How do we know this was Juliet's birthday?
http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/book/jul31.html 1578 Birth of Juliet Capulet, ill-fated lover of Romeo Montague in Shakespeare’s play, Romeo and Juliet."Come Lammas eve at night shall she be fourteen. That shall she, marry; I remember it well. 'Tis since the earthquake now eleven years, an’ she was weaned."
Shakespeare’s characters spoke as if they were English people living in his own times; London had an earthquake in 1580. She would have been two when weaned. Tomorrow, August 1, is the ancient Celtic pagan festival of Lammas, and today is Lammas Eve. These clues can make us confident that we may wish Juliet a happy birthday today.
Categories: shakespeare, lammas, history, fiction
Pip Wilson posted item above at 4:32 PM | Permalink
4 Comments:
So, Juliet was born in 1578?
Like I said, I think so.
Counterpoint: The play setting is Verona, Italy. Would Veronese pay mind to a 1580 earthquake noted in London? Or do they prefer to landmark their time reckoning by more domestic seismic activity? Also, marrying off a daughter at 14 would have been highly irregular in 1590s Elizabethan England.
Shakespeare often had such inconsistencies, and he wasn't writing from Verona, nor for Italian audiences. As for 14-year-old brides, are you sure of that?
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