During the play Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare manages to effectively depict the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet’s relationship. One way he achieves this is by creating sympathy for Romeo and Juliet, which consequently affects the reader and audience of the play. Three ways in which Shakespeare is able to create sympathy for them is through the general setting and plot structure, the language used, and also the characterisation of Romeo and Juliet. From the very beginning of the play (in the prologue), Shakespeare begins to create a sense of sympathy for Romeo and Juliet. Here, the audience is told that these two lovers are ‘star cross’d’ - meaning that their love goes against the stars and is therefore doomed to end in disaster. As a …show more content…
It is from this rhyming, oxymoronic phrase that the audience can gage how this soft spoken man was not a figure of hate in reality, but a loving man. Juliet’s character is also contrasted to the frosty nature of Tybalt and the rest of the Capulets - she epitomises the innocence of their relationship. From the start of Act 1 Scene 3, we learn from Lady Capulet that Juliet is still thirteen years old - ‘she’s not fourteen’. From this, this audience can assume that she is still at that age of naivety and immaturity, again showing that she does not belong in such a violent feud. Due to her age, Juliet evidently is a vulnerable character and one that likely does not have the mental ability to make intelligent choices, such as the decisions against her father’s will to not marry Paris, but to secretly marry Romeo instead – a decision that was to become a key factor in both Romeo and Juliet’s death. In addition, Shakespeare creates sympathy for Juliet through her innocence and good will. Her innocence and good will which is left worthless as she is left in a situation she cannot to anything about – a situation revealed in the prologue as being one that is fated to end tragically. Throughout the play, Shakespeare uses many different methods to enable the reader to feel sympathetic towards Romeo and Juliet. The various plot twists provide a dramatic
In this essay, I will take a gander at the play of Romeo and Juliet. I will examine how Shakespeare has utilized dialect in the play for symbolic impact. I will also see how Shakespeare has displayed love and the path in which Romeo and Juliet converse with each other, I might choose whether their affection was genuine and discuss their parents differentiating perspectives and conclusions. I will likewise remark on the play's pertinence today and perceive how Shakespeare has utilized dramatic devices and structures to improve the discussion between the youthful lovers. All throughout the play, there is a consistent theme of love and destiny, I will be dissecting this subject and show how it influences Romeo and Juliet.
In William Shakespeare’s play “Romeo and Juliet”, Shakespeare presents characters in difficult situations in Romeo and Juliet through various language techniques and structure. Romeo and Juliet were star-crossed lovers. Both Romeo and Juliet were from feuding families that would not approve of their marriage. In the play they are presented with many difficult circumstances. The play was set in the Elizabethan era; there was a significant change in religion, family and politics. Attitudes and key scenes highlight the theme of love in difficult circumstances and prepare the audience for Romeo and Juliet’s suicides at the end of the play. In this essay I will be exploring the ways Shakespeare presents characters in difficult situations.
In this essay I will be looking at how Shakespeare presents love in Act 2 Scene 2 of Romeo and Juliet from lines 18 through to 127. After reading the majority of act 2 scene 2 we are now able to understand and interpret Shakespeare’s language and language devices further. Act 2 Scene two is set in the shadow beneath Juliet’s bedroom window, with Romeo hiding in the darkness. Romeo listens on as Juliet speaks of her love for Romeo to what she thought was the darkness however as we as the audience know Romeo is able to hear everything she is saying. Once Romeo has revealed he is below Juliet in the garden the two begin to exchange expressions of devotion for one another, this is what we will be unravelling in this essay to understand and
In Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet, two young lovers take their lives after their family feud reignites . A variety of decisions along with circumstance no one person could account for set the story of Romeo and Juliet up to be a tragedy. Many of the decisions in the play are made quickly and while emotions are running high, so frequently they result in bad outcomes. So, the rash and impulsive decisions made by men in Romeo and Juliet create the problems within the play.
Shakespeare calls Romeo and Juliet “star crossed lovers”, meaning their tragic fate was sealed right from the beginning. Several unfortunate incidences like the feud between the families, Romeo’s suicide and Juliet awakening indicate that Rome and Juliet was meant to be a tragedy.
The emotional immaturity and maturity in the play Romeo and Juliet leads to different moods and emotions during the play. Some of the emotions are
In the tragedy 'Romeo and Juliet', Shakespeare presents the inner struggles of Romeo and Juliet, the two protagonists as one of the main themes. This is clearly shown at the end of Act 3 Scene 2 when Juliet receives the news that Romeo has been banished and Tybalt has been killed. Juliet is distraught at the conflict of her loyalties. Should she express love for her family or should she express love for Romeo? By using many different language features, such as oxymorons, paradox, antithesis and dramatic irony, Shakespeare effectively displays Juliet's conflicting emotions. Later in the play, Shakespeare uses the betrayal by adults to again show the inner struggles of Romeo and Juliet.
Within layers of bloodshed, mutiny, and abhorrence, bloomed the tragedy of two young lovers. From the very first time they met, they immediately became infatuated with each other. In 1597, William Shakespeare published one of his most well-known plays. It reveals the story of a forbidden love that sparks between the son and daughter of two feuding families in Verona, Italy. After merely hours of experiencing “love at first sight”, they elope in secret. Their young lives are tragically cut short when toxic brawls and the deaths of their companions shortly bring misfortune to them. In Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare demonstrates through his use of dramatic irony and the rapid pace of the plot that events should naturally follow their own pace without the intervention of other influences. Furthermore, other interruptions may negatively impact the movement of situations and damage the original outcome.
Many events have happened to the “star-crossed lovers,” before Juliet’s alleged death, and none of the events were caused upon themselves. Waters also articulates the thought of fate controlling the lives of Romeo and Juliet, and how Romeo knows his fate has been ill-determined by the stars. At the start of Shakespeare’s play he reveals the plot to the play, “From forth the fatal loins of these two foes/a pair of star-crossed lovers take their life:/whose misadventur’d piteous overthrows/doth with their death bury their parents’ strife” (I.i.5-8). From the very beginning the reader already knows that the two lovers are doomed by fate to their death, which will resolve the families ongoing feud. Shakespeare uses “To the degree that the lovers are ‘star-cross’d’ and their love is ‘death-marked’” (Waters). “Star-cross’d lovers,” are two lovers who are ill-fated by the stars, and because they are lovers, their love has been cursed with
In 'Romeo and Juliet', Shakespeare portrays different aspects and types of love in many ways. The obvious love is the fateful love between Romeo and Juliet although the play also displays platonic love, maternal love and aspects of adolescent love.
Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet – popularly considered by many to be the quintessential love story of all time – is a play that we are all familiar with in one way or another. Whether it be through the plethora of portrayals, adaptations and performances that exist or through your own reading of the play, chances are you have been acquainted with this tale of “tragic love” at some point in your life. Through this universal familiarity an odd occurrence can be noted, one of almost canonical reverence for the themes commonly believed to be central to the plot. The most widely believed theme of Romeo and Juliet is that of the ideal love unable to exist under the harsh social and political strains of this world. Out of this idea emerge two
The titular play of ‘Romeo and Juliet’ by William Shakespeare, suggests a very negative view of the human nature that in all its complexities, is flawed and hinders a very glorified subject of Shakespeare’s from ultimately prevailing: love. The faults of young love, a family feud and the power struggles within the chain of being are all complex products of the human nature that prevented a happy ending. Shakespeare stresses that the lovers were only driven to their suicidal fate by their young love in a very limited time triggering attempts to rebel against the wishes of their feuding families and the chain of being. Shakespeare utilises dramatic
As Henry VIII it, I will have an heir. That is an absolute. My dearest Catherine may be kind, but is a garden filled with dead flowers. My daughter Mary, though sweet as a rose, is unfit to rule as she is the lesser gender. It saddens me to say but dead flowers must be pulled and replaced. Therefor I will bastardize Mary, even if she is my first-born. My enticing Anne Boleyn- I will wed her even if I am excommunicated. The Church of England will provide me with the opportunity to obtain an heir. I have married Anne now, I am so close to success; it will be a boy. It has been a while now, I have another daughter, Elizabeth. I grow impatient and despair for the loss of our stillborn children, but I require an heir; Anne has failed me. Gentle
Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet discusses the many challenges the ‘star crossed lovers’ face. It is their own deceptive actions that ultimately lead them to their untimely end. However Romeo and Juliet are forced to be deceptive due to their fate and misfortune, the ongoing feud in Verona, and the misleading guidance they receive from others; which also contribute to their deaths. Romeo and Juliet focuses on the theme of love and hate, this theme is interweaved throughout the play.
Romeo and Juliet, one of William’s Shakespeare most famous classic works, is a heart-wrenching tale which is composed of passionate love and anger. It is a timeless piece of literature that has lasted to this century. The beautiful story is set in the remote town of Verona. This play recounts a tale of two star-crossed lovers, forbidden to pursue their inescapable love due to the long history of a violent family feud. Passion is strongly represented in Romeo and Juliet’s undying romance. As the story continues, passionate and uncontrolled anger is clearly expressed, fuelled by the noxious hatred of the family’s feud, intensifying as the plot progresses.