Theatre Assignment Character Analysis: (Romeo & Juliet)

The scene that we (Daniel Medrano & I) enacted on Tuesday, the 3rd of December is from Romeo & Juliet (Act 5, Scene 1). The play kicks off from where Romeo kills himself, and then we roll back and see what led to such a consequence. We continue from the scene were Romeo is in search for an Apothecary he heard of before at Mantua. Then we go on with the scene where Romeo convinces the Apothecary, who is unwilling to give the drug as it is against the law, to give him the drug to kill himself. Then we jump directly into the climax where Romeo is at Juliets grave and he expresses his sorrow over Juliets death and finally kills himself. And to end for what is called the Circle of Life we show Juliets death too and thats where we end. A short & simple part of the play, but to present it we had to make a lot of choices and analyze a lot of aspects in the play. Here I am, presenting you the choices and the character analysis of the characters that Ive played. Casting: Maithreya Chakravarthula: Apothecary/Juliet Daniel Medrano: Romeo Going by the facts, Romeo & Juliet is a Romantic tragedy written by William Shakespeare in the mid-1500. The current scene in which Romeo tries to convince the apothecary to give them the drug at the apothecarys house in Mantua (today a place in Italy). Prior to the scene Romeo gets to know that Juliet has killed herself, and he is so depressed that he wants to kill himself and join Juliet in her death. Back in those days selling drugs in Mantua was illegal and the punishment for this was death to anyone who sells them. We get to know this through the Apothecarys words only, Such mortal drugs I have, but Mantuas law Is death to any he that utters them. Which literally means, I have lethal poisons like that. But its against the law to sell them in Mantua, and the penalty is death. But Romeo realizes that the apothecary was really poor & money could just convince him to sell a drug that would eventually kill Romeo. We know this through the conversation that takes place between the Apothecary and Romeo. The following lines convey the message, The world is not thy friend nor the worlds law. The world affords no law to make thee rich.

Then be not poor, but break it, and take this. Which means, The world is not your friend, and neither is the law. The world doesnt make laws to make you rich. So dont be poor. Break the law, and take this money. The apothecary is convinced by Romeos words and empathizes with him. Eventually he sells him the drug that would kill Romeo, but only for the money and not with heart. My poverty, but not my will, consents. meaning I agree because Im poor, not because I want to. I made a choice that the scene would take place during the day because of the fact that Romeo was searching for the Apothecarys house, looking at homes and trying to recognize it, after knowing that Juliets dead. It makes perfect sense that the scene was taking place before sunset. From the context we can also infer that the scene took place during a holiday. As I remember, this should be the house Being holiday, the beggars shop is shut. What, ho! Apothecary! When I was reading through the last line in the previous dialogue, I made a choice. The choice was to keep the Apothecary busy with a few chemicals and medicines around him, so as to justify the shouts of Romeo (What, ho! Apothecary!), so as to gather the Apothecarys attention. This is one of the most defining moments as it not only has an affect on Romeos life, the outcome of the play but also because of the choice the Apothecary was going to make. On one side he has a law that has to be protected and on another he had to free a true lover from his sorrow. It was a dueling contest in the Apothecarys mind. It was a fight between a DESIRE and a MORAL, LAW and BELIEF, LOVE and PAIN. To summarize it, it was a fight between POVERTY and WILL. My poverty, but not my will, consents. The most difficult thing for a doctor (In this case, an apothecary) to do is to kill a person, when his moral duty and responsibility is to save them. This is the exact scenario in which the apothecary has got tangled into. Hands that seek life have now come to seek death. The biggest question that lies ahead is to what the Apothecary (The Life saver) would do. Would he reject and let Romeo die to his fate, or would he understand the sorrow and help Romeo kill himself? We see that the Apothecary had taken a big decision, thanks to Romeos efforts to make him understand that the world is the friend of none, and so are the social laws that bind them.

The world is not thy friend nor the world's law; The world affords no law to make thee rich; He gives the drug to Romeo, and bids farewell, not just to his life but also to his sorrow. As I have mentioned before, the scene ends with Romeo & Juliet dying thereby continuing the circle of life, and also portraying that love has no bounds. Not just to the physical body but also to the extent of the soul and beyond.