Romeo and Juliet - Responding to the Critics by David Grossman https://padlet.com/dgrossman/858ggflx1p0x Do you agree, disagree, or agree in part/disagree in part? en-us 2020-03-24 17:25:05 UTC 2020-03-31 16:03:08 UTC hello@padlet.com Goddard on Fear dgrossman https://padlet.com/dgrossman/858ggflx1p0x/wish/473260706 “Whatever literal epidemic there may have been in the region, it is plain that fear is the real pestilence that pervades the play.  It is fear of the code of honor, not fate, that drives Romeo to seek vengeance on Tybalt.  If is fear of the plague, not accident, that leads to the miscarriage of Friar Lawrence’s message to Romeo.  It is fear of poverty, not the chance of his being at hand at the moment, that lets the apothecary sell the poison.  It is fear of the part he is playing, not age, that makes Friar Lawrence’s old feet stumble and brings him to the tomb just a few seconds too late to prevent Romeo’s death.  It is fear of being found at such a spot at such a time, not coincidence, that lets him desert Juliet at last just when he does.  Fear, fear, fear, fear, fear, fear.  Fear is the evil ‘star’ that crosses the lovers.  And fear resides not in the skies but in the human heart.”  
- Harold C. Goddard, 1951
]]> 2020-03-24 17:44:06 UTC https://padlet.com/dgrossman/858ggflx1p0x/wish/473260706 Goddard on Romeo dgrossman https://padlet.com/dgrossman/858ggflx1p0x/wish/473305000 “Romeo … falls back on the testimony of all history that only force can overcome force.  He descends from the level of love to the level of violence and attempts to part the fighters with his sword. ”  
- Harold C. Goddard, 1951
]]> 2020-03-24 18:07:08 UTC https://padlet.com/dgrossman/858ggflx1p0x/wish/473305000 Kermode on Youth dgrossman https://padlet.com/dgrossman/858ggflx1p0x/wish/473305234 “Youth in the play is a separate nation; its customs are not understood by the old.  For the hot blood which makes love at once a matter of rapture and low jokes is the same that keeps warm the obsolete Montague-Capulet feud.”  
- Frank Kermode, 1974
]]> 2020-03-24 18:07:16 UTC https://padlet.com/dgrossman/858ggflx1p0x/wish/473305234 Rodriguez on 21st Century Relevance dgrossman https://padlet.com/dgrossman/858ggflx1p0x/wish/473305700 “Shakespeare’s 16th-century tragedy of young love thwarted by a community’s long-standing prejudice continues to be universally resonant and alarmingly relevant to our ever-polarized 21st century society. We continue to live in a world where hate and bias are taught and passed on to the subsequent generation. Shakespeare brilliantly left the reasons for the divide between Capulet and Montague unspecified, giving the play endless universal resonance.” 
- Damaso Rodriguez, 2016
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