William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet

William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet

In this essay I shall be writing about why I agree that with the play,

the most excellent and lamentable tragedy of Romeo and Juliet,

Shakespeare changes expectations of the tragic genre. In my essay I

shall be giving references to language, theme, structure and context.

This will also show why I agree with the essay question.

Romeo and Juliet is a tragic play; with the plot concerning two

feuding families and two stars crossed lovers. In this play,

Shakespeare explores the pitfalls of young love and the consequences

they receive from their actions. Romeo is from the Montague family

where as his lover is from the Capulet family. Both of these families

are each others sworn enemies. The feud between the Capulets and the

Montague's had been passed down through the generations, until the

youngest child had been planted with the seeds of hate. They are very

bitter towards each other and Shakespeare uses different techniques to

show the hatred between the two families. The plot thickens as

Shakespeare kills of more characters; the play then concludes with

both of the families calling a truce, however only after both of the

lovers die. This is why the play is known to be a tragic play as

events take place which are out of reach of the characters. It is then

these events which decide the lover's fate.

Before Shakespeare started writing, there was a great playwright

called Aristotle, who had his own definition of the tragic genre. He

believed tragedy was, "the imitation of an action that is serious…

with incidents arousing pity and fear, where with to accomplish…its

catharsis of such emotions...

... middle of paper ...

...moron's used in the first scene in act 1; would be "Cold fire", and

"Sick Health". These are used when Romeo is explaining to Benvolio

about Rosaline. Through his eyes he thinks it is real love but through

Shakespeare we find out that it is jus merely a crush.

Romeo and Juliet is a tragic play which I believe did change

expectations as it is very common and well known. The play is both

plot and character centred unlike some of the other plays which were

around at the time. "The Spanish Tragedy" by Thomas Kyd was one of the

plays which was more plot centred so events were due to fate and

uncontrollable by characters. Shakespeare made the play to be a great

tragedy and

used different techniques which I have talked about. It was these

techniques which helped make the play a success and well known these

days.