Full Hawkins Town (built In Version 1.7.10 Perf...

Benvolio and Mercutio have heard all this kind of thing beforeand are not impressed. 'Romeo! humours! passion! lover!', shoutsMercutio as he and Benvolio hunt their young innamorato in the darkness ofthe orchard, 'Appear thou in the likeness of a sigh; Speak but onerhyme and I am satisfied; Cry but \"Ay me!\" pronounce but\"love\" and \"dove\" ' (II.1.7-10). But there is noreply. 'The ape is dead', says Mercutio (l. 16). Benvolio andMercutio are men of the world and are not unduly troubled when they cannotfind Romeo: 'Now will he sit under a medlar tree, And wish hismistress were that kind of fruit As maids call medlars when they laughalone', says Mercutio in a conceit that is rather less genteel thanthose favoured by Romeo. Juliet, by contrast, is young and inexperienced.Unlike these men-about-town, she does not know that according to the rules ofthe game that Romeo is playing, you are meant to be cold and aloof when yourlover reveals his wounded heart, and that you are supposed to freeze theflames of his passion with your icy disdain. Instead she tells him she is inlove and asks him if he loves her. At first Romeo does not realize that sheis not playing his game. 'Lady, by yonder blessed moon I vow, Thattips with silver all these fruit trees tops', he begins. But she cutshim off, telling him that oaths are not necessary, especially oaths about theinconstant moon. All that matters is that they love each other (ll. 107-15).Such simplicity is touching. But it is also very dangerous in a world whereyoung men think nothing of killing for the sake of family honour; whereparents are little better than quarrelling children; where duennas are goodfor comic relief and little else; where 'women, being the weakervessels, are ever thrust to the wall' (I.1.15). Small wonder that theplay is full of premonitions of disaster. 781b155fdc