Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is a very popular play that most people recognize for its ability to display true love, fate, and revenge all in one play. This was a romantic tragedy that shows the adversities faced by two young adults who fall in love at first sight, While comparing “Romeo and Juliet”, “The Holy Sonnet 18”, and “The Bait” all use religious imagery and the purity of love throughout all three of these works. Throughout this piece I will analyze and break down a specific passage in the text that highlights the religious imagery in the play the most while comparing it to the religious imagery used in Donne’s “Holy Sonnet 18” and “The Bait”. l argue that and show how Shakespeare and Donne are successful in their writing pieces because they are able to create a sense of love that does not only rely on passion but the ability to use religion as a way of showing the purity that a person could have for their beloved, whether a partner or a religious sense of purified love that is shared. In the specific passage that I have chosen comes directly from Act 1 scene 5 of Romeo and Juliet. This is the beginning of the play when Romeo and Benvolio go to the ball where he meets Juliet for the first time. The two come in contact and quickly learn that it is love at first sight even though they are from families of the opposing side. The portion of the passage that I have chosen to highlight takes place when the couple meet and exchange their vows of love and agree that they should take each other hand in marriage the next day. William Shakespeare begin to use religious imagery to express the love of these two young people in Act 1 of Scene 5, although these two have just met in this scene Shakespeare uses a pilgrim as a metaphor to use to compare Romeo to. In this scene the pilgrim is used show that Romeo is moving towards Juliet’s shrine which is also another sacred religious term. Romeo is used in line 105 to even make reference to a prayer that he must recite while he is kissing Juliet’s sacred lips, and also he states in a particular portion of this passage that “Now my sin has been taken from my lips by yours (Shakespeare line 106). Shakespeare uses a form of reverse psychology to suggest that in order
Baz Luhrmann's 1996 film, Romeo + Juliet effectively appropriates the Shakespearean 16th century love tragedy. So why has Luhrmann decided to appropriate Romeo and Juliet? By changing the context, Luhrmann effectively makes the play relevant, discussing his contextual concerns of the 1990’s. This is done through the use of themes in the film, love, family disputes and hate which have remained similar to the original play, although the way they have been presented are different, in particular the form and characters. The form has had an obvious change as the original play has been adapted into a film. Characters in the film have also been appropriated to correspond with Luhrmann's contextual concerns. Hence, Luhrmann successfully appropriates the original Shakespeare play, Romeo and Juliet by maintaining similar themes, but altering the form and characterisation to fit his contextual concerns.
When Juliet hears that the wedding has been moved up to the next day, she drinks the
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 story of Romeo And Juliet is considered to be one of the greatest love tragedies in history. However, on closer inspection, the story reveals far more complex ideas as shown in Act IV, Scene V. During the passage, a sad mood is used as a way to show Old Man Capulet’s grief at finding his dead daughter. The Friar’s use of words such as “Heaven” in order to console Capulet are important because of how in this part of the play, they can be used not only as a place where Juliet’s soul will go, but also as a way to represent Juliet’s happiness with Romeo. Also, contrasting ideas of heaven and grief are used as a way to prove Old Man Capulet’s fatal mistake in trying to be overly controlling in Juliet’s life. Finally, while others may argue that Friar Lawrence may have been accusing Capulet during this passage, specific evidence shown during the Friar’s line tells otherwise. In this passage, opposing ideas of heaven and grief are used as a way to emphasize the sadness of Capulet at realizing the death of his daughter and the Capulets attempt at consolation.
Everyone knows the story: amidst the fighting of two families, a girl meets the guy of her dreams, within a day they are married and, later, they kill themselves. Some people believe that Romeo and Juliet promotes unacceptable behavior in teens; however, it is a very important part of the ninth grade language arts education because it has global influence and teaches lessons to people.
Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet discusses the many challenges the ‘star crossed lovers’ face. It is their own deceptive actions that ultimately lead them to their untimely end. However Romeo and Juliet are forced to be deceptive due to their fate and misfortune, the ongoing feud in Verona, and the misleading guidance they receive from others; which also contribute to their deaths. Romeo and Juliet focuses on the theme of love and hate, this theme is interweaved throughout the play.
Religion is a predominant theme throughout Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet displaying the domination of the Church. The play shows the characters' commitment to the Church, and contrary the lawless disregard for the Church's ordinances. Luhrmann religious iconography pervades his film, commenting that religion is no longer an effective means of maintaining peace and harmony in modern society.
Shakespeare has created a quintessential tragedy in which deepens the audience’s understanding of the universal themes of love, hate, conflict and death. The recurring focus on the tension between love and hate makes us reflect on how these themes govern upon human behavior. In the play Romeo and Juliet, the main characters for which Romeo and Juliet the denial of love and dominance of hate creates extreme loss, in this case, death. In progress, audiences have recognized that the death of two young people is entirely imprudent, creating a need for acceptance.
Romeo is an Italian name meaning ‘pilgrim to Rome’, a pilgrim being a person who journeys to a sacred place for religious reasons. Throughout the play, forces of religion are often used to portray love and sexual desires. During the shared sonnet between the lovers, Romeo states: “O, then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do; They pray, grant thou, lest faith turn to despair.” (1.v.102-103). Their resists any single metaphor because it is too powerful to be so easily contained or understood.
To smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss” (1.5 LINES). From this quotation, one can perceive the amount of literary art behind the words he uses is to transparently uncover his inward emotions. The religious imagery used describes Juliet as a ‘“holy shrine” indicating a transition to a more spiritual thought of affection from the lusty depictions of love he had for Rosaline. Romeo then uses the religious imagery of a Christian representation to initiate his and Juliet’s first kiss revealing that the love he feels can be described through religion. This association with God reveals the immaculateness and enthusiasm of his sentiments yet additionally blocks upon blasphemy.
Of all of Shakespeare’s plays his most famous play is Romeo and Juliet, the tale of two star-cross’d lovers. Since 1597 there have been numerous reproductions of this play, whether they be acted out on a stage or displayed on the big screen. As usual when making books into movies, there are or can be changes with the plot, characters, setting, language, the list goes on. You name it, it can be changed. Something that is quite intriguing in the movie adaptations and play, however, is the representation of Romeo and Juliet’s faith. In the 1996 interpretation of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Baz Lurhman uses images of the virgin Mary, crucifixes, and other Catholic relics to reinforce Romeo and Juliet’s actions and choices.
Romeo and Juliet Literary Analysis Shakespeare shows that the power of love cannot be stopped. In Romeo and Juliet the love between the offspring of opposing houses cannot be ended, even after pain and death caused by this feud. When people disapprove of their love toward each other, both Romeo and Juliet do everything in their power to be together. Even though the time has been short love still prevailed in the end.
A quotation which has connotations of religion is ‘this holy shrine’. The religious overtones of the conversation clearly imply that love can only be described through the pure association with God. In this way their love becomes associated with the purity and passion of the divine. However in using religious language to describe their feelings for each other, Romeo and Juliet tiptoe on the edge of blasphemy. Romeo compares Juliet to an image of a saint that should be revered, a role that Juliet is willing to play.
Romeo and Juliet Literary Analysis Essay In the world of literature, love stories often end with a tragic ending. These actions are also often the result of one or more people’s actions that end with the life or love of the characters. William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is no exception. In the tragic story of Romeo and Juliet, there are many different people responsible for the death of the two lovers.
William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616) was an English playwright and poet, highly regarded and recognised for his work and holds the modern day label of the ‘greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist,’ (Collins English Dictionary, 1998). ‘Romeo and Juliet’ is a timeless classic written by William Shakespeare, depicting the short-lived love story of two teenagers whose passion and infatuation results in tragedy. This Shakespearean text represents various types of love throughout the play and enforces the differences through the use of literary devices. This essay will investigate and analyse the way in which literary devices are used to identify the theme of love to a modern audience.