Romeo, Juliet, and Prince Escalus Quiz

Answer:

The Renaissance began in the 1300s, about eight hundred years after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. It took a long time to get over the trauma caused by the collapse of law and order and changes that were brought to everyday life. Think of everything the people had to go through in those eight hundred years - the invaders, the ruins, the poverty, the Black Death, food scarcities, the lack of basic law and order - is there any wonder that Shakespeare began one of his most famous works with a street fight? It was a common occurrence. And it wasn't just any street fight - this was a brawl of epic proportion, one that made the other citizens of Verona take sides ("...ancient citizens/Cast by their grave-beseeming ornaments/To wield old partisans in hands as old").

Yet, it was a situation that was prevalent at this time throughout Italy, not just in Verona. People needed protection and law and order. What were they to do? Well, think about Machiavelli's advice - they hired a Prince. The type of rivalry that was shown between the two families in "Romeo and Juliet" was causing havoc. A Prince would hopefully be a neutral party whose job it was to put an end to the street violence so that people could go about their daily business. In many cases he had the final say in matters of law and order, and could even impose the death penalty if he thought it was warranted.

Over the years following the fall of Rome, the city of Verona had been through a lot of different leaders, many of whom were foreign invaders. Powerful families had also taken over control of the city at times; by the late thirteenth century the Scaligeri family was in power. They lost control in 1387, and the Visconti family took their place. Although Prince Escalus was not an historical figure, many believe that his role in the play was inspired by one of these ruling families. Judging by some of his comments in the play, he also lost family members to street violence.

So what caused the grudge between these two seemingly powerful and wealthy families, the Capulets and Montagues? It was never revealed. The Prince implied that the feud was so ancient that it only took one insignificant (airy) word to cause a full blown sword fight. In this case, one of the servants "bites their thumb" at another. Some people believed that dueling gave them honor, but really? Over that?

Over the course of this feud, Prince Escalus said that the two families ("Rebellious subjects") had debased their weapons ("Profaners of this neighbor-stained steel") by staining their swords with the blood ("purple fountains issuing from your veins") of their neighbors. Weapons were tempered in the forging process by being heated and then rapidly cooled in water. Prince Escalus said that the families' weapons were "mistempered" because they had been bathed in blood, not water, they had been used in anger, and misused by street brawlers in a bestial rage. The peace which occurred in between the fighting was spoiled ("cankered") by the hostility that inevitably erupted again.

Prince Escalus was tired of dealing with the situation, which, according to him had happened three times. He commanded that the heads of each family would meet with him that day, and threatened the death sentence to the person who disturbed the peace again.

In his second appearance in the play, Act 3, Scene 1, the Prince returned after Romeo killed Tybalt. In this scene, however, Escalus showed no interest in carrying out the death penalty that he had threatened. He was sick of the fighting and bloodshed; instead, he banished Romeo from Verona.

Finally, the Prince's appearance at the end of the play, Act 5, Scene 3, after Romeo and Juliet's deaths were discovered, brought the play to a tragic end. It was his final rebuke; the families were to blame for what had happened to their children. Escalus also took a part of the blame, as he said that he should have stopped the violence sooner.

Many times people have a mistaken impression of what Renaissance life was like in Italy; they think that once people started creating beautiful art, everything changed for the good. Nothing could be further from the truth. Some say, in fact, that the art flourished because people needed a way to escape their awful lives.