At this time of year as we find ourselves preparing for our
upcoming Unrehearsed Shakespeare Project’s tour of A Midsommer Night’s Dreame and The
Tragedie of Romeo and Juliet, I find myself up to the elbows in cue scripts
as I prepare and format the texts. When working on the texts in parts this way,
themes and words make themselves known in different ways. This time, working on
Romeo and Juliet, I have been struck
by the roles of the parents. The following is part of a longer essay, still
being composed, that will explore the parental relationships in The Tragedie of Romeo and Juliet as seen
through the text of the First Folio and the cue scripts for the characters
involved.
After pointing out some differences in the title pages of
the quartos preceding the publication of the First Folio, I point to one
specific variation. One of the Prince’s lines, commonly printed as ‘To know our
farther pleasure in this case,’ appears in the First Folio as ‘To know our Fathers pleasure in this case’ (emphasis
mine). The following are my musings on the implications of this word choice
when exploring the roles of parent’s in The
Tragedie of Romeo and Juliet.
In his first appearance, The Prince has only one speech in
which he brings a brawl to an end:
Rebellious
Subjects, Enemies to peace,
Prophaners
of this Neighbor-stained Steele,
Will
they not heare? What hoe, you Men, you Beasts,
That
quench the fire of your pernitious Rage,
With
purple Fountaines issuing from your Veines:
On
paine of Torture, from those bloody hands
Throw
your mistemper'd Weapons to the ground,
And
heare the Sentence of your mooved Prince.
Three
civill Broyles, bred of an Ayery word,
By
thee old Capulet and Mountague,
Have
thrice disturb'd the quiet of our streets,
And
made Verona's ancient Citizens
Cast
by their Grave beseeming Ornaments,
To
wield old Partizans, in hands as old,
Cankred
with peace, to part your Cankred hate,
If
ever you disturbe our streets againe,
Your
lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace.
For
this time all the rest depart away:
You
Capulet shall goe along with me,
And
Mountague come you this afternoone,
To
know our Fathers pleasure in this case:
To
old Free-towne, our common judgement place:
Once more on paine of death, all men depart.
It takes the Prince 8 lines of
text before the fighting ceases, and he can get a word in edgeways. His cue to
enter is ‘seek a Foe.’ This gives the actor entering the idea that he is
already entering a situation looking for an adversary, not to take control. He
speaks of ‘Three civill Broyles, bred of an Ayery word.’ If his power is so
respected, such slights would not break out into violence, but rather the fear
of repercussions would keep the citizens in line. He must tell everyone to
leave twice: ‘For this time all the rest depart away:’ then again 5 lines
later, ‘Once more on paine of death, all men depart.’ This could be seen as 2
stage directions, the first to the citizens who have come to join the fight, and
the second to the remaining heads of the family. It is within these five lines
that the Prince speaks of his ‘Father’s pleasure.’ Possibly, he wanted the
common citizens to disperse, and not hear that he must take this case to a
higher authority, his Father. It is possible that everyone is aware of his
weakness as a ruler, and therefore, ignores the order. At the end of these
lines, still all men do not depart. Montague, Lady Montague and Benvolio remain
on stage. Yes, this device keeps the plot and action moving along (and rightly
so), but we could have another introducing Romeo after everyone had left the
stage. By keeping some players on stage, the weakness of the Prince’s position
is pushed farther.
Several references are made to
age in his first speech: ‘old Capulet and Montague,’ ‘auncient Citizens,’ the
double entendre of ‘Grave beseeming Ornaments’ and ‘hands as old.’ These men,
or this situation at least, seem to have some seniority to the Prince. The
reference to his Father also refers to an older authority. This opens up the
possibility that the Prince is young himself, and offers an explanation for his
weakness. The ending’s inevitability is presaged by the fact that a world in
which the generations do not listen to one another is overseen by a youthful
figure who does not command the authority necessary to keep order and peace.
The next time we see the Prince,
we see the result of his weak leadership. He enters following the two fights
that end with the deaths of Mercutio and Tibalt. His cue script for this scene
is as follows:
…………………………………………………………………dost thou stay?
ENTER PRINCE, OLD MONTAGUE, CAPULET, THEIR
WIVES
[51]
Where
are the vile beginners of this Fray?
…………………………………………………………………O Cozin, Cozin.
Benvolio,
who began this Fray?
…………………………………………………………………must not live.
Romeo
slew him, he slew Mercutio,
Who
now the price of his deare blood doth owe.
…………………………………………………………………life of Tybalt.
And
for that offence,
Immediately
we doe exile him hence:
I
have an interest in your hearts proceeding:
My
bloud for your rude brawles doth lie a bleeding.
But
Ile Amerce you with so strong a fine,
That
you shall all repent the losse of mine.
It
will be deafe to pleading and excuses,
Nor
teares, nor prayers shall purchase our abuses.
Therefore
use none, let Romeo hence in hast,
Else
when he is found, that houre is his last.
Beare
hence his body, and attend our will:
Mercy
not Murders, pardoning those that kill.
EXEUNT
Upon his arrival, he has to repeat himself. This is never a
good beginning to a person supposedly in a position of power. The full text of
these first exchanges looks like this:
Prince Where are the
vile beginners of this Fray?
Benvolio O Noble Prince, I
can discover all
The
unluckie Mannage of this fatall brall:
There
lies the man slaine by young Romeo,
That
slew thy kinsman brave Mercutio.
Capulet Wife Tybalt, my Cozin? O my
Brothers Child,
O
Prince, O Cozin, Husband, O the blood is spild
Of my
deare kinsman. Prince as thou art true,
For
bloud of ours, shed bloud of Mountague.
O
Cozin, Cozin.
Prince Benvolio, who
began this Fray?
There is evidence here that the lines spoken by Benvolio and
Lady Capulet are simultaneous and he is given a false cue to start speaking by
Lady Capulet. He is being shouted at and interrupted. From the audience’s point
of view, this makes thematic sense: Lady Capulet has just found her kinsman was
murdered, and Benvolio is trying to protect his best friend. From a character
point of view, this reinforces the Prince’s weakness.
When interceding in the large melee in the first scene, the
Prince threatens ‘If ever you disturbe our streets
againe, / Your lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace.’ Yet here, after the
feud results in the death of his own kinsman, his sentence is exile for Romeo,
and a stiff financial penalty for the Montagues and Capulets. He goes back on
his word, where a penalty of death is called for he again shows what he
believes to be mercy. This tactic does not work out well for him.
The third and final time that we
see the Prince, he is summoned late at night to the Capulet family tomb.
…………………………………………………………………the Frier too.
ENTER THE PRINCE
[99]
What
misadventure is so earely up,
That
calls our person from our mornings rest?
…………………………………………………………………toward our Monument.
What
feare is this which startles in your eares?
…………………………………………………………………and new kil'd.
Search,
Seeke,
and know how, this foule murder comes.
…………………………………………………………………to a Sepulcher.
Come
Mountague, for thou art early up
To
see thy Sonne and Heire, now early downe.
…………………………………………………………………against my age?
Looke:
and thou shalt see.
…………………………………………………………………to a grave?
Seale
up the mouth of outrage for a while,
Till
we can cleare these ambiguities,
And
know their spring, their head, their true descent,
And
then I will be generall of your woes,
And
lead you even to death? meane time forbeare,
And
let mischance be slave to patience,
Bring
forth the parties of suspition.
…………………………………………………………………my selfe excus'd.
Then
say at once, what thou dost know in this?
…………………………………………………………………of severest Law.
We
still have knowne thee for a Holy man.
Where's
Romeo's man? What can he say to this?
…………………………………………………………………left him there.
Give
me the Letter, I will look on it.
Where
is the Counties Page that rais’d the Watch?
This
Letter doth make good the Friers words,
Their
course of Love, the tydings of her death:
And
heere he writes, that he did buy a poison
Of a
poore Pothecarie, and therewithal
Came
to this Vault to dye, and lye with Juliet.
Where
be these Enemies? Capulet, Mountague,
See
what a scourge is laide upon your hate,
That
Heaven finds meanes to kill your joyes with Love;
And
I, for winking at your discords too,
Have
lost a brace of Kinsmen: All are punish'd.
…………………………………………………………………of our enmity.
A
glooming peace this morning with it brings,
The
Sunne for sorrow will not shew his head;
Go
hence, to have more talke of these sad things,
Some
shall be pardon'd, and some punished.
For
never was a Storie of more Wo,
Then this
of Juliet, and her Romeo.
He comes on the scene to find the bodies of Romeo (whom he
had exiled), Paris (another of his own kinsmen) and Juliet, freshly dead. There
is, however, an acknowledgment of the role his weakness has played in the
unfolding of the tragedy: ‘And I, for winking at your
discords too, / Have lost a brace of Kinsmen: All are punish'd.’ Any reason for
this weakness is only hinted at throughout the text.
However, once he discovers that
the grudge between these families has resulted in death, and in an affront to
his own family and authority, there is no more mention of age in the Prince’s
text, and no further intimation of an absent Father. It could be said that the
Prince does grow up.
The whereabouts and identity of
the Prince’s Father, if he ever existed in the confines of the story, is never
discussed. There is mention of the plague breaking out during the action of the
play, but it never directly touches Verona. Was he afflicted? We do not know,
and possibly should not even care. However, if this fleeting reference to an
absent father (ruler) is significant to the over-arching theme of parents and
their children, what does the Prince’s Father’s absence mean for, and say
about, The Tragedie of Romeo and Juliet?
The absence means, that for whatever reason, the son is left
in charge. The child is given authority. We are never told how old the Prince
is. We know that Mercutio and Paris are his kinsmen. We know that he has spoken
out harshly against the feud between the Montagues and Capulets. We know by his
actions that he is not a consistent ruler. By his own admission, his rule has
contributed to the tragedy of the play. This all possibly points to the fact
that the Prince is not ready to be in charge. He cannot govern Verona (his
symbolic children) because he is immature and not ready. Having an unprepared
Prince in charge mirrors the actions of the more popular characters in the
play, parents who cannot govern their children and the youths who are incapable
of governing themselves.
The essay will go on to compare and contrast the Lords and
Ladies Montague and Capulet, as well as exploring the surrogate parents, the
Nurse and Friar Lawrence. Some other themes that have caught my interest while
preparing this play have been communication, or lack thereof, and the
importance of names. I look forward to putting more of my thoughts down and
sharing them with all of you.
