Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy, by William Shakespeare, based on the theme of love. This love is presented in many different manifestations such as infatuation and unrequited love. This play is carefully written to show desires, emotions and family life. To the start of the play Romeo is talking of how his love has been 'vexed' he describes love as being a 'wise madness' a 'deadly poison' and a 'healing medicine'. This type of love he is describing in unrequited love, a love that is not returned, in this case it is not returned by Rosaline whom Romeo believes he is in love with. This love is contrasting to a situation coming about in the Capulet family, Paris'loves' Juliet but his love is not returned. William Shakespeare uses his language and words carefully. Sampson and Gregory talk of sex in a crude nature and speak of women as subordinate. The feuding has turned their minds so much that they would even rape the Montague women. They now do not know what true love is anymore. When in 'love' with Rosaline, Romeo tries to express the fact that love has a fatal power, he talks of two conflicting sides 'is love a tender thing….and it pricks like a thorn'. Benvolio also feels that the cure to solve Romeo's love is to love another: "Tut, man, one fire burns out another's burning". Romeo is the stereotypical Courtly lover who pines for the love of a woman who is unobtainable. Romeo illustrates what was expected of a courtly lover: He stays in sycamore groves," Where underneath the grove of sycamore". He shuts himself away banished from society, preferring night to day, "Shuts up windows…. himself an artificial night", from this we seem to get the impression that Romeo is in love with the idea of being in love. The overuse of these oxymoron's in his speech makes the effect become artificial. "Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick health and still-waking sleep'. Romeo wants to be a courtly lover so
Romeo realizes this after he kills Tybalt, Juliet’s cousin, in a brawl. At first, Romeo does not want to fight because Romeo and Juliet are already married at this time and he knows that they are cousins. Tybalt asks for a brawl from Romeo, but Mercutio fights instead. Mercutio gets killed by Tybalt and that is what makes Romeo mad and fights Tybalt. At the end of the fight when Romeo kills Tybalt and then realizes what he has done he yells out, “O, I am Fortune’s fool!”
In the fair city of Verona, two rival families, the Montagues and Capulets were involved in a nasty family feud that goes back years before any of the members were born. Even the townspeople were involved in the dispute, because the families were always fighting in the streets and causing disturbances. They disrupted the streets of Verona and even Prince Escalus tried to break up the fighting. They were given a warning, by him that another public fight would result in death. While this was occurring, Romeo, (a Montague) the main character, was getting over his last love, Rosaline, and was very upset. Juliet of the Capulet household had just been introduced to a wealthy young man, Paris, whom her parents wished her to marry. Yet she did not love him. Romeo goes to a party in an effort to forget about Rosaline. At this party he met Juliet, and immediately fell in love with her. He later finds out that she is a Capulet, the rival family of the Montagues. He decides that he loves her anyway and they confess their love for each other during the very famous "balcony scene" in which they agreed to secretly marry the next day. Friar Lawrence agreed to marry them in an effort to end the feuding between the families. Unfortunately, the fighting gets worse and Mercutio (Montague) a good friend of Romeo ends up in a fight with Tybalt (Capulet), Juliet's cousin. Tybalt killed Mercutio, which caused Romeo to kill Tybalt in an angry rage. For this, Romeo is banished from Verona. At the same time, the Capulet's were planning Juliet's marriage to Paris. Juliet didn't want to marry this man so she arranges with Friar Lawrence to fake her own death with a sleeping potion that would make everyone think that she was dead. Friar Lawrence promised to send word to Romeo to meet her when the potion wears off and to rescue her to Mantua, where Romeo was currently staying. There they would live happily ever after. Unfortunately, Romeo didn't receive the message on time and upon hearing of her "death" went to Juliet's tomb where he drinks poison and dies. When Juliet's potion wears off, she wakes to find her lover's dead corpse. She then proceeds to stab herself with Romeo's dagger. The two families find the bodies and with their shared sorrow, finally make peace with each other.
Fate or choice? Choice or fate? How does one separate these ideals? Can one? Shakespeare could not. Nor can we. Fate and choice are so intertwined that our choices determine our fate, and our fate determines our choices. William Shakespeare trusts the audience to scrutinize whether it is fate or choice that rules our human life. Shakespeare aptly conveys this oxymoron (with which people have been dealing for ages) through the evidence and structure of his play, Romeo and Juliet.
wither in their pride/ Ere we may think her ripe to be a bride.” From
“He who falls in love meets a worse fate than he who falls from a
some that I shall show, and I will make thee think thy swan a crow.”
Rosalyn who is going to become a nun. Romeo is upset by this and his
Throughout the entirety of Romeo & Juliet, Shakespeare is hinting at the “star crossed” deadly fate of the lovers spoken of by the chorus in the prologue. Romeo and Juliet are also constantly mentioning their uneasy feelings and how they can sense that something bad will happen, which confirm the aforementioned conclusion. This foreshadowing not only tells us this tragedy planned, but there must be pawns of fate that have to drive Romeo and Juliet together, while at the same time leading them to their death. In Romeo and Juliet, their deadly destiny was written by the universe and characters along the way, such as Capulet, Montague, Nurse, Friar Lawrence, Friar John, and Mercutio.
of a fight "let us take the law of our side let them begin" Sampson
Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare Romeo and Juliet is one of the best stage plays that Shakespeare has written with a lot of tragedy involved in it and to balance the tragedy Shakespeare has introduced comedy into the play. He achieved this by doing such things as adding comical figures such as nurse or odd behaviour of a character which seems amusing to the audience. The main comedy in the play is introduced when Romeo enters the stage in act one scène one as love sicken person who is over infatuating his love for Rosaline. "Out of her favour where I am in love." (Act1, Scene 1).
Love at initial sight is a broadly debated belief. Some believe that true love that only has physical attraction without a deeper understanding of an individual doesn’t exist. Although, others argue that someone may be able to identify true love instantly. In fact, Shakespeare dedicates part of his play to this matter. In addition, he refers to Romeo and Juliet as "star-crossed lovers". To put it in another way, the two lovers are dissatisfied by fate from the very beginning. They may not have fallen in love like normal young people, but they still truly love one another.
Throughout the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare, various types of love are portrayed. According to some of the students of Shakespeare, Shakespeare himself had accumulated wisdom beyond his years in matters pertaining to love (Bloom 89). Undoubtedly, he draws upon this wealth of experience in allowing the audience to see various types of love personified. Shakespeare argues that there are several different types of love, the interchangeable love, the painful love and the love based on appearances, but only true love is worth having. The first type of love the audience is introduced to is the interchangeable love of Benvolio.
Throughout the years, William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet has been celebrated as one of the great tragedies of all time. William Shakespeare is an English playwright born in Stratford upon Avon during the 1500’s. Two innocent young hearts are caught in the middle of an everlasting conflict. How is the most romantic love story of all time also the most tragic? Is it the burning passion that the two lovers share? Or is it the pure hatred that their families have for each other? A force more powerful than love is expressed in this timeless tale. That force is chaos.
Romeo has a passion for love that is unbreakable, and he will do anything to get who he wants, no matter the consequences that might follow. An example of this is when Romeo goes to Juliet’s balcony and confesses his love for her, but what he does not understand is that “if they do see thee, they will murder thee” (Shakespeare II.ii.75). Romeo has trouble accepting the reality that it will not work out for him or her because of family differences. The intensity of love in both of these texts becomes a dangerous and violent thing.
goes to the party held by Lord Capulet in order to see Rosaline. He is