!THE TRAGEDIE OF
ROMEO AND JULIET (ca.1595-6)
We’ll have
No without-book prologue, faintly spoke
After the prompter, for our entrance
1.4.7-8 (Q1 not in F)
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We can be very thankful that ROMEO AND JULIET had already seen publication prior to its inclusion in the 1623 FOLIO. Its first quarto of 1597 (Q1) was most likely “pirated” and the result (at least in part) of memorial reconstruction by “disaffected actors”, whereas the second quarto of 1599 (Q2) was probably set from Shakespeare’s own foul papers. And so, even though Q2 is the more authoritative text, Q1 nonetheless provides useful information regarding the plays’ actual staging. Furthermore, it appears that Q2’ compositors sometimes referred to and even copied Q1 where Shakespeare’s manuscript might have been troublesome (or even lacked some sheets).
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The Folio’s version of the play has few such saving graces.
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In 1607, the rights to R & J were transferred “from Burby to Nicholas Ling” (the latter published Q2 HAMLET) and a third quarto of R & J appeared in 1609 (Q3). A very “lightly annotated copy” of this Q3 was likely the source of F. Hence the Folio’s R & J “used to be regarded as an entirely un-authoritative reprint” (TEXTUAL COMPANION, p. 289).
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Both the Riverside and Oxford/Norton use Q2 for their control text (with occasional references to Q1) and I can certainly see why. F feels very far from Shakespeare’s hand. There is no prologue (though the Act 2’ “chorus” is retained) and there seem to be many omissions (a number of which apparently originated from lazy compositing). Indeed, as the Oxford editors write “Few plays in the First Folio received less editorial supervision” (ibid.).
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But there is one occurrence of editorial detective work, though, that does somewhat involve F (albeit incidentally). It regards the Oxford editors’ conflation of the characters of CLOWN and PETER. At 1.2 (F. p.55, TLN 247) the opening stage direction indicates “Enter Capulet, Countie Paris, and the Clowne”. Later at 2.4 (2.3 in Oxford/Norton), the Nurse enters “with her man” (F. p.62, TLN 1200), a character that subsequent speech prefixes designate as “Peter”. The same character enters again at the end of 4.5 (4.4 in Oxford/Norton), the opening stage direction for which reads “Enter Peter” in F (p.73, TLN 2680) whereas in Q2 it reads “Enter Will Kemp”. Kemp being (from 1594 to 1600) the company’s clown, the Oxford editors therefore surmised that the CLOWNE and PETER were the same character (a reasonable conclusion I myself implement in the list of characters below).
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In both Q2 and F, Peter makes yet another entrance at 5.3 — “Enter Romeo, and Peter” (F. p.75, TLN 2874) — though subsequent speech prefixes variously refer to him as “Peter” (TLN 2893-2924), “Man” (TLN 2981-99) and, once, as “Boy” in F (TLN 3146) but “Balt.” (for Balthazar) in Q2. In a previous scene (5.1) Romeo does name his man “Balthazar” (F. p.74, TLN 2735) and the “man/boy” of 5.3 will even refer back to this conversation between them in his brief speech at TLN 3146. And so it would seem that it isn’t PETER who appears in the last scene of the play, rather, it is BALTHAZAR. BUT … the mistake is authorial and probably committed “currente calamo” as Shakespeare was writing the play’s final scene. Perhaps Shakespeare had thought of using Peter (Will Kemp) but, by the end of this particularly pathetic scene, had changed his mind.
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!!X AXIS (abscisses): 3186 lines
The FOLIO has neither ACTS nor SCENES.
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Furthermore, neither the Riverside nor the Oxford/Norton provide (to my mind) satisfactory SCENE divisions. In this case, then, I’ll call them as I see them.
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1.1: line 1
1.2: line 247
1.3: line 351
1.4: line 454 / Riverside 1.5: line 583
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2.0 (Chorus): line 732
2.1: line 747 / Riverside 2.2: line 794
2.2: line 1005
2.3: line 1105
2.4: line 1310
2.5: line 1392
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3.1: line 141
3.2: line 1644
3.3: line 1799
3.4: line 1994
3.5: line 2032
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4.1: line 2293
4.2: line 2423
4.3: line 2478 / Riverside/Norton 4.4: line 2539 / Riverside 4.5: line 2576
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5.1: line 2721
5.2: line 2818
5.3: line 2851
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FINIS @ line 3186
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!!Y AXIS: ENTRANCES & EXITS
Entrances & exits of Characters
According to their order of appearance.
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• (2,105) reads "enters at line 2, exits at line 105".
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• (2851 [retires 2873,2906] [rip 2925] 3185)
reads “Character (in this case PARIS) enters at line 2851, retires (i.e. hides) from lines 2873 to 2906, dies at line 2925, and his corpse exits at line 3185.”
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• In the case of JULIET, [as dead 2538] and [awakens 3010] serve to indicate this essential device of the play.
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• [within 1875]
refers to a character (in this case the NURSE) speaking from off-stage before actually “entering”.
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• PRINCIPAL CHARACTERS are capitalized.
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Sampson
(2,105)
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Gregory
(2,105)
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Abram
(36,105)
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BALTHAZAR
(36,105) (2734,2758) (2874 [retires 2897,2980] [retires again 3001,3048] 3185)
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BENVOLIO
(55,246) (292,350) (454,710) (750,793) (1105,1242) (1431,1542) (1550,1643)
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TYBALT
(63,105) (583,669) (1465,1522) (1556 [rip 1569] 1643) RIP
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CAPULET
(77,105) (247,284) (583,709) (1583,1643) (1994,2031) (2164,2242) (2423,2477) (2543,2575) (2599,2675) (3061,3185)
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LADY CAPULET
(77,105) (351,453) (583,709) (1583,1643) (1994,2031) (2098,2250) (2423,2477) (2584,2593) (2539,2556) (2592,2675) (3061,3185)
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MONTAGUE
(79,162) (1583,1643) (3081,3185)
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LADY MONTAGUE
(79,162) (1583,1643)
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PRINCE ESCALUS
(82,105) (1583,1643) (3058,3185)
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ROMEO
(158,246) (292,350) (454,717) (747 [retires 749,793] 1004) (1028,1104) (1140,1309) (1392,1430) (1487,1576) (1799,1993) (2032,2092) (2722,2817)
(2847 [rip 2977] 3185) RIP
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PARIS
(247,284) (583,714) (1994,2031) (2293,2338) (2612,2675) (3061,3185)
(2851 [retires 2873,2906] [rip 2925] 3185) RIP
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CLOWN / PETER
(247,330) (1200,1309) (1328,1331) (2680,2718)
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NURSE
(351,453) (583,731) (1200,1309) (1328,1391) (1676,1798) ([within 1875] 1891,1982) (2069,2073) (2164,2284) (2423,2465) (2571,2678)
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JULIET
(356,453) (583,731) (802,940) (944,959) (963,997) (1310,1391) (1408,1430) (1644,1798) (2032,2292) (2311,2422) (2438,2465) (2478 [as dead 2538] 2675)
(2901 [awakens 3010] [rip 3035] 3185) RIP
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MERCUTIO
(454,712) (750,793) (1105,1242) (1431,1542) RIP
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MASKERS
(454,712)
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Servingmen
(566,582) (584,715) (2424,2425/2433) (2559,2561/2566)
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Chorus
(732,746)
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FRIAR LAWRENCE
(1005,1104) (1392,1430) (1799,1993) (2293,2422) (2612,2675) (2820,2850) (2978,3022) (3053,3185)
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Musicians
(2612,2721)
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Apothecarie
(2785,2817)
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Friar John
(2819,2842)
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Page (attendant to Paris)
(2851 [retires 2862] 2924) (3031,3185)
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The Watch
(3031,3185)
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!!PLOT & COLOURING
Well…
there ARE two distinct groups:
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1) The CAPULETS
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SAMPSON
GREGORY
TYBALT
CAPULET
LADY CAPULET
CLOWN
NURSE
JULIET
SERVINGMEN
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2) The MONTAGUES
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ABRAM
BALTHAZAR
BENVOLIO
MONTAGUE
LADY MONTAGUE
ROMEO
MERCUTIO
MASKERS
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PRINCE ESCALUS is, in theory, neutral.
But his kinsman PARIS is the sanctioned suitor of Juliet (Paris would therefore side with the Capulets).
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And though FRIAR LAWRENCE should be neutral, he is (according to 2.3.82’s “pupil mine”) something like Romeo’s tutor or (at least) his confessor. Furthermore, it is his well-meaning but dangerous ploy that brings about the play’s dire catastrophe.
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!!METATHEATRE
“My dismal scene I needs must act alone” (4.3.19 / TLN 2500)
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R & J is one of the five plays studied in James Calderwood's SHAKESPEAREAN METADRAMA (1971). But, apart from some textual play (two examples are given above), the only overt element of “metatheatre” is perhaps the MASKED DANCE whereby the eponymous characters can meet: (454,712).
