Romeo And Juliet Analysis

“Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet provides a mimetic resume of this rivalry between English and Italian styles of swordplay."(Saunders) Here Saunders states that we see a summary of the conflict of swordplay styles acted out. The allusion to the “subtext of English swordplay versus Italian fencing…would have been apparent in the drama to Elizabethan audiences, but it is lost on modern viewers.”(Saunders) A modern viewer lacks the background knowledge that an Elizabethan audience would have had. Without this essential knowledge this allusion goes unnoticed to most modern viewers despite the fact that there is ample evidence in the text. Curiosity might lead oneself to ask questions such as: Which houses implement which styles of swordplay and what evidence is there in the text to support this? What swords or other weapons would have been used in each of these styles?
The text contains many pieces of evidence that support the idea that the Montague and Capulet families are metaphors for Italy and England, respectively. In the following quote you can see that the play opens with an obvious reference to the English defense apparatuses used by the house of Capulet. "Enter Sampson and Gregory, with swords and bucklers, of the house of Capulet.”(Crowther 4) They most likely would have carried short broad swords along with bucklers, which are small shields. Lord Capulet speaks of Romeo’s dagger being not in Romeo’s sheath but in his daughter’s chest:
This dagger hath mista'en—for, lo, his house
Is empty on the back of Montague,—
And it mis-sheathed in my daughter's bosom! ( V.iii.202)
“The dagger and sword [rapier] combination…”(Westgate) was a commonplace method of sword-fighting. Since Romeo had a dagger one can assume that Romeo...

... middle of paper ...

...t England from a Catholic family. Growing up Shakespeare would have seen the persecution of Catholics under the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. “The persecution of English Catholics was as cruel as it was necessary in the government's eyes.”(Sommerville) With this often violent persecution occurring Shakespeare would have wanted to maintain a neutral position in this matter. As a member of the Catholic Church and living in an Anglican state Shakespeare would have had a vested interest in religious tolerance. “...it seems that Shakespeare does not really choose between pagan, Protestant and Catholic meanings, but rather merges these conceptions in a quasi-ecumenical vision of the world at large.”(Chiari 9) Shakespeare’s plays generally remain very open towards religion. He doesn’t focus on the practices or beliefs of a single religion. but instead generalizes religion.