Essay Rehearsal 6: Romeo and Juliet. Shakespeare gives us a clear, precise indication of the time during Capulet’s meeting with Paris after Tybalt’s death and Romeo’s banishment. Capulet asks, “But soft, what day is this?” And Paris replies: “Monday, my lord.” So Capulet postpones by a day the wedding they are arranging: “Monday, haha! Well, Wednesday is too soon./ O’ Thursday let it be.—O’ Thursday, tell her,/ She shall be married to this noble earl.—” (3.4.20-24). Given this temporal fact as your starting point, what is the time scheme of the play? That is, what happens each day leading up to this scene? And what happens on each day after it? Feel free to present this information as a note-form chronology of the major events, such as the first and last event of each day.
