№ 00232 «The time has come» (2022) Peinture par Apollonas Soben

Vicious cubism from Apollonas Soben

About the work
The tragedy “Romeo and Juliet” by Shakespeare has been known since 1597. The plot about the fate of loving hearts, separated by the will of people or circumstances, was widespread in the literature of the Renaissance, when the playwright worked. But it was Shakespeare’s genius that created a genuine literary masterpiece on its basis.

The meaning of the work laid down by Shakespeare, according to the well-known literary critic G. Anixt, can be expressed as follows: “the hymn of triumphant love”, “the tragedy of great passion”, “love conquering death”. Reading a summary of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” is, first of all, so that when you get acquainted with the full text of the play, it is easy to navigate the plot twists and understand “who is who” among the characters.

Place and time of action

The tragedy takes place at the beginning of the 14th century in the Italian cities of Verona and Mantua.

main characters

Romeo is the son of the Montagues, the beloved of Juliet and her husband.

Juliet is the daughter of the Capulets, Romeo’s lover and wife.

The Montagues and the Capulets are two warring families.

Brother Lorenzo is a monk, the spiritual father of Romeo.

Other characters

Escalus – Prince of Verona, acts as a judge in the city.

Count Paris is a relative of the prince, in love with Juliet and about to marry her.

Mercutio is a friend of Romeo, a relative of the prince.

Benvolio is Romeo’s friend, Montague’s nephew.

Balthasar is Romeo’s servant.

Nurse – Juliet’s nanny.

Tybalt is Capulet’s nephew and Juliet’s brother.

Chorus – reads the prologue to the first two acts, according to the tradition of ancient tragedy, expresses the point of view of the author of the work.

Summary
The place and time of the tragedy is medieval Italy, the cities of Verona and Mantua.
Prologue
The chorus tells that within two hours the viewer will be told the tragic story of “life, love and death” of children from two warring noble families.

Vicious cubism «The time has come» 232Act one
Scene 1
The action takes place in Verona Square.

Samson and Gregory, servants of the Capulet family, are talking. Samson says that he is ready to fight with any of the Montagues, while Gregory believes that the owners are quarreling, but they don’t need it, they are just servants.
Montague’s servants, Abram and Balthazar, appear on the square. Samson provokes a fight. Benvolio sees the servants’ fight and wants to stop it. Tybalt, who appeared on the square, ridicules Montague’s nephew for “having a fight with a peasant.” Ignoring Benvolio’s words about trying to reconcile the servants, he calls him a coward. A fight begins, in which all the new participants, supporters of the Capulet and Montague houses, join.
Enter the Capulets, followed by the Signor and Signora Montagues. The heads of the families are going to fight, the wives do not let them do it.
Enraged Escalus, Prince of Verona, appears, orders to stop the “massacre” and “disperse under pain of death.”
Except for the Montagues and Benvolio, everyone leaves the square.
The Montagues are concerned about the behavior of their son: he is always saddened by something. Benvolio promises to “get to the mystery” of Romeo.
Romeo appears, but his parents leave. After listening to him, Benvolio realizes that he is in love.
Scene 2
One of the streets of Verona.
Count Paris wants to marry the daughter of Capulet, who is not yet 14 years old. Capulet says that she is too young, that the main thing in this matter is the desire of his daughter, and invites Paris to the holiday, which he arranges annually, hoping that there the young man will find another bride for himself.

Romeo and Benvolio find out about the Capulet’s party and decide to attend it so that Romeo can see Rosalind, whom he is in love with.
Scene 3
The action takes place in one of the rooms in the Capulet’s house.
Signora Capulet tells her daughter that Paris is wooing her, she and the nurse praise the prince. Juliet, who “did not even think” about marriage, out of respect for her parents, promises to “take a closer look” at the groom.
Scene 4
Verona street.
Several mummers, including Benvolio, Mercutio and Romeo, are about to enter the Capulet house for a feast. Romeo anticipates trouble:
“I’m not looking forward to it. Something unknown
What is still hidden in the darkness
But it will be born from this ball,
Untimely shorten my life
Due to some terrible circumstances.
Scene 5
Capulet’s house, hall.
At the ball, Romeo sees a girl who is “too bright for the world of ugliness and evil” and understands that “he has not known true beauty until now.”
Tybalt recognizes Romeo by his voice and is going to deal with him. Capulet orders to leave the young man, who is “unanimously recognized as an example of true nobility” in Verona, alone and continue to have fun.
Romeo in the guise of a monk talks to Juliet and kisses her. The nurse recalls Juliet to her mother, and Romeo learns from her that the girl is the daughter of the Capulets, the enemies of his family. Romeo and his friends leave the ball.
Juliet finds out from the nurse that the young man who kissed her is from the Montecchi family. The girl is amazed
“I am the embodiment of a hateful force
Inopportunely, unknowingly, I fell in love!
Act two
Scene 1
The action takes place at the wall of the Capulet garden.
Romeo wants to see once again the one that struck his heart.
Benvolio calls to Romeo, but he does not respond, slips away, jumping over the wall of the garden into the courtyard. Mercutio believes that one should not look for someone “who does not want to be found.”
Scene 2
The scene is the Capulet Garden.
Having made his way to the Capulet garden, Romeo sees Juliet on the balcony. Young people talk, and then confess their love to each other. Their happiness is “so exorbitant, so fabulous and wonderful!” Juliet is ready to “follow everywhere” for Romeo, her feeling is “without a bottom”.
Romeo goes to his confessor, Father Lorenzo, in order to “take up the marriage” without delay.
Scene 3
Action – in the cell of brother Lorenzo.
Romeo tells his confessor about the meeting with Juliet, asks him to marry his beloved as soon as possible.
In the erupted love of the children of Montecchi and Capulet, Lorenzo sees the “denouement of civil strife” of families.
Scene 4
The place of action is the street.
Benvolio and Mercutio say that Capulet’s nephew Tybalt sent a letter to Romeo. It is believed that this is a challenge to a duel. Romeo appears, explains to his friends that he has an important matter.
A nurse appears on the street, she is looking for Romeo. The young man assures her that his intentions are pure and serious, and asks her to tell Juliet that:
“under any pretext
By noon she should come to confession.
Brother Lorenzo will marry us with her.
Scene 5
In the Capulet garden.
The Nurse returns to Juliet and, in an abbreviated form, conveys to her everything she heard from Romeo.
Scene 6
Priest’s cell.
Lorenzo’s father secretly marries the lovers. “Stormy feelings have a violent end, only in a sense of proportion is true good,” he warns Romeo.

Act three
Scene 1
Verona Square.
Benvolio asks Mercutio to leave, it seems to him that “troubles cannot be avoided”: after all, the Capulets are everywhere. During their conversation, Tybalt appears nearby, arguing with Romeo’s friends.
Romeo comes to the square, Tybalt insults him. The young man (now he is a relative of Tybalt) is not going to quarrel, offering to “part as friends.” Mercutio, who considers Romeo’s behavior a “shame”, draws his sword. Romeo tries to stop the fighting, at which point Tybalt wounds Mercutio and hides.
Mercutio is dying. Romeo, in desperation, fights the returned Tybalt and kills him.
Benvolio forces Romeo to leave. Citizens, the prince with his retinue, the Montecchi and Capulet families gather in the square. Benvolio tells the prince what happened.
Prince Escalus is furious (Mercutio is his relative). He decides that Romeo, who killed Tybalt, “for an unauthorized act will immediately be sent to a foreign land,” and he is going to impose a fine on the warring families, whose contention has finally bothered him.
Scene 2
In the Capulet garden.
Juliet is looking forward to Romeo.
The Nurse brings the news that Romeo “stabbed Tybalt to death and into exile.” The girl begins to scold Romeo, but, coming to her senses, refuses to blame her husband, who “was not born for shame.” The words that her husband was sent into exile plunge Juliet into “despair without edge and without bottom.”
The Nurse knows where Romeo is hiding and promises to find him. Juliet gives her a ring for her lover and asks her to tell Romeo to come and say goodbye to her.
Scene 3
In Brother Lorenzo’s cell.
The priest informs Romeo, who is hiding in his cell, that by the decision of the prince he was expelled from Verona. The young man is in despair, because the exile will separate him from his wife.
There is a knock on the door – this is the nurse. She learns from Lorenzo that Romeo is “drunk with tears” and says that the same thing happens to Juliet. Hearing that he is the cause of his wife’s suffering, Romeo is about to kill himself.
Lorenzo stops him and urges him to behave like a man, because now he is “a wild beast with the blindness of his actions.”
“What do you need
Kill yourself and kill yourself
Your wife who lives by you?
How bad is your kind and heaven and earth,
Which are you betraying blasphemy?
They united all in you
Not for breakup. This is how you dishonor
His nature and love and mind.
The confessor explains to Romeo: there is no point in blaming your own fate, because “how many successes are pouring in.” Juliet is alive and loves him, no matter how much Tybalt wanted Romeo to die, he is alive, and instead of being executed for murder, he was exiled as a punishment. The monk finds a way out for the young man. At night, Romeo must go on a date with Juliet and calm her down, and then go to Mantua “until there is an occasion to open your marriage and reconcile at home. Then we’ll ask you to be returned.”
The nurse gives Romeo the ring and leaves.
Romeo says goodbye to his spiritual father.
Scene 4

The action takes place in the Capulet house.
Paris talking with the Capulet spouses. They make a joint decision about the wedding, scheduling it in two days. Because of the mourning for Tybalt, the wedding will take place in the presence of the closest people.
Capulet sends his wife to tell Juliet about this.
Scene 5
Juliet’s room.
The lovers say goodbye and cannot part.
The nurse warns that the mother is heading towards the girl.
Speaking to her daughter, Signora Capulet tells of her intention to avenge Tybalt’s death by poisoning Romeo. Keeping up the conversation, Juliet tries not to betray her attitude towards Romeo. Mother announces the decision to marry her to Paris. Juliet refuses marriage.
The father who enters the room hears about the refusal of his daughter. He is furious, does not want to hear an explanation and gives her two days to think,
“And if you are my daughter, then you will marry,
And if not, wander, starve
And you can hang yourself: God is my witness,
Then I am no longer your father.”
Parents leave, Juliet asks for advice from the wet nurse. The nanny believes that Romeo is in exile and the girl can enter into a new, more profitable marriage with Paris.
Realizing that the nurse is no longer her ally, Juliet decides to go to Father Lorenzo for help.

act four
Scene 1
In Brother Lorenzo’s cell.
Paris talks with a monk about the upcoming wedding. Juliet enters, Paris speaks to her, calling her his wife, but the girl seeks to be alone with Lorenzo. Paris leaves.
Juliet is ready to do anything not to become the wife of Paris.
“I am given to Romeo. Before
I will give my hand with my heart to another,
I will cut off the life of the heart with my hand.
She asks the monk for help, and Brother Lorenzo decides to give her “a remedy like death from this shame and misfortune,” but he warns that it will take courage to use it. Juliet agrees, “determination in love” will help her.
“Everything about
Before I could not hear without trembling,
Now I will not hesitate to do
So as not to violate the loyalty of Romeo.
Lorenzo advises Juliet to return home and inform her parents that she agrees with their marriage decision. On the eve of the wedding day, she will need to drink a potion prepared by a monk. After that, for almost two days, the girl will plunge into a deep sleep, which everyone around will take for death. According to family tradition, Juliet should be buried in the family’s crypt in a coffin without a lid. Lorenzo will call Romeo, the two of them will be next to the girl until she wakes up “refreshed”. After that, the lovers will be able to leave.
Juliet takes the bottle of drink and leaves, promising to follow Lorenzo’s instructions exactly.
Scene 2
The place of what is happening is the Capulet’s house.
Signor Capulet gives orders about the wedding. He hopes that Lorenzo will convince his daughter to make the right decision. Juliet appears, she asks her father for forgiveness and says that she agrees to the marriage. Satisfied with his daughter’s words, Capulet decides to marry Paris and Juliet the next day. She leaves to tell Paris the news.
Scene 3
Juliet’s room.
Juliet asks the nurse to leave her alone. The girl is tormented by doubts: either she is frightened by the thought that drinking may not work, then she is afraid that there is poison in the bottle, she doubts whether she can “keep her mind intact” in the crypt. Imagining that the ghost of Tybalt is looking for Romeo, he resolutely drinks a cup of Lorenzo’s tincture and instantly falls asleep.
Scene 4
House of the Capulets.
The house is hurriedly preparing for the wedding. Capulet sends the Nurse to wake Juliet.
Scene 5
In Juliet’s room.
The nurse wakes Juliet and finds that she is dead.
Brother Lorenzo, Paris, musicians come to the house. Hearing the sad news, everyone suffers in their own way. Capulet is “crushed, ridiculed, crippled, mortified”, Paris is “divorced, deceived, trampled into the mud”, for the mother and nurse this is the worst day of their lives.
Lorenzo intends to shame everyone, explaining that there is no need to grumble, Juliet “the sky shines with eternal life” – she is in paradise. The monk orders to “sprinkle the body with rosemary” and take it to the crypt.
act five
Scene 1
The action takes place on the street of Mantua.
Romeo walks down the street, reflecting on his dream, which he thinks promises joy. In a dream, Romeo saw himself dead, but his wife appeared with a kiss and brought him back to life.
Meets Balthazar, who tells that he saw “Juliet’s burial”.
Romeo decides to go to Verona and die on the same day next to his beloved. He remembers the beggar pharmacist and goes to buy poison from him.
The pharmacist at first refuses to sell the desired composition, because “in Mantua, those who sell such substances are executed.” But “need gives consent”, and for a lot of money he gives Romeo the powder. Poured into any liquid, the poison will work from the first sip.
Romeo is about to drink the “saving potion” at Juliet’s coffin.
Scene 2
Monk Lorenzo’s cell.
The monk Giovanni comes to Romeo’s confessor (he was sent to Mantua to Romeo with a letter). It turns out that he could not get to Mantua and deliver the letter. Lorenzo is very worried: the young man has not received important news.
“The letter had a very important meaning.
The delay of these lines threatens with misfortune.
Juliet is about to wake up. The monk decides to go to the tomb and hide Juliet in his cell when she wakes up.

Scene 3
The action takes place in a cemetery.
Paris with a page is sent to the Capulet family crypt to say goodbye to his failed wife. Not wanting to draw attention, Paris orders a servant to warn him if anyone appears in the graveyard. The page whistles when he sees people, and Paris hides in the bushes.
Exit Romeo and Balthazar. Romeo gives the servant a letter for his father and asks him to leave because he wants to look at his beloved one more time.
Seeing Romeo, Paris decides that he is going to desecrate the bodies of Juliet and Tybalt. Not recognizing Paris in the dark, Romeo explains to the young man that he is preparing “reprisal against himself”, but he does not believe him. A duel begins, in which Romeo wins. Recognizing the murdered Paris, sympathizing with him, who also loved Juliet, puts the body in the crypt.
Romeo addresses his wife with bitterness and tenderness:
“My love! My wife! End
Though sucked, like honey, your breath,
Can’t handle your beauty.
You Have Not Been Defeated: The Banner of Life
It burns in your lips and on your cheeks”
Romeo drinks poison.
Brother Lorenzo hurries to the crypt, runs into Balthazar. Having learned from the servant that Romeo, who knows nothing, has been in the crypt for half an hour, he foresees trouble. On the plates, he sees with horror traces of blood, “crimsoned swords”, and, finally, the bodies of Romeo and Paris.
At this moment, Juliet wakes up, she wants to see her husband. “At your feet lies your dead husband, and Paris is with him,” says the monk and wants to take the girl away to hide her, sending “a nun to the monastery.” “Another power greater than mine warned us,” he concludes bitterly.
Juliet refuses to go, Lorenzo leaves. Juliet sits over her husband’s body, discovers a vessel in his hands, realizes that he was poisoned. The girl kisses her husband, hoping to be poisoned along with him by the poison left on her lips. Seeing the dagger, pierces himself and dies.
The page of Paris leads the guard to the crypt. They call the prince, the Montagues, the Capulets, they bring in a weeping Lorenzo.
Seeing the dead, the prince intends to find the “culprit of fanaticism.” Montague reports that, unable to bear the separation from his son, his wife died today.
The Montagues and the Capulets look down on their dead children.
Lorenzo leads his tragic story “in a double person – as an accused and an accuser, in order to condemn himself and justify.” It tells about the true cause of the death of the children of Montague and Capulet.
After listening to the monk, Escalus interrogates Balthazar, who tells about everything he saw and heard. The prince reads Romeo’s letter, it confirms the monk’s words. The Prince of Verona addresses the warring families:
“Where are you, irreconcilable enemies,
And your argument, Capulets and Montagues?
What a lesson for the haters
That the sky is killing you with love!”
Struck by a common grief, the families reconcile. The prince puts an end to the tragedy of families:
“Your approach is shrouded in darkness.
The sun does not shine through the thick clouds.
… a tale of Romeo and Juliet
It will remain the saddest thing in the world … ”

Vicious cubism from Apollonas Soben

Place and time of action

The tragedy takes place at the beginning of the 14th century in the Italian cities of Verona and Mantua.

Thèmes connexes

ShakespeareRomeoJulietVeronaItaly