Director's Letter To Juliet’s Actress

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Director's Letter To Juliet’s Actress

Dear Miss Webster,

I am writing to you to aid your research, rehearsal and performance of

this fabulous play in which you have the very important role of

playing Juliet.

Shakespeare wrote the majority of his masterpieces in

Stratford-on-Avon but he set the stories in foreign countries, in this

case Verona, but based them upon the customs of that time that he knew

from the area he worked and lived in. This life was very different to

the one we have now with different understandings about how people,

especially children, should behave and their attitude towards their

parents. This vast difference comes across very strongly in this scene

(Act 3 scene 5).

Juliet was born into a noble house and in these places marriage was

often contracted at a young age for many reasons including property,

prosperity and family alliance. But the average age of marriage was

still quite high, in the middle twenties. Women married younger than

men; with an average gap of three years which is similar to the age of

consent which happens to be much younger than that of today. In 1619

it was 12 for a girl and 14 for a boy and again this is apparent in

this scene as Juliet is not even 14 when she is betrothed to Paris and

consummates her love to Romeo. Shakespeare himself was married at the

age of 18 as was normal suggestible by the low marriage age in that

period. The reasoning behind this late marriage age is that it took a

long time for a couple to acquire enough belongings to set up a

household. This why children of noble birth had to respect their

parents marriage wishes otherwise they would be left withou...

... middle of paper ...

... feeling that a character is

about to explode with emotion at any one time. Shakespeare is very

successful at dramatising the situation because of all the mixed

emotions and the contrast in social status and society from then to

this day. This scene fits in with the entire play because it shows all

the contrasts between Juliet’s previous life and her life with Romeo

which forced her to mature quicker than is probably good for you. It

fits because it shows how deceiving Juliet had to be because of

society and because of these wrongs in the society; it shows the

tragedy that was destined to happen.

I hope this has been of use to you and will aid you to take on this

role as it is a very important part and must be performed correctly. I

wish you every success with ‘Romeo and Juliet’.

Yours Sincerely,

Director

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