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REVIEW
- Smith, J. N. ClassicNote on Romeo and Juliet.
- <http://www.classicnote.com/ClassicNotes/Titles/romeoandjuliet>
Visited: 4 July 2002
Contents: This study guide consists mostly of act summaries. Each summary is followed by an "analysis," in which the author points out this and that.
In addition, Smith provides other pages. Here's a list:
- "About the Author": Short biography of Shakespeare.
- "About Shakespearean Theater": Some facts about the Globe.
- "Short Summary": Very short summary of the whole play.
- "Character List": Two sentences or less about each speaking character.
- "Message Board": The most common message is some variant of "Please do my homework for me!" Most of the messages go unanswered.
- "Essays": Actually, there's only one essay, "Fate in Romeo and Juliet"; it makes the point that Romeo and Juliet are the victims of a series of mishaps.
- "Links to other Romeo and Juliet sites": There are eleven links. Six are dead; two point to other ClassicNotes pages; one is the official site of the Romeo + Juliet movie; the other two are more for teachers than students.
- "Author of ClassicNote and other sources": Contains the information that the author is J. N. Smith. Also contains a list of five scholarly books, although it appears that J. N. Smith has not read any of them.
Evaluation: The site is worse than useless. Take a look at the first two paragraphs of the "Analysis" of Act 1:
This play starts with a lovely sonnet, an unusual beginning given that sonnets were meant to be from a lover to his beloved. The sonnet is also a very structured form of prose, lending itself to order. Shakespeare cleverly contrasts this orderly sonnet with the immediate disorder of the first scene. The sonnet degenerates into a bunch of quarreling servants who soon provoke a fight between the houses of Montegue and Capulet.
This scene is wrought with sexual overtones, with the various servants speaking of raping the enemies women. The sexual wordplay will continue throughout the play, becoming extremely bawdy and at times offensive, yet also underlying the love affair between Romeo and Juliet.
If you know enough to spot all of the errors in these paragraphs, you don't need this site. If you don't know enough to spot the errors, this site can do you harm.
Also, the site runs ads for an outfit which offers "high quality term papers" for sale, but of course the term papers are "for research purposes only." Yah, right.
Why doesn't the link work? You don't even want to go there.
Bottom Line: Primary audience: the stupid and dishonest.
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