The Use of Weather in 'Romeo and Juliet'

In the story of Romeo and Juliet, I believe that weather, as a part of settings; give significant effects to the story. Besides Juliet’s house, this story mostly takes place in outdoor, for example the beach where Romeo is gathering with his nephew and his friends. The story takes place in Verona, Italy. It has a mild climate where it will be very hot in the summer. The story takes place in July (Shakespeare, 1984. p.7) and it is the hottest weather in Verona with the highest temperature than any other months; it reaches 29-30 C (http://www.lonelyplanet.com/worldguide/italy/verona/when-to-go). According to eLook Online Dictionary, hot is characterized by violent and forceful activity or movement; very intense. It also persuades tempers to come up and loses the patience. Logically, people are likely getting angry in the hot weather. This is what happens in the story. The first conflict between Tybalt and Benvolio takes place in the gas station. It is set in the hot midday. When Benvolio runs away, the gas station is burned with fire (hot) that makes Tybalt become more passionate to chase Benvolio to kill him. Another conflict also comes up in the hot and dry beach when Mercutio is killed. Tybalt comes to kill Romeo, but Romeo doesn’t want to fight. Indeed, it makes Tybalt angry and hits Romeo. The hot weather provokes Mercutio to fight for Romeo and accidentally he is killed. This is the hottest setting of place in the story, in which the climax of the story also begins here, as the impact of hot weather in summer. The hot weather in Mantua, Italy, also persuaded Romeo to be an emotional person when he gets the news that Juliet is dead. If he is not short-thinking, or being too emotional, perhaps there is a hope that he will receive the letter from Friar Lawrence. Indeed, the hot weather plays a big role here and makes Romeo angrily and emotionally goes to see