William Shakespeare's late-century quasi-tragic play, Romeo and Juliet, examines the challenges of love that emerge when the titular characters are confronted with the ideological transition between the Elizabethan era and Renaissance humanism. This flux entraps the lovers when they attempt to defy their fate and express their free will. One way the lovers assert their free will is when they apotheosize to each other at the Capulet ball. This creates a challenge for them as it was seen as a challenge of divine authority at the time, in the Elizabethan era. This creates another challenge for the lovers to have to keep their relationship clandestine because they are not allowed to deify each other. Another challenge for their love is that familial …show more content…
This act is first seen when Romeo describes Juliet as a "bright angel". This metaphor elevates Juliet to a divine status, challenging the accepted norms of the Elizabethan era where human beings were not to be deified. Juliet reciprocates this divine imagery by saying, "You kiss by the book", implying that Romeo’s kiss is almost sacred. Such idealization presents a significant challenge as it juxtaposes their earthly love against celestial expectations. When Juliet later calls Romeo "the god of her idolatry", the religious connotation further complicates their relationship by equating their love with blasphemy. This elevation of each other creates a conflict with their environment, making their love both a profound spiritual experience and a dangerous rebellion against the societal order. Their declarations continue when Romeo refers to Juliet as a "winged messenger of heaven", reinforcing their challenge of divine authority and societal norms. Thus, by apotheosizing to each other, Romeo and Juliet elevate their love to a divine status, creating insurmountable challenges in their attempt to reconcile their free will with the rigid expectations of their …show more content…
They express this need for secrecy right from the beginning when Juliet says, "If they do see thee, they will murder thee", acknowledging the fatal consequences of their forbidden love. Their clandestine meetings and secret marriage are a direct result of the societal constraints that prevent them from openly expressing their affection. Romeo’s lament, "O, I am a fortune fool! ", after killing Tybalt, reflects the despair of a love that must hide in the shadows and the tragic consequences of their secrecy. The couple’s covert communication through the Nurse further exemplifies the challenges they face, as Juliet anxiously awaits news from her confidante, "O, she is lame! Love's heralds should be thoughts." This secrecy heightens the tension and the risks involved in their relationship, making each encounter a perilous act of defiance. Juliet’s desperate plea, "Deny thy father and refuse thy name," underscores the extreme measures they must consider to maintain their love. Therefore, the necessity of secrecy not only intensifies the passion between Romeo and Juliet but also amplifies the tragic elements of their love, as they are forced to navigate and challenge the societal norms that threaten to tear them
At the end of, “The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet,” the star crossed lovers kill themselves, for as the say throughout the acts, they both would rather die than be apart from each other. But have we really stopped and pointed the finger at the ones who are really responsible for the deaths of this famous couple? Of course, Romeo did willingly drink the poison and Juliet also stabbed herself, but who else could have influenced these irrational actions? Could it be the nurse and the friar for giving the two bad advice? Or would it be the families, for being filled with so much hate that they couldn’t see the love between Romeo and Juliet? Could the end result of these actions ultimately be the effect that the the star crossed lovers have caused
As Juliet welcomes the darkness of night, she is accepting the religious and social consequences of her actions. This is Shakespeare commenting on how the social norms imposed on the women of Verona were trivial and harmful. Truthfully, Juliet was probably never informed about what a healthy relationship was because love and sex were not something to be talked of, and that lead to her untimely death. Many of these restrictions remain today, despite women being allowed to vote, work, and hold positions of political power. Sex is not something girls are frequently informed of by their parents, only in health class. The media defines love as sacrificing one’s self, even one’s life, for the well being of someone else. In reality, no true love will ask one to sacrifice part of one’s self, only to care unconditionally.
When the play begins, Romeo chooses to crash the ball. Even before the Capulet ball, Romeo predicts his “untimely death"(1.4,117). Fate did not make him go to the Capulet ball, he decided to go on his own, even though his “mind misgives some consequences”(1.4, 114). Another example of how free will comes to play is when Romeo finds out later on that Juliet his true love is his enemy. A "fear"(1.5.120), is placed in him. Nonetheless, he still continues to pursue the relationship even though he knows it will only end in trouble.
In Act I of Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare demonstrates different forms of love that characters face. From the beginning, Romeo struggles to find true love and what love really is. As for Juliet, she also struggles on what love is, but also finding her own voice. And when finally finding true love they discover that they have fallen in love their own enemy. They both realize that the idea of love can be amazing, but also a painful experience. Shakespeare demonstrates love versus evil and the forms love takes that is acknowledged as an universal issue that connects different types of audiences. Audiences are captured by relating on love and the emotions that are displayed. From Romeo and Rosaline’s unrequited love, Paris and Juliet’s false love, and Romeo and Juliet’s ill-fated love, create the forms of love that establishes love as a leading theme in Act I.
Romeo and Juliet is a sixteenth-century play written by William Shakespeare. Amongst the most renowned of Shakespeare's plays, Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy that focuses on the fated relationship of two star-crossed lovers. The play focuses on themes of love and hate, mostly concerning the feud between the two opposing families, the Montagues and the Capulets. This play came at a time when such social events like courting were not just accepted, but expected. Witchcraft and fate were also strongly believed to be real which makes aspects of the play seem somewhat surreal to a modern day audience. III.1 is a pivotal part of the play, within this one scene, the possibility of the play being a comedy is destroyed and there is only one unfortunate direction in which the fortunes of the characters can spiral.
Poor choices can cause tragic outcomes. Fate, on the other hand, is beyond someone's control. Many people believe that regardless of their actions, fate and destiny determine the outcome of their lives. However, in The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare, the outcome of Romeo and Juliet's lives were controlled by the choices that they made. Although the deaths of Romeo and Juliet were mentioned in the prologue of the story as star-crossed lovers, the tragic ending of the couple was determined by their free will as a result of unwise decisions.
FLE: Romeo and Juliet: Fate Versus Free Will? “.A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life;/.Do with their death bury their parents' strife./ The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love,/ And the continuance of their parents' rage,/ Which, but their children's end, naught could remove,/ Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage;/ The which if you with patient ears attend,/ What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.” (Prologue, lines 6-14, p.7) Romeo and Julie He describes Romeo and Juliet as “star-cross’d” (Prologue, line 6, p.7) and their love as “death-mark’d”
The foundation of Romeo and Juliet’s love is built upon quicksand, which is destined to fall and fail. Romeo, at the beginning when he has lost the love of Rosaline, shows how anguished he is and how deep he sinks into depression. He says to Mercutio, “I am too sore enpierced with his shaft, to soar with his light feathers, and so bound I cannot bound a pitch about dull woe. Under love’s heavy burden do I sink” (1. 4. 19). The extreme pain described by Romeo himself, however, is soothed in no time; no sooner does he sees Juliet than he forgets about the pain of losing Rosaline and madly falls in love again. Romeo altered from depression to elation in one day, from love at the first sight to making love in just one day, from love to marriage in one day. The question of how much Romeo knows about love can be legitimately raised by any reader. As for Juliet, she is not too far away. She constantly compares their love with “heaven,” to justify her desire, even she just met Romeo a few hours ago. She declares, “And he will make the face of heaven so fine/ That all the world will be in love with night/ And pay no worship to the garish sun” (3. 2. 25). But, how she could justify this kind of love in one day seems puzzling and incomprehensible. Furthermore, both of them are, despite their elegant and sophisticated speeches, so impulsive that they become problems devisors, not solvers. When they encounter reality, they choose committing suicide instead of legitimately solving them. All in all, they are just typical teenagers who mess up the concept of “love” and bu...
William Shakespeare’s play, Romeo and Juliet tells the tragic story of two star-crossed lovers who belong to two opposite families: the Montagues and the Capulets. Romeo and Juliet; the protagonists meet at a party and instantly fall in love, they soon have the Friar perform for them a secret marriage. The play ends with Romeo and Juliet’s death this outcome is do to the protagonists’ free will.
Juliet’s weakness to be controlled by love leads her to make unadvised and irresponsible decisions that contribute to her choice of ending her life. Characterized as a young and rash teenager, with no interest in love and marriage at first, Juliet wants to be independent. However, after she first lays eyes on Romeo, Juliet’s perception of love is quick to change. Their strong love easily manipulates and clouds her judgment. Even if she is cautious and realizes their love is too fast, the rush of feelings from having a first love overcomes her. Her soft-spoken words symbolically foreshadow the journey of Romeo and Juliet’s love. “Well, do not swear. Although I joy in thee, / I have no joy of this contract tonight. / It is too rash, too unadvised, too sudden;…/ This bud of love, by summer’s ripening breath, / May prove to be a beauteous flower when next we meet” (2.2. 117-123). The blooming flower is indicative of their growing love, especially Juliet. Being her first experience of true love, her actions become more rash the deeper she falls in, even ...
Juliet urges Romeo to go against his family. But if he will not, just swear to be her love, then she will abandon her name and her family. Realistically, they would not abandon their families, which is all they have, but instead “refuse [their] name.” By doing so, they “deny” the grip the feud had on their decisions and ultimately their lives. However, their labels are only one of many obstacles that they must confront. When Romeo reveals himself he utters, “My name, dear saint, is hateful to myself/Because it is an enemy to thee/Had I written, I would tear the word” (II.ii.59-61). Romeo is disgusted by his own name because it is an “enemy” to Juliet. His melodramatic willingness to abandon his name and “tear the word” confirms his commitment to their emerging romance. As
Do you believe in fate? To answer the question, you must first have a correct idea of what fate is. A definition of fate would be the power that is supposed to settle ahead of time how things will happen. Could there be such a power that rules our lives, and if so, why? Romeo and Juliet, the two young lovers in William Shakespeare' s Romeo and Juliet, ended up becoming a large part of what could be called "fate". Fate seemed to control their lives and force them together, becoming a large part of their love, and the ending of their parent's hatred. Fate became the ultimate control power in this play, and plays a large part in modern everyday life, even if we don't recognize it. Maybe we don't recognize it because we choose not to, or don't have faith like we used to, but the fact remains that fate controls what we do throughout all of our lives.
Some people may not believe that fate truthfully exist in the world. Part of the population doubts that there are things that is meant or supposed to happen thinking that they will always have a way to get around troubling predication, knowing that thing won’t just turn out that one certain way. They are certain of whatever happens in their life is due to the decision they made from their free will. Others, though, believe their life is an inevitable and all events that happen is predestined and planed out for them like a map of life. Or what Shakespeare calls fate. In Shakespeare’s play, fate plays a role like an exceptional crucial force in Romeo and Juliet. Fate leads the two young lovers to come across each other. The moment Juliet and
...er love to Rome freely. In addition, the lovers struggle to uphold on to their Christian faith firmly due to the deep sensation of love they feel toward one another. Finally, both Romeo and Juliet choose to disregard their gender roles in order for them to practice their love without any opposition. The societal expectations of family, religion, and gender place Romeo and Juliet into a vulnerable position, yet they choose to defy place were supposed to abide to AUltimately the two lovers lose hope, end their lives, and
Although the youth of the late twentieth century were eager to evolve toward a progressive definition of gender and equality of the sexes, the authoritative figures and later generations regulated, and defined gender expectations. Social institutions, government parties and the general population all played a role in enforcing these gender expectations publically, and socially, thus pressuring the transformative generation to conform. With these strict gender boundaries enforced it confined women to certain spaces and men to other thereby enforcing the separation of the sexes. The distinct responsibilities and expectancies of men and women also helped keep the two sexes separate, by encouraging girls to practice domesticity, typically by practicing