William Shakespeare - 'Romeo and Juliet " and " Macbeth "

There is no record of Shakespeare's activities during the so-called "Lost Years" of 1584-1590, but we know that in 1587 he left Stratford for London, where he became an actor and a playwright. In this period he seems to have been associated with several acting company, but, the closing of the theatres because of the bubonic plague, allowed him to devote himself  to the writing of sonnets, lyric poetry and plays, which were dedicated to hi 535c27f s aristocratic friends. At the reopen of the theatres he became a shareholder and a very popular playwright for the Lord Chamberlain's Man, a company who had been invited to perform at court more often than any other groups.

In his first writing phase, 1590-1594, he produced many works about the dynastic events set in the England of the fifteenth century: "Enrich VI" ( 1590-1592 )and "Richard III" ( 1593 ). During the years 1595-1599 he wrote a lot of stuffs: "Midsummer Night's Dream" ( 1595 ), an history about the love between a couple of nobles, in which the characters are funny and fairy; "Romeo and Juliet" ( 1595 ), where it is described the youthful love, impetuous and passionate; "Richard II"( 1595 ) in which it is shown the king and the political problems of the period; "The Merchant of Venice" ( 1596 ), about the male friendship and the love in comparison of the laws and the values presented by the Hebrew Shylock. The next period, 1600-1608, was characterised by a shift to darkness in Shakespeare's stuffs because of the political situation which caused the decrease of his company's popularity. He wrote the "Hamlet" ), a revenge tragedy about the fight between a world based on the moral values and another one founded on the corruption and the lie; "Othello" ( 1604 ), the history of a brave and faithful general ruined by his own virtues; "King Lear" ( 1605 ) about a king who was not able to distinguish between truth and lie; "Macbeth" (1606 ) which show the bad part of the thirst of power and the ambition. He died when he was fifty-two years old, in 1616, and was buried in the local church of Stratford.

SUMMARY OF "ROMEO AND JULIET":

The play begins with a prologue where it is explained the social context in which it is acclimatized the history of two lovers who succeeded in bringing the peace between their families, in struggle since many years. Then the history starts: Verona, in the 17^th century, is ruled by the prince Escalus who, tired for the continue fights between the Capulet and the Montague, two households of his territory, promulgates a law about not to begin a kick in the streets of the citadel. So, at the first moment, they control themselves and, when they meet each other, they say only some words of rage and vengeance. One day, Romeo, the son of Montague, has been convinced by his friend Mercutio, a relative of the prince, to participate at a party organised in the Capulet's house. There he meets Juliet, the daughter of the owner of the house where it is placed the dance, but only for few seconds, and he remains shined by her beauty. So, after the end of the party, he goes below the windows of his lover and they declare to each other their love, but Romeo must escape for fear to be discover and to provoke a bad situation because of the feud between their family. The next day, with the help of Friar Laurence and of Juliet's foster-mother, they can marry in secret and they can pass also the night together. Unfortunately after that date, Romeo meet Mercutio and Benevolio, one of his friends, while they were fighting with Tybalt, Lady Capulet's nephew, and some of his relatives. He tries to stop the struggle but Mercutio dies and so, for vengeance, he kills Tybalt. When the Prince Escalus discovers it, he exiles Romeo, who can no longer stay in Verona, and goes to Mantova. As soon as Juliet hear about his departure, she starts to cry, using the excuse of the death of his cousin but his father, to console her, engages his daughter with Paris, a boy of good family. To escape from this marriage, she follows the piece of advice given her by Friar Laurence, who suggests her to drink a poison whose power is to show an alive person like dead for forty-two hours. The catholic worries himself about sending a letter to Romeo with the explication: Juliet would have take the toxin and, after two days, when everybody would have believed her dead, she would have reached his lover in Mantova. But, because of a setback, the correspondence can not arrives to Romeo who goes to the tomb of Capulet's daughter and, after having seen her body without life, he drinks a poison too to reach his lover. But after few seconds Juliet wakes up and, seeing the Montague's son dead, she kills herself with a dagger. The only good consequence of this history is that the two households can understand that their fights can only kill other of their relatives without bringing to any good solution.

CHARACTERS OF "ROMEO AND JULIET":

       Romeo: he is Montague's son and the lover of Juliet. He is very impulsive and passionate, two good characteristics but, if they are brought to the excess, they have got bad consequences ( in fact at the end Romeo dies ). He is very determined, actually, when he wants something or loves someone, he makes everything to defend his sentiments and the people he takes care of. He does not listen to the other pieces of advices, except if they arrive from Friar Laurence, the only person who seems to have got a little of authority on him, because he is extremely stubborn.

       Juliet: she is Capulet's daughter and the lover of Romeo. She is very fragile and shy, but sometimes she seems to be impulsive like his sweetheart: for example during the conversation at her window, she declares immediately her feelings to Romeo, even if they met only few hours before. She is determined and she opposes to his father ( a strange thing for that time ) about the marriage with Paris because she is a girl who follows her heart instead of her mind.

COMMENTARY:

I like this history because, I must confess, I am a romantic girl and this roman, even if it has not got an happy ending, testifies how it is the true love: you do not think to yourself, but only to your lover, and you are ready to everything for him/her. But I think that it would have been more developed, above all about the feelings of the love between Romeo and Juliet, and the end, I believe, is a little bit too hurried. The part I prefer is the dialogue at the window, very famous all over the world because of the words of Capulet's daughter, who shows a great sensibility. I think that everybody have got to follow her teaching: you must not judge the people for their name, their family or how they are dressed, but you must reach the personality inside them and, if you like it, learn how to love it.

SUMMARY OF "MACBETH":

Returning from a battle, Macbeth, Thane of Glamis, accompanied by one of his friend Banquo, a Thane of Scotland, meets two witches who predict him that he would become Thane of Cawdor and, later, king of Scotland. Instead of to Banquo they predict him that one of his sons would have been the maxim Scottish authoritarian. At they beginning the two thanes do not believe to he words of the three witches but, after a few time, they discover that Macbeth is turn out to be Thane of Cawdor, thanks to the win of a battle in Norwegian. So they starts to believe in the prediction and Macbeth sends a letter to his wife to advise her about the last events; because of her ambition, she convinced his husband to invite the King of Scotland, to stay for some days at his castle. Macbeth follows the piece of advice given him by Lady Macbeth, with whom he kills Duncan (King of Scotland ) while he was sleeping. Then they tries to prove to the other hosts the culpability of the guards who were taking care of the dead man during the night, but the thanes who follows the king during his travel believes that the guilty are the two sons of Duncan. In fact they escape from Scotland for fear to be accused of murder; so, without the presence of the dynasty of Duncan, Macbeth ascends to the throne. But Banquo and his son begins to suspect that the killer is Macbeth and for this reason they are murdered: consequently the thanes organise a way to eliminate the new king, and Macduff succeed in this purpose because to whom it is refers the phrase " none of woman borne " of the witches ( they told to Macbeth that only a man who was not borne from a woman would have kill him, and so it was ). At the end Malcolm, one of the son of Duncan, returned in fatherland to have vengeance, ascends to the throne.

CHARACTERS OF "MACBETH":

       Macbeth: even if he is the protagonist of the roman, he is a bad person. He is a coward because of his submission to his wife and to the destiny, and also because he is not able to assume his responsibility. He wants to ascend to the throne only for the riches that it would derivate, not for the help he could give to the Scottish population and to the government of the land. He is an opportunist and an insensible also because Duncan gave him all his confidence, and Macbeth betrayed it without any problem.

       Lady Macbeth: she is the wife of Macbeth and, if it is possible, she is worse than him: she is ambitious, cruel and she has got thirst of power. She manipulates Macbeth for his purposes but, at the end, she seems to lose his control: in fact she begins to have crises and to become madness because of the crime she committed.

COMMENTARY:

I don't like a lot this book because it is full of bad feelings, thoughts and actions. But also from this history I can learn something: the destiny is not already written, you build your fate and you will undergo the consequences, bad or good they are.