Examining the Character of Juliet in Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

Examining the Character of Juliet in Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

A wealthy girl like Juliet would be expected to obey her parents.

Juliet would have to listen to anything her parents said. She would be

expected to marry at a young age and carry on the family legacy. She

would be married off to a rich husband, even though Juliet is about

thirteen now, that is why her parents won’t marry her to Paris yet.

Her father is also protective of her he says’ she is the hopeful lady

of my earth,’ meaning he isn’t going to marry her to anyone she

doesn’t consent to. She also lives in a patriarchal society, so she

has to follow men’s rules.

An Elizabethan audience would like stories that they recognised. They

preferred new playwrights and new ways of presenting the play, they

didn’t mind if it had the same plot to some other play. Their

definition of a tragedy would be a tragedy represents flaws and

shortcomings which are universal but are emphasised by the stature and

nobility of the characters involved. Their definition is greatly

reflected by Romeo and Juliet as they both come from wealthy and noble

families.

In Shakespeare’s time there was no such thing as copyright so you

would copy work if you liked. Shakespeare’s main source of this poem

was from a poem written in 1562 by a British poet Arthur Brooke called

the Tragicall Historye of Romous and Iuliet. The different attitudes

of Brooke and Shakespeare are different as Brooke is against the way

Romeo and Juliet behaved, he tells about how their desire and

impetiousness took over them and how they didn’t take their parents

advice. Brookes poem lasts nine months while Shakes...

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...new resolution. She contradicts her promise of

obedience by marrying Romeo secretly. She emerges as a strange and

practical personality more than Romeo. It’s Juliet, who first mentions

marriage, and sets Romeo on to arrange it. Her change from the

obedient girl to a passionate and romantic lover. The shadow of death

which accompanies their love and the idea of tragedy born out of

hostile fate. In all acts there is a fight or a death. Death is also

just a part of their fate and can’t be avoided by them. Its fate and

chance that leads to their death and others for example if Friar

Lawrence’s letter arrived, then maybe there would not have been a

fight and Romeo would not have killed himself.

Romeo and Juliet is a great play with many literary and descriptive

tragic writing makes it into a great tragic piece of writing.