Defying the Stars: Tragic Love as the Struggle for

Freedom in William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet

Defying the Stars: Tragic Love as the Struggle for

Freedom in William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet

Dr. Friedemann Kreuder (Mainz) Dr. Paul Kottman (New York)

Dr. Friedemann Kreuder (Mainz) Dr. Paul Kottman (New York)

The Presence of the Past: European Cultures of Memory IP Summer School 2011

Foundational Questions

What is Romeo and Juliet really about?

Do Romeo and Juliet (as a couple) satisfy Hegel’s definition of tragic hero? Do they then constitute themselves as modern subjects?

How do Romeo and Juliet separate themselves from nature? Do they succeed in conquering/defying it? Or do they simply step aside from it?

Are Romeo and Juliet truly free? If so, how do they actualize this freedom?

What are the tragic elements of Romeo and Juliet?

Why do we respond to their love affair?

What is the function of the prologue? How does it transform the story?

How have contemporary definitions of family changed our reception of Shakespeare?

Is betrayal, or the temptation of betrayal a necessary qualifier of faithfulness?

What are the distinguishing differences between a literary reading and a performative reception of Shakespeare?

What are the distinguishing differences between romantic love and other types of relationships?

Can death/suicide be a happy ending?

Reading List

Derrida, Jacques. “Aphorism, Countertime.” in Kottman, Paul A. Philosophers on Shakespeare. Stanford University Press, 2009.

Goldberg, Jonathan. “Romeo and Juliet’s Open R’s.” in Shakespeare’s Hand. University of Minnesota Press, 2003.

Hegel, G.W. F. “Dramatic Poetry.” from Aesthetics: Lectures on Fine Art. in Kottman, Paul A. (Ed). Philosophers on Shakespeare. Stanford University Press, 2009.

Kottman, Paul. A. “Introduction.” in Philosophers on Shakespeare. Stanford University Press, 2009.

Shakespeare, William. Romeo and Juliet.

Questions derived from the Readings

What are the challenges Hegel faces in light of Shakespeare’s work?

How is Derrida’s conception of Aphorism different from quotidian definitions and how do we apply this to Romeo and Juliet?

How do we recognize and acknowledge separateness? Is it only achievable through the acceptance of death as a necessary precondition?

How does temporality affect the determination of identity and consequently our reception/perception of the other?

What are the different levels of desire? How do we recognize mutual desire in comparison to objectified desire?

Why do we have families?

What is the role of gendered sexuality in our reception of romantic love?

Favourite quotations

“Love is free, mutual self-recognition.” and “Separateness is not given, it is the achievement of love.” (Kottman)

“The reason is that truly tragic action necessarily presupposes either a live conception of individual freedom and independence or at least an individual’s determination and willingness to accept freely and on his own account the responsibility for his own act and its consequences....” (Hegel, 58)

“I love you, but I’m just quoting.” (Umberto Eco)

“The aphorism or discourse of dissociation: each sentence, each paragraph dedicates itself to separation, it shuts itself up, whether one likes it or not, in the solitude of its proper duration.” (Derrida, 171)

Other reference points

Dante’s Inferno - Canto V (Francesca & Paolo)

Lessing’s Emilia Galotti

Schiller’s The Robbers (Die Räuber)

Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde

West Side Story

Ovid’s Metamorphosis (Pyramus & Thisbe)

Departures (Okuribito) (2008) - dir. Yôjirô Takita

Sophocles’ Antigone

Kabuki and Japanese love suicides

Shakespeare in Love (1998) - dir. John Madden

Brokeback Mountain (2005) - dir. Ang Lee; written by Annie Proulx

Filmic representations Filmic representations

Romeo + Juliet (1996)

dir. Baz Luhrmann

Romeo + Juliet (1996)

dir. Baz Luhrmann

Romeo and Juliet (1968)

dir. Franco Zeffirelli

Romeo and Juliet (1968)

dir. Franco Zeffirelli

what is lost in substituting a swimming pool for the balcony?

what is the impact of seeing each other die versus finding each other dead?

In fair Verona (beach), where we lay our scene...

“The exchange of thy love’s faithful vow for mine” (II.ii)

“Let us talk: it is not day./ It is, it is: hie thee hence, be gone, away!” (III.v)

“O happy dagger. This is thy sheath.” (V.iii)

What satisfaction canst thou have tonight?

Further Discussion

Why doesn’t Romeo commit suicide in Mantua?

What is the relevance of Romeo and Juliet today?

What impact do our ever changing conceptions and definitions of sexuality and gender have on our idea of romantic love?

If suicide is happy, then how is Romeo and Juliet still a tragedy?

Do we agree or disagree with Hegel’s reading of Shakespeare?

How would we stage Kottman’s reading and the importance individuality?