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William Shakespeare's life and career
William Shakespeare's life and career
William Shakespeare's life and career
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Is love worth it all? As publicized in Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, reckless decisions may possibly lead to an unforeseen and dreadful conclusion. He also makes it known that if feelings about a situation are over dramatized they can cause a hazardous faux pas. That is exactly what Romeo, Juliet, and Friar Lawrence implement in Shakespeare’s tragedy. In Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, the major characters cause the tragic outcome of the drama through their bad choices and decisions. 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” (... ... middle of paper ... ...dy of Romeo and Juliet." Classical, Renaissance, and Postmodernist Acts of the Imagination: Essays Commemorating O. B. Hardison, Jr. Cranbury, N. J.: Associated University Presses, 1996. 177-194. Rpt. in Shakespearean Criticism. Ed. Michelle Lee. Vol. 81. Detroit: Gale, 2004. Literature Resource Center. Web. 3 Apr. 2011. Brenner, Gerry. "Shakespeare's Politically Ambitious Friar." Shakespeare Studies 13 (1980): 47-58. Rpt. in Shakespearean Criticism. Ed. Michelle Lee. Vol. 118. Detroit: Gale, 2009. Literature Resource Center. Web. 3 Apr. 2011. Dupler, Douglas. "Critical Essay on 'Romeo and Juliet'." Drama for Students. Ed. Anne Marie Hacht. Vol. 21. Detroit: Gale, 2005. Literature Resource Center. Web. 3 Apr. 2011. Shakespeare, William, and Alan Durband. Shakespeare Made Easy: Romeo and Juliet. Hauppauge, NY: Barron’s Educational Series, Inc. 1985. Print.
70. What is the difference between a '' and a ''? Detroit: Gale, 2004. http://www.gale.com/gae/. 89.
Ed. Jelena O. Krstovic. Vol. 97. What is the difference between a '' and ''?
Love is a wonderful curse that forces us to do unexplainable things. Romeo and Juliet is a famous play written by William Shakespeare, who does an exceptional job in showing the readers what hate, mercy, death, courage, and most importantly, what love looks like. This play is about two star-crossed lovers who are both willing to sacrifice their lives just to be with one another. Unfortunately tragedy falls upon the unconditional love Romeo and Juliet have for each other, but along the way they experience immeasurable forgiveness and extraordinary bravery just to be with one another. Sadly enough, love is a cause of violence in the end.
Schlegel, August Wilhelm. Criticism on Shakespeare s Tragedies . A Course of Lectures on Dramatic Art and Literature. London: AMS Press, Inc., 1965.
Love is ironic. It can take you anywhere in the world unexpectedly, and turn you into a person that you never were. However, love is also two-faced, having both a negative and positive view. It is what drives you to the point where you do not know who you are anymore. In Shakespeare's story, The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare perceives love with the personalities and actions of the characters, Romeo and Juliet. Both Romeo and Juliet are characterized as immature and irrational due to their "love." In addition, both characters fail to realize the reality of life and go towards the path of adolescence. Even though Romeo and Juliet are doomed at the end of the journey of "love," their demise was caused by their rash and silly decisions because their belief of everlasting love blinds them from reality and shapes their lives into an unstoppable time bomb.
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.
Romeo has a passion for love that is unbreakable, and he will do anything to get who he wants, no matter the consequences that might follow. An example of this is when Romeo goes to Juliet’s balcony and confesses his love for her, but what he does not understand is that “if they do see thee, they will murder thee” (Shakespeare II.ii.75). Romeo has trouble accepting the reality that it will not work out for him or her because of family differences. The intensity of love in both of these texts becomes a dangerous and violent thing.
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Aurora, N.Y.: The Roycroft Shops, 1929. 133-150. Rpt. in Shakespearean Criticism. Ed. Lynn M. Zott. Vol. 69. Detroit: Gale, 2003. Literature Resources from Gale. Web. 16 Feb. 2011.
Cohen, Walter, J.E. Howard, K. Eisaman Maus. The Norton Shakespeare. Vol. 2 Stephen Greenblatt, General Editor. New York, London. 2008. ISBN 978-0-393-92991-1
Clark, W. G. and Wright, W. Aldis , ed. The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. Vol. 1. New York: Nelson-Doubleday
William Shakespeare: Hamlet. Ed. Susanne L. Wofford. Case Studies in Contemporary Criticism. Boston: St. Martin's, 256-282.
Tom Quirk and Gary Scharnhorst. Vol. 1. What is the difference between a. and a. Detroit: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2006. 380-386.
Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is a play commonly viewed and known as a true love story; however, after analyzing several hints portrayed by the protagonists, it is evident that Shakespeare did not intend to make Romeo and Juliet seem like a true love story but a criticism of how superficial society’s view on love is.
Scott, Mark W. Shakespearean Criticism: Volume 94, Excerpts from the Criticism of William Shakespeare's Plays and Poetry, from the First Published Appraisals to Current Evaluations. Detroit, MI: Gale Research, 1987. Print.