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Romeo and juliet play analysis
Romeo and juliet play analysis
Romeo and juliet play analysis
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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.
Prince Escalus in Romeo and Juliet is the ruler of Verona, which is the setting of the play. He is based on the Prince in Romeus and Juliet. When Shakespeare took his character, he changed his characteristics, slightly but in an important way. The Prince is first mentioned as the ruler of the town of Verona in Romeus and Juliet. In Romeo and Juliet, the Prince is first seen stopping the street fight between the families and servants. From the beginning, the Prince is seen as being a strict, but fair ruler. The street fight is not in Romeus and Juliet, but Brooke uses a description of the town and the struggle to set the scene. In Romeo and Juliet, the street fight is used to introduce characters like the Prince. He lays down the law and acts in the name of the citizens. Shakespeare starts showing the ideal ruler, the one with the people in ...
Context has greatly influenced how Romeo and Juliet was written by William Shakespeare in the 1500’s to how Williams Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet was produced in 1996 by Baz Luhrmann with a more modern intention.
In act 1 scene 1, the characters are all individual and unique. Shakespeare has written this scene so that it starts from the lowest rank in the families, the servants, to the highest, the lords. By doing this, he has made the audience aware of the fact that everyone who is part of the families is also part of the battle. During this scene, we come across important characters these include: Benvolio, Tybalt, Lord Montague, Lord Capulet, Prince Escales and Romeo. Shakespeare has used the characters names to tell us what to expect them to be like for the rest of the life. The name Benvolio means good will, from this you can expect Benvolio not be involved in the battle. You can see this when he says “Part, fools! Put up your swords, you know not what you do”. The name Tybalt means tyrant this makes you expect him to be a cruel person. You can also see this when he says “What drawn and talk of peace? I hate the word as I hate hell, all Montague’s and thee”. Prince Escales plays a big role in act 1 because he is the representation of law and order. If you remove the letter E from his name it spells scales this gives evidence that the Prince wants things to be balanced and he is serious. You can see this when he says “If ever you disturb our streets again. Your lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace”. For most c...
Shakespeare, William. “Romeo and Juliet.” Literature and Language. Illinois: McDougal, Littell and Company, 1992. 722-842
Works Cited:.. Shakespeare, William. The. Romeo and Juliet. Eds. Maynard Mack and Robert Bayton.
Prince Escalus of Verona plays an immense part in the effect of the Montagues’ and Capulets’ animosity towards each other. For the prince it is more of what he did not do than what he did. The prince lets the feuding families grow in enmity. He doesn’t take enough action to squash his rebellious subjects’ uproars, and when he does take action and punishes them, he is too lenient. The prince himself acknowledges his faults by saying, “And I for winking at your discords too. Have lost a brace of kinsmen. All are punished.”(Shakespeare Act. V: iii) And all are punished, but the ones who feel it the most are those who began the feud; the Capulets and the Montagues.
Shakespeare, William. Romeo and Juliet. McDougal Littell Literature. Ed. Allen, Janet, et. al. Evanston, IL: McDougal Littell, 2008. 940-1049.
Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet has been modified numerous times and has been a source of inspiration for many playwrights and directors. Franco Zeffirelli and Baz Luhrmann are examples of directors that use Shakespeare’s legendary tragedy as a basis for their films.
Romeo as a Typical Courtly Lover in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet In Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, Romeo is portrayed as a typical courtly lover. In my essay I will be examining the first act of the play and exploring Romeo as a courtly lover and his transition from loving Rosaline to loving Juliet. In traditional medieval literature there were often fictional characters who were known as courtly lovers. At the start of the play Shakespeare has portrayed Romeo as a traditional courtly lover because he follows the rules of courtly love.
Shakespeare, William. Romeo and Juliet. Ed. Stephen Greenblatt et al. The Norton Shakespeare. New York: W.W. Norton & Company Inc., 1997. Print.
Shakespeare, William. Romeo and Juliet. Ed. Barbara Mowat and Paul Werstine. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.
Thomas Otway wrote one of the most varied versions in 1680 entitled The History and Fall of Caius Marius. Set in ancient Rome, this version focuses much more on politics than a story of true love. With this variation, many of the characters are in much varied roles. One of the most obvious character disparities is found in the title character Romeo, or Marius junior as he is called in Otway’s version. While both versions of the male lead go through little or no character development, Romeo and Marius junior are very different in their regard and understanding of filial duty and responsibility.
Watts, Cedric. Twayne's New Critical Introductions to Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1991.
< http://callisto.gsu.edu:4000/CGI:html> (5 May 1997). Rozen, Leah. "William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet."
Kerschen, Lios. “Critical Essay on ‘Romeo and Juliet’.” Drama for Students. Ed. Anne Marie Hacht. Vol. 21. Detriot: Gale, 2005. Literature Resource Center. Web. 4 Dec 2013.
Being a director in a production such as Romeo and Juliet is no easy task, and I enter into this paper with that in mind. My goals are to be creative, and do things differently from the many versions of the play we have viewed in class. Each of those directors took the original text, written by William Shakespeare, and turned it into a unique version of their own; unique in the sense that they changed the tragedy by taking out lines, conversation or even entire scenes to better suit that particular director’s needs.