Romeo and Juliet: context

Question 1

Aristotles three unities

Answer 1

time place action
In the original Arthur Brooke poem” the tragical history of romeous and juliet” the place takes place over many months.Shakespear deliberately shortens the action,so that it conforms to Aristotles unity of time and takes place over a couple of days. This further creates a sense of tragic intesnsity and reinforces the idea that once set in motion the tragedy was unavoidable

Question 2

courtly love

Answer 2

Courtly Love

Courtly Love – a medieval tradition of love which involved loving a woman from afar. The (aristocratic) lady would be aloof, and the (knight’s) man’s love would be unrequited. Romeo is following these conventions.

Although these conventions were largely outdated, some amongst the aristocracy still followed them in Elizabethan England. Queen Elizabeth revived it, possibly as a way of managing her many suitors. Arguably Shakespeare is satirising this insincere and self-obsessed form of ‘love’.