Romeo and Juliet

In the play, Romeo and Juliet, directed by William Shakespeare, two young, star-crossed lovers cannot be together because their families, the Capulets and the Montagues, have an ancient feud. Their children, Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet, fall in love and are married, while keep it a secret from their parents. Through a chaotic series of events, Mercutio, a kinsman of the Prince, is killed by Tybalt. Angered by the death of his friend, Romeo murders Tybalt and is banished to Mantua, a nearby and isolated town. Juliet, grieved by this news, goes to the Friar to seek help and they formulate a plan to bring Romeo back to Verona, Juliet will drink a potion that will make her appear dead and Romeo will meet her in the Capulet vault. Due to miscommunication, Romeo thinks that Juliet is dead, so he drinks poison he purchased from an apothecary when he meets her, and Juliet stabs herself when she awakens and finds Romeo’s dead body. By utilizing the play Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare portrays the differences between appearances and reality by using the marriage between Romeo and Juliet, Mercutio’s Queen Mab speech, and hidden meanings . Shakespeare employs the marriage between Romeo and Juliet to identify the differences between appearances and reality from the contrast of Friar Lawrence’s intentions and the results. After spending the night in the Capulet garden with Juliet, Romeo goes to Friar Lawrence to ask him to marry them. When Friar Lawrence agrees to marry them, he does it because he has good intentions:“ For this alliance may so happy prove/to turn your household’s rancor to pure love”(2.4.98-99). Friar Lawrence’s intentions in marrying Romeo and Juliet are to bridge the gap and heal the rift between the two families, as we... ... middle of paper ... ...satisfied/ With Romeo till I behold him - dead - / Is my poor heart… O, how my heart abhors/ To hear him names and cannot come to him/ To wreak the love I bore my cousin”(3.5.98-106). Although it seems to Lady Capulet that Juliet is verbally expressing that Juliet will never be satiated until she holds Romeo dead, she actually denotes that she will never be content until she holds Romeo, and that her poor heart is dead. The surreptitious meaning of her speech is perspicuous to the audience, but she must speak using double-speech to conceal her actual feelings about Romeo because her mother would be exasperated if she revealed her true feelings. In the tragedy, Romeo and Juliet, written by the influential and famous playwright, William Shakespeare, Shakespeare shows the distinguishment between appearances and reality through the marriage between Romeo and Juliet, .