Samson, Gregory, and the Herdsmen in Romeo and Juliet and Caius Marius

Samson, Gregory, and the Herdsmen in Romeo and Juliet and Caius MariusThroughout Shakespeares chat ups, there are churl characters that often occur for only one scene. These characters have a short dialogue which seems rather meaningless to the dissolution however, these dialogues usually foreshadow or summarize events and themes of the play. Although they have little substance on the movement of the play, they give insight into the underlying themes of the play. Comparing these minor characters and their scenes in three different versions of Romeo and Juliet (the Shakepeare edition, the Garrick edition, and Otways adaptation, Caius Marius) show the differences in the emphasis of each version. In the Shakepeare and Garrick versions, the minor characters are Samson and Gregory who appear as the play opens. In Otways version, the minor characters are the herdsmen in knead IV. Samson and Gregory in the Shakespeare EditionSamson and Gregory appear in turn of events I, Scene I of Shakespeares Romeo and Juliet. Their playful dialogue sets the tone of the play and addresses one of its key issues, that of the dissensioning families. This feud leads to the scrap which takes place throughout the play, the starting signal of which is begun by Samson and Gregory, servingmen of Capulet. In the play, most everyone has accepted the fighting between the Monatgues and Capulets, even Romeo battles, but some see the problems with the fighting while others alone fight blindly. Although Samson and Gregory both start the first brawl of the play, the dickens characters display the aforementioned difference of opinions on fighting. The first to speak, Samson, sees the fighting as something that he must do and he brags about his skill as a tyrant. He begins by saying, On my word,... ...light key themes of the play. The Shakespeare version highlights the feud as a source of turmoil and distress. The Garrick, by omitting many passages, emphasizes the fighting instead of the reasoning behind the feud. The Otway, on the other hand, focuses on governmental strife and reflects the Exclusion Crisis and the threat of civil war in England at the time by reflecting these ideas in the feud. These small, but key passages, are historic tools for gaining insight into the themes of the plays. Works CitedCanfield, J. Douglas. Thomas Otway. Dictionary of Literary Biography. Ed. Paula R. Backsheider. vol 80. Rochester The Gale Group, 1989.Hedgcock, Frank A. A Cosmopolitan Actor David Carrick and His French Friends. Buffield and Company, 1912. Wallace, John M. Otways Caius Marius and the Exclusion Crisis. neo Philology. 85 (1998) 363-372.