Contents: This long page was originally created to help students in one of Professor Brians' classes, and it looks like a set of notes for a set of fairly interesting lectures on Romeo and Juliet. There's a section for each scene, but no attempt is made to cover everything in a scene. Brians does whatever strikes his fancy, sometimes paraphrasing, sometimes commenting on the historical background or the development of a character or theme. Usually a paragraph will end with a question. Here's an example of the kind of thing Brians does:

Montague's description of Romeo's melancholy fits exactly contemporary ideas of lovesickness. Thus far, Shakespeare is following tradition. His original contribution will come in contrasting Romeo's mooning over Rosaline with the fresh, spontaneous passion which Juliet will inspire in him. It is much more difficult for modern audiences to detect the contrast between these two moods, but it is important to be aware that Shakespeare intends a contrast, and a sharp one. The many oxymorons in Romeo's speech are clichés, meant to evoke his callow, stereotypical attitude toward love. The sexual metaphor at l. 193 is a good example of how far Shakespeare will go to insert erotic allusions into the most unlikely places. The theme (ll. 234-236) that it is a shame for a beautiful young person not to reproduce is worked out at great length in the famous and controversial "procreation sonnets." What are the most extreme and extravagant things that Romeo has to say about Rosaline?