Factors that Influenced Shakespeare's Writing of Romeo and Juliet

A very important part of a film is to introduce and build characters, some do it a creative way, like the 1996 version, and others not so much. For instance the 1996 version uses a lot of indirect character development to introduce their characters. For instance in the 1968 version, when Juliet is first introduced the nurse goes into a long monologue about how wonderful and pure young lady she is, but the film skips over that entirely. Why would they skip over some integral character development, well its because they bring the same point across, but in a lot more of a subtle way, they put her into an angel costume. As everybody knows an angel represents beauty and virtue and effectively everything that the nurse says in her long monologue.

Literary elements help develop a characters personality and how we see them. The use of elements such as characterization,irony,external and internal conflict creates characters and gives us clues about how they act and interact with people and themselves. In the play "Romeo and Juliet" the character Friar Lawrence was developed trough the use of literary elements .Characterization,Irony and conflict can be seen through his way of speech and his actions.

Shakespeare's famous play of the two star crossed lovers Romeo and Juliet arouses many debates in the literary world; among them belongs the question of who Shakespeare portrays as the culprit responsible for the couples death: foolish young love, societal norms and customs or simply fate?The plot of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare unfolds in Verona, where the protagonists, Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet, each belong to powerful feuding Verona families. Juliet, who is only 14 years of age, has been promised by her father to a man named Paris without her consent, as was common for women at the time. In Verona, expectations and societal norms for men and women diverge. Men are portrayed as sexual, violent, strong characters who fight for honor while women are portrayed as inferior, weaker and represent possessions and conquests of men. Although, Juliet does not conform to these expectations and defies them throughout the play by her actions and behavior until she meets a tragic and untimely death with her lover Romeo. William Shakespeare uses Juliet, an unconventional protagonist compared to the society’s gender roles, and her tragic downfall to criticize the patriarchal society he lived in during the Elizabethan era.

William Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet is a traumatic love story between young adults Romeo and Juliet. Romeo and Juliet come from different families who have been feuding for years, the Capulets and the Montagues. Abandoning the indifferences between their families they go against it all, fall in love, and marry in secret. Little do they know their love story will result in a tragic ending, death. William Shakespeare writes this play set in Verona, Italy and to him this place is thought of as a timeless fantasy land. Even though Shakespeare sets the play in Verona the characters do not act the way people from there acted and their beliefs and customs were not the same. The way the families act and treat others in based more on

Romeo and Juliet is a classic play composed by William Shakespeare in the 1500’s. This tale is about two star-crossed lovers whose love was forbidden by their feuding families. Through the story, Shakespeare educates us on his opinion about the society of Verona, Italy and the societal expectations, beliefs, values and gender standards, behaviors for both men and women.

Romeo and Juliet was written by William Shakespeare, a famous actor and playwright. William Shakespeare was born on April 23, 1564, near Stratford. Shakespeare is considered the most famous writer by some, however there are some things we don’t know a whole lot about him. We get most information about him from church documents as well as legal documents. His father, John Shakespeare was a shop keeper and high bailiff. His mother, Mary Arden, was a part of the aristocracy. She was born to a noble Catholic family. On the subject of Catholicism, there are hints Shakespeare was a Catholic; we do not know for sure. We are under the impression he was a Catholic because a lot of his writings were about Catholicism, his mother came from a Catholic family, his father refused to go to the Church of England, and he also possibly had a pro-Catholic wedding when he was wed to Anne Hathaway. In addition to this, he died as a Catholic and a pro-Catholic document was found after he perished on April 23,

Sinead O'Connor once said, “When you're young, you don't really know quite what you're aiming at. You're very impulsive and acting on impulse, which is very important and valuable. But you're kind of swimming in a blind sea. When you get older, you have more of a sense of direction”. Making decisions is just another part of life, however in our adolescent stage of life we tend to make decisions based off our first impulses. Those impulses lead to later regret of those decisions. Romeo and Juliet is a romantic tragedy written by the famous poet and playwright, William Shakespeare. This was first performed in 1594 and it's a tale of two star crossed lovers separated by their families feud and fate who end up bereft of life. Shakespeare uses diction to give importance to Friar Laurence's. advice and Juliet's contradicting thoughts and decisions. In Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare uses diction to delineate that youths impulsive behaviors ultimately result in undesired anguish.

Friar Lawrence: Here, this will make you sleep for 42 hours and make you appear dead.

FRIAR LAURENCE3Romeo & Juliet: Friar LaurenceThe play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare carries a resounding theme of love.The theme of a play is defined as the underlying message or ‘big idea,’ the critical belief theauthor is trying to convey (Notari). This play is known as one of the greatest love stories of alltime. It conveys passion, love, loyalty and the violence that can surround a forbidden love; a lovethat was helped along by the secondary character I have chosen, Friar Laurence. Secondarycharacters as the only religious character in the play he was responsible for marrying Romeo andJuliet, giving them advice, sneaking them to see each other and he also provided the sleepingpotion to them. Without Friar Laurence the play would have had a very different outcome. I would say the biggest affect Friar Laurence had on the outcome of the play was thepotion he gave to

Shakespeare’s original play, Romeo and Juliet reflected the important Elizabethan concerns in relation to authority, law and order, making it relevant to the audiences’ morals and values of the time, as well

Throughout the play it can be distinguished that Romeo and Juliet are of Catholic religion. This is evident as on many occasions throughout the play, Friar Laurence is referred to as “Father” (II.iii.31). Of the time, suicide was considered a sin in the Catholic Church; it was castigated immensely. In the final events of the play Romeo and Juliet, the two “star-crossed lovers” had committed suicide consecutively; Juliet stabbing herself with a “happy dagger” (IV.iii.169), and Romeo ingesting a drug bought from the “true apothecary” (IV.iii.119). The rebellious two adults had defied one major commandment of the Catholic church, resulting in instant deprivation of their religious sanctity. Prior to dramatic conclusion of the novel, Friar Laurence, a catholic religious figure, had warned Romeo and Juliet about committing such rebellious acts. For instance, after Tybalt’s death, Romeo pointed his sword towards himself, attempting to self-inflict death, but Friar Laurence intervened saying ,”hold thy desperate hand”(III.iii.108) and “by doing damned hate upon thyself” (III.iii.108) depicting how killing oneself is an abolute sin. Religion had an immense effect on the time Romeo and Juliet was written. Self-inflicted death was an offense to all of the religious world. Two ignorant and rebellious lovers had committed suicide, rebelling against all religious views, in order to

Juliet struggles with the conflict between her feelings for Romeo and her knowledge that he is an enemy. This was a real problem for the people of the fourteenth century because they had the choice to either follow their love and dismiss their values, or desert their family for the love of their life. She does not believe that their love can reconcile the families opposition for each other. Shakespeare did not exaggerate this part of the play one single bit because the causes of family feuds during that time were actually death. In fact, the Tudor Queen Elizabeth had her cousin executed because she posed a threat to the throne.

Juliet just faked her death and everyone found her. Friar Laurence speaks about his opinion on what had happened. The author, William Shakespeare, uses Friar Laurence because he’s wise and everyone trusts him, even though he’s part of the Capulet family. In the play “Romeo and Juliet”, Shakespeare uses Friar Laurence to contrast the ideas of life with death and joy with sorrow to Romeo and Juliet's love.

In Act 1 Capulet says “My child is yet a stranger in the world; She hath not seen the change of fourteen years…” (1.2.269-270). This quote indicates that Lord Capulet still views Juliet as a child who is unable to be romantically involved with anyone. Paris rebuts this statement by saying “Younger than she is happy mothers made.” (1.2.273). This conveys that when a person is in love they will mature rapidly in the world of romance. This also demonstrates that Juliet is a very mature woman due to her experiences during her relationship. Shakespeare also juxtaposes the two worlds through materiality and spirituality. In the world of the every day Lord and lady Capulet arranged Juliet to marry Paris due to his financial state. Lord Capulet believes that the perfect match for Juliet would be Count Paris. He makes this decision because Paris is kinsmen to Prince Escalus and therefore has a good social status and is very wealthy. In the world of romance, Juliet seeks Friar Laurence's guidance in her relationship because especially in the beginning she had an agape kind of love. In many plays written by Shakespeare the Friar is seen as the mediator who solves the problems and in Romeo and Juliet, Friar Laurence is seen as a counselor to the couple. Due to her relationship with Friar Laurence Juliet Agape love develops. In act 1, Juliet states “…For saints have hands that pilgrims’ hands do touch, and palm to palm is holy palmers’ kiss.” (1.5.713-714). This quote conveys that Juliet is a very religious person and wants her love to incorporate a healthy amount of spirituality. In the play Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare clearly conveys how a person’s sense of age and morals are different in the world of every day and the world of

In the play Romeo and Juliet, famous author William Shakespeare builds the foundation of this particular work around a family feud between the Capulet family and the Montague family. “Why is this feud so important?” one might ask— the answer is simple, Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet. Romeo and Juliet are a pair teenage lovers who fall in love despite their last names. The couple exemplifies their vows to one another of loving until death do them part. They will actually do whatever it takes to be together, even if it results in great tragedy. Throughout the play, Shakespeare incorporates a clear picture of the patriarchal society in the 1500’s, displaying Lord Capulet trying to control who his daughter, Juliet will love. His perfect plan all crumbles when his beloved only child fakes her death instead of marrying the young boy, Paris her father has chosen for her to love. Main characters Romeo and Juliet bust through hell and high water to be together, although to love one another means breaking a controlling Lord Capulet and being treated harshly by him, the families finally merge in love at the end of the play, ultimately due to death.