Selena Yasmin Sapphire Galadriel Seay-Reynolds English: Shakespeare

Haste Makes Waste

O, let us hence. I stand on sudden haste, says Romeo (II.iv.100). Wisely and slow. They stumble that run fast, the Friar replies (II.iv.101). And yet not even the Friar can follow his own advice. Everyone and everything in Shakespeares play Romeo and Juliet is imbued with a sense of urgency and haste, and it is fueled by it. Romeo and Juliet themselves meet, court, marry, love, and die in haste. Their entire relationship, from the first time they set eyes on each other, to their deaths, only takes place over the course of five days. But it could not have been any other way. The tragedy of Romeo and Juliet is filled with these poor decisions, and little regret. But the play flows smoothly, and by the end, no one questions it. For under the fraught, frenzied circumstances of haste that the story makes sense, both within the play, and to the audience. In the prologue, the Chorus summarizes the plot, announcing that what has just been described is now the two hours traffic of our stage (line 12). While, of course, it is highly unlikely that this is an accurate and reliable estimate, it does serve as a general predictor. For a play like Romeo and Juliet, measuring 3,093 lines, to be performed in that sort of time frame, it would have had to have been performed with the same haste and urgency that the text speaks of. Not a second could have been wastedlines would have been picked up instantly, monologues spoke with the same feverish passion as filled their content. The action moves faster than people can think and deal with. If it were any slower, there would have been time for thought and rational discourse. The fight in the first scene is started by Sampson and Gregorys haste to duel the Montagues and furthered by Tybalts quick temper and bloodthirst. Samson says I strike quickly, being moved (line 6) shortly before the fight begins. This hasty fight leads the prince to

Selena Yasmin Sapphire Galadriel Seay-Reynolds English: Shakespeare

pronounce his declaration of death upon any and all who disturb[the] streets again (line 98). In this monologue he also mentions the cause of the rift between the Capulets and Montagues, saying three civil brawls bred of an airy word (line 91), referencing haste yet again. The list goes on. But to mention every reference to haste throughout this entire play would take far more time than this assignment permits. So let this suffice: Everything in this play is a chain of rushed consequences, a race to the ultimate tragedy. Every bad decision is made in and is a result of haste. The haste in this play is not a mere pattern, nor is Shakespeare is not trying to convey some sort of moral or lesson to his audiencerather, it is a necessary plot device.