Romeo and Juliet
ellauri164.html: Everyone knows how Romeo and Juliet ends, and yet we still cry when they die. The same is true of the first of the two Torah portions we read this week, Parashat Hukkat/Balak. In this portion, we learn that Moses will not enter the Promised Land. We have heard or read this story every year, and yet we are still upset, still angry that, on the threshold, Moses is denied admission to the Land to which he has been leading the Israelites for forty years.
ellauri392.html: And what the devil were Romeo and Juliet
ellauri481.html: Romeo and Juliet (William Shakespeare, 1597) Story type: Icarus Chart by Miriam Quick, created using R packages Syuzhet, Tidytext and Gutenbergr. All charts use smoothed data (Credit: Chart by Miriam Quick, created using R packages Syuzhet, Tidytext and Gutenbergr. All charts use smoothed data). Chart by Miriam Quick, created using R packages Syuzhet, Tidytext and Gutenbergr. All charts use smoothed data (Credit: Chart by Miriam Quick, created using R packages Syuzhet, Tidytext and Gutenbergr. All charts use smoothed data).
ellauri481.html: Romeo and Juliet is naturally considered to be a tragedy in line with Shakespeare’s own description, but when you analyse its sentiment the story appears closer to the Icarus shape: a rise, then a fall. After all, the boy must find the girl and fall in love with her before they both lose each other. The romantic peak happens around a quarter of the way through the play, in the famous balcony scene in which they declare their undying love for one another. It’s all downhill from there. Romeo kills Tybalt and flees, the Friar’s plan to smuggle Juliet out to join him provides a small bump of false hope to the drama, but once Juliet has drunk the potion nothing can prevent the final, still-searing tragedy.
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