A Marxist Reading of Romeo and Juliet

In the scene of the Nurse, Lady Capulet and Juliet, it shows that the Nurse knows more about Juliet than Juliet’s own mother when Lady Capulet didn’t know her age. Even though Juliet and Lady Capulet are related by blood, the Nurse is more of a mother to Juliet than her. Another significant thing about this is that Lady Capulet looks at Juliet like an object just to get

With the idea of light representing love already established, Shakespeare uses it reinforce the impossible odds the lovers are facing. Romeo and Juliet constantly talk of and call on astronomical and light emitting objects to change the dark world they live in. Romeo says when he encounters Juliet on her balcony, “Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,” (2.2.5). The courses of all of these celestial objects is set in stone and is celestially difficult to change, and yet Romeo and Juliet nonetheless constantly call on these forces to do the impossible. They do the same with their love, too. The lovers believe that their love and light can indeed destroy the corruption and dark of their society even though they know it is astronomically arduous to accomplish. Romeo and Juliet’s love, they hope, will shine out the dark, letting them live together in a world that accepts them.

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 previous passage was Romeo describing Juliet as beautiful as the sun, and professing his love for Juliet . At this point, Romeo is in the garden speaking to Juliet on the balcony. He refers to Juliet as the light of his world, and uses colorful imagery to describe her looks. This is one another example of the false love that exists. In addition to this quote, the narrator of the play describes Romeo and Juliet as “star-crossed lovers”. Another quote by Juliet describing Romeo in a sexual, lustful way is as follows;

Love is an important theme in most of Shakespeare’s play, including in Romeo and Juliet because love is a stronger force than all the animosity and forces of fate in Romeo and Juliet. In Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare’s play, Shakespeare explores Romeo’s change in attitude to love between Rosaline and Juliet. In Act 1 Scene 1 Shakespeare introduces us to Romeo’s passionate desire towards Rosaline through the use of oxymoron, monologues and vivid imagery. In contrast, in Act 2 Scene 2, when Romeo is addressing Juliet, his language shifts through the use of light, religious and mythical imagery to reflect his newly found romantic love to Juliet.

The play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare is about the dilemma of choosing love over loyalty for your family. In the story Romeo and Juliet come from separate families who hate each other, but still find love in each other. They get married without telling their families and eventually the two families get into a fight which ends in Romeo getting banished from the city where Juliet lives. They have a plan for him to get back into to the city to prevent Juliet from being forced to marry another man, but it fails and ends with the suicide death of both Juliet and Romeo. Shakespeare's major theme in the text is that Love plays a major role in our lives and can heavily affect our decisions.

In the beginning of the play, the motif of light vs. dark is displayed through imagery. “But all so soon as the all-cheering sun should in the farthest east begin to draw… away from light steals home my heavy son... and makes himself an artificial night.” (Montague, 1.2.127-128 130&133). This quote shows that the happy sun does not affect Romeo and the sad night is how he feels because of the darkness of the night. The quote also reveals that his depressed state is represented by darkness. This reveals a central idea that love will overpower all feelings, because he is sad that his love did not work out and caused him to be depressed.

For the Marxist critic, literature is in of itself a social institution, with a particular ideological function based on the experience and beliefs of the author, and a material product to be comprehended in broadly historical terms, emphasizing class and ideology as they are illustrated, distribute, and contest the social order of the period in which it was written. Terry Eagleton, in his book Marxism and Literary Criticism, describes Marxist application to literature

William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is undeniably one of the most eminent tales of tragedy ever written. Act 4, Scene 3 has ingeniously demonstrated how the plot and themes, and characterization

Romeo and Juliet is written by William Shakespeare and involves two “star-cross’d” lovers from feuding families, the Capulets and Montagues. Act 1 Scene 5 in Romeo and Juliet is of immense importance as it involves the meeting of Romeo and Juliet at the masquerade. This scene uses many language syntax to express Romeo’s feelings and woo Juliet which can be analysed like below.

“Romeo and Juliet” by William Shakespeare has been read in schools around the world ever since schools have existed. One of the characters in the play is Friar Lawrence, who makes many influential decisions that affect the story. Friar Lawrence marrying Romeo and Juliet causes more problems than it solves. Also, Friar Lawrence’s plan for Juliet to fake her death is one of the worst decisions in the play that leads to terrible tragedy. Finally, Friar Lawrence had the chance to save Juliet from killing herself after she awoke, but he gave absolutely no effort. Shakespeare used Friar Lawrence as a major driving force in the tragedy.

2. Benvolio and Tybalt come upon the servants fighting. Contrast their reactions to the fight.

The Marxist literary criticism states that “literature reflects class struggle and materialism.” Someone who reads texts through a Marxist lens tries to identify issues that relate to both money and power, and commonly asks questions about how they deal with the struggles for money and power, along with the roles they play in the work. These criticisms stem from the beliefs and perceptions of popular philosopher Karl Marx that human society consists of clashes and conflicts between the oppressed and oppressing; between the proletariats and the bourgeoisie (Delahoyde).

Act III Scene V - This is a very important scene. Select and comment on

William Shakespeare wrote the play Romeo and Juliet, which is about the star-crossed lovers Romeo and Juliet. Romeo and Juliet are forbidden to see one another, due to their families’ feud. The Capulets, Juliet, and Montagues, Romeo, are the enemies in this feud. The question is, were the parents against them? Or were they just trying to protect and make them happy? Shakespeare was born on April 26, 1564 and died on April 23, 1616. When he was eighteen years old, he married Anne Hathaway and has three children, Susanna, Judith, and Hamnet.