When reading literature, you gain diverse perspectives of a situation. It helps you recognize why certain things happen and also discover who you are. Thomas de Quincey once said that "All that is literature seeks to communicate power”. Books empower their readers to transform into leading individual. The characters of The Red Tent written by Anita Diamant and Romeo and Juliet written by William Shakespeare, teaches the reader that power comes from making your own choice which includes leaving components of your life behind. The Red Tent by Anita Diamant informs the reader of the biblical character Dinah, Jacob's only daughter. In the Bible, Dinah's story is only briefly mentioned which states an Egyptian prince raped Dinah and her brothers, …show more content…
One of the lovers named Juliet faces many conflicts in being with Romeo. One includes her parents’ complete power over her and her life. Her father, Caplet, forces Juliet to marry a man named Paris. When she refuses, her father lashes out and demines her. To fight off this oppression, she conspires with the friar to gain her freedom and to be with Romeo. By taking this path to defy her father and be with Romeo, Juliet matures which give her wisdom on the reality of her life. Her maturity gives her the authority to purse a better future than being placed in a social conformity of being completely obedient to a man. Another conflicting problem was when Juliet takes the potion alone without anyone being there with her. Part of the grand scheme was taking a potion that made her look dead so she could get put in the tomb where Romeo would come get her. By not involving anyone else in her scheme, she shows the maturity she gained through her experiences. She no longer relays on other to live her life. She makes her one plan without anyone interfering or pushing her to do something
Juliet, a Capulet, is a beautiful young lady tired of being controlled by her father, Lord Capulet. The two families are in a never-ending feud that comes between Romeo and Juliet’s love. In the course of four and a half days, Romeo and Juliet plan their marriage with the help of Priest Friar Laurence and Juliet’s Nurse. After the couple is married, Romeo is banished from the city of Verona, causing an issue for their ideal fate together. Lord Capulet forced Juliet to marry Count Paris after she married Romeo, leaving Friar to structure a plan to avoid a second marriage for Juliet.
Juliet is young and still eager to please her parents. She is only thirteen in the beginning the idea of
In Diamant’s powerful novel The Red Tent the ever-silent Dinah from the 34th chapter of Gensis is finally given her own voice, and the story she tells is a much different one than expected. With the guiding hands of her four “mothers”, Leah, Rachel, Zilpah, and Bilhah, all the wives of Jacob, we grow with Dinah from her childhood in Mesoptamia through puberty, where she is then entered into the “red tent”, and well off into her adulthood from Cannan to Egypt. Throughout her journey we learn how the red tent is constantly looked upon for encouragement, solace, and comfort. It is where women go once a month during menstration, where they have their babies, were they dwell in illness and most importantly, where they tell their stories, passing on wisdom and spinning collective memories. “Their stories were like the offerings of hope and strength poured out before the Queen of Heavens, only these gifts were not for any god or goddess—but for me” (3). It essentially becomes a symbol of womanly strength, love and learning and serves as the basis for relationships between mothers, sisters, and daughters.
However, the friar views on the situation is made more distinct when he marries the two and tries to help the two be together. The friar desire to put an end to the feud between the Montagues and the Capulets and believes that marriage between Romeo and Juliet will accomplish this goal. “Juliet has not had to improve; but Romeo, at first a whining lover of himself in the role of lover, passionate but not truly reaching out of himself, has much to learn” (Jorgensen 33). As the story develops, Juliet demonstrates her capability to conquer hardships as she starts to take over her own life and decided to stop living through the decisions of her parents. Because she is in love with Romeo, she is abandoned by her, mother, father, and nurse. She is nearly alone when Romeo is banished. Still, she doesn’t run back, she refuses to go back and live as her parent’s shadow.
Romeo is depressed and is shutting himself off from the world because love is not working out for him. Before Juliet attends the party at her father?s, she is being arranged to marry Paris. This is against her will, though, she does not love this man at all. Juliet has never been in a relationship before, so this is a new experience for her. Lady Capulet, Capulet, the nurse, and others thought that she was being ridiculous.
Juliet’s parents, mainly her father, force her to marry Paris which she refuses reluctantly. This causes Juliet to search for a way of not marrying Paris, due to the fact that she is already married to Romeo and loves him deeply. She later on agrees to take a poison in order to make everybody believe she’s dead. Unfortunately, Juliet wakes up too late making Romeo assume she’s dead and causing him to kill himself. Afterwards, Juliet commits suicide since her only love is dead.
First and foremost, following Juliet's refusal of the marriage with Paris, her father tells her that she is “one too much and that “ {he has} a curse in having her”(III. V. 166-167). Juliet considers her father's reaction as a form of abandonment. This strengthens her isolation from her parents. Juliet is also affected by the nurse's advice to marry Paris and thinks “it is more sin to wish {her} thus forsworn” (III. V. 237). Juliet is hurt by the unsettling advice the nurse gives her at difficult circumstances. This causes Juliet to isolate herself from the nurse and does not confide in her anymore. Besides the nurse, Friar Laurence also betrays Juliet at a critical moment by saying that “stay is not to question, for the watch is coming…{and he} dare{s} no longer stay”(V. III. 158-159) and leaves her. This abandonment influences Juliet's isolation from the friar. Since the Friar is one of her most trusted advisors, this heavily impacts Juliet. The betrayal of her trusted friends results in Juliet’s isolation from them.
In the play, Romeo and Juliet sneak out a lot to see each other. They do this because they are from rival families and their don’t want them to interact with each other at all. By sneaking around, it created more problems and Juliet drank a potion that would put her to sleep for a while and as a result, they both ended up killing themselves. They were both not listening to their parents and by doing that, it ended badly for both of them and their families.
Juliet’s arranged marriage with Paris, as well as the ancient feud between Capulets and Montagues, eventually contributed to the deaths of their children. In Act 1 Scene 2, Paris asks Capulet, ‘But now, my lord, what say you to my suit?’ which shows that Capulet and Paris are discussing Juliet’s possible marriage without consulting her, perhaps implying they think she is too nave to decide on her future. They are arranging her marriage for her, which implies that men are very controlling of women’s lives, especially those of their daughters. The scene establishes how Juliet is subject to parental influence, and how she is very constrained since her father can force her to marry whoever he wants. Juliet’s status as a woman leaves her with no power or choice in the decision of whom she should marry.
Most importantly, Romeo’s poor choices and decisions lead to the tragedy of the drama. From the beginning of the story Romeo reveals his immaturity and ill-equipped emotions. His first mistake reveals itself when he claims to be deeply depressed. Romeo claims that he feels like “sinking ‘under love’s heavy burden’,” (Dupler). At this point Romeo has succumbed to his emotions, due to the fact that a girl named Rosaline refuses to reciprocate his love for her. Romeo’s friends Benvolio and Mercutio “urge him to stop philosophizing about his lost love and to seek another young lady as a new object of his affections” (Dupler).Romeo now demonstrates that he seems incapable of listening to his friends’ suggestions and chooses to continue in a juvenile state of depression. Romeo makes another fatal decision when he nurtures an undeniably damned relationship. Romeo admits that he still loves Juliet once her lineage appears as Capulet when he says, “Is she a Capulet? O dear account! My life is my foes debt” (1.5.115). Romeo irresponsibly supports the idea of a relationship between himself and Juliet only because “The young hero is simply shifting his attention to a more receptive subject as he responds to the erotic spurring implicit in his name” (...
Considerable expectations are placed on Juliet due to her gender. As a female, Juliet is expected to marry the man of her family’s choosing, granting her no control over her future. Capulet and County Paris discuss whether Juliet is fit to be a bride. Although age plays a factor in this decision, Capulet is deciding his daughter’s fate based on the expected gender roles of her being the sole female daughter of the family, “ She hath not seen the change of fourteen years;/Let two more summers wither in their pride/ Ere we
Literature is an outlet for imagination without restrictions, a platform for expression, and a form of art that outlives its author. Most importantly, it can be a way to help one truly discover themselves. As audiences are exposed to more literature throughout their lives, they not only learn about their true potential, but are also made aware of their flaws and faults in character. Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird and Alexander Hamilton in Hamilton are both remarkable characters, but from various events that reveal their shortcomings, the audience receives the opportunity to learn from their mistakes. By appreciating literature, one not only receives a wonderful story, but is also given the chance to grow with the characters and learn lessons from the character’s experiences.
Reckless actions lead to untimely deaths. In Shakespeare’s tragedy “Romeo and Juliet”, both protagonists fight for their hopeless love. Bloodshed and chaos appear inevitable in fair Verona; Romeo and Juliet come from enemy households, the Montegues and the Capulets, who have sworn to defeat one another. The young and handsome Romeo weeps over his unrequited love for Rosaline, until he lays his eyes on Juliet. Strong and independent, Juliet seeks to escape her family’s will to marry her off to Paris, a kinsman of the Prince. Fate ties these adolescents’ lives together binding them to witness the ill-fortunes of Romeo and Juliet’s love. Romeo and Juliet prove themselves woefully impulsive through their words and actions, which ultimately lead them along a series of unfortunate mishaps.
The value Romeo most cherishes is privacy between him and Juliet. The value of privacy is expressed through the metaphor of night. Through night, darkness is a veil that removes any obligations to social institutions and implications, rules and regulations. In short, night is the individual’s escape from the public world. In a way, the lover’s eventual suicides may be viewed as an eternal night. Romeo rejects the values of his surrounding public and social institutions. The placement of familial power on the head masculine figure of the household creates a profound obstacle between Romeo and Juliet. Both lovers must rebel against their lineage especially Juliet. Because of the patriarchal power structure, Juliet’s love is not hers to give away. There is a strong hostility between their two families that conflict with the renaissance value of honor.
She always follows the rules and she does exactly want her parents want. All Juliet wants in this story is to follow her mother's wishes. Her mother wants her to find true love while being fourteen at the time period of the Renaissance it was almost time for her to marry, but modernizing this her mother wants her to have her first boyfriend. Juliet thinks she's not ready, but ends up falling quickly once she realizes how kind and funny Romeo is. Being so young and wanting to listen to her mother she instantly falls for Romeo without knowing who he is, which ends up making it difficult for them in the future. Nurse ends up telling Juliet that Romeo is a popular which horrifies Juliet since they are in different social groups, but they have both falling so deep in love that they want to meet