Comparing Treatment of Death During the Renaissance and in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet

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.

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.

The Friar is always ready with a plan. He has a civil relationship with most characters and doesn’t have any enemies, in the play, which is unusual as most characters have an enemy. Tybalts enemy is Romeo and Lord Capulets enemy is Lord Montague. As a character the Friar is concerned about the feud and will do anything in his power to stop it “To turn your households’ rancour to pure love”. He always wants to do the right thing by everyone but his decisions and actions end in

When telling the tragic, but beloved story of Romeo and Juliet from one of William Shakespeare’s many plays there are several characters in the story that could possibly be held responsible for the star-crossed lovers deaths. Three of those many characters should stand out more than others to blame for the beloved main characters deaths. These three characters are the Feud, Lady Capulet, and Fate. The Feud is one choice to blame because it it the cause of many other conflicts that take place in the story. While Lady Capulet does not cause as many conflicts as the Feud she does present one main problem to Juliet by pressuring her to get married to Paris as soon as possible. Lastly Fate is used many times in the play to explain why Romeo and

In life, one of the most baffling motifs that presents itself is the feeling of love. Whether you take it when you have it or be scared and back away is up to you. However, when you decide to take it and embrace it freely, this is when is when people finally decide to open up and be their true self. In the play Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare, the author portrays a contrasting theme between how life and death relates with how dramatic their love can be.

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.

Friar Lawrence is a sacred figure which fits the traditional characteristics of tragic heroes in English literature. Citizens in Verona, despite their polar ethical values and family history, all recognize him as a prestigious man who always helps others to the best of his ability. This is shown when Juliet and Romeo confide in Friar Lawrence to conduct their secret marriage, “We met, we woo’d, and made exchange of vow, I will tell thee as we pass, but this I pray, that thou consent to marry us today,” (II, 3). His holy impression on people is illustrated when the prince states “We still have known thee for a holy man,” (V, 3). Through his high prestige, all citizens in Verona follow his lead without ever questioning the rationality and practicality behind his

In Friar Lawrence’s letter to Lords Capulet and Montague, he uses many persuasive elements in order to reconcile the two families. Friar effectively builds his argument by using imagery, the pronoun “our”, and by mentioning God.

This shows that Friar is a selfish man because he let others die to cover for his mistakes, and he is also a coward because he left a 13 year old broken-hearted girl to herself with her dead love with no more than a recessive invitation to exit the

Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy that involves young lovers, their “untimely death,” and a feud between their two families. The Capulets and the Montagues war against each other. The feud continues to escalate and provides the background for the story of these “two star-crossed lovers.” This literary masterpiece is still relevant today since it involves parental ambition, family fighting, and young love.

In Document E, the author states in the note “Friar Laurence is unable to deliver the letter informing Romeo that Juliet is not actually dead.” Friar Laurence was supposed to let Romeo know that Juliet was NOT dead. However, unfortunately he was too late. Friar Laurence arrived at the Capulets’ tomb to see Romeo pallid as can be. If Friar Laurence would’ve delivered the letter like he was supposed to, Romeo would’ve probably been alive to understand the whole plan that Juliet and Friar Laurence had

Friar Lawrence talking to himself after a day of findings, “The day to cheer and night’s dank dew to dry, I must up fill this osier cage of ours with baleful weeds and precious-juicèd flowers. ”(2.3.6-8) These remedies substantially caused sorrow and agony within the Montagues, house of Romeo and Capulets, house of Juliet. Only few knew about Romeo and Juliet’s marriage, the nurse, Friar Lawrence, and Romeo and Juliet themselves. Not once did they hint, in presence of their families. They rationalized the outcomes of awful punishments, however what they didn’t know, couldn’t have saved them anyways.

Shakespeare manifests the final scene of Romeo and Juliet to illustrate how love triumphs over the terror of death and depicts how the Capulet and Montague parents’ mutual love for their children dismisses the ancient feud. The protagonists, Romeo and Juliet’s preference of being killed rather than “death be prorogued, wanting thy love” (Page 91; Act 2, Scene 2), indicates they would rather die than death be delayed without the fulfilment of each other’s love. Romeo commits suicide as he is unaware that Juliet’s death is fiction, which results in Juliet finding his corpse when she awakens and stabs herself as they both do not wish to live with the absence of each other’s love. Again, Shakespeare portrays that love conquers the most feared prospect of life: