pondělí 12. března 2012

For the critical piece I have chosen a book called Queering the Renaissance written by Jonathan Goldberg published in the year 1994. As said by the Duke University Press "Queering the Renaissance offers a major reassessment of the field of Renaissance studies. Gathering essays by sixteen critics working within the perspective of gay and lesbian studies, this collection redraws the map of sexuality and gender studies in the Renaissance. Taken together, these essays move beyond limiting notions of identity politics by locating historically forms of same-sex desire that are not organized in terms of modern definitions of homosexual and heterosexual." This means that the book is not entirely about Romeo and Juliet only a small section of it. So if we take the section about Romeo and Juliet, Goldberg examines the sexuality of Romao and Mercution. He believes that these two characters have a homoerotic relationship between each other. The author backs up his thoughts by several quotes.
1st example: "To raise a spirit in his mistress' circle ... letting it there stand / Till she had laid it and conjured it down." This quote was said by Meruction and it is supposed to be reffering to a friendly conversation where Meruction talks about Romeo´s phallus. The quote is supposed to be meant as a joke but Goldberg sees it as a homoerotic offer.
2nd example: Goldberg believes that the character Rosaline is in the play only to show Romeo´s homosexuality. Because Rosaline is distant, there is no way for Romeo to create and offspring with her. That´s why Benvolio tells Romeo to find someone who can give him a child. Goldberg sees this in a way that Romeo is a homosexual and Benvolio tells him that he cannot have a child with a man so he should try to convert to heterosexism. Goldberg has also written that Shakespeare shows the homosexuality of a young character in his sonnets by which he is trying to say that every young male character in a Shakespeare´s book is homosexual.
3rd example: "...that which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet." This is a quote said by Juliet. In Goldberg´s mind he thinks that what Juliet means is that there is no difference between the beauty of a man and the beauty of a woman.
So to sum up Goldberg´s thoughts-Romeo is a homosexual together with Mercutio and Benvolio tells him to it is a bad idea, so Romeo converts into heterosexuality and falls in love with Juliet, who knows that Romeo is homosexual. WOOOOOW!!! As you have probably realized by now by reading my posts, I am completely in love with this play and I have chosen this critical piece only to show you, that any critic about this play is rubbish. I cannot even believe that someone can write something like this. I do not believe any of Goldberg´s thoughts and to be objective, I actually even cannot see it in the play. In my opinion, any reasonable person who has ever read the play has to agree with me that a critic like this cannot even be taken seriously. Romeo is first in love with Rosaline (who actually IS a woman!!!) and then falls in love with Juliet. I do not see any homosexuality in this. Also, would a homosexual express his love to a woman by these such wonderful words:
"I have night's cloak to hide me from their sight;
And but thou love me, let them find me here:
My life were better ended by their hate,
Than death prorogued, wanting of thy love."?
Romeo expresses that he doesn´t mind getting killed because it would be better to get killed if Juliet would not love him. Does a homosexual say this to a woman? I don´t think so.
To end this post, I would only like to say that no criticism could be true about this flawless play.

1 komentář:

  1. Criticism is always tricky business. The field of literary science is pretty far-ranging, and a lot of the critics aren't necessarily trying to redefine the play, but provide the opportunity for looking at it from another point of view. It's interesting you have found Goldberg's essays, and your response is a great start to your own critical reaction -- the quote you use is great support for your thoughts. Well done.

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