William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet as a Play Of Opposites
In the play Romeo & Juliet, William Shakespeare utilizes opposites in
both the thoughts and actions of the characters in Romeo and Juliet.
Outlined are contrasts of crime and violence versus peace and law,
love versus hate, and young versus old.
The uses of crime & violence versus peace and law are demonstrated in
Act 3, Scene 1. Tybalt and Mercutio exchange remarks back and forth,
when Benvolio steps in and encourages them to stop.
Mercutio: Consort? What, dost thou make us minstrels? And thou make
minstrels of us, look to hear nothing but discords. Hereî–¸ my
fiddlestick, hereî–¸ that shall make you dance. Zounds, consort!
Benvolio: We talk here in the public haunt of men. Either withdraw
unto some private place, Or reason coldly of your grievances, Or else
depart. Here all eyes gaze on us. Mercutio: Menî–¸ eyes were made to
look, and let them gaze. I will not budge for no manî–¸ pleasure, I.
This is just a small sampling of crime and violence versus peace and
law. Later in this scene, Mercutio challenges Tybalt in a duel, then
when Mercutio is slain, Romeo goes on to challenge Tybalt, killing
him. If Mercutio, Tybalt and Romeo would have listened to Benvolio,
the fights would have not occurred, and the outcome of the play would
be changed.
An example of love versus hate occurs through the relationship Romeo
and Juliet and the hate between their families. The love that Romeo
and Juliet share completely opposes the deep roots of anger and hate
between their parents. The quote from the Chorus best states this.
Chorus: Two houses, both alike in dignity ?From ancient grudge break
to new mutiny ?A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life: Whose
misadventured piteous overthrows, Doth with their death bury their
parents?strife.
The sincere and strong love of Romeo and Juliet contrasts with the
extreme, petty grudges held by their parents. The love between Romeo
Montague and Juliet Capuletnd their love through their deathsrought
In “The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet” by William Shakespeare, two very young people fall in love but cannot be with each other because of the feud in between their families. The feud ends when Romeo and Juliet both kill themselves because of heartbreak over the other. The minor characters Mercutio, Tybalt, and Friar Lawrence serve as foils to Romeo, to help support the theme of patience.
The sun and the moon have nothing in common with each other and nor do the Capulets and the Montagues. The usage of opposites in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is to illustrate the Capulets’ and the Montagues’ polarity.
Many people claim that love and hate are the same thing, while others say that the two emotions are complete opposites. William Shakespeare explored the two emotions in his play Romeo and Juliet. In the play, Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet are teens who grew up in families that have been feuding longer than either family can remember. However, the two meet out of unforeseen circumstances, and fall irrevocably in “love”. They woo, and within twenty-four hours they are married. Things seem to be going well until Romeo is provoked into killing Juliet’s cousin, Tybalt, and gets himself banished. Juliet is also promised to marry Paris, an eligible bachelor, while she is still mourning Romeo’s banishment. She decides to see one of the two people who know of her and Romeo’s marriage, Friar Laurence, to whom she says that if she cannot find a way out of being alone she will kill herself. The Friar gives her a potion to sleep for forty-two hours and appear dead to help her. The plan is that Romeo is supposed to be there when she wakes up, but Romeo hears that she is dead and kills himself at her feet. She then awakes and kills herself as well, ending the whole brutal affair. The reader is then left to wonder if what they have just experienced is a tragedy of young love or a lesson on the power of hate, a question for which Shakespeare leaves a blurry but definite answer. After a deeper look into the text, it becomes clearly evident that hate has far more power over the characters than their “love” ever could.
Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet uses opposing forces to express the differences and problems splitting Verona. He uses themes of Life and death, Light and dark, young and old, free will and fate and many other themes that are constantly being brought up throughout the play. Shakespeare used many of these opposing forces and sonnets as at the time he wrote the play this was very big and popular among the people.
This hatred causes many brawls including one in Act 3 scene 1. This brawl is a pawn of fate that pulls Romeo further apart from Juliet. In this scene Tybalt is upset because he believes that Romeo had crashed the Capulet ball, though in reality he had no harmful intentions. He is blood thirsty and wants to battle Romeo. Romeo is Mad, passionate and hasty. He is already symbolically dead and Mercutio and Benvolio believe that he is in no state of mind to fight, and if he were to do so he would not stand a chance against Tybalt, the prince of cats. Mercutio Is worried about this so in his attempt to protect Romeo he fights Tybalt which unleashes a big fight. Tybalt kills Mercutio. This upsets Romeo so much that he kills Tybalt because he was overwhelmed with passion and makes a hasty decision. Now bringing things back to the Capulet ball. Fate begins with Tybalt hearing Romeo express his love for Juliets beauty aloud and becomes filled with anger because he believes that Romeo is there to crash party since he is a Montague. If Tybalt never heard that, he would have never instigated a fight and Romeo would not have been exiled. This is fate rearranging time and circumstance to pull Romeo farther away from
At the start of the play we witness the death of Mercutio. Before Mercutio’s death Romeo is against violence he says “Gentleman for shame forbear this outrage” this conveys that Romeo does not want to lose anyone also Tybalt because he is know his family. However it all changes after Mercutio’s death. Mercutio’s death is caused by him fighting with Tybalt on behalf of Romeo and his relationship with Romeo. Romeo attempts to break up the fight, but Tybalt stabs Mercutio. As he is dying he says "A plague o ' both your house”. However When Romeo
Mercutio and Benvolio encountered Tybalt on the street of Verona and soon enough the newly wed Romeo came. Tybalt then provokes a fight with Romeo, " 'Romeo the love I bear thee can afford no better term than this: Thou art a villain', said Tybalt." Shakespeare's play (3, 1, 61-62, 119). Romeo, on the other hand, turned down Tybalt's invitation with a response of, " 'Villain I am none. Therefore, farewell. I see thou knowest me not.' " (3, 1, 65-66, 119). Mercutio was greatly disappointed with Romeo so he just accepted Tybalt's challenge, which caused his death. Mercutio died cursing the Capulets and Montagues. Romeo felt the pain of Mercutio's lost. He craved for revenge over Tybalt so he slain him from his return. The lost of a best friend pushed Romeo to kill Tybalt. He never realized that it would end up that way, that he will lose him. It was the moment that he felt the importance of Mercutio in his life.
In act three scene one it says this about the fight, "Tybalt insults Romeo, but Romeo, who has just returned from his wedding, remains calm. Mercutio, on the other hand, is furious with Tybalt, and they begin to fight. As Romeo tries to separate them, Tybalt stabs Mercutio, who later dies." Romeo feels this sudden rage. Romeo then, "Romeo
Accidentally, incidentally, unintentionally, intentionally; no one ever really knows, but we are for certain one thing: “the heart isits own fate.” For Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet, two star-crossed lovers in Shakespeare’s masterpiece play ‘Romeo and Juliet,’ this holds especially true. Romeo and Juliet’s “misadventure piteous overthrow” is fueled by their love for each other and their determination to be together, no matter what. Romeo and Juliet’s love with stands the hate surrounding them. Thus, fate is undoubtedly the most responsible influence for the two young lovers’ heartbreaking tragedy.
The Idea of Antithesis in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. In this essay I am going to look at how antitheses are a big part and how they are central to Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. There are many antitheses and oxymorons in the play and I will be examining how they are used and how they drive the play on, entertaining and involving. the audience.
Through the flaws in the characterization of his characters, Shakespeare allows their weakness to manipulate and cloud their judgment. This fundamentally leads to the outcome of Romeo and Juliet, with each weakness presenting a conflict that alters the characters fate. Being especially true with the star-crossed lovers, William Shakespeare leads their perfect love into tragedy with these conflicts. In Romeo and Juliet, Juliet, Friar Lawrence, and Tybalt all contribute to conflicts that enhance the plot. From destructive flaws in their characterizations, Juliet, Friar Lawrence, and Tybalt are all consequently controlled by their weakness, therefore affecting the outcome of the play.
“Boy, this shall not excuse the injuries that thou hast done me. Therefore turn and draw.” Tybalt says this to Romeo, as he is always ready for a fight. Tybalt’s bravery allows him to confront his enemies with confidence and self-assuredness, which is where his arrogance stems from. Alas, Tybalt does not use this bravery for good, to stand up to the two rival houses and bring peace, but to provoke it, shedding more blood, including that of the innocent. This is another example of how Tybalt reflects the theme of hate in Romeo and Juliet. His courage to put his own life at stake, in one sense, could be seen as ignorance – unable to see the stupidity of the situation he finds himself and his family in – a blood feud, the origins, and thus the meaning, or purpose, of it, lost in time. It is pointless. There are many such people in our world today – there always have been. Misguided beliefs and prejudice renders them unable to see the good in others and how much better the world would be without war. Indeed, Shakespeare helps us to understand that this mentality is wrong and has no purpose but
Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy of an ancient feud where the children of two families at war fall deeply in love with each other. Set in the 16th century William Shakespeare’s play has many different themes running throughout it, which include love, hate, death and conflict. The play opens with a fight but ends with suicide that creates peace between both families who unite from their losses. The conflict, violence and aggression in the play happen from revenge and an ancient family grudge. An audience from the 16th century would have enjoyed Romeo and Juliet because of the real life drama and tragedy the play goes through. The patriarchal society gave women absolutely no rights and they had to obey their man’s ordering a patriarchal system. The theme of conflict is revealed as the characters argue over Juliet’s disobedience.
Firstly, the Capulets and Montagues are at odds with each other. Members of each house and servants break into a sword fight, clashing with each other. Sampson says "Draw, if you be men. Gregory, remember thy swashing blow." (Act 1, Scene 1, Line 60). The feuding between the two families motivates Sampson to challenge the Capulets. Another example of how the two houses despise each other is what Romeo and his friends have to do to get into the Capulet feast. So they will not be recognized, Romeo, Mercutio, and Benvolio wear comic masks to hide their faces. Mercutio says, "Give me a case to put my visage in" (Act 1, Scene 4, Line 29). They do not want to be recognized because of the hatred between the two houses. Also, Romeo and Juliet are not supposed to be in love: "My only love sprung from my only hate! / Too early seen unknown, and known too late! / Prodigious birth of love it is to me, / That I must love a loathed enemy." says Juliet (Act 1, Scene 5, Lines 137-140). They are not supposed to love each other because it just so happens that each of their houses despise each other. It is unfortunate for Romeo and Juliet that their two families are against each other, because this means that they are not supposed to be married.
‘Romeo and Juliet’ by William Shakespeare incorporates the theme of conflict through many different characters and situations. The definition of conflict is “a fight, battle, or struggle; especially a prolonged struggle; strife” The play mainly focuses on the tragic lives of Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet; the two characters belong to the Montague and Capulet households respectively, which have held ongoing grudges against each other for years. The play ends with both main characters committing suicide, to be together in heaven. As with many of Shakespeare’s works, the theme of conflict is a strong one. For a start, there is the ongoing conflict between the two families; the Montagues and the Capulets. The audience is unsure how this grudge started; this reflects how tedious some ongoing grudges can be. This is a vital conflict to keep the structure of the story, as without this conflict Romeo and Juliet would not have encountered the problems they had with their marriage. However, there are different ways of putting this grudge across - through dialogue, such as Mercutio’s intell...