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Chapter 2. Juliet’s balcony

The balcony scenes from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet across cultures and media
  • Manfred Pfister
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<i>Romeo and Juliet</i> in European Culture
This chapter is in the book <i>Romeo and Juliet</i> in European Culture

Abstract

This chapter traces the history of Juliet’s balcony from its beginnings in Shakespeare’s text to the present times across European and non-European cultures and follows its transformations across the media of print, theatre, visual arts, tourism, cinema, advertising, music and ballet. The story that emerges is one of a rise and fall: the balcony, not even mentioned in Shakespeare’s text, within the next to two centuries becomes the centre of the play in theatrical performances and the central icon of Romeo’s and Juliet’s romantic love. Paradoxically, it will continue to function as such worldwide even when, in the late nineteenth century, artists begin to turn against the conventional symbolic equation and to defamiliarise, erase or dismantle the balcony.

Abstract

This chapter traces the history of Juliet’s balcony from its beginnings in Shakespeare’s text to the present times across European and non-European cultures and follows its transformations across the media of print, theatre, visual arts, tourism, cinema, advertising, music and ballet. The story that emerges is one of a rise and fall: the balcony, not even mentioned in Shakespeare’s text, within the next to two centuries becomes the centre of the play in theatrical performances and the central icon of Romeo’s and Juliet’s romantic love. Paradoxically, it will continue to function as such worldwide even when, in the late nineteenth century, artists begin to turn against the conventional symbolic equation and to defamiliarise, erase or dismantle the balcony.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. List of contributors vii
  4. Introduction 1
  5. Chapter 1. Heavenly eloquence 25
  6. Chapter 2. Juliet’s balcony 37
  7. Chapter 3. Romeo and Juliet in Germany 61
  8. Chapter 4. Romeo and Juliet on the French stage 77
  9. Chapter 5. Romeo and Juliet in Spain 101
  10. Chapter 6. Judaisation in the first Hebrew translation of Romeo and Juliet 119
  11. Chapter 7. Giulietta e Romeo 139
  12. Chapter 8. Star-crossed lovers in Sweden 159
  13. Chapter 9. Romeo and Juliet  – The East Side Story 177
  14. Chapter 10. “Unveiling” Romeo and Juliet in Spain 197
  15. Chapter 11. Romeo and Juliet in British culture 227
  16. Chapter 12. A festival blockbuster 247
  17. Chapter 13. What’s in a stamp? 263
  18. Chapter 14. “In fair [Europe], where we lay our scene” 283
  19. Chapter 15. A selective timeline of Romeo and Juliet in European culture 301
  20. Index 321
https://doi.org/10.1075/sec.1.03pfi

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. List of contributors vii
  4. Introduction 1
  5. Chapter 1. Heavenly eloquence 25
  6. Chapter 2. Juliet’s balcony 37
  7. Chapter 3. Romeo and Juliet in Germany 61
  8. Chapter 4. Romeo and Juliet on the French stage 77
  9. Chapter 5. Romeo and Juliet in Spain 101
  10. Chapter 6. Judaisation in the first Hebrew translation of Romeo and Juliet 119
  11. Chapter 7. Giulietta e Romeo 139
  12. Chapter 8. Star-crossed lovers in Sweden 159
  13. Chapter 9. Romeo and Juliet  – The East Side Story 177
  14. Chapter 10. “Unveiling” Romeo and Juliet in Spain 197
  15. Chapter 11. Romeo and Juliet in British culture 227
  16. Chapter 12. A festival blockbuster 247
  17. Chapter 13. What’s in a stamp? 263
  18. Chapter 14. “In fair [Europe], where we lay our scene” 283
  19. Chapter 15. A selective timeline of Romeo and Juliet in European culture 301
  20. Index 321
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