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Criticism of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet Essay

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Criticism of Romeo and Juliet

In Romeo and Juliet, love serves as the tragedy. According to critic Denton J. Snider, "love, the emotion of the Family, in its excess destroys the Family; though it be the origin and bond of the domestic institution, it now assails and annihilates that institution." The love of Romeo and Juliet for one another, not only destroys their families, but ultimately destroys them as well. Their love and devotion for one another causes them to rebel against the institution of family. All in all, "love, which is the emotional ground of the Family, is here destroying the Family itself" (Snider).

Among the Capulet and Montague families, why does the persistent rebellion among the children exist? …show more content…

Perhaps this explains the intimate bond that exists between the Nurse and Juliet. The Nurse serves as Juliet’s surrogate mother and parental substitute. Both, Juliet’s father and mother seem to pay no attention to their daughter. Alike many people in Shakespeare’s England, who feel marrying for love is absurd, "Juliet’s love is completely unintelligible to the people in her family circle" (H.B. Charlton). Her parents want her to marry Paris, a proper match for Juliet, and her nurse thinks "love is animal lust" (Charlton).

Romeo has a surrogate father of his own, through the role of Friar Lawrence. According to critic M.D. Faber:

Prompted by his emerging sexuality to separate himself from the objects of his prepubescent years, Romeo spends much of his time "away from home"; and when he is home, he shuts his parents out, negates them, even obliterates them, a behavior that causes him to suffer, at the deepest emotional level, the anguish of their loss.

Romeo wants to escape the confining walls of his family household and shape his own destiny. He has a very relevant dream in Act 5, scene one, reflecting his desire to control his own life and rebel against a society that places barriers around him. In this dream, his lady bestows a kiss upon him and Romeo finds himself

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