The matter of one's identity can be rather confusing and complex, as people are molded by many defining factors. The well-renowned text “Romeo and Juliet” written by William Shakespeare, is a prime example of this thought-provoking concept. The tragic love story of Romeo and Juliet explores this idea in great detail. The lives we lead and live daily have more influence on us as people than we may think. But have we ever really stopped to think how much social interactions, personal experiences, and even socioeconomic status truly impact our identities? Perhaps not. Our day-to-day interactions, experiences, and thoughts weave the threads of our intricate identities. In the complex story of Romeo and Juliet, the Capulet and Montague families …show more content…
Although we aren't explicitly told the reason for the families feuding, we are hinted at it extending from ancient roots. Another situation we can take is when Friar Lawrence agrees to wed Romeo and Juliet in secrecy (Shakespeare 2.6). This secret marriage seems to feed their rebellious and defiant nature to pursue their love. Due to this secrecy, we can see that Romeo and Juliet have the perspective that their families will disapprove of their love, it's apparent from the family conflict that this is a perspective that is a harsh reality. This mindset only contributes to their urgency to be wed and be with one another eternally. Not only do our actions affect who we are, but so does our mindset. Personal values play a critical role in our identities. We can see through the novel and play, Romeo and Juliet's undying loyalty to their families at the beginning of their long story. Slowly their loyalty crumbles as their devotion to one another is of more importance, their love for one another overpowers their deep
Romeo and Juliet is a well known story, which commonly is aspired after. What you do not normally hear is that the idea of identity strongly contributes to plot. While going through struggles and difficulties, Romeo and Juliet are constantly trying to associate with their identity. The gender, age, or family affiliation of the characters in Romeo and Juliet heavily provides and devotes to the actions of this play.
The love that Romeo and Juliet share completely opposes the deep roots of anger and hate between their parents. The quote from the Chorus best states this. Chorus: Two houses, both alike in dignity ? From ancient grudge break to new mutiny ? A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life: Whose misadventured piteous overthrows, Doth with their death bury their
In Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, the audience witnesses a great amount of familial pride when Tybalt shouts to an opposing family member, “What, drawn, and talk of peace? I hate the word, as I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee. Have at thee, coward,” (Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, Act 1.1 pg 12). In the play Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare depicts two feuding families who once had a legitimate reason to be mad at one another, but now continuously fight each other fueled purely by family pride. This everlasting conflict between the Montagues and the Capulets illustrate to the audience how having too much family pride places a restriction on familial unity.
William Shakespeare composed the tragedy Romeo and Juliet in the 16th century. This play vividly portrayed the banned love between the heirs of two families. Spoiler alert, Romeo and Juliet killed themselves in the end. Every person in Romeo and Juliet held responsibility for their death. Among all of the characters, Friar Lawrence and Capulet were major catalysts of the casualties. Let's not forget Romeo, the one that started it all.
The feud between the two families was one factor that contributed to the love of Romeo and Juliet being destined for destruction. "From ancient grudge break to new mutiny" (Prologue.3). The two families, Montagues and Capulets, had many problems. There was hatred between the two families, so much so, that even the servants hated each other. This feud would have caused many problems for Romeo and Juliet. These two young lovers knew this and that is why they did not disclose their marriage. If their parents had discovered their secret, they would have made their children's lives miserable and Romeo and Juliet would not have been permitted to see each other. Both of these families were very stubborn and there was probably nothing that would have made them become friends. In the prologue, we learn that the only way the "strife" could be ended was by the deaths of Romeo and Juliet. "Doth with their death bury their parent's strife" (Prologue.8).
I believe these feelings transferred to the two families’ offspring, causing them to be born with a hatred for the opposing family. Due to this constant war between the families, Romeo and Juliet seem to have been trying to go against their respective parents, and be together, in what I believe, was an act of rebellion, something which is very common and occurs a lot still now. “Adolescent rebellion begins as a result of the desire for independence. It is a developmental norm. In fact, if you have the sneaking suspicion that teenage rebellion may be inevitable, you’re right! Pretty much every teenager will test the limits – and even cross the line – at one time or another.”
Whenever something bad goes down, we always want to blame someone else but ourselves. In the case of Romeo and Juliet, Friar Lawrence is the real person to blame. People think that he's the one who was trying to put things back together for the families, but really he wasn't. Giant problems that the Friar ended up causing happen include about three different deaths, lying people and his own selfishness. The Friar may look like the innocent one here, but he isn't. People may think that he is innocent because he was trying to make the two children happy towards the end, but really he was trying to save his own skin. If there is anyone to blame here, it's the Friar.
Food becomes stale, clothes go out of fashion, even houses can deteriorate and yet Shakespeare’s play ‘Romeo and Juliet’, written in 1595, is still captivating countless amounts of people today. The play ‘Romeo and Juliet’, written by famous playwright William Shakespeare, is a tale that evolves around the everlasting themes of Identity, Impulsivity and Fate. In Act 3 Scene 1, all of these themes are prominent to advance the story line and ultimately lead to both Romeo and Juliet’s death. The scene is comprised of a fight between Tybalt and Mercutio after Tybalt taunts Romeo. Romeo does not want to fight Tybalt since he was just married to his cousin Juliet. Mercutio, angered by Romeos unwillingness to fight, fights Tybalt himself. Tybalt
In the classic romantic tale of The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, the main characters, Romeo and Juliet are deeply in love with each other, but from the beginning of the play we know that they would never be able to be together because of family disputes. When reading the prologue, it says “Two households, both alike in dignity, from ancient grudge break to new mutiny, where civil blood makes civil hands unclean” (Shakespeare Prologue.1-4). Before the play even starts, we know how much these families hate each other and that blood is involved with a bad ending for all. Romeo comes from the Montague’s, and Juliet comes from the Capulet’s. These two families were in war with each other from the beginning of the story and these family disputes play a huge role in the death of Romeo and Juliet. Romeo has a passion for love that is unbreakable and he will do anything to get who he wants no matter the consequences that might follow. An example of this is
If there was no conflict between the two families, Romeo and Juliet could’ve gotten married without any trouble because their parents wouldn’t disapprove of the marriage. As described by Lois Kerschen, a freelance writer and adjunct college English instructor, it is known that, “the family feud is the reason that Romeo and Juliet’s relationship is a ‘forbidden love’” (Kerschen 1). As a result from the feud, their marriage would not be allowed by their parents because it was unheard of and not good to marry or associate with a citizen of the opposite side of the family. When Juliet first met Romeo at a Capulet party, it was love at first sight. Later, the Nurse informed her that Romeo was the son of the Montagues and Juliet confessed that, “My only love sprung from my only hate!” (Shakespeare Act I. Scene v. Page 64). Juliet was upset by the discovery and continues to state that love is a monster for making her fall in love with her worst enemy, for she knew that her parents wouldn’t approve of her being in love with Romeo. Following the party, Romeo and Juliet decided to secretly get married but this brought up many problems. No one knew that they were married, besides the Friar and the Nurse, but they weren’t allowed to tell anyone about it in fear of getting in trouble. Under those
During the course of the play, Romeo matures from adolescence to adulthood as a result of his love for Juliet and his unfortunate involvement in the feud, marking his development from a comic character to a tragic figure.
The Conflict Between Two Families in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet The play ‘Romeo And Juliet’ is a very dramatic one. The conflict between the two families is key to the play as a whole. If they’re where no. conflict. They would just be allowed to be together.
It’s obvious: Romeo and Juliet come from vastly different families with a strong distaste for each other, often fighting and speaking poorly about the other. However, this does not prevent Romeo and Juliet from falling in love: if anything, it makes their relationship more intense as they sneak behind their families’ backs to be together, which is shown in many ways, with the most well known being the balcony scene in Act II, in which Romeo replies “..Neither, fair saint, if either thee dislike.” (II.2.73) after Juliet asks if he is a Montague. He is willing to do anything for the girl he just met (again, touching on the theme of infatuation), and the fact that their two families don’t get along only makes the stakes higher for Romeo. He wants to please Juliet, and their families’ intense rivalry plays a part in their relationship as
In the land of Verona in the 1500s, there were two star-crossed lovers who believed they were destined to be together in the play Romeo and Juliet that was written by William Shakespeare. This would be seen as a simple romantic play except there was one problem in their way. The only problem was that they come from two families, the Capulets and the Montagues, who have been in a feud for several years With Juliet being the daughter of Lord and Lady Capulet and Romeo being the son of Lord and Lady Montague, there was no chance of them being together. Although, this did not stop them. They proved that they would stop at no costs to be together… even if it meant death. With this is mind, the choices they’ve made throughout the play have molded their personalities which then created their identity. Family affiliation and social class have been prominent roles in creating
A Psychological Analysis of Romeo and Juliet Romeo and Juliet was obviously not written to fit the psychoanalytic model, as the theories of Freud were not developed for centuries after Shakespeare. Shakespeare wrote about Renaissance England, a culture so heavily steeped in Christianity, that it would have blushed at the instinctual and sexual thrust of Freud’s theory. However, in order to keep literature alive and relevant, a culture must continually reinterpret the themes and ideas of past works. While contextual readings assure cultural precision, often these readings guarantee the death of a particular work. Homer’s Iliad, a monument among classical works, is currently not as renowned as Romeo and Juliet because it is so heavily dependent on its cultural context.