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REVIEW
- Phillips, Brian. SparkNotes on Romeo and Juliet.
- <http://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/romeojuliet>
- Visited: 30 June 2002
Contents: Much like CliffsNotes, this study guide consists mostly of scene summaries. Each scene summary is followed by an "analysis," in which the author comments on how the scene contributes to the development of a character or theme.
In addition, Phillips provides other pages. Here's a list:
- "Context": General remarks on Shakespeare and Romeo and Juliet.
- "Plot Overview": The whole play on fast forward.
- "Characters": One or two sentences about most of the speaking characters; three or four sentences about the more important ones.
- "Character Analysis": Four paragraphs each on Romeo and Juliet. One paragraph each on Friar Laurence and Mercutio.
- "Themes, Motifs, and Symbols": Mini-essays on the following:
- "Love"
- "The Relationship between Love and Death, Passion, and Violence"
- "The Conflict between Social Institutions"
- "Fate"
- "Light/Dark Imagery"
- "Alternative Views of Events in the Play"
- "Quotations": One or two paragraphs each on each of four quotations.
- "Key Facts": An odd page of miscellaneous information, most of it repeated from other parts of the site.
- "Study Questions and Essay Topics": Three study questions, with answers. Four essay topics, with no essays.
- "Quiz": A multiple-choice test. Too easy for anyone who has actually read the play.
- "Suggestions for Further Reading": A list of nine scholarly books and articles.
Evaluation: Reasonable opinions are expressed and no facts are distorted, but everything is very short. Romeo gets fewer than 500 words, and the rest of the mini-essays are even shorter. The result of all this brevity is that the play seems dull. It's like listening to Beethoven played on a kazoo.
Nasty Notes:
- Usually the writing is clear, but there are a few sentences which contain obvious errors. Here are two examples, both from the page on themes and motifs:
- "Love is naturally the play's many stories have been translated and thus exist in the English languagedominant and most important theme."
- "Such structures avoid rep range from the concrete to the abstract: families and the placement of familial power in the father; law and the desire for public order; religion; and the social importance placed on masculine honor."
- When I visited the site it was running a sleazy pop-up ad for some work-from-home, get-rich-quick scheme.
Am I Biased Against the Competition? Yes.
Bottom Line: OK for those who want to be told what to think.
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