Romeo and Juliet - Context

Romeo and Juliet - Context

1. Staging

   • The play was first performed in 1595
   • 16th and 17th century audiences watched at open air theatres in the day
   • The stage had no scenery, few props, and women were played by young boys
   • The poor (groundlings) stood closest to the stage - wealthier people paid higher prices for seated galleries

2. Queen Elizabeth

   • Reigned from 1533-1603
   • England prospered and was very important in Europe - but not all citizens supported her
   • She did not marry (defying gender roles/expectations of patriarchal society of the time) - this may have been due to her infertility/prevention of political instability and power loss through her husband

3. Setting of the Play

   • 14th Century Verona, Italy
   • Successful and cultured city
     • However - suffered from widespread violence/deadly battles over issues including the rivalry between Emperor supporters and Pope supporters
       • Montecchi and Capuleti families were real - fighting for power in Verona
       • Society was significantly divided in Verona - power fights, struggles, challenges, insults and duels lead to violence and fighting - defence of honour is more important than life itself in the play

4. The Bubonic Plague

   • Plague killed 1/3 of Italian population in 14th Century
     • Killed 17,000 people in London due to an outbreak (1592 - The Black Death)
     • The most famous way to avoid the plague was to walk around with flowers in or around noses - people would be able to "ward off the stench and perhaps the evil that afflicted them"

5. Astrology

   • In 14th Century Italy and Elizabethan England - stars were linked to fate and fortune, believed to predict/influence human events
   • Boethius - a 6th Century philosopher - very popular at the time
     • Believed that fortune (good and bad) along with God control his destiny
     • Fortune is random - bad fortune is more important, can teach humans about evil

6. Gender

   • 14th Century Italy and Elizabethan England were patriarchal societies
   • Women were denied all political rights - legally subject to their husbands
     • Disobedience was seen as a crime against religion
     • Women who did not marry were forced to live under control of a male relative, she would become a nun
     • Aristocratic families married their young daughters to well off men - girls were eligible at 14 years old
       • Girls expected to become wives and mothers

7. The Catholic Church

   • Catholics secretly plotted to overthrow Queen Elizabeth, she had a Protestant rule
     • Catholics involved were executed and enforced a harsh reign on Catholics later as her power increased

8. Patriarchal Society

   • Patriarchal society - one which is ruled/dominated by men
     • Fathers are of prime importance
       • Particularly present in Capulet's character
         • He gives orders to Lady Capulet and Juliet
         • He is much older than Lady Capulet,, she was married to him as a young girl, and he becomes a father-figure to Lady Capulet as well
   • Males have complete control over their wife and daughters, would hold all the wealth and land

9. Influences

   • The Tragicall Historye of Romeus and juliet - Arthur Brook (1562 poem)
     • Similar plot
     • Key Differences
       • Events take place over 9 months
       • Tale does not open with conflict
       • Juliet is 16
       • Mercurio, Nurse and other minor characters are less well developed
   • Ovid's Pyramus and Thisbe (Metamorphoses)
     • 2 lovers in Babylon live in connected houses
       • They are forbidden to wed because of parent's rivalry
         • They whisper their love through a crack in the wall
           • Pyramus believes Thisbe to have been eaten by a lion and kills himself
             • Thisbe does the same after finding his dead body
               • Pyramus' blood turned mulberry fruits from white colour to red - the gods forever change their colour to honour the lovers