William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet

William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet

There are many oppositions in Romeo and Juliet and I am going to

explore the oppositions that I think are the most important to the

play. The oppositions have a marked effect on the play and cause some

of the turning points in the play such as the fight scene where Tybalt

and Mercutio are killed. There are also clashes of oppositions such as

when Romeo tries to love Tybalt in the fight scene in Act 3 scene 1.

This shows the oppositions of love and hate coming to a sharp focus.

In another sense, the clashing of oppositions also happens in

oxymoron.

The play begins with a dramatic and exciting fight scene, which serves

to show is the world that Romeo and Juliet’s love is situated in is a

world where chaos and violence rule. This is very much about the hate

and honour of the two families and it is also linked to the opposition

of private and public. This fight scene does the dual purpose of

capturing the attention of the audience, but also introduce us to the

major opposition: that of Montague versus Capulet. The whole play is

based upon the “ancient grudge” that is shared by these two

“households both alike in dignity”. The way in which the fight is

portrayed in the Luhrman film, with the petrol station, guns and the

background of heavy rock music, emphasised the fast paced excitement

of the scene and it is also very good at attracting our attention. The

shift of the play from public to private scenes is symbolic of the

other tension in the play such as: the loyalty of groups, like

Montague and Capulets versus the loyalty of individuals towards each

other such as Romeo and Juliet killing themselves so they could be

together; as well as the freedom of personal love versus the

constraints of social life. For example the hidden marriage between

Romeo and Juliet as their parents wouldn’t have let them marry someone

from the enemy. And the last tension is the male dominance versus the