William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet
In Shakespeare's plays he very rarely used original ideas. Most of the
plays he wrote, such as "Romeo and Juliet," were adapted from other
people's stories. Shakespeare used these ideas as basic outlines for
his plays. The story of "Romeo and Juliet" had been around for
hundreds of years before Shakespeare created his own version. The most
recent was a poem by Arthur Brooke. His version was called Romeo and
Julietta; this play was over 3000 lines long and written in rhyming
couplets.
There are lots of parts of Brooke's poem that Shakespeare has used in
his play such as the characters Mercutio, Tybalt and Paris. Although
Shakespeare's play has a lot of similarities to Arthur Brooke's poem,
Shakespeare's version also has a lot of differences. Tybalt, who is
only mentioned once in Arthur Brooke's poem, plays a very important
part in Shakespeare's where he helps keep the feud going between the
two households. Also Brooke's version takes place over months whereas
Shakespeare's only takes place over a few days, this adds greater
interest to the play because so much happens so fast. Arthur Brooke's
poem is also less interesting compared to Shakespeare's because
Shakespeare exploits the use of unusual contrasts such as action and
comedy, intimate romance and public spectacle.
In addition, Shakespeare adds a large number of new features to the
story of "Romeo and Juliet." In Brooke's poem he doesn't use must
detail or emotion in his characters whereas Shakespeare makes his
characters a good deal more entertaining, giving them interesting and
intriguing personalities.
Shakespeare also adds the fight scene in "Romeo and Juliet," which is
a very important scene in the play because Romeo loses his best
friend, Mercutio, and also kills Tybalt, his wife's cousin. This scene
is entertaining to the audience due to the large amount of action, and
the fact that it draws upon the audience's empathy towards the
characters, particularly Romeo.
Shakespeare's version uses a lot more complex ideas, such as Brooke's
Thought the play, these lovers go through many obstacles that range from arranging a wedding and finding a time to meet to Juliet trying to get out of marrying Paris. The entire time fate is tossing them around. 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 fight Tybalt.
However, due to his intrusion of the Capulet party in act one, scene five, it is Tybalt’s rage that jeopardizes Romeo’s well-being. This shows the intensity of Romeo’s love for Juliet, and how he cares more about seeing her than his own safety. For example, in act five, scene three, Romeo kills himself because he believes that Juliet is dead. Love made Romeo put himself in dangerous situations, and caused Juliet to go against what her parents wanted. This is important to the story because it is Romeo and Juliet’s love for each other that ends the feud.
Shakespeare’s development of characters allows the reader to better understand, and be able to associate with occurring situations in the text. When Titania is forced to explain to her husband why she has a child, she recalls the tale of her old friend. Who “sat with me on Neptune’s yellow sands, marking the embarked traders on the flood, when we have laugh’d to see the sails conceive and grow big-bellied with the wanton wind” (2.1.130-3). When Titania
At the beginning when Tybalt and Mercutio are quarrelling, the audience feels the tension. The audience then awaits the outcome of Tybalt and Mercutio’s fight and are disturbed by the result of Mercutio’s death. All through this scene we are wondering what is going to happen next, there is so much going on. We worry about Romeo’s safety throughout this scene, and this is not resolved by the end, leaving the audience in suspense.
Romeo on the other hand, starts off being peaceful and when Mercutio is killed, he turns into an animal like person and flies off in a rage to go kill Tybalt, who earlier he wanted to make peace with. The film really brings out the characters vulnerability, when about to die or staring death in the face. By watching the film, it brings out the characters expression, and showing the viewer the actions and facial expressions of the character. I feel the main point which echoes through out the play, is the war between the Montague's and the Capulets. Also you get the sense, that if there were no division between the two families, no one would have been killed and maybe you may have not seen the characters being so aggressive and arrogant towards one another.
Everyday there is something that one must interpret whether it is a book, movie, or even the news. One must come to one’s own conclusion about the information they are interpreting. For instance movies are mostly easier to understand then books though the plots may have slight differences.
In Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, Shakespeare uses Romeus and Juliet by Arthur Brooke as a source, where he changes details, like the role of the Prince, to add more meaning to the play through his showing of an ideal monarch.
Romeo and Juliet Although Romeo and Juliet become inextricably smitten with one another, they both enter into the relationship from different perspectives. Their love is strong, but each has their reasons for the intensity of their love. Romeo has just come out of another ?crush?. He has liked Rosaline for quite awhile, but things do not work out because the feelings are not mutual. Romeo sees that Juliet is a beautiful lady that he falls in love with right away, while he attends the Capulet Party. Juliet also instantly falls in love with Romeo, but it could be more of an escape for her.
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
such a love can arise out of hatred and then triumph over it in death,
"What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would
His love for Rosaline is great but yet she can not say the same and
William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet `Romeo and Juliet` is one of the best love stories of all time but although Shakespeare wrote the play, the story wasn't original. It all started hundreds of years before Shakespeare was born, in Italy when myths and folktales travelled about two young lovers from enemy families. After that, a poem was written called `The tragical history of Romeus and Juliet` by Arthur Brooke in 1562. So although Shakespeare's ideas weren't original, he has developed the basic ideas so well that now the whole world are familiar with the deeply touching love story of `Romeo and Juliet`.
“Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick health, still-waking sleep, that is not what this is” (Shakespeare 1.1. 179-180). A string of contradictions explain the love story of Romeo and Juliet, a contradiction. Some critics consider this story a tragedy because Shakespeare once wrote; “the fault is not in our stars but in ourselves”. While others say it does not follow the standard Aristotelian form of tragedy (Krims 1). Romeo and Juliet can not be a tragedy because no flaw causes them to fall, the lovers, could not have controlled fate, and family and friends assisted them to their deaths.