Romeo and Juliet Introduction (Book)

Time

Time plays an important role in the language and plot of the play. Both Romeo and Juliet struggle to maintain as imaginary world void of time in the face of the harsh realities that surround them. For instance, when Romeo attempts to swear his love to Juliet by the moon, Juliet tells him not to, as it is known to be inconstant over time, and she does not desire this of him. From the very beginning, the lovers are designated as "star-crossed" referring to an astrological belief which is heavily connected to time. Stars were thought to control the fates of men, and as time passed, stars would move along their course in the sky, also charting the course of human lives below. Romeo speaks of a foreboding he feels in the stars movements' early in the play, and when he learns of Juliet's death, he defies the stars' course for him.

A "haste theme" can be considered as fundamental to the play. For example, the action of Romeo and Juliet spans a period of four to six days, in contrast to Brooke's poem's spanning nine months. Scholars such as Tanselle believe that time was "especially important to Shakespeare" in this play, as he used references to "short-time" for the young lovers as opposed to references to "long-time" for the "older generation" to highlight "a headlong rush towards doom". Romeo and Juliet fight time to make their love to last forever. In the end, the only way they see to defeat time is through a noteworthy death which makes them immortal through art.

Time is heavily connected to the theme of light and dark as well. The play is said in the Prologue to be about two hours long, creating a problem for any playwright wishing to express longer amounts of time. In Shakespeare's day, plays were often performed at noon in broad daylight. This forced the playwright to use words to create the illusion of day and night in his plays. Shakespeare uses references to the night and day, the stars, the moon, and the sun to create this illusion. He also has characters frequently refer to days of the week and specific hours to help the audience understand that time has passed in the story. All in all, no fewer than 103 references to time are found in the play, adding to this illusion of its passage.

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/William_Shakespeare%27s_Works/Tragedies/Romeo_and_Juliet#Time