William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet was set in the medieval period in Verona, Italy.
Shakespeare wrote the play in 1595 and got the idea for the play from
a poem by Arthur Brooke, titled “The tragical history of Romulus and
Juliet”. In Arthur's version of the play, it was set over 3 months yet
in Shakespeare's version it was set over 3 days, Sunday to Wednesday,
to make the play more dramatically effective, and shorter to watch.
The play is greatly influenced by the belief in fate. During
Elizabethan times love was very powerful and was also exaggerated.
This is a very good way to take advantage and make things more
dramatic than they actually are. This is how Shakespeare makes the
play exciting and dramatic for the audience. Shakespeare wrote Romeo
and Juliet in 1595 when he was only 31. He wrote the play for Queen
Elizabeth the 1st, the play also appealed to a wider audience at that
time. In Shakespeare’s time the audience would have really enjoyed
watching this plays as it gives them chance to forget about their
awful lives. Shakespeare wrote his plays just for his audience, some
of his plays were a success and some weren’t. Romeo and Juliet was a
huge success and is still a popular play now. The play starts with a
prologue this tells the audience what is going to happen during the
play bringing dramatic tension to the play, as the audience will be
waiting to see the fights and tragedies. The prologue makes the
audience interested in the play as it tells them the themes of the
play and they will want to see the play in action.
The scene I am studying is Act 3 Scene 1, which I think is the most
important ...
... middle of paper ...
..., and then when he meets
Juliet he falls in love with her straight away and cant stop thinking
about her. This is part of the reason for his death and is another
part of his flaw. He doesn't listen to the warnings fate has given him
either. He acts without thinking things through, without considering
the consequences. When he kills Tybalt is a good example. Tybalt is
Juliet's cousin and a Capulet. He has just killed Mercutio Romeo's
best friend. When Romeo kills Tybalt he does it purely out of
vengeance, it is a crime of passion. He has let his emotions control
him, and doesn't think. This leads to him being banished. From here
onwards everything goes wrong for the lovers. This is a blemish in his
character. If he was not arrogant he would not be able to kill himself
and maybe things would have turned out differently.