Shakepspeare- Romeo and Juliet

Shakespeare- Romeo and Juliet

“ Two households, both alike in dignity

In fair Verona, where we lay our scene

From ancient grudge break to new mutiny

Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.

From forth the fatal loins of these two foes

A pair of star-cross’d lovers take their life

Whose misadventured piteous overthrows

Do with their death bury their parents’ strife.”

My translation

Two families who are both similar in their views

This story happens in Verona

An old grudge has made a rebellion form between the two families

Where ordinary peoples genes are making ordinary people do bad things

The fatal body of two people

Two people in love kill themselves

An accidental death removes power

Because of their death, the parents end their anger.

Actual Translation

In the beautiful city of Verona, where our story takes place, a long-standing hatred between two families erupts into new violence, and citizens stain their hands with the blood of their fellow citizens. Two unlucky children of these enemy families become lovers and commit suicide. Their unfortunate deaths put an end to their parents' feud.

 

This is an extract from William Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’. This declarative is present at the beginning of the story, therefore giving the audience an overview of the entire story. Even though the text is not written in what we say is standard English in the present day, you can still work out what Shakespeare was trying to say due to the use of high frequency lexis’ such as ‘households, lovers and death’.

Many of the terms used from Shakespeare is still used today but are spelt differently. This includes the adjective ‘star-cross’d’ with the omission of the grapheme ‘e’ and so we see this spelling as ungrammatically correct. This term is an archetype as it is being used to explain two original people but are being expressed in literature. They are in love but cannot be in a relationship due to society and their parents not being excepting of it. When a letter is being missed in ‘star-cross’d’ , the noun ‘misadventured’ has added on the grapheme ‘d’ at the end. Although the meaning has stayed the same, the graphology of the word has shifted.

Amelioration has occurred with the word ‘loins’ as Shakespeare used it to refer to the genitalia of Romeo and Juliet’s parents . Although we still use the term in the phrase “the fruit of one’s loins” referring to children, the meaning of the word has changed. Because the noun ‘loins’ follows on from the negative term ‘fatal’ makes me believe that Romeo and Juliet may be seen as mistakes from their parents. Creating an upsetting view of their lives even before we realise they take their own lives.