[Driver examines Romeo and Juliet in terms of the necessity of condensing "real" time into stage time in such a way that the audience will believe the events of the play have actually taken place. The critic points out that Shakespeare compressed the action of Romeo and Juliet in two ways: first, he considerably shortened the length of the action as it appeared in his source, Arthur Brooke's The Tragicall Historye of Romeus and Juliet; second, he used very brief scenes to account for longer periods of time. This compression, Driver asserts, underscores the theme of haste in the play. The critic also notes how Shakespeare varies the rhythm of the drama, slowing down or speeding up the action to match its meaning.]
In Romeo and Juliet the young Shakespeare learned the craft of creating.....
This is a free excerpt of 135 words. This section contains 1,555 words. This
study guide contains 59,174 words (approx. 197 pages at 300
words per page).
Read the rest of this Literature Guide with our Romeo and Juliet Access Pass.
