Romeo and Juliet - Society's Responsibility

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Romeo & Juliet essay

Imagine yourself, dear reader, transported to Shakespearian Verona, a bustling, peaceful city (aside from the occasional death or two), with its obligatory social classes going about agreeably. Or so it seems? The Verona in which Shakespeare’s tragedy Romeo and Juliet takes place in is made much more sinister by the consequences than ensue from its strict, unbending society. Romeo and Juliet paints a tale about two young lovers, Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet, whose attempts to be together are cruelly thwarted by society. Society’s fixation on honor and disgrace, poverty-creating laws, and austere social roles all play crucial roles in causing the deaths of Romeo and Juliet.

First, society’s absurd focus on honor and disgrace is culpable for the continuation of the Capulet and Montague families’ “ancient grudge”, which forces Romeo and Juliet to sneak around this to be together, following a precarious plan that ends in their deaths. Society’s unreasonable obsession with dignity threatens to disgrace either foe who steps down as cowardly and gutless, so th...

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