Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

The setting of Romeo and Juliet comes from an Italian background and

it was set long before Shakespeare wrote it. The mixture of an

Elizabethan and Italian society is given Marriage is very different to

nowadays first of all it wouldn't be your choice who you marry; the

husband would be chosen from an Allis to the family Capulet and

Montague would never be put together, secondly, the bride was usually

younger; in the play Juliet was 14 when she married Romeo. This I part

of the historical setting of the play. The central theme and idea of

the play is that of Courtly love, love had to be addressed, there were

rules and expectations of how lovers should behave this is called

aristocracy. Another thing with courtly love is that you could only

marry in your social class. If you were in love with someone of a

higher social class they would probably be already married therefore

unobtainable. In courtly love woman had to be coy therefore a young

mans desire would be inflamed. The man would try and please the woman.

This is traditional Elizabethan love. Romeo fulfils these Elizabethan

expectations as the audience expects. The dramatic irony in this scene

is when Juliets father wants her to marry a fine man from a fine

family but Juliet is already married to Romeo, a Montague who Juliets

father hates. The cultural setting of the pay is shown through

Juliet’s relationship with her mother. Children and parents have

different relationships to what they do now. In the setting of this

play you would never back answer, disobey or be rude to your parents

or you would be exiled. Juliet didn't have a close relationship with

her mother or father and her nanny probably brought her up. She

probably would have had a special time arranged to see her mother and

father too. The nurse probably would have breast fed Juliet these were

called wet nurses. The nurse would have been more like a mother figure

to Juliet, but at the end of the act she betrays Juliet.