Double Suicide

[i41513]

Can anyone establish the month, day and year of the double suicide?
- any lines from the play to prove your supposition
- reasons for answer

[englishgirl]

i think it was July 28

[clif]

Here's the reasoning:

In I.iii.23 the Nurse says "'Tis since the earthquake now
eleven years,". Some critics say this may refer
to a rare earthquake in England on Apr. 6, 1580,
since there are often apparent topical references in
Shakespeare's plays. The setting of the
play and props (eg: rapier swords) suggests that
it is intended to portray life in Italy approximately
contemporary with Shakespeare's time. So
say, 1591 for the year.

In I.iii.10-17 it mentions that Juliet will be 14 on
the eve of Lammas, that is, the evening of July 31,
since Lammas is Aug. 1. And that it is "A fortnight
an odd days [14 days plus or minus a few
days]" until Lammas.

In III.v.18 we learn that it is Mon. night. The dance
where Romeo and Juliet met for the first time was
the previous night, so the play starts on a Sunday.

In IV.i.90 we learn that it is Tues., when the Friar
give Juliet the drug, which puts you to sleep for
42 hrs. (IV.i.104-106: "...in this borrowed likeness of...
death thou shalt continue two and forty hours,
and then awake as from a pleasant sleep.").

In IV.iii Juliet takes the drug, apparently on Tues.
evening. So she then awakens on Thurs. evening
in the tomb.

So using a perpetual calendar on the web for
July 1580 find the Sun. that is approximately
14 days before Aug. 1, 1580, and then the
Thurs. following that Sun. is the day of their
deaths.

[clif]

The last couple of sentences of my previous post
on this was wrong, it is July 1591 not July 1580.
I checked a web perpetual calendar and
for July 1591, Sun. the 14th is approximately
a fortnight from Aug. 1 (18 days). The
Thurs. following this Sun. is the 18th. So
a hypothetical date for the suicide is
the evening of July 18, 1591.

[SONNET CLV]

The following is exerpted from comments originally posted at SparkNotes:

http://mb.sparknotes.com/mb.epl?b=85...15713&t=294704

My own contention is that Romeo and Juliet, if intended to be set in the year 1594, which Shakespeare may well have had in mind, begins on Sunday, July 14. This is one day before the Ides of July, the 15th, the day on which Romeo and Juliet are married.

I've always found it pertinent that the lovers be wedded on the fateful Ides. Juliet, after all, is named for her birthday month July, which is named for Julius Caesar. At the same time he was writing Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare was writing Julius Caesar. The idea of the fatefulness of Ides would have struck him. My own calculations of time in the play suggest that it begins on Sunday, July 14, one day before the Ides, and concludes that Thursday, which would be July 18. I believe that if you check for a calendar from the year 1594 you'll see that these days make sense.

Here's an earlier clif post dating the start of the play to Sun., July 14, 1591: http://mb.sparknotes.com/mb.epl?r=1&...13041&t=250456

I like that choice because it again makes the Ides on Monday. However, it seems that July 14 may have been a Wednesday in 1591.

See here: http://www.medievalgenealogy.org.uk/cal/key16.htm

----------------------

Interestingly enough, I first posted on the time line of the play at about.com some years ago. That post became the text for a post at the old Western Canon site on March 1, 2001:

http://starbuck.com/shakespeare/Rome...ages/1571.html

Here is the more recent SparkNotes version, from Dec 24, 2001.

http://mb.sparknotes.com/mb.epl?r=1&...196036&t=65514

Here's a related SparkNotes post:

http://mb.sparknotes.com/mb.epl?r=1&...196033&t=65514

One thing I should like to do is to determine when Easter was in 1594. That will tell us when the moon was full. I've always wondered if Shakespeare got the moon right in the play.

--SONNET CLV--

[art deco]

the text support for the opening scene on Sunday is correct. however, Act V, sc 3 takes place on Friday evening. Act 4, scene 3 is the scene where Juliet takes the drug. in line 7 & 8 she says "we have culled... for our state tomorrow. Act 4, sc 5 takes place the next morning which is the day she is to marry Paris which is Thursday. Since the drug's effects last 48 hours, if Juliet takes the drug on Wednesday evening, the drug will wear off on Friday evening.

hope that helps

g

[xman]

Originally Posted by art deco

the text support for the opening scene on Sunday is correct. however, Act V, sc 3 takes place on Friday evening. Act 4, scene 3 is the scene where Juliet takes the drug. in line 7 & 8 she says "we have culled... for our state tomorrow. Act 4, sc 5 takes place the next morning which is the day she is to marry Paris which is Thursday. Since the drug's effects last 48 hours, if Juliet takes the drug on Wednesday evening, the drug will wear off on Friday evening.

But the drug only actually lasts about four and twenty hours as evidenced by the action of the play. Juliet is discovered by her family the morning after the vial is drunk and thought to be dead. The Friar instructs the Capulets to bear her to the vault. Romeo awakens having had a portentous dream and is informed of Juliet's apparent death whereupon he declares that he will die beside her that night.

It is an inconsistency that the action does not follow the Friar's words, but this is not uncommon in Shakespeare.

So it's Thursday by my reckoning.

X