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"When you are no longer part of me
I’ll want to cut out from your memory so many little stars,
then, the sky will be so beautiful
that the whole world will love the night."
-W. Shakespeare

This sentence highlights the sincerity and purity of the feeling that Romeo has for Juliet. It is something unique and inexplicable
-Giuseppe Matrullo

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I chose the sonnet "My mistress' eyes" because I find interesting the
representation of the model of Petrarch, while going against his style. The poet loves the woman for her human qualities, for her real appearance. In fact, Shakespeare attacks all the qualities of the "Angel woman" like the ones described by Dante or Boccaccio.
This is why I think that the love written by Shakespeare is deeper and more realistic than the one shown by Petrarchan poets.

Stefano N.

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“Not marble, nor the gilded monuments Of princes, shall outlive this powerful rhyme; But you shall shine more bright in these contents Than unswept stone besmear'd with sluttish time. When wasteful war shall statues overturn,And broils root out the work of masonry, Nor Mars his sword nor war's quick fire shall burn The living record of your memory. 'Gainst death and all-oblivious enmity Shall you pace forth; your praise shall still find room Even in the eyes of all posterity That wear this world out to the ending doom.So, till the judgment that yourself arise, You live in this, and dwell in lover's eyes.”

(Sonnett 55)

I think that Sonnet 55 is one of Shakespeare's most famous works because in this we can see deviation from other sonnets in which he appears insecure about his relationships and his own self-worth. Here instead we find an impassioned burst of confidence as the poet claims to have the power to keep his friend's memory alive forever!!

ARIANNA ANGELLOTTI.

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Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind,
And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind

I think that Beauty is not in the face and body.
Beauty is in the light of the heart and mind

Flavio Anastasio

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The difference of Love between yesterday and today

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The difference of Love between yesterday and today

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The Piece that I have chosen is the scene when Romeo and Juliet meet for the first time because the the atmosphere is really magic and involving.This is because this scenes speaks about the birth of true love against every difficulty. It is magic because this scenes is not considered real today because we have lost true love values. There is not enough courage to fight for our feelings because we are hiding behind the Social Networks so we have lost every real relationship.
N.V.

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"O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy father and refuse thy name; Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, And I’ll no longer be a Capulet.
‘Tis but thy name that is my enemy. Thou art thyself, though not a Montague. What’s Montague? It is nor hand, nor foot, Nor arm, nor face. O, be some other name Belonging to a man. What’s in a name? That which we call a rose By any other word would smell as sweet. So Romeo would, were he not Romeo called, Retain that dear perfection which he owes Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name; And for thy name,  which is no part of thee, Take all myself."
(Romeo and Juliet: Act II, Scene II)

In this monologue, taken from the famous"balcony scene", Juliet professes all her love for Romeo.

Here it’s easy to deduce Juliet’s character. She is a true woman, who can feel deep sentiments and live on that. Her Love for Romeo is as quick as lightening and she suddenly abandons herself to him.  Juliet’s language is more original than Romeo’s, she wants to reach the substance of love.It’s not the name of the things that she wants but the very thing . In fact Jiuliet says:"That which we call a rose ,by any other name would smell as sweet" .The demand to Romeo to refuse his name is a heart-felt demand, an invitation to abandon himself to true feeling.
The balcony scene is more than a great lovers' meeting place. Romeo has climbed over a large wall to enter the garden, which can be viewed as a sanctuary of virginity. Thus he has invaded the only place which Juliet considered private.

I think that love between two people should not be hindered by anyone, because it is a feeling that goes beyond all boundaries without ever stopping in front of obstacles.

The love of Romeo and Juliet is to be taken into consideration because even if the two young people had many obstacles that prevented their love, they loved each other to madness.

N.E.

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"if had to go to hell to kiss you then I would do it. So I can then boast to the devils for having seen the heaven without ever entering it"
(William Shakespeare).
According to Shakespeare "Love" is more important than anything else. Without love there is nothing for which it is worth fighting.
T.D

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Can I go forward when my heart is here?

Turn back, dull earth, and find thy center out.
( Romeo and Juliet Act 2, Scene 1 ).

In this quote we can understand the type of love that Romeo felt for Juliet, a courtly love where the woman is everything for the lover. Romeo infact questions himself If he has ever been in love with someone else before.
"Here" is Capulet's house, where Juliet is, and the "dull earth" to which Romeo speaks is his own body, which is only stupid dirt without its spiritual "centre" - Juliet.

E.F.

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Romeo :
I fear, too early, for my mind misgives
Some consequence yet hanging in the stars
Shall bitterly begin his fearful date
With this night's revels, and expire the term
Of a despisèd life closed in my breast
By some vile forfeit of untimely death.
(Romeo and Juliet -1.4.113-118-)

Romeo, just before meting juliet for the first time at the great ball of the Capulets, tells us the "funny" feeling he's sensing. It's not one of the central scene of the play, yet it remains an importan one, because it carries one of the core themes of the play, that is destiny: their love is not wanted by the stars.

Fate: A fearful and mysterious concept, that deeply actracts us, or that we completly reject. Likewise my opinion on such topic is also ambivalent.
In "Romeo and Juliet", on one side, I personally find very intriguing how it works and affect ours life. That is someting deeply explored in this play, which ending is only the result of a simple casualty in the large game of chance. Showing us how great of an influence it has on peoples' lives.
On the other side, I hope that this is not the case, because that would rmake  the action of the characters futile . While I far prefer when we succeed or fail not because of chance, but thanks to our own intelligence. Like, for exemple, in the "Merchant of Venice", where the main problem is resolved thanks to the cunningness of the girl, Porzia.

For these few lines I had to search quite for long , that’s because, these are not lines that I knew, liked and decided to comment about. I did’t even know that they existed. So you may ask how I got to them. Obviously I didn’t casually pick them, but as I have gone along these recent days I felt the impending sensation that someting was about to go wrong. Not to put it overdramatically I was simply feeling that I had bad luck, and someting small here and there would go a little wrong.
So where am I going with this?

To make it briefly, I was searching for a way to express this sensation, then I remembered that it had been perfectly done by Shakespeare in “Romeo and Juliet” and I searched for some line that contained that meaning.
Also because I knew that He could express it better then how I could ever have done. So I used his ability to express my own feeling. With that I connected more with him and the view of life that he has in the play. Is it not, in the end, this the goal of studying an author and of this page?

Alessio Artiaco

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“Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments
Love is not love

Which alters when it alteration finds,

Or bends with the remover to remove:

O no; it is an ever-fixed mark,

That looks on tempests, and is never shaken;

It is the star to every wandering bark,

Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.

Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks

Within his bending sickle's compass come;

Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,

But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,

I never writ, nor no man ever loved.”

This is sonnet 116 of William Shakespeare and describes love in its most ideal form. Shakespeare states that the true value of love cannot be known: it remains a mystery. The lines that remain of the third quatrain reaffirm the perfect nature of love, which resists at the change of the time, and remains so even up to the extreme day of judgment and therefore to death.

Maria Pia Fresa

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Sonetto 116 Non sia mai ch'io ponga impedimenti all'unione di anime fedeli; Amore non è amore se muta quando scopre un mutamento o tende a svanire quando l'altro s'allontana. Oh no! Amore è un faro sempre fisso che sovrasta la tempesta e non vacilla mai; è la stella guida di ogni sperduta barca, il cui valore è sconosciuto benché nota la distanza.

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"O my love, my wife!
Death, that hath sucked the honey of thy breath,
Hath had no power yet upon thy beauty.
Thou art not conquered. Beauty’s ensign yet
Is crimson in thy lips and in thy cheeks,
And death’s pale flag is not advancèd there.
(...)
Ah, dear Juliet,
Why art thou yet so fair? Shall I believe
That unsubstantial death is amorous,
And that the lean abhorrèd monster keeps
Thee here in dark to be his paramour?
For fear of that, I still will stay with thee,
And never from this palace of dim night
Depart again. Here, here will I remain
With worms that are thy chamber maids. Oh, here
Will I set up my everlasting rest,
And shake the yoke of inauspicious stars
From this world-wearied flesh. Eyes, look your last.
Arms, take your last embrace. And, lips, O you
The doors of breath, seal with a righteous kiss
Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die."

This is one of the final scenes of "Romeo and Juliet", I like it because Shakespeare, with his immense skill in the choice of words, powerfully conveys the suffering of Romeo in seeing his wife on her deathbed.
Furthermore, I believe that it makes us reflect on the meaning of "true love", which is still a current topic.
S.E.

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Among Shakespeare's plays the one that I like most is The Merchant of Venice. I like it because the themes here are the same as today like the racism from Antonio and Bassanio to Shylock, the people like Shylock that lends money at interest, the fact that very people are only interested in money, like Bassanio.
I like the fact that he is a timeless poet.

"If thou wilt lend this money, lend it not
For when did friendship take
A breed for barren metal of his friend?
But lend it rather to thine enemy,
Who, if he breaks, thou mayst with better face
Exact the penalty."
(The Merchant of Venice)

Here we can see how Antonio tries to persuade Shylock to give Bassanio the three thousand ducats and he says to him that if they can't be able to give back his money, he will take advantage from this since there is no bond of friendship between them.
S.D.C.

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« All that glisters is not gold,
Often have you heard that told;
Many a man his life hath sold
But my outside to behold:
Gilded tombs do worms infold.
Had you been as wise as bold,
Young in limbs, in judgment old,
Your answer had not been inscroll’d:
Fare you well, your suit is cold. »

(The Merchant of Venice- Act.2- Sc.7)

In these verses the poet expresses his thoughts on appearances, that is that people, events and things in our world are often not what they seem. This is a recurring thought also nowadays because many people still think more about appearing that being.

C.R

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"I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? Fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer, as a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?

If we are like you in the rest, we will resemble you in that. If a Jew wrong a Christian, what is his humility? Revenge. If a Christian wrong a Jew, what should his sufferance be by Christian example? Why, revenge. The villainy you teach me I will execute, and it shall go hard but I will better the instruction."
(The merchant of Venice -Act 3-Sc.1)

The thing that struck me most in the works of Shakespeare is the well detailed description of a given historical period making it clear how there were both political and religious implications behind some situations. In fact in "The Merchant of Venice" the scene of the spit is particularly important because it summarizes the dominant theme of the comedy, anti-Semitism, which at that time was raging in Venice and throughout Europe. The origins of so much hatred towards the chosen people coincide, roughly, with the origins of Christianity: in fact the Jews were despised because they were considered the murderers of Christ. Later, they were also charged with other horrible crimes, such as the spread of the plague and ritual murder ...

In my opinion anti-Semitism is wrong because everyone is free to profess their religion without being subject to discrimination.

A.B

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"Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come;
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom."

Sonnet 116

Even if Shakespeare considers love an ephemeral theme because not permanent, in this sonnet he describes the real love based on the faith and comprehension that is not a physical love but a real love. I like this idea of love that perhaps is difficult to find today because these values have been lost.We only stop to the physical aspect and this is wrong. We should just be ourselves and not to be afraid to be such. We are afraid of difficulties and of changes. We don't fight but we escape and that is not what it should be.

-S.M.A

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“Thou knowest the mask of the night is on my face;

Else would a maiden blush bepaint my cheek,

For that which thou last heard me speak tonight.

Fain would I dwell on form; fain, fain deny

What I have spoke: but farewell compliment!”

I appreciated this part of the “Balcony Scene”, because here Juliet declared his love for Romeo without formalities. Obviously, she didn’t know that Romeo was there, under the balcony and he was listening to all her words, but I enjoyed this moment because it gives a modern trait to Juliet. In fact, in our times the idea of a man who woos a woman has been lost, because a lot of times a woman who loves a man, declares her love for him without any fear of being rejected. So we can say that women have become the men of the past, while the men have become the women of old days. Certainly there are a lot of exceptions. About this, I think that in love there aren’t rules and If you love a person, you will say it to her/him, because there is nothing wrong and it doesn’t depend on the sex of the lover.
S.S.

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Shakespeare teaches that nothing that is ground can match the sentiment and joy of love, true food of the fire of life. Love is more important than anything else. Without love there is nothing worth it.
Thus they boast the princes and lords of their glories and their riches, showing them to the whole world, but there is nothing worth as loving and being loved, says Shakespeare. No earthly glory will ever be equal to the strength that a feeling of love can give to human beings.
Are therefore satisfied those who boast material goods, power and public honors? None of this is worth a single nail of unrequited love that lives hidden from the eyes of the world and is greater than anything else. The lover rejoices without being seen because nothing matters except love itself.
Power, money, fame... Senseless dust in front of the gaze of those who share with us the joys of Eros.
Eyes of whom we love, mirror of his/her feeling, watching them is already richness that neither gold nor silver can match.
Who betrays true love for the rest will have always lost in the game of life that, come to an end, will present the bill. And if we do not have loved in the name of another, we will realize that we have wasted our days in nothing.

D.M.

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"He hath disgraced me, and hindered me half a million, laughed at my losses, mocked at my gains, scorned my nation, thwarted my bargains, cooled my friends, heated mine enemies; and what's his reason? I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? Fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer, as a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?

If we are like you in the rest, we will resemble you in that. If a Jew wrong a Christian, what is his humility? Revenge. If a Christian wrong a Jew, what should his sufferance be by Christian example? Why, revenge. The villainy you teach me I will execute, and it shall go hard but I will better the instruction."
(The merchant of Venice -Act 3-Sc.1)
In these lines Shakespeare shows the equality between Shylock and Christian people.Infact Shylock  claims his equality and his being human to any other man.
Antonio Capone

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Of Shakespeare and his works I especially like his realistic vision of life and love. He has a special way of telling things and I especially liked the way he describes all the characters in all their complexity. In this way the antagonists also have feelings and the heroes have weaknesses. The topics he addresses are still current and interesting and there are various very nice and beautiful quotes.

‘At Christmas I no more desire a rose/ Than wish a snow in May’s new-fangled shows’.
(Love’s Labour’s Lost)
G.D.

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Of Shakespeare I like his being profound when he wrote poems, I like the way he treats love, passions and life in general. This made him unique and timeless as a poet  . I like how he describes places and characters, in fact with his extraordinary minuteness he tries to make the image of what he describes appear in the reader's mind, with all details. What surprises me is how he talks about love, because he has a realistic vision of this. For example in ‘Romeo and Juliett’ , he says that love is not only smiles and a heartbeat, but also pain and suffering.

"Love is a smoke raised with the fume of sighs;

Being purged, a fire sparkling in lovers' eyes;

Being vexed, a sea nourished with loving tears.

What is it else? A madness most discreet, choking gall, and a preserving sweet."(Romeo and Juliet)
E.E.

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When you are no longer part of me I’ll want to cut out from your memory so many little stars, then the sky will be so beautiful that the whole world will love the night. (Romeo and Juliet)

The beauty of the night, according to my question and hypothesis, is how many lives she has seen birth, grow and die, under the eyes of her stars? She who has been present since the beginning of time, she who has lulled our desires, most likely better than our material mothers. She is too wise to overwhelm the heads of many subtle men; she is too real and in love with them. She, the night.

M.L

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“Oh Romeo Romeo”

"Juliet:

O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?

Deny thy father and refuse thy name;

Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,

And I'll not be longer in Capulet.

Romeo:

[Aside] Shall I hear more, or shall I speak at this?

Juliet:

'Tis but thy name that is my enemy;

Thou art thyself, though not in Montague.

What's Montague? It is nor hand, nor foot,

Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part

Belonging to a man. O, be some other name!

What's in a name? That which we call a rose

By any other word would smell as sweet;

I know Romeo would, they were not Romeo call'd,

Retain that dear perfection which he owes

Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name,

And for that name which is no part of thee

Take all myself.

Romeo:

I take thee at thy word:

Call me but love, and I'll be new baptized;

Henceforth I never will be Romeo. "

This is  one of the most famous scenes of Shakespeare, one of the most significant scenes of this play in which Shakespeare shows, in my opinion, his way of seeing love, a love that can go beyond anything like his family and  its "name". A modern vision of love compared to those times

Vincenzo Mauriello

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"A friend is one that
knows you as you are,
understands where you have been,                    accepts what you have become,                        and still,gently allows you to grow."

-William Shakespeare

In this quote we can see the importance that Shakespeare gives to friendship considering it the most important form of love..

C.D

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"Our revels now are ended. These our actors,
As I foretold you, were all spirits and
Are melted into air, into thin air:
And, like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Ye all which it inherit, shall dissolve
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
As dreams are made on, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep."
(The Tempest -Act 4-Sc.1)

I like the idea of the frailty and inconsistency of human life that is constantly reminded us of  by W.S.throughout all of his plays.
We give too much importance to ourselves and to the place we occupy in the universe. We should be wiser and think to enjoy life on the spot,  for what it is. And consider the others as well, and not only us!
M.L.R.