Immoderation In Romeo And Juliet

In fairness, Romeo and Juliet is my second least favorite Shakespearian play, so this production already had an uphill battle when it came to winning me over. That being said, I believe one of the great triumphs of Romeo and Juliet is that it's able to use one central plot to complexly explore the dangers of immoderation both on the personal, and societal level. Half of the blame for the two lover’s demise is the society in which the grew up. This unfounded and all consuming rivalry between the houses creates the environment that allows the chain reaction of violence to occur. This show did a great job of showing how each character was brainwashed into viewing the other side as subhuman. This production how that hatred festers within each of …show more content…
The effects of this serial violence culture was evident in virtually every character's decision. The ease of which they would bear arms and risk their life, was believable because even the audience by the second act was also fatigued by this constant state of alert, and as a result became numb to the horrendous acts in front of them. I think this production would have better succeeded in drawing the parallels between Syria, and other parts of the world plunged into a constant state of unrest, if the ending scene had been slowed down or if perhaps the violence would have persisted despite the lovers’ death (I realize this would play tug of war with the text, but considering all the other concessions in favor of the director this would have not stuck out.) I know from conversation with my roommate that the actors were instructed to speed up the final scene, but I think by doing so the director marred the scene that underlined the themes she was trying to express the most. The Prince outrightly states the theme the director said she wanted the audience to take away, and by mitigating this part, and the final scene of reckoning between the houses, the most important conclusions of the play are glossed …show more content…
Shakespeare wants the audience to realize unfounded and extreme feelings for another human being are dangerous. Romeo and Juliet are at least partially to blame for their untimely ends. I felt like this main theme of the play was brushed aside in the interest of creating a believable war zone. This whole theme of keeping one self moderate in the midst of an extreme environment was lost. Again, I feel Shakespeare created a character, the friar, to basically serve this theme to the audience on a silver platter; but yet again, these lines were either undermined by jokes, or upstaged by lovers themselves. This was especially clear in the “Romeo be a man scene,” where all of Romeo’s protest (which were basically a variation a one line idea) were slow and deliberate, where the friars were rushed. The friar did not take care to get Romeo to at least listen to what she was trying to say, throughout the play she is ran over by basically every other character. At the end too, where the friar sums up the lesson that both the lovers and others should have learned, this was all rushed as jumbled