have been reading Armstrong's (quite short) Shakespeare's Imagination, which i'm enjoying immensely. if you don't mind me quoting from it at length here:
"There is only one bird which is traditionally associated with darkness and love—and therefore constitutes the perfect symbol of romantic tragedy—the nightingale. In Romeo and Juliet it sings with poignant power in opposition to the lark—the love-bird of darkness against the love-bird of light. In that scene beginning,
Wilt thou be gone? it is not yet near day :
It was the nightingale, and not the lark,
That pierced the fearful hollow of thine ear,
we have the nodal point of all the play’s imagery. Indeed, the nightingale is the symbol par excellence of the whole play, epitomising the conflict of the powers of Light and Darkness.
These contribute the dominant images throughout, appearing in frequent references to explosions and firearms as well as to the heavenly bodies. Here in the play in which Shakespeare’s thought is concentrated on the eternal conflict between good and evil, love and hate, as represented in terms of light and darkness, we have the contrasts between sun and moon, music and discord, beloved bird and hated amphibian, love-bird of dawn and love-bird of darkness.
The distinctive poignancy of the tragedy is, however, not the plain conflict between good and evil but Juliet’s love torn between two opposing loyalties—lover and family. She belongs, like the nightingale, to two worlds, and while she lies unconscious in the tomb she is poised between the two and belongs both to life and death. But that temporary tour de force of reconciling irreconcilables having been achieved the play moves on to the tragic consummation which the life-death conflict demands. Love-darkness and death-darkness both claimed Juliet, the singing night-bird of all time." -- Armstrong, Edward A. “Pinch's Partners.” Shakespeare's Imagination, pp. 48-49. London: Lindsay Drummond Limited, 1946.
Armstrong earlier makes the point that "darkness" lives between the two worlds of love and hate, and works as a transition, or as a linking image: love-making occurs in darkness; light transitions through darkness (or dusk). the nightingale lives in both. anyway just saw it and thought of this. cheers
This is a good chronology that shows you how the sun rises and sets in the play. Think of the Friar talking about the golden dawn, R&J arguing about the dawn, and so on. We almost always know what time it is, where the sun is in the sky, etc. Like the clock is ticking down the tragedy. Quite notable just how often we are told what day/time it is. Perhaps I overstated that each act is a single day, but with a little slippage: Act I is Sunday, Act II and III are Monday,Act IV is Tuesday-Weds, Act V is Thursday.
that's wonderful. many of these observations - about light and dark, about time of day - could be so expressive in a production, were they picked up on by a thoughtful creative team
my friend mark said we need gay romeo and juliet with timothee chalamet and tom holland, i had thought holland for romeo, but with your dark romeo take i would say that more suits chalamet
Omg yes he’d be perfect. Has there been a gay Romeo and Juliet? Seems like such an obviously good idea. I saw taming of the shrew all women but with no gender play or gay story just all women and exactly the same and it was a huge missed opportunity
i have never heard of gay romeo and juliet except maybe as part of pride or mardi gras.... i agree that modern productions are sleeping on modern interpretations to a huge extent.
I don’t know how self aware she is but yes find definitely has that connotation — she is much more aware of the risks than he is, but also overtaken by the passion eventually
have been reading Armstrong's (quite short) Shakespeare's Imagination, which i'm enjoying immensely. if you don't mind me quoting from it at length here:
"There is only one bird which is traditionally associated with darkness and love—and therefore constitutes the perfect symbol of romantic tragedy—the nightingale. In Romeo and Juliet it sings with poignant power in opposition to the lark—the love-bird of darkness against the love-bird of light. In that scene beginning,
Wilt thou be gone? it is not yet near day :
It was the nightingale, and not the lark,
That pierced the fearful hollow of thine ear,
we have the nodal point of all the play’s imagery. Indeed, the nightingale is the symbol par excellence of the whole play, epitomising the conflict of the powers of Light and Darkness.
These contribute the dominant images throughout, appearing in frequent references to explosions and firearms as well as to the heavenly bodies. Here in the play in which Shakespeare’s thought is concentrated on the eternal conflict between good and evil, love and hate, as represented in terms of light and darkness, we have the contrasts between sun and moon, music and discord, beloved bird and hated amphibian, love-bird of dawn and love-bird of darkness.
The distinctive poignancy of the tragedy is, however, not the plain conflict between good and evil but Juliet’s love torn between two opposing loyalties—lover and family. She belongs, like the nightingale, to two worlds, and while she lies unconscious in the tomb she is poised between the two and belongs both to life and death. But that temporary tour de force of reconciling irreconcilables having been achieved the play moves on to the tragic consummation which the life-death conflict demands. Love-darkness and death-darkness both claimed Juliet, the singing night-bird of all time." -- Armstrong, Edward A. “Pinch's Partners.” Shakespeare's Imagination, pp. 48-49. London: Lindsay Drummond Limited, 1946.
Armstrong earlier makes the point that "darkness" lives between the two worlds of love and hate, and works as a transition, or as a linking image: love-making occurs in darkness; light transitions through darkness (or dusk). the nightingale lives in both. anyway just saw it and thought of this. cheers
"The acts are structured as a series of dawns and dusks." Intriguing thought - could you say a little more about this?
This is a good chronology that shows you how the sun rises and sets in the play. Think of the Friar talking about the golden dawn, R&J arguing about the dawn, and so on. We almost always know what time it is, where the sun is in the sky, etc. Like the clock is ticking down the tragedy. Quite notable just how often we are told what day/time it is. Perhaps I overstated that each act is a single day, but with a little slippage: Act I is Sunday, Act II and III are Monday,Act IV is Tuesday-Weds, Act V is Thursday.
https://robertspage.com/romeo.html
that's wonderful. many of these observations - about light and dark, about time of day - could be so expressive in a production, were they picked up on by a thoughtful creative team
oh yeh... its a shame how it gets produced, though films often better, but they cut so many lines!
Romeo's death drive is truly underrated as a device.
I’m so red pilled on it I want to stage my own dark production
my friend mark said we need gay romeo and juliet with timothee chalamet and tom holland, i had thought holland for romeo, but with your dark romeo take i would say that more suits chalamet
Omg yes he’d be perfect. Has there been a gay Romeo and Juliet? Seems like such an obviously good idea. I saw taming of the shrew all women but with no gender play or gay story just all women and exactly the same and it was a huge missed opportunity
i have never heard of gay romeo and juliet except maybe as part of pride or mardi gras.... i agree that modern productions are sleeping on modern interpretations to a huge extent.
Part of the problem is too many established Shakespeare companies imo—RSC crowds out other performances and they are very middle of the road
I don’t know how self aware she is but yes find definitely has that connotation — she is much more aware of the risks than he is, but also overtaken by the passion eventually
https://johnsonsdictionaryonline.com/views/search.php?term=Find
Such a good website. The prologue suggests order at the end yes. She’s sef aware but not aware of the risk she takes