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Essay On Human Experience In Romeo And Juliet

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“For never was a story of more woe, than that of Juliet and her Romeo”. Good morning/afternoon [teacher] and class. Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet conveys human experience effectively, as the use of tragic and comic genre conventions engages the audience as well as stays accurate to the current time period. Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare circa 1595. The play consists of two love-struck protagonists who become star-crossed due to belonging to two rival families who are constantly at each other’s throats. It begins with the prologue which states that the play will finish with a double suicide between Romeo and Juliet. This causes the whole play to be dramatically ironic as we, the readers, know the fate …show more content…

The nurse returns, sensing Juliet’s earnestness, and purposely messes with her, telling Juliet “How [her] bones ache” and “what a jaunt [she] has”. Later in the scene, Romeo and Juliet marry, despite only knowing each other for 2 days at the time, leading to the idea that they may just be in lust rather than in true love. Shakespeare used comedy early on in the play to build personality around the main characters and to keep viewers intrigued in the story. We grow to enjoy Mercutio’s screen time as he brings humour to each scene, which makes his eventual death all the more impactful and devastating, converting the play into a tragedy. Shakespeare also designs this poem to be didactic, as he has the hidden warning not to be lustful as Romeo is, as it leads to a series of misfortune eventually leading to his demise. It does convey human experience well, however, as Shakespeare seems to build the “star-crossed” theme off the heavy belief in astrology in 16th Century England, branching off from the opinions of Roman philosopher Boethius. Act III, Scene I is seen to be the ‘turning point’ from comedy to tragedy in the play. Tragedy is used furthermore to expand on true human experience as Shakespeare uses family rivalry and warfare as well as fate and fortune to contribute to the effect. Act III, Scene I sees Mercutio slain by Tybalt, ending the life of the main character bringing humour into the play, all just for a petty family rivalry.

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