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Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
SHAKESPEARE'S relationship to the Lord Chamberlain's Men seems to have involved the production of a couple of new plays every year. Broadly speaking, he provided them with a comedy and a tragedy (or historical play) for every season. The companion pieces to the two lyrical comedies are two no less lyrical tragedies, Romeo and Juliet and Richard II. While the detailed chronology of the four pieces is still unclear, it is generally agreed that they form a distinct group in Shakespeare's canon.
The title page of the first quarto edition of Romeo and Juliet (1597) describes the play as 'An excellent conceited tragedy'. Two years later, the Lord Chamberlain's Men released their 'newly corrected, augmented, and amended' text, calling it a 'most excellent and lamentable tragedy'. These qualifying terms prepare us for much in the play. 'Lamentable' had been the label fixed to Titus Andronicus, while 'conceited' (i.e. 'witty') connects the piece with Love's Labour's Lost - a play that also appeared in an 'official' edition in 1599.
The play is one of Shakespeare's most ambitious and unambiguous attempts to join the immortals, and as such seems at first blush very different from the demythologising of Love's Labour's Lost and the open-endedness of the Dream. It is introduced by a chorus, and wrapped up by a judgemental speech from a duke. And it sets out to transform its youthful lovers into mythical, 'star-crossed' figures, fit to rank with all the celebrated pairs of tragic lovers throughout literary history. In particular, Shakespeare was seeking to join the company of English practitioners in this mode, most notably Chaucer, whose Troilus and Criseyde was then regarded as the finest poem yet written in the language, and Sidney, whose tragicomic Astrophil and Stella was beginning to rival the celebrity of Chaucer's creation.
But Shakespeare was to take a love tragedy and put it on a public stage; and it was to be a story that dealt not with lofty figures from the distant past or ancient epic, but with two adolescents in a recognisably modern city-state. Like Sidney's sequence, and like the two brie comedies of these years, Romeo and Juliet hovers tantalisingly between fiction and actuality - in keeping with classical prescriptions, it is a tragedy based on a story that was believed to be true. In its ultimate Italian source, a novel by Masuccio Salernitano (published in 1576), the story of the lovers, Mariotto and Gianozza, is said to have taken place during the author's lifetime.
There are many tragedies to be found in literature, but only a few are like Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. It is a story of forbidden love in which a young couple are torn apart by their families’ feud in Renaissance Italy; the play’s tragic ending has both main characters die. Many aspects of this play have sparked a heated debate: is Romeo and Juliet a tragedy or is it simply tragic? Some critics claim that the play lacks elements that are necessary for a tragedy. Yet Aristotle explicitly states the essential components of a tragedy in his Poetics, and Romeo and Juliet meets those requirements. Romeo and Juliet can be considered an Aristotelian tragedy because of Romeo’s impetuousness, Juliet’s loyalty to Romeo, and the play’s peripeteia.
William Shakespeare (1564-1616) was a Renaissance poet and playwright who wrote and published the original versions of 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and several other poems. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language, and often called England’s national poet. Several of his works became extremely well known, thoroughly studied, and enjoyed all over the world. One of Shakespeare’s most prominent plays is titled The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet. In this tragedy, the concept that is discussed and portrayed through the characters is love, as they are recognized as being “in love”.
Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy- but it did not have to be. Romeo and Juliet is the tragic story of two star-crossed lovers, Romeo and Juliet, who are the son and daughter of two feuding families, the Montagues and the Capulets. Written by the famed playwright Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet takes place in the 14-15 century in the cities of Verona and Mantua, cities in northern Italy. After a series of events that involves Romeo getting banished from Verona and Juliet getting forced to marry a count, Paris, they kill themselves. It has been argued for centuries about who is to blame for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet.
In the fair city of Verona, two rival families, the Montagues and Capulets were involved in a nasty family feud that goes back years before any of the members were born. Even the townspeople were involved in the dispute, because the families were always fighting in the streets and causing disturbances. They disrupted the streets of Verona and even Prince Escalus tried to break up the fighting. They were given a warning, by him that another public fight would result in death. While this was occurring, Romeo, (a Montague) the main character, was getting over his last love, Rosaline, and was very upset. Juliet of the Capulet household had just been introduced to a wealthy young man, Paris, whom her parents wished her to marry. Yet she did not love him. Romeo goes to a party in an effort to forget about Rosaline. At this party he met Juliet, and immediately fell in love with her. He later finds out that she is a Capulet, the rival family of the Montagues. He decides that he loves her anyway and they confess their love for each other during the very famous "balcony scene" in which they agreed to secretly marry the next day. Friar Lawrence agreed to marry them in an effort to end the feuding between the families. Unfortunately, the fighting gets worse and Mercutio (Montague) a good friend of Romeo ends up in a fight with Tybalt (Capulet), Juliet's cousin. Tybalt killed Mercutio, which caused Romeo to kill Tybalt in an angry rage. For this, Romeo is banished from Verona. At the same time, the Capulet's were planning Juliet's marriage to Paris. Juliet didn't want to marry this man so she arranges with Friar Lawrence to fake her own death with a sleeping potion that would make everyone think that she was dead. Friar Lawrence promised to send word to Romeo to meet her when the potion wears off and to rescue her to Mantua, where Romeo was currently staying. There they would live happily ever after. Unfortunately, Romeo didn't receive the message on time and upon hearing of her "death" went to Juliet's tomb where he drinks poison and dies. When Juliet's potion wears off, she wakes to find her lover's dead corpse. She then proceeds to stab herself with Romeo's dagger. The two families find the bodies and with their shared sorrow, finally make peace with each other.
Romeo and Juliet is a tragic play about two young star crosses lovers, ‘A pair of lovers whose relationship is said to be doomed from the start’, which unites their families of sworn enemies together. It fits into the tragedy genre, as it’s a play that contains many distressing scenes, which involves many deaths of characters. Furthermore, during the time this play was written, Italy was stereotyped as a very rough place where many fights take place. In addition, this play is set in Verona, Italy, which somewhat relates to the play in a way, due to the fighting between the two families that takes place.
Fate or choice? Choice or fate? How does one separate these ideals? Can one? Shakespeare could not. Nor can we. Fate and choice are so intertwined that our choices determine our fate, and our fate determines our choices. William Shakespeare trusts the audience to scrutinize whether it is fate or choice that rules our human life. Shakespeare aptly conveys this oxymoron (with which people have been dealing for ages) through the evidence and structure of his play, Romeo and Juliet.
should do now. He says, "Is it e'en so? Then I defy you, stars!" Romeo
Throughout the entirety of Romeo & Juliet, Shakespeare is hinting at the “star crossed” deadly fate of the lovers spoken of by the chorus in the prologue. Romeo and Juliet are also constantly mentioning their uneasy feelings and how they can sense that something bad will happen, which confirm the aforementioned conclusion. This foreshadowing not only tells us this tragedy planned, but there must be pawns of fate that have to drive Romeo and Juliet together, while at the same time leading them to their death. In Romeo and Juliet, their deadly destiny was written by the universe and characters along the way, such as Capulet, Montague, Nurse, Friar Lawrence, Friar John, and Mercutio.
Shakespeare, William, and Burton Raffel. Romeo and Juliet. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2004. Print.
of a fight "let us take the law of our side let them begin" Sampson
Being one of the most debated texts in history, Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’, has the power and ability to divide audiences. Throughout the play, it is seen that Shakespeare has left the audience to contemplate the underlying cause of the Romeo and Juliet tragedy. Shakespeare begins by showing the reckless actions and choices of the lovers, illustrating one of the main contributing factors to their deaths. Friar Lawrence plays a large role in the deaths of the lovers as he is the main instigator, greatly contributing to the deaths. Also, demonstrated through the play is that the lover’s destiny is written in the stars. Without
William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is a love story based in Verona in the 1500s. Romeo and Juliet’s families have been in a feud for years, despite that they still fall in love. Romeo and Juliet hide their love from their families and this destroys them in the end. Romeo is protagonist and tragic hero in this play. He is an passionate and impulsive character that makes him perfect for his part.
Romeo and Juliet is a famous play that was first performed between 1594 and 1595, it was first printed in 1597. Romeo and Juliet is not entirely fictional as it is based on two lovers who lived in Verona. The Montague’s and Capulet’s are also real. Romeo and Juliet is one of the ten tragedies that William Shakespeare wrote. In this essay, I aim to investigate what act 1, scene1 makes you expect about the rest of the play.
Shakespeare’s works are some of the finest examples of Tragedy and Comedy from the English cannon of literature. The reason that his works are so poignant and reflective is his use of both emotions in order to progress the other. In his interpretation of Troilus and Cressida the traditional story of tragic love and loss are peppered with irony and satire in order to address topical issues of Gender roles, Government action/inaction, and hero worship through juxtaposition and humor.
Shakespeare, William. The Most Excellent and Lamentable Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet. The Norton Shakespeare. Ed. Stephen Greenblatt. New York: Norton, 1997. 865-939.