The play Romeo and Juliet written by William Shakespeare demonstrates a lot of different themes and messages, One very prominent theme throughout the play is disobedience to recognized authority inevitably brings retribution.
This theme shows up many times throughout the play. When romeo and juliet meet in the capulet party romeo had disobeyed his parents and all he got was tragedy in the end. Capulet is one of the first people to show the punishment of deficiency
…. Graze where you will, you shall not house with me:
Look to't, think on't, I do not use to jest.
Thursday is near; lay hand on heart, advise:
An you be mine, I'll give you to my friend;
And you be not, hang, beg, starve, die in the streets,
For, by my soul, I'll ne'er acknowledge
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What say'st thou? hast thou not a word of joy?
Some comfort, nurse. (Act 3,Scene 5, ll.204-212)
Juliet thought that in order to stop the marriage to paris was by killing herself , So by marrying romeo she had already lost her cousin, has to marry another man or die because she doesn’t want to marry another man. In going to friar laurance she had gotten a potion that will make her appear dead , but that potion will lead to romeo finding out that she is dead and ultimately killing paris and himself which pushes juliet to kill herself. Romeo and Juliet aren’t the only ones who defy authority everyone in the street fights disobey the prince. The prince even stated “If ever you disturb our streets again,/Your lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace.”(Act 1, Scene 1, ll. 90-91). Tybalt definitely didn’t follow this rule because after capulet’s party Tybalt wanted to challenge romeo to a duel. Mercutio was also very defiant and it got him killed. The punishment that everyone in the street fights got was they all lost someone very close to them. Even for people who don’t disobey authority there is a price. There is always a price for
In the Elizabethan period, woman of higher social classes were supposed to embody “obedience”(Gerlach et al. 1) and this is shown throughout the text. In the beginning of the book, Lady Capulet tells Nurse to summon Juliet, so she can inquire about her getting married. As Juliet enters the room she says,“Madam, I am here. What is your will?” (1.3.7). Here, we can see not only Nurse being obedient to Lady Capulet’s wishes, but also Juliet being obedient and going to her mother after she is summoned. Similarly, after a discussion with Count Paris, a noble man who seeks Juliet’s hand in marriage, Lord Capulet decides that Juliet will marry him and tells Lady Capulet to deliver the news to Juliet. Not happy with this, Juliet expresses her opposition
A key theme of Romeo and Juliet that occurs throughout the play is Loyalty Vs. Disloyalty and the effects that this has on the characters Romeo and Juliet and their families. For example Romeo knows that if he tells his family of his love for Juliet it will be seen, as a disloyalty to his family and Romeo knows this so he tries to hide this truth.
Juliet strategizes her disastrous plan and worries, “How if, when I am laid into the tomb, I wake before the time that Romeo come to redeem me?” (Lines 30-32 of Act Four, Scene Three). Juliet is desperate to see Romeo, ergo she plans to fake her death. Her thoughts of Romeo finding her lifeless foreshadows their future. Romeo is deprived of the news of Juliet’s real state of health, therefore he says, “Well, Juliet, I will lie with thee tonight. O mischief, thou art swift to enter the thoughts of desperate men!” (Lines 34-36 of Act Five, Scene One). Once again, Romeo’s perception is only focused on Juliet. His mental instability leads him to think Paris is in the way obtaining true happiness, thus he slays him. Romeo acquires poison, stands beside Juliet, and states, “Here’s to my love! (Drinks.) O true apothecary! Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die.” (Lines 119-120 of Act Five, Scene Three). Romeo observes Juliet’s body and determines that he should die beside her. Juliet wakes to his lifeless body, and determines she should commit suicide, as well. Romeo’s foolish decisions lead to the death of himself and
This is a problem for Juliet as she will be disowned and left for dead on the streets with nothing. Lord Capulet uses violent language towards Juliet. He say, "My fingers itch", and this will indicate to the audience that he wants to hit Juliet. This shows the violence in his character compared to the calm and loving father he was portrayed as earlier in the play. Juliet is Lord Capulet's only daughter and he had invested all his hope in her.
This is explored through the characters of both lovers, Romeo and Juliet. Near the end of the play, Juliet drinks a potion to make her appear dead to her parents and get her out of an unwanted arranged marriage to a man named Paris. Once her parents would find her dead and place in a tomb with her ancestors, her other lover, Romeo, would get her and they would elope together. However because of miscommunication, Romeo was not aware of this plan and he heard that Juliet had died from someone else. Because of this he goes to see her and decides to kill himself, but after seeing her “dead” body for closure. When Romeo thinks Juliet is dead, he immediately resorts to suicide without once thinking about any other possibilities or considering a life without her. This quick conclusion leads to the unnecessary death of Paris, who also came to meet Juliet, and Romeo, himself, which then leads to Juliet killing herself. Before Romeo drinks poison and commits suicide, he says “Here’s to my love! (drinks the poison) O true apothecary,Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die.” This rash and hasty decision, had it been put off for a minute or so would have resulted in Juliet awakening and the couple living together, which was their goal. However, Romeo’s impetuosity results in an unhappy and tragic end to him, his wife and his wife’s other lover. This
When there is a fight in the market place, Capulet rushes to fight for his honor, “my sword I say, old Montague is come...” Capulet denies Paris’ request to marry Juliet “ and too soon marred are those so early made,” acting for his own good because he wants Juliet to produce many offspring to carry on the Capulets bloodline, since she is his only surviving child. When at the ball Capulet demands Tybalt to let Romeo be,” content thee, gentle coz, let him alone,” but this just fuels Tybalts anger towards Romeo, which eventually ends up in Tybalt causing his own death. Capulet believes he is giving his child the best when he announces her engagement to Paris” she shall be married to this noble earl,” and believes Paris will make a good husband for Juliet. When Juliet refuses Capulet thinks it best to threaten her, “I will drag thee,” but this just makes Juliet turn to more drastic measures.
Although disobedient maybe true from Capulets point of view, it doesn't mean it is a bad thing if it is. he's in the wrong. I think Juliet should be felt sorry for as she has no one to turn to, her mother says. "Talk not to me, for I'll not speak a word" and the nurse just leaves her on her own. As for Lord Capulet he is just being selfish and trying to control Juliet to protect his
When Romeo and Juliet realize they can’t be together, and Juliet is expected to marry Paris, she needs an escape plan. Juliet pays a visit to the Friar, who creates a plan for Juliet to fake her death with a sleeping potion. When Juliet asks the Friar to help her break free from her wedding with Paris, he replies that: If, rather than to marry County Paris, Thou has the strength of will to slay thyself; Then it is likely thou wilt undertake A thing like death to elude away this shame, That cop'st with death himself to scrape from it; And, if thou darest, I'll give thee remedy. IV i 71-76. Therefore, for the second time, the Friar acts unwisely and agrees to give Juliet this deadly potion.
Love is a wonderful curse that forces us to do unexplainable things. Romeo and Juliet is a famous play written by William Shakespeare, who does an exceptional job in showing the readers what hate, mercy, death, courage, and most importantly, what love looks like. This play is about two star-crossed lovers who are both willing to sacrifice their lives just to be with one another. Unfortunately tragedy falls upon the unconditional love Romeo and Juliet have for each other, but along the way they experience immeasurable forgiveness and extraordinary bravery just to be with one another. Sadly enough, love is a cause of violence in the end.
Overall In the play “Romeo and Juliet” Juliet is forced to break the rules set forth by society; however, she only does this in order to gain true happiness. The ways that she breaks the rules range from disobeying her parents to having to fake her own death, but she does all of this for one cause. That cause is simply to live a life that she wanted, and to be with the one person that she truly loved.
The decision of pursuing personal desire or choosing to conform is a conflict that every person in life experiences. In his play, Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare portrayed that the aforementioned conflict was existent in everyone’s life, and, depending upon what they chose, there would be corresponding repercussions. Shakespeare displays this conflict when the protagonist, Romeo, attends the ball, marries Juliet, and kills Tybalt.
First, society’s absurd focus on honor and disgrace is culpable for the continuation of the Capulet and Montague families’ “ancient grudge”, which forces Romeo and Juliet to sneak around this to be together, following a precarious plan that ends in their deaths. (Prologue 3) Society’s unreasonable obsession with dignity threatens to disgrace either foe who steps down as cowardly and gutless, so that the two families, who cannot even remember the reason of their inane feud, are burdened to continue fighting or face absolute social humiliation. If this fixation was eradicated, the two foes would have made peace years before, and most importantly, Romeo and Juliet’s lives would be spared, since their families’ harmony would render their risky plan unnecessary. Is the senseless death of innocent young people worth ephemeral glory? Society obviously thinks so, and plants these toxic doctrines into its people’s minds, creating a vicious cycle of unnecess...
so then she will appear dead and not have to marry Paris like her father had arranged for her. The next day was the day of Juliet's wedding where she would be married to Paris. The night before she took the potion, the nurse discovered her lying on her bed looking like she had died. Romeo's man witnesses the funeral of Juliet and he tells Romeo of the news. Romeo is crushed so he buys a poison and heads back to Verona to die next to Juliet in her Capulet's tomb.
In Romeo and Juliet violence and conflict are very important as a result of the fact that two families in this play dislike each other and are feuding. This causes much friction in the play leading to a huge amount of violence and conflict.
When the friar hears of this, he devises a plan so that the two lovers can be together. The major climax of the play comes when the friar gives Juliet a potion that will make it seem as though she has died, when in fact she is alive the whole time. While in Mantua, Romeo mistakenly hears that Juliet has actually died and he goes to lay by her side. Just as he takes a vile poison and dies, Juliet awakens to find her love lying dead at her side. She cannot fathom living in a world without Romeo, so she takes his sword and ends her own life.