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The theme of love in Shakespeare's plays
Reaction to Romeo and Juliet
The theme of love in Shakespeare's plays
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A male character’s narrative voice describes their enthusiastic response to affection for a female character. “Michelle,” a song performed by Sir Paul McCartney for president Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama. The song portrays the story of a young man expressing their love for Michelle, which presumably does not understand English. Romeo and Juliet is a play written by William Shakespeare, set in the 1300s. In Act 1 Scene 5, Romeo expresses his reaction to seeing Juliet for the first time at Capulet’s party. Taking account for what both sources say about how males express their emotions, it can be inferred that when a man has affection for another, the male is drawn to respond verbally in a way that would express their emotions within.
Who would be willing to die for their loved ones? Romeo and Juliet would and did. Romeo and Juliet’s love and death brought two families together who could not even remember the origin of their hate. When the parents saw what their children's love for each other, they realized that their fighting had only led to suffering and insoluble conflict. Romeo and Juliet loved each other to an extent that they killed themselves rather than live apart. They did it with no hiatus. Juliet says before she kills herself, “O happy dagger, This is thy sheath. There rust and let me die.”( 5, 3, 182-183) demonstrating how she would rather die than not be with him.
In the play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, Mercutio, a friend of Romeo plays a deep role within the play. Many characters in Romeo and Juliet can represent the masculine or feminine spaces. The masculine space is chaotic and more towards the sexual and material side of the play, which have more of a tragic potential. While the feminine space is peaceful, more romantic and spiritual in giving a better chance for the comic potential. Mercutio represents the masculine space while Romeo prefers the peacefulness of the feminine space. Mercutio tells Romeo to be rough with love, he tries to keep him within the masculine space after the ball, and he fools with the Juliet’s nurse because of his actions he pushes Romeo towards tragedy.
Romeo furthermore experiences loss in Act 5 Scene 3- the feeling of sorrow towards his newlywed wife Juliet. In this scene, Romeo delivers a monologue to what he believes is Juliet’s corpse. The audience can note that Romeo’s melodramatic nature once again surfaces with this speech, using light and dark imagery (which is a reoccurring theme throughout the play) to poetically pronounce the final soliloquy to his beloved. Somewhat irrationally, Romeo suggests that “unsubstantial death” is “amorous” because Juliet looked so “fair”- believing that a physical form of death has stolen Juliet from him to pursue her as their own lover because she looked so attractive. This absurd notion presents to the audience how Romeo’s reaction to this bereavement
In literature, characters are generally introduced by what the characters say, what is said about them, and who they are surrounded by. Shakespeare introduces his character in such a way.
As the reader considers the narrative voices in stories, plays, and songs, a male character usually expresses an enthusiastic response towards his affection in a female character. “Michelle” is a song performed by Sir Paul Mccartney for President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama. The song written by John Lennon and Paul Mccartney mirrors a man desperately in love with a woman that does not understand his language, so he attempts to express his affection in a language she can further understand, French. Similarly a play written by William Shakespeare named The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet centers around a male character expressing certain affection towards a female character. An excerpt of this play located in Act 1, Scene 5, Lines 44-53 pictures protagonist Romeo showing affection towards his lover Juliet verbally.
Love is portrayed in numerous mediums: song, history, rhythmic dance, or poetry. These four instruments of love typically identify the notion as subjective, lifeless, and static. Song writer of this age often convey love as a goal in life not as an element of living. While people from different periods in history used love to gain power giving love a bare and emotionless personnel. And lastly dance and poetry perceives love as inaudible and plain, because the vary performers and authors have not experienced love on an intimate or divine level. However William Shakespeare is one of few to frequently incorporate simple, yet complex terminology in sonnets to convey different concepts of love. The comprehensive
Men in Romeo and Juliet want to be the strongest out of everyone. They think they are becoming stronger because of their attempt to be men. This is called masculinity. According to Appelbaum, masculinity says to reach a certain goal which one has set(Appelbaum, 251). In Romeo and Juliet, masculinity is largely prominent. As Romeo is about to commit suicide, Friar Laurence scolds him, saying “Art thou a man? Thy form cries out thou art. Thy tears are womanish; thy wild acts denote the unreasonable fury of a beast. Unseemly woman in a seeming man”(Shakespeare, 3.2.18). In essence, Friar Laurence is asking Romeo if he is a man, and saying he is acting like a woman in the form of a man. Friar Laurence is scolding Romeo for not acting like a man, or following masculinity. The men in Romeo and Juliet are trying to get to a goal, but sometimes it is impos...
In “Romeo and Juliet,” a play written by William Shakespeare, women were portrayed as ranking below men and always expected to act poised and subdued. If they attempted to possess any more power than what was given to them by men, others would view them as stepping out of their place and misbehaving. In most scenarios, when a man is talking to a women, the words and phrases that they use have a connotation of being very dominant and controlling.
Within William Shakespeare’s tragedy, Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare communicates through an insightful storyline; a message that true love is worth the ultimate sacrifice. Shakespeare utilizes figurative language in order to craft perceptive lines and spread an important theme. Amidst his writing, there are touches upon family feud, grief, loyalty, and a forbidden paramour. With use of sonnets and iambic pentameter, Shakespeare’s writing skills are portrayed as iconic in English literature. The adoption of iambic pentameter aids with the flow and clarity; it is a writing and speech style mostly used within early English literature and modern English language. The usage of this beat helps drive the apparent strength apart of Romeo and Juliet’s
When asking someone how much they value friendship and what friendship means to them, you may find that nobody will give you the same answer. Some may say that friendship is one of the most valuable relationships in life and that this should mean life or death. Other may think that simple arguments are worth losing long term relationships and friendship is something to be taken lightly. Shakespeare tackles the theme of friendship in A Midsummer Night's Dream and Romeo and Juliet by using figurative language, diction, and characterization.
Light is one of the most repeated themes throughout Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. The novel in general is linked to light, one way or another. When Romeo avoids the light, it shows that he has turned to depression. Actions meant to be steady are sped up. Objects such as the sun, stars, and torches can be related as well. Light can be the speed of actions becoming faster, as a sudden death falls upon the people. Light can be a woman who is the brightest in the world; a woman whose beauty shines the most. Light can be an emotion with people of lively personalities can be compared to, but then comes darkness where those who hide can be compared to depression. Light is utilized in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet to mirror the actions throughout
The Elizabethan Era is known to contain certain gender roles for women that are especially demonstrated in Shakespeare’s writing. In his plays, the female characters are established as property of their fathers and their husbands. Throughout “Romeo and Juliet”, this notion justifies the behaviors of Lord Capulet and Lady Capulet especially. These gender normalities can be exemplified in 1.3 after an analyzation of Lady Capulet’s conversation with Juliet regarding her eligibility to be married to the man that she chooses for her daughter.
Men are all about the chase until they find that one woman who knocks them off their feet. Until the day she walks into their lives, they enjoy being a bachelor; however, meeting that special someone changes their outlook on relationships. The single life they once loved starts to be less appealing. They begin to imagine settling down with their lover and creating a life together. Once they have decided this is what they want in their lives they want to let the world know how lucky they are. Writers have expressed their love and bragged about the beauty of their lovers for centuries. Shakespeare is a wonderful example of a man who beautifully described the woman he loved in his sonnets. Many current day writers do as well. Brad Paisley is another
In Shakespeare’s play “The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet” males make a more dramatic impact because they are the most violent in the story than the woman. Because of how the males act, there is a lot of fighting and arguing going on.
Perhaps it is Shakespeare’s last unspoken word on the concept of love: childlike and mischievous. For those under love’s spell, perception becomes distorted in the subjectivity of the imagination rather than the objectivity of truth. Helena’s metaphor effectively imparts Shakespeare’s notion that Love has a beguiling and capricious nature. For Shakespeare, lover’s left disillusioned and irrational is conceivably the happiest