave, Juliet perceives that her Nurse, the one that raised her, is in fact two-faced
it's an ensemble play because each character seems to find a way at a highly contingent moment in the story to push the action towards its tragic conclusion...Capulet mocks Juliet and threatens with banishment if she doesn't marry Paris (3.5.187-207)...the Friar is trying to be helpful to Romeo but of course his idea about the vial of poison doesn't save them...even Juliet shows her dark side when the Nurse advises her to forget about Romeo...(end of Act 3, sc 5)...etc
also many of the characters offer the audience glimpses of death-marked foreshadowing, reminding us of where the action is headed. Juliet's vision of her dead lover, Friar Lawrence's muses about the nature, and of course Mercutio's last words.
The housekeeping side of the Book Club really isn't working. I saw your email yesterday about this session with 2 hours' notice and was really quite frustrated. I would have loved to take part, as I've worked on R&J recently & have things to say, but it was too late, I couldn't. The Book Club posts just aren't coming up on the Substack feed & they're hard to find: they don't appear in chronological order.
I know you've tried to fix this before, tho that doesn't work for me. But could there at least be a reminder email one week ahead?
I think, though, that if you click any web link in the app you won't be logged in, as you are not on your usual browser, so you need to view it in a browser tab, or log in on the web page on the app. When I click an NY Times link, for example, in the app it opens without knowing who I am, as I am not on Chrome, but inside Substack app, so I open the link in my browser, where cookies mean I am already logged in.
I'm afraid I don't know anything how the feed works, but I would think posts should come up as normal. I can see that 8% of people opened that post in the app, so I don't know what went wrong for you.
Please do leave your thoughts in a comment here, would be interested to hear them.
I’ve always assumed that the prologue — complete with spoilers— was intended to direct our attention away from the plot and toward the characters, their choices & motivations, and the ramifications of their actions. But, I don’t know if the prologue is present in all published versions of the play. Is it an addition later, or an early inclusion later deleted?
the prologue is fascinating...is it playing with the audience a little bit, like a gentle mockery? The Chorus insists that we look at what is about to occur as the only possible way to keep the peace between these two families. It offers us Romeo and Juliet as scapegoats, sacrifices for the greater good. In the bird's eye view this will all be worth while, The Chorus insists.
But of course we don't go to a play for the birds eye view. We want the granular. Romeo is in a state of impatient despair from beginning to end. Juliet is betrayed by her parents, and her Nurse, and ends up stabbing herself to death. The pair of star-crossed lovers won't get much comfort from the prologue. Nor would the audience. In fact, I think it might rile them up a bit.
is the Nurse wicked? I'm not sure. Does she give Juliet the advice she does (to marry Paris) because she is attempting to keep Juliet safe and nothing more? In Act 3 sc 5, the Nurse sticks up for Juliet as Old Capulet attacks her for ingratitude. But then after Capulet and Lady Capulet leave, Juliet perceives that her Nurse, the one that raised her, is in fact two-faced
it's an ensemble play because each character seems to find a way at a highly contingent moment in the story to push the action towards its tragic conclusion...Capulet mocks Juliet and threatens with banishment if she doesn't marry Paris (3.5.187-207)...the Friar is trying to be helpful to Romeo but of course his idea about the vial of poison doesn't save them...even Juliet shows her dark side when the Nurse advises her to forget about Romeo...(end of Act 3, sc 5)...etc
also many of the characters offer the audience glimpses of death-marked foreshadowing, reminding us of where the action is headed. Juliet's vision of her dead lover, Friar Lawrence's muses about the nature, and of course Mercutio's last words.
Deaer Henry,
The housekeeping side of the Book Club really isn't working. I saw your email yesterday about this session with 2 hours' notice and was really quite frustrated. I would have loved to take part, as I've worked on R&J recently & have things to say, but it was too late, I couldn't. The Book Club posts just aren't coming up on the Substack feed & they're hard to find: they don't appear in chronological order.
I know you've tried to fix this before, tho that doesn't work for me. But could there at least be a reminder email one week ahead?
Frustrated.
On this webpage, you can find the schedule, where I'm keeping dates about three months ahead: https://www.commonreader.co.uk/s/shakespeare
I think, though, that if you click any web link in the app you won't be logged in, as you are not on your usual browser, so you need to view it in a browser tab, or log in on the web page on the app. When I click an NY Times link, for example, in the app it opens without knowing who I am, as I am not on Chrome, but inside Substack app, so I open the link in my browser, where cookies mean I am already logged in.
I'm afraid I don't know anything how the feed works, but I would think posts should come up as normal. I can see that 8% of people opened that post in the app, so I don't know what went wrong for you.
Please do leave your thoughts in a comment here, would be interested to hear them.
I think I t’s also interesting to consider Romeo’s character, and how he is/isn’t different in his connection to Juliet compared to Rosalind.
I’ve always assumed that the prologue — complete with spoilers— was intended to direct our attention away from the plot and toward the characters, their choices & motivations, and the ramifications of their actions. But, I don’t know if the prologue is present in all published versions of the play. Is it an addition later, or an early inclusion later deleted?