Romeo and Juliet written by playwright, William Shakespeare, is widely renowned for being the greatest love story of all. However, after reading, it is hard for anyone to understand how the tragic story of two ‘…star-crossed lovers…’ – Chorus (1.1.6) who take their lives, can be seen as ‘beautiful’ or ‘inspiring’. This also leads to other questions being raised such as, who is most to blame for the untimely death of Romeo and Juliet? Now, many will argue that those who had the most contact with the lovers, in the time leading up to the affliction are to be held responsible i.e. Friar Laurence or their families. Others may just simply believe that they brought it upon themselves. The purpose of this essay is to explore and analyse the role …show more content…
‘My name, dear saints, is hateful to myself, because it is an enemy to thee.’ – Romeo (2.2.55). Protagonist of the story, Romeo was simply just a Montague as opposed to Juliet who was a Capulet. Through this quote Romeo alludes to the detriment his name causes to himself. Nevertheless, Juliet pursued her love. Mingling with the enemy, Romeo and Juliet seem to have no regard for their town and its inhabitants. Albeit, their deaths acted as a catalyst for the family’s reconciliation. As the Friar philosophises in his soliloquy, ‘O, mickle is the powerful grace that lies in plants, stones, and their true qualities; for naught so vile that on the earth doth live; but to the earth some special good doth give.’ – Friar Laurence (2.3.15-18). This extract talks of the death of plants and herbs. While this superficially comes across as negative, in actuality the deaths give way for new life. Similarly, when Romeo and Juliet’s love, sprung in a world of hate, was consequentially struck by fate, it was plausible to conclude that it was an act on behalf of the stars to trigger new life and change among Verona citizens. Shakespeare, demonstrated Romeo and Juliet’s bad luck through numerous events. Even though Romeo and Juliet’s lives were teeming with incidents controlled by fate, the week-long time span depicted in the play offers three main events that led to the final disaster. Firstly, during Act 1, Lord Capulet hosts a party of which his family is invited.
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
Many have said that romance brings love and affection, but when taken to the extreme, it can lead to tragedy and despair. In the literary play Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare created a tragedy protagonist, Juliet, whose tragic death “buries their parents’ strife” (Prologue). The eternal feud between Montague and Capulets restraints the love between Romeo and Juliet and ultimately lead to their death. Juliet’s death has many different factors, and it’s hard to determine the truly blame of Juliet’s death. In all the important characters, Lord Capulet refuses to listen to Juliet’s request, which result in Juliet’s death. In the other hand, Romeo’s immature, impulsive and Friar Lawrence’s cowardice are all generate Juliet’s tragedy.
The ideology that everything in the universe has a specific place and rank in order of their hierarchy importance created by God is known as the concept of The Great Chain of Being. The order of this concept consisted levels according to highest rank to the lowest accordingly: God, angels, humanity, animals, vegetation life, leading all the way down to crud. Within each category, more specific classification existed, placing these subcategories in a specific order. This concept was believed to be a way to keep the universe in order. As this was believed during Elizabethan times, William Shakespeare also believed in the Great Chain of Being, as many of his plays are prominently based on this concept. Some of his plays include characters that accept their place on the Chain, but others are not so complacent. By examining three different characters from Shakespeare’s tragedies, The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, The Tragedy of Macbeth, and The Tragedy of King Lear, it is obvious to readers who is content with their place on the Chain and which characters have a difficult time accepting their place. Romeo and Juliet do not obey their parents’ orders, therefore suffer harsh consequences towards the end of the play. Macbeth is another Shakespearean character that violates the Chain, due to the committing of several murders, in order to gain the throne. In stark contrast, Cordelia, is content with her place on the Chain as she does not want anything greater in life, unlike her
Romantic love stories are often ended with a tragedy, because of loss of passion or a loved one. These tragedies are often the result of one person’s actions that ended someone’s life or love. In the Romeo and Juliet play written by William Shakespeare, two citizens of Verona come together and fall deeply in love. Unfortunately their love comes to an end, along with their lives, because of a misunderstanding and a persistent feud between their families. Although there are many characters in this play that have contributed to Romeo and Juliet’s death, Friar Laurence is the person most to blame.
The Most Excellent and Lamentable Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, is one of William Shakespeare’s most famous plays, published in 1597. It is a story about how, “A pair of star-cross’d lovers [Romeo and Juliet] take their lives…/The fearful passage of their death-mark’d love…” (Prologue of Romeo and Juliet, 6-9) as they are forbidden to be together due to a long lasting and ongoing feud between the Montague and Capulet families. Their deaths are the results of many characters’ actions and fate, and there is not one distinctive person that can be blam¬ed for the young lovers’ deaths. Friar Lawrence is not to blame for these deaths as fate played a major role in their demise, he warned Romeo of his impulsive and unwise decision making, and his intentions were to abolish the ongoing feud between the two families. Further examination will prove that Friar Lawrence is innocent and his intensions were far from the passing of the two lovers.
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.
Romeo and Juliet, the Shakespearean playwright of two star crossed lovers, ends in two tragic deaths of both Romeo and Juliet. Who can be hold responsible for their deaths, when so many things went wrong along the way? Many could be held responsible for the deaths of the two lovers, but Romeo himself deserves to carry the heavier load of responsible for not only his death, but the death of his lover, Juliet as well. The young boy’s acts of irresponsibility, impulse, belligerence, immaturity, and streak of bad decisions only brought definite consequences to both himself and Juliet.
Approximately four hundred years ago, in 1597, the famous playwright, English poet and actor, William Shakespeare, wrote the well-known play, Romeo and Juliet. This dramatic, romantic story is set in the town of Verona, and is about ‘a pair of star-crossed lovers,’ who express their undying love for each other. In the end, their undying love for each other ends tragically, but it does have one good outcome – it puts an end to the family’s ancient feud. Furthermore, Romeo and Juliet’s tragic ending is not to be blamed upon completely themselves, as Friar Laurence, Tybalt and Lord Capulet were all somewhat involved in the deaths of Romeo and Juliet.
In William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, many characters meet their tragic end as a result of a plethora of factors, from old rivalries to new love. It is a tragic story of two lovers, destined to complete each other, but also to end a bitter feud through their deaths (Prologue.3-6). However, if the blame had to be ascribed to one person in particular, that person would be Romeo Montague. Throughout the play, Shakespeare showcases Romeo’s irrationality and poor decision making, leading to the gruesome deaths of his loved ones. Romeo is most to blame for the tragic slew of deaths because he is oblivious, quick to act, and too urgent in his relationship.
Love is like a flame, it provides you with warmth, but too much of it can also burn you. Such is the plot of the play, Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. It is a tragedy about two lovers, Romeo and Juliet, who unfortunately, belong to families who bear an ancient grudge against each other. In the play, Romeo and Juliet fall in love and quickly decide to marry each other. At the end, Romeo and Juliet’s decisions cause their untimely death, but in reality, there were other people who also contributed to the lover’s death. Friar Laurence, the Nurse and Lord Capulet are responsible for the tragic deaths of Romeo and Juliet.
The story of Romeo and Juliet is the best tragedy ever to be written. The tale of two adolescents taking their lives because of their love for one another has inspired a lot of controversy as to whether the adults surrounding these adolescents could have done something to prevent this tragedy. The truth is the adults in the situation are ultimately to blame for the deaths of their love struck teens. This essay will explain why Friar Laurence, Nurse and to a lesser extent Mercutio, caused the deaths of Romeo and Juliet.
William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet focus on the two young lovers, Romeo and Juliet, who fall in love and die within a span of three days. Romeo and Juliet illustrate how the love brings them together to over power the control of their relationship. The moment that Romeo and Juliet declare their love for one another, they try to keep their love a secret since they are the children of the feuding families, the Montagues and the Capulets. Initially their families would be outraged against their relationship that Romeo and Juliet propose to hide the truth of their love. Once Romeo and Juliet reveal to the Nurse and Friar Lawrence their plans to marry, their relationship is nothing but a risk of problems. Romeo is unafraid to show his love that he teases Tybalt teasing him about falling in love with Juliet, although not explicitly. However, the deaths of Mercutio and Tybalt, occur when Romeo and Juliet take actions to protect themselves, but they are not however, protected. Juliet protects her relationship by committing a false death only for Romeo to believe it as true. As a result, the act to protect Romeo and Juliet’s relationship a secret are examples of the failed actions both Romeo and Juliet try to prevent; however, it is not ‘fate’ that control their lives and deaths.
In the play Romeo and Juliet, written by William Shakespeare, we learn of the many hardships and highs Romeo and Juliet go through over the course of the story. The play Romeo and Juliet is based off two star-crossed lovers who are separated from each other due to a feud between their two families. Their love is so strong that at the end of the story Romeo and Juliet both end up committing suicide because they can’t live without each other. Whether it is problems with love, or them complimenting each other on how they feel about the other person, Shakespeare uses many literary devices to make the reader dig deeper into the context to find the meaning behind the sentence. Some of the literary devices are; similes, metaphors, and personification.
In the play of Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare, many characters and situations have been blamed by its tragic ending. Therefore, the young ‘star crossed’ lovers action’s were the responsible for this unexpected incident. Romeo’s and Juliet’s acts of disobedience, and impulsivity carried them to their death gradually.
In the tragic romance, Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare displays an example of how teenage love can embrace the feelings of the young but also cause destruction, not only in their lives but also the people’s lives around them. This story shows how others opinions and thoughts can affect the people close to them. But who is responsible for the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet? The death of these star crossed lovers was not only the teenagers fault but also their family and friends such as, their parents, Friar Lawrence, and the nurse.