Romeo and Juliet Group

Question:

ambie
ambie
Student

How many days does the plot of "Romeo and Juliet" span?

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Posted by ambie on Friday January 16, 2009 at 6:43 AM and tagged with days, duration, plot, romeo and juliet, romeo juliet, shakespeare, time scale.

Answers:


  1. robertwilliam

    In Shakespeare's source for the play, Arthur Brooke's "The Tragicall Historye of Romeus and Juliet" (1562), the events take at least nine months to unfold (the time scale is very vague). As usual, in Shakespeare's tragedies, he compresses the time scale to a matter of days. The play takes four days in total, from Sunday through to Thursday morning.

    Sunday - first scene and brawl in the morning, party that night, R + J meet, and balcony scene.

    Monday - Romeo gets Friar Laurence to agree to marrying them. They get married the same day. Mercutio dies, and Romeo kills Tybalt. That evening, Capulet plans Juliet's marriage - and we know that that evening is on Monday, because Paris tells Capulet:

    Monday! ha, ha! Well, Wednesday is too soon.
    Thursday let it be— a Thursday, tell her
    She shall be married to this noble earl.

    Monday night R+J sleep together. Capulet and Juliet fall out about the wedding.

    Tuesday. Juliet goes to Friar Laurence and gets the potion. When she apologises to Capulet, he brings the marriage forward a day:

    Send for the County. Go tell him of this.
    I'll have this knot knit up to-morrow morning.

    Tuesday night, Juliet takes the potion.

    Wednesday. Juliet is discovered "dead" and put into the vault instead of the marriage ceremony. Late that night, Romeo comes to the vault to commit suicide.

    Thursday - "a glooming peace this morning with it brings" - the final lines of the play.

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/romeo/summary

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    Posted by robertwilliam on Friday January 16, 2009 at 7:15 AM

  2. jgomezada
    jgomezada Teacher
    College - Freshman

    Many readers are shocked to find that the tragic events in Romeo and Juliet span over the course of only five days, Sunday through Thursday.

    1. On Sunday, Romeo and Juliet meet and fall in love. They plan to marry the next day.

    2. The pair marries on Monday, and Romeo kills Tybalt soon after and is exiled. The couple consummates their marriage that night in Juliet's room.

    3. Tuesday signifies the day that Romeo reluctantly leaves for his exile in Mantua, and Juliet drinks the potion once she learns of her impending marriage to Paris. Father Lawrence sends a message of the plan to Romeo.

    4. Wednesday is the day of the discovery of Juliet's fake death, and in the evening, Romeo commits suicide when he believes his wife to be gone.

    5. On Thursday, Juliet wakes to find her love dead in the tomb and stabs herself with his dagger. Later the Montagues and Capulets discover the tragic end of their beloved children. The deaths of their children mark the death of the feud.  

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/romeo/summary
    http://www.symphonyhall.com/0809/R&J%20Guidebook.pdf.pdf

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    Posted by jgomezada on Friday January 16, 2009 at 7:27 AM

  3. ekacevedo
    ekacevedo Teacher
    High School - 9th Grade

    Sure the play takes place from Sunday - Thursday.  But think about this: if Juliet takes the potion on Tuesday night, and the potion lasts 42 hours, she will not wake up until Thursday afternoon (in the play that's when Romeo and Juliet's funeral takes place).  Therefore, in Act 5, when Friar Laurence says that Juliet will wake up in 3 hours, it is still Wednesday night.  I am an English teacher; however, the math does not pan out.

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    Posted by ekacevedo on Friday January 30, 2009 at 9:00 AM

  4. mussalinie
    mussalinie Student
    High School - 9th Grade

    Sunday morning to very early Friday morning (1-2 a.m.)

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    Posted by mussalinie on Saturday April 18, 2009 at 5:00 PM