How Shakespeare Conveys the Impression of Speed in Romeo and Juliet Shakespeare conveys the impression of speed in 'Romeo and Juliet' in many different ways; he uses it to create an atmosphere of high dramatic tension. Not only is the plot swiftly written but also the text between characters is sharp and punctual. The play is set throughout four days, this immediately shows how quick and direct the writing is, even within four days Shakespeare manages to pack the short space of time full of dramatic action and emotions. He does this all without making the play so fast that is becomes brief, he keeps the speed high but also does the same to the attention to detail. During the play the speech between characters emphasises the general speed of the writing, quick and sharp responses adds a certain edge to the play. The speech is a main factor in how Shakespeare conveys the impression of speed; by increasing the pace of speech he automatically increases the tempo and intensity of the entire play. In the quote below servants from different houses are arguing, this quote shows how the pace of speech enhances the intensity of the performance. 'Benvolio: Tybalt, the kinsmen to old Capulet, hath sent a letter to his father's house. Mercutio: a challenge, on my life Benvolio: Romeo will answer it Mercutio: Any man that can write may answer a letter Benvolio: Nay, he will answer the letter's master, how he dares, being dared' As you can see from the quotation above, the speech is rapid and every response is quick and sharp, but not every character is used as a catalyst towards the plays speed. The friar; I believe is used in the play to portray the contrast between slow and fast, his lifestyle is slow and easy, and remains so even while the frantic events are happening around him he remains in his normal steady paced frame of mind. Mercutio; I see as the opposite of the friar, he is a witty aggressive
Impatience kills In “The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet” by William Shakespeare, two very young people fall in love but cannot be with each other because of the feud between their families. The feud ends when Romeo and Juliet both kill themselves because of heartbreak over the other. The minor characters Mercutio, Tybalt, and Friar Lawrence serve as foils to Romeo, to help support the theme of patience. While Romeo is impatient and makes rash and hasty decisions, Friar Lawrence is careful and takes time to consider his actions. First Romeo thinks that he is in love with a nun named Rosaline, but a couple hours later he is asking the Friar to marry him to another girl she had just met.
.However,as the play progresses,it becomes noticeable that Benvolio has changed through his character and makes different choices to help his friends,but as the same time deceives them.The text states that,”O noble Prince,I can discover all The unlucky manage of this fatal brawl.There lies the man,slain by young Romeo,That slew thy kinsman,brave Mercutio.”(3.1 144-147) Shakespeare forms him to be a leader when situations are not the best between the Capulets and the Montagues;he portrayed beginning when the “civil brawls”(1.1 92) first started breaking out in the streets.
Benvolio, in contrast to Tybalt, is a more peaceful person who can manage his angers and hate. He, I believe, is meant to be seen as some sort of mediator: “I pray the, good Mercutio, let’s retire. The day is hot, the Capulets abroad, And, if we meet, we shall not scape a brawl, For now, these hot days, is the mad blood stirring.” (Shakespeare, page 116).
Early on Benvolio establishes himself as an honest character who will always give a trustworthy account of which really happened. When asked about the deaths of Mercutio and Tybalt, rather than spinning the story to make Romeo look completely innocent, he told Prince Escalus what really happened. The Prince said “Benvolio, who began this bloody fray?” (Shakespeare III.i.149). This is significant as it shows that even though Benvolio is a Montague he will go to him to
“Wise men say only fools rush in”, Elvis Presley’s lyric in “Can’t help falling in love”. “Wisely and slow. They stumble that run fast.” These quotes are from modern life and Romeo and Juliet. They both say the wise go slow and fools rush into love. When a person rushes into love, it means they don not take the time to think if their feelings are love or like. Rushing into love is not smart at all. When people take their time in a relationship, it is a good choice because they can learn more about the person to make sure the person is a good match for them. In Romeo and Juliet they were too young and immature, and in modern life it is a smart choice to wait and learn about a person.
“It is too rash, too unadvised, too sudden; Too like the lightning, which cloth cease to be Ere on can say it lightens.” Says Juliet in the play written by Shakespeare “The Tradegy of Romeo and Juliet”.In Romeo and Juliet the death of the “star crossed lovers” could be blamed on Friar Lawrence and Romeo because of their rapidity and lack of common sense. Even though, Capulet forced Juliet to marry Paris, Friar Lawrence and Romeo should be blamed because they both acted with haste.
“Nothing is perfect. Life is messy. Relationships are complex...People are irrational” said physiologist, Hugh Mackay. As a matter of fact nothing was perfect for Romeo and Juliet. Their lives were messy. Their relationship was complex. And they certainly did act irrationally. Romeo and Juliet quickly fell in love at the beginning of the plot in the play, named after them, created by Shakespeare. To be able to escape from her home and be with her love, Juliet drank a potion that made her seem dead. Romeo, not knowing about the plan, took his life at the sight of her “dead” body. When Juliet woke up and saw Romeo dead, she ended up killing herself as well due to his death. Shakespeare portrays the message that being in love can cloud people’s
over her. He is also at times a little irrational when he takes on the
Shakespeare cunningly gives the audience an early indication of Benvolio’s personality through his name. Benvolio translated literally means “good-will” or “well wisher” a role he consistently fills, although sometimes unsuccessfully throughout the play, striving to keep himself and others around him out of any conflict. In the very first scene of the play, Benvolio quickly establishes himself as the peacemaker as he tries to stop the fight between the Montague and Capulet servants by saying, “Part fools! Put up your swords, you know not what you do.”(I.i.64-65) Wanting peace he warns them to stop arguing before things evolve into a grave situation. In that statement, Shakespeare references the Gospel of Luke “Father forgive them for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34), using his skillful use of the written language to allude that Benvolio was taking on a Christ like peacemaker role in the play. Benvolio’s moral convictions do not change over the course of the play. His stance on peace is evident in all three scenes. In Act III, as Mercutio and Tybalt begin to fight, Benvolio once again attempts to be the voice of reason, “We talk here in the public haunt of mean: eithe...
Shakespeare uses time to show that all things are meant to happen at their own time and place. People tend to consider time as stationary. In Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, the characters are constantly trying to rush time in their urgency. This movement of time results in tragic ends, in which we learn that time and fate go hand in hand: neither one is meant to be tampered with.
In fact, without it, many of the major plot lines would be incredibly different if Benvolio pertained some of Tybalt’s rage or if Tybalt shared some of Benvolio’s peace. Before Benvolio and Mercutio come upon Tybalt one afternoon, Benvolio tries to get out of it and mentions, “I pray thee, good Mercutio, let’s retire. / The day is hot; the Capulets, abroad; / And if we meet we shall not ‘scape a brawl, / For now, these hot days, is mad blood stirring.” (3.1, 1-4). Benvolio had prior knowledge that as Montagues, him and Mercutio would manage to get into a fight if they tried to stay where they were, surrounded by Capulets. He wanted to possibly escape the repercussions of what said fight might entail. However, Tybalt had very different plans. He purposely went looking for the two Montagues and started a brawl which, of course, resulted in Mercutio’s death. This death is a crucial part in the tragedy, for it is when Romeo causes another death, Tybalt’s, which gets him banished from Verona. Therefore, without this said character foil, none of this would have ever happened, and the plot line would drastically
In the play Romeo and Juliet, written by the renowned poet William Shakespeare, Shakespeare uses dramatization to develop characters. Romeo is represented as a dramatic teenager in Act 3 Scene 1 and Act 3 Scene 3, and throughout the rest of the play. In these scenes, Romeo is acting overly dramatic, like he is represented throughout the play. Romeo seeks out Friar Lawrence to discuss his dilemma of banishment. When the Friar tells Romeo that he is lucky he has received a banishment, and not death by the Prince, Romeo is livid; “Ha, banishment? Be merciful, say “death,”/ For exile hath more terror in his look, /Much more than death. /Do not say “banishment”. (III.iii.13-15). In this scene, more teenage aspect of Romeo is seen. Like a typical
Literary devices help readers understand literature more because of the way it makes them engaged. In Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, the foil technique was used with two sets of characters, one being Romeo and Mercutio. Romeo is very sensitive and is considered a lover, not a fighter, but Mercutio is the opposite of him because he thinks nothing of love and he becomes quite annoyed with Romeo’s desire for love and romance. As Romeo is trying to get over one heart break, he meets a girl named Juliet. They experienced love at first sight, before learning the background of each other, but that did not stop them from the urge and desire to get married forgetting it could cause problems with their families. So they kept their marriage
In the first act of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, the theme of transience can easily be related to the daily life of a major part of society in the 21st century. In Romeo and Juliet, after Romeo’s love has been turned down by Rosaline, Mercutio and Benvolio take him to a party at the Capulet’s, uninvited. While at the party, Romeo finds himself dancing with a beautiful maiden-who turns out to be a Capulet-in whom he falls in love with and ends up kissing. This series of events can be aligned with the theme of transience due to the fact that Romeo had not even gotten over the fact that the woman that he loved had sworn to a life a chastity before the party, he fell in love with a woman whose identity was unknown to him at the time.
Shakespeare’s plays are a product of the Elizabethan theatrical context in which they were first performed. A lot of pressure was put on Shakespeare as he wrote his plays because he was not allowed to upset the royal family. His style would have been different than others in those times and a lot more thought has gone into his writing than people listening would think. Usually, the audience take for granted the cleverness and thought of Shakespeare’s writing, however, now we have studied and gone into great detail about Shakespeare’s writing, we can appreciate it more than they did: