Part 1: Interpretive Analysis: Connecting Two Plays

2021 December 6

Tragedy meets tragedy as King Richard from Richard II observes Romeo's downfall on his way to reclaim forlorn love in Romeo and Juliet. Richard II would most likely react to the theme of the individual versus the collective. Since in his story Richard has faced something similar with his role as king where he thinks his ruling cannot be scrutinized due to the perception of the throne being divine by the nobles. According to Richard II, "Not all the water in the rough rude sea/ Can wash the balm from an anointed king" (3.2). This proactively sets off the rest of his country, since his decisions have caused more harm then good to the common folks. Richard would be able to empathize with Romeo since he must exude masculine honor in every opportunity to be worthy of Juliet's love. There are certain power and hierarchal structures within Romeo and Juliet that make masculine honor important like familial lineage, religion, and the encouragement of patriarchal ideologies. It's unfortunate in the sense that Romeo cannot ignore the duty to masculine honor just as Richard cannot ignore the duty to rule in the position of power. This is further illustrated when Romeo blames himself for not fighting Tybalt when he killed Mercutio. According to the text, "O sweet Juliet/ The beauty hath made me effeminate/ And in my temper softened valor's steel (3.1). There is a time where they must make the important decisions and take a risk of being judged by society if their convictions from those around them proved true. The silent nobles in the background in Richard II, familial tension in Romeo and Juliet, and the overarching sense of holding tradition.

Romeo and Richard share the duality of blind passion when in the pursuit of acquiring power and exercising it. In Romeo and Juliet, that power comes from defying fate by force to obtain the love Romeo has sought for. Richard would probably have flashbacks of this attempt when he taxed the commoners and caused some mishaps of his wars. A notion that is ingrained in Richard's mind is that loyalty and identity where much of his selfhood relies on being verified the public. This is further verified when he compares himself to the commonfolk and how the crown around them implies piteousness. According to Richard II, "For within the hollow Crown/ that rounds the mortal temples of a king/ keep Death his court" (3.2). He affixed his identity to the title of King that he became obsessed with how people would perceive him and how drastically the surroundings can change around him due to his rule. Richard would be jealous of Romeo's ability to have privacy in his life and the deep appreciation he has for darkness and night sky. For Richard, a king's duty never stops, especially since he has big shoes to fill from the previous king. It is dusk till night, of believing that God has given you the divine right of making decisions for the benefit of everyone not knowing if it will backfire in the end. For Romeo, although he has privacy at night to pursuit the love of Juliet, that is all the time he has. This is further elaborated in the balcony scene where he admits his love to Juliet. According to Romeo and Juliet, "But soft, what light through yonder window breaks?/ It is the east, and Juliet is the sun./ Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon" (2.1). This illustrates that Juliet is his sun at the time of night and that her presence alone can mask the fact that they are enemies and were not destined to be together.  At least with Richard's power he has the power to bring his desires to him anytime he wishes, but with Romeo it becomes a perilous task of proving his love to Juliet. This includes putting himself in direct confrontation with her family by crashing a feast, brandishing a knife threatening to kill himself, and confessing his love to Juliet on the balcony.

Richard would also compare his family to the family members Romeo goes against since they both prove to be adversarial in their ways of enabling contempt. Richard would look at Tybalt and compare him to Henry Bolingbroke since they started off as rivals that got the better of both in the end. It would seem a running theme that the twos share is that family is thinner than blood and will rise to opportunity of succession within a heartbeat. According to Richard II, "Wrath-kindled gentlemen, be ruled by me. […] We'll calm the Duke of Norfolk, you your son. (1.1). Bolingbroke shows no hesitation when asked to calm down from Richard, as his bloodlust for Mowbray usurp the notion that things can get worse very quickly. This can be said about Richard himself too, since when Gaunt died he seized his property and the commonfolk under him. Henry saw this as a threat and fought back to reclaim what was supposed to be his if it were not for being exiled. The succession of power would evoke some feelings from seeing Romeo and Juliet as most of it is claimed through violence. Romeo evokes suicidal tendencies when he finds out that he might not be able to reunite with Juliet. According to Romeo and Juliet, "Come, bitter conduct, come, unsavoury guide! The dashing rocks thy sea-sick weary bark! Here's to my love" (5.3). The notion of suicide is a form of contempt from their societal viewpoint since Petrarchan love is the model they follow.

Finally, Richard would evoke some powerful feelings of melancholy upon seeing how the play ends. Since they are both tragedies, they are ill-fated to be associated with death in the story. Often death is seen as a rebirth since it proves that those abstracts and concepts did exist and serves as a reminder that damage has a limit. Richard is an inept king who got too big for his britches and used his power to force his perceived self-image onto other people, so that they can treat him as the divine deity associated with the throne. Romeo enters a forbidden love which is indicated to be doomed from the start judging when they were observing the stars in the night sky. Romeo and Juliet are coined as star crossed lovers, making their desire to be together come true, but cannot exist in a society where that relationship is prone to never flourish. Richard's reaction towards their deaths would also break him since it is not just one form of violence, but intrinsic forms of violence as well. He will question himself if he was truly destined for the throne and what would of happen if Henry ruled from the start? Violence becomes the ultimate punishment because it is inevitable whether it be social or emotional, people will force their perspectives into existence one way or another. Especially in patriarchal era, where men have the ultimate say-so of where decisions begin and where it ends.

Part 2: Performative Considerations

Dear Dakota Johnson,

I am writing to you to for consideration of playing "Juliet" from the play "Romeo and Juliet". I think you would be the perfect actress to represent her likeness to people everywhere. Your previous work in "50 Shades of Gray" and "Suspiria" illustrates the qualities that would fit Juliet's character. I would need you to know that this a character set in the Renaissance meaning there was emphasis on balance and symmetry. Everyone in Verona were fighting to keep stability in their life and be the successors to change amidst the chaos of family feuds, bloodshed and war, and the dilemma of fending for themselves as an independent city-state.

 Characters in Elizabethan era were self-conscious and thinking about future events instead of residing in the presents. This notion prescribes Juliet of defying contemporary rules in exchange for finding purpose in their lives. There is also great emphasis on her youthfulness as it makes a for a great mask to unveil her maturity later in the story. This comes into play when Juliet questions why Romeo must be a Montague and pondering why their families are enemies. According to the text, "Deny thy father and refuse thy name, Or if thou wilt not, be but my sworn my love, And I'll no longer be a Capulet" (2.1). Juliet is willing to take matters into her own hands if Romeo does not deny his family in the name of love. She will denounce her own family to fulfil her inner identity that has been sheltered and fed in the ways of patriarchy. This ultimately serves as a tool to amplify the tragedy that befalls Romeo and Juliet at the end of the play since the concept of "young love" lacks maturity.

I should preface, that even though she appears to be a well-brought up girl on the surface she is intelligent, passionate, and determined underneath. Many contemporary views of women during that era are that they are submissive and due to fall to the needs of a Patriarchal nature immediately. Yet, Juliet becomes the anti-thesis to that notion, as she pursues love to have a better life and puts herself first before emotional love comes to the picture. According to the text, "My bounty is as boundless as the sea,/ My love as deep; the more I give to thee, The more I have, for both are infinite. (2.3). She sees her love as her freedom to express her inner self without being weighed by societal expectation. I think the fact that you played many characters that harkens to the innocent turned strong-minded trope resembles Juliet's true nature a lot. Most of your movies are themed around the quality of love and obsession, theming around how desires can break the mold off most moral boundaries.

Shakespeare draws on the antithesis of love and hate where Julia can say something hateful to her flesh and blood but be viewed as morally correct in the name of love. She lives in a Patriarchal era where men feed off women's submissiveness and by Julia defying the notions of an arranged marriage, she has proved that she is not a slave to societal expectation. Juliet also personifies fragileness as a sense of danger since the tale is fated to end with tragedy despite going after her desires. According to the text, "So tedious is this day/ As is this night before some festival/ To an impatient child hath new robes/ And may not wear them (3.2). This foreshadows the immaturity of her longing to be with Romeo and foreshadows that young-love can be ill fated. The obsession of obtaining true love at a young age sets up the notion that fantasies and conceptual ideologies remain fickle in an era rooted in tradition.

Power is only obtained for people to glorify their perceptions of reality and throw out any that opposed to it. For Juliet, love is her power and that causes her to go through dramatic transformation in the story when she gets closer to Romeo. According to the text, "Hist, Romeo, hist! O for a falconer's voice/ To lure this tassel-gentle back again (2.2). This illustrates how much control she has over Romeo and explains the power dynamic in the relationship. Him bending to her will shows the rebellion within Romeo and Juliet behind closed doors. This is her way of rebelling and reclaiming her freedom from Patriarchal society to show that her personal desires override those of the collective. This notion also, unfortunately, plays towards the ending of the poem when Romeo is banished and to never return. Romeo is the source of her dynamic change without him, she is contemplating ending her life since everyone has left her side because she decided to pursue romance. It only shows the complexity of women hood where they little power of their own purpose and their choices were made by men in power.

With Juliet in retrospect, I humbly ask that you seriously consider this role soon. Have a nice day!

Sincerely,

Kristofur Catchings