Romeo and Juliet Essay
Characters in literary works often are the image of our strengths and flaws. Romeo and Juliet, the main characters of the well-loved play Romeo and Juliet, is the perfect embodiment of imperfect humanity. William Shakespeare, the play’s well-known playwright, captures universal human qualities perfectly in his characters’ actions and thoughts, even though the two are not particularly alike: while Romeo is impulsive, overreactive, and generally not very thoughtful, Juliet is cautious and cunning. Nevertheless, despite the fact that the play is set in 15th-century Italy, Romeo and Juliet’s actions are not unlike those of modern teenagers, and many readers relate to either Romeo, or Juliet, or both. For example, I see
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In Juliet’s soliloquy, she thinks carefully about whether she should drink the potion from the friar, and pictures all the potential outcomes before she makes the decision. In this scene, she is the polar opposite of Romeo: instead of blindly rushing into action, she uses common sense and logic to help her make a difficult choice, thus Shakespeare is hinting that Juliet is probably intelligent and careful, the very things that Romeo is not. She makes sure she thinks of all the possible scenarios that might occur before she drinks the potion, to ensure that she would be prepared for anything, in case the original pan fails. However, the friar’s procedure for faking Juliet’s death is already a well-thought out one— it requires critical thinking to spot flaws in such a plan. Thus, Shakespeare paints her in a rather positive light in this scene, where she seems thoughtful and well-prepared, and would serve as a good role model for his audiences and encourage them to think carefully, if they ever come across dilemmas in their own lives. However, Juliet’s cleverness also causes her to be deceptive and manipulative; after she visits Friar Laurence and receives the potion, she tells her father, “Where I have learnt me to repent the sin of disobedient opposition to you… henceforward I am ever ruled by you” (Act IV, Scene 2). In this monologue, Juliet says exactly what Lord Capulet wants to hear: an apology for defying him and the consent to marry Paris. Even though she means neither of those things, she is willing to deceive her parents in order to successfully execute her plan and achieve her goal. The fact that she knows what her parents want from her and uses their expectations to her advantage reveals her calculating nature. Thus, Shakespeare makes it clear that Juliet’s cleverness also has a dark side, enabling her to manipulate
Who would be willing to die for their loved ones? Romeo and Juliet would and did. Romeo and Juliet’s love and death brought two families together who could not even remember the origin of their hate. When the parents saw what their children's love for each other, they realized that their fighting had only led to suffering and insoluble conflict. Romeo and Juliet loved each other to an extent that they killed themselves rather than live apart. They did it with no hiatus. Juliet says before she kills herself, “O happy dagger, This is thy sheath. There rust and let me die.”( 5, 3, 182-183) demonstrating how she would rather die than not be with him.
Someone once said, "All literature shows us the power of emotion. It is emotion, not reason that motivates characters in literature." This means that all literature is an expression of emotion and it is the emotion that is the main character, and often the setting and theme as well. It is not the reasoning within the story that draws you in, but rather how the story deals with the emotions we all have felt. It provides us with a possible scenario of the impact of focusing only on emotion and losing focus on reason. The power of emotion driving literary characters to see their emotions through, make us wish we could feel so strongly about something or someone and the way we would all like to think we would see our emotions through. Atticus Finch, from the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, and Romeo Montague from Shakespeare's drama, The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, both are driven only by their emotions. Both are so driven to see their powerful emotions, no matter what might happen to them, that their emotion and the opposite emotions of everyone else around them becomes the main character, setting and theme in these stories. You are drawn in to the emotion by asking would I have the courage to stand up to my home town full of racism to seek justice for a black person as Atticus did in To Kill A Mockingbird? Could I be so in love, as Romeo was, that I would be willing to give up everything I had, my family, my position in society, even my own life, for the love of another person?
“O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy father and refuse thy name;” (Shakespeare, 536). In the book, ‘Romeo and Juliet”, by William Shakespeare there is a deeper meaning that Shakespeare is trying to portray other than parents cannot control their children’s hearts. He is trying to portray that a name is only a name and it doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things and that even with a different name that person will still be the same person they have always been. Shakespeare is using the characters: Juliet, Romeo, Lord Capulet, Friar Lawrence, and the Nurse to get this message across to the reader or the viewer.
In William Shakespeare’s tragic play, Romeo and Juliet, his skillful use of figurative language takes the reader on a roller coaster of emotions over a short period of time. Shakespeare’s rich character development illustrates how one’s affections can be dramatically altered in a matter of hours. Throughout the play, he uses the literary method of personification to show this change. When this method is used, it forces the reader to look at a character’s lines through different eyes, pushing them to see the deeper meaning. Personification is the literary device Shakespeare uses to express his own thoughts and views on the themes love as lust, clouded judgment, and death.
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.
In act one scene three of Romeo and Juliet Lord Capulet states “…She hath not seen the change of fourteen years. Ere we may think her ripe to be a bride.” This means that Juliet is not quite fourteen years old and her father is not sure if she is ready to become a wife and mother. There are many differences between how people marry today, and how they married in the time of Romeo and Juliet. Some of the differences are when the people marry, why people marry, and also the level of maturity people marry at.
of a book a person may want to know what’s the basic outline of the
The vial brushes fingertips, one snatching the glass bottle. Contained within the crystal clear barrier dances the liquid with the property of fleeting death, and enchants two naïve lovers to an early parting in "The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet" by William Shakespeare. Two star crossed lovers take the stage, bound by their endless love but separated by the ancient hate of their two families. In desperate endeavors to be able to spend their days together, terrible communication distorts their arrangements, and the horror of living without the other ends the lives of Romeo and Juliet. The characters of this play all contribute to the deaths of the two young lovers. Amongst the characters, Friar Laurence stands as the most to blame for the deaths of Juliet and her Romeo because of the secret the Friar keeps, his knowledge of the inevitable, and the encouragement and plotting of pitiable decisions.
Good intention will not always lead to a happy ending. When one thinks that they have made a good moral decision, the outcome may differ from the forethought. In Shakespeare’s play, Romeo and Juliet, many characters thought they were helping the lovers but in fact, they were only assisting them in taking their own lives. Friar Lawrence’s good intention of marrying Romeo and Juliet led to the deaths of Mercutio, Paris, and Romeo and Juliet.
Through the flaws in the characterization of his characters, Shakespeare allows their weakness to manipulate and cloud their judgment. This fundamentally leads to the outcome of Romeo and Juliet, with each weakness presenting a conflict that alters the characters fate. Being especially true with the star-crossed lovers, William Shakespeare leads their perfect love into tragedy with these conflicts. In Romeo and Juliet, Juliet, Friar Lawrence, and Tybalt all contribute to conflicts that enhance the plot. From destructive flaws in their characterizations, Juliet, Friar Lawrence, and Tybalt are all consequently controlled by their weakness, therefore affecting the outcome of the play.
After making the plan to fake her death with Friar Laurence, Juliet tells her father, “Pardon, I beseech you! / Henceforward I am ever rul’d by you” (4.2.22-23). Here, Juliet is lying to her father by telling him she will marry Paris when she really plans to fake her death. This is important because it reveals that Juliet’s eagerness to be with Romeo causes her to lie to her parents, putting the person she just met above the parents that raised her and love her very much. Not caring about how her actions will affect them may also cause conflicts later on in the play. Romeo is also deceptive to his role model, Friar Laurence. After learning that Juliet has “died”, Romeo tells Balthasar, “Is it e’en so? Then I defy you, stars! / Thou knowest my lodging. Get me ink and paper / And hire posthorses. I will hence to-night” (5.1.24-26). Here, Romeo is being deceptive of Friar Laurence by not staying at Mantua like Friar Laurence told him to. This is important since Romeo is still banished, so going back to Verona may cause even more conflicts later in the
What makes a piece of literature relevant or irrelevant to a society? There have been many debates on the relevance about particular pieces of literature, especially old literature, in the modern day. Their relevance can be judged by how they address issues happening in society when they were written compared to those same issues today. It can also be judged on whether the themes present can apply to the modern day. And even if a story portrays issues that are either resolved or irrelevant today it can still have value on how it portrays human nature The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet is a relevant work for a person in modern times due to its themes on suicide, human recklessness, and violence and revenge.
Countless people all around the world are familiar with the idea of the famously tragic tale of two star-crossed lovers in William Shakespeare’s play, Romeo and Juliet. Their heart wrenching love story has been an inspiration for many literature pieces throughout various genres and later cinematic works of art. The young couple was not only memorable for their passionate, devoted love, but also the tragic events that ultimately lead to their death. One aspect of the play that has a strong impact on the audience is Shakespeare’s use of charismatic and compelling language seen throughout the play. The unique personality traits used to describe Romeo and Juliet allows many to relate to the young lovers. Shakespeare’s use of descriptive language, allows the audience to understand the societal expectations, beliefs, and values set out for the men and women of Verona, Italy. Romeo’s character, however, can be been seen defying these expectations and also
The story of Romeo and Juliet is an inevitable tragedy. Many events take place, which are quite detrimental to the love Romeo and Juliet have for one another. By mentioning marriage and death together, Shakespeare foreshadows Romeo and Juliet's tragic ending. From the very beginning of the play throughout and to the end, there has always been the intent of a tragedy, and Shakespeare uses much dramatic irony to express this.
Shakespeare employs multiple expedients to expose the impulsive and emotional characteristics in Romeo’s behavior and personality. In the first place, Romeo’s internal feelings and perceptions help determine his full character. Also, the way others view him contributes and aids in proving his disposition. In conclusion, Romeo’s own actions and responses support Shakespeare in drawing Romeo’s character. The world recognizes Romeo and Juliet as an unsurpassed and classic love story.