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Theater

Richard, Romeo, Juliet and the Sonnet

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Two of Shakespeare’s earliest playsRichard III and Romeo and Juliet, open with sonnets and then employ variations on the sonnet’s structure for dramatic and poetic effect, which is not surprising. At this point in Shakespeare’s life he seems to have had dual career goals. First, he wanted to make money, which he could accomplish through theatre.
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Two households, both alike in dignity

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Two households, both alike in dignity,
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudgeParenthesis
break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.Antanaclesis & Synecdoche

From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life

From forth the fatal loins of these two foesAlliteration,
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What players are they?

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Hamlet
What players are they?
Rosencrantz
Even those you were wont to take such
delight in, the tragedians of the city.
Hamlet
How chances it they travel? Their residence,
both in reputation and profit, was better both ways.
Rosencrantz
I think their inhibition comes by the
means of the late innovation.
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Source:
Act 2
Scene 2
Line 350

Source Type:

Spoken by:
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Themes:
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Thou seest we are not all alone unhappy

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Duke Senior
Thou seest we are not all alone unhappy:
This wide and universal theatre
Presents more woeful pageants than the scene
Wherein we play in.
Jaques
All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
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Source:
Act 2
Scene 7
Line 136

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Spoken by:
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Themes:
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