Romeo And Juliet Critical Analysis

William Shakespeare is widely known for all of his literary works; one of his most famous love tragedies being 'Romeo and Juliet'. A Shakespearean definition of tragedy exemplifies the sense that human beings are inevitably doomed through their own failures or errors, the ironic action of their virtues, or even through the nature of fate and destiny (Sayour, Susan, 2007). Romeo and Juliet is a tragic tale based on two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately unite their feuding families. Throughout the play, Shakespeare intentionally draws on text structures and language features in order to replicate the attitudes, values and beliefs of Elizabethan audiences and intertwine it into his

“Romeo and Juliet” by William Shakespeare has been read in schools around the world ever since schools have existed. One of the characters in the play is Friar Lawrence, who makes many influential decisions that affect the story. Friar Lawrence marrying Romeo and Juliet causes more problems than it solves. Also, Friar Lawrence’s plan for Juliet to fake her death is one of the worst decisions in the play that leads to terrible tragedy. Finally, Friar Lawrence had the chance to save Juliet from killing herself after she awoke, but he gave absolutely no effort. Shakespeare used Friar Lawrence as a major driving force in the tragedy.

One may think Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet is a tragic love story, while others may think the play was written as a warning to Queen Elizabeth (Bearman). One can understand William Shakespeare’s ideas for his plays by exploring his influences for Romeo and Juliet, MacBeth, and Hamlet. Shakespeare wrote many plays, one of his more famous one being Romeo and Juliet.

Plot: This is a progressive plot where the exposition of the characters, setting, and conflict are introduced in the beginning. Then, the story line builds with ideas foreshadowing Sophia death. Florence’s daily encounters and different relationships with every character in the story continue to lead the reader to the climax. After the climax, the story ends, almost happily ever after; however, it does leave the reader unsure if Sophia is finally restful in her grave or will continue to haunt James and Florence.

Romeo and Juliet is a play written in the late 1500s by William Shakespeare. Romeo and Juliet, two star crossed lovers make their way to be together as they face challenges from their society, parents etc. In the beginning of the play the prologue introduces the tragic end of their love and thus bringing peace to their rival families. In act 2 scene 5 Friar Laurence a wise character in the play marries Romeo and Juliet in hope ending the rivalry between their families. But before holding the nuptial of Romeo and Juliet Friar Lawrence with a basket full of herbs compares his herbs to Romeo and Juliet’s love situation. Can the play of Romeo and Juliet be related to how the nature of plants work? In fulfilling the answer of this question Shakespeare explores this question in his famous play of Romeo and Juliet. In act 2 scene 3 Friar, a mentor of Romeo expresses his belief on the truthfulness of Romeo and Juliet’s love comparing his actions about marrying them with different personality of his herbs, suggesting that good and evil coexist in the decision he makes.

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell just as sweet.” This quote from Shakespeare is from the balcony scene when Juliet tells Romeo that his name is meaningless and that he is still a handsome young man and that only their family names are enemies. This same quote can be applied in today’s society in how people address each other based on different situations, especially when addressing women. There are many different titles that can be used to address women as opposed to men, but despite the title used, the woman herself does not change. Only the meaning and stereotype associated with the title used changes.

Shakespears form of a tragedy is not what one would think it would be. Some have the general idea that when the word tragedy is brought up, that means something sad or devastating has happened like getting injured or someone dying by something catastrophic. Shakespeare's version of a tragedy is a hero who has been flawed by something. One of Shakespeare's greatest inspirations was reading greek tragedies, which mostly consisted of heros having their fates sealed by the Greek Gods, and no moral lesson was ever learned at the end of the stories. This led Shakespeare to write about Christian tragedies, which consisted of people having the ability to choose their own fate, and that there was a moral lesson to be learned in the end. An example

In William Shakespeare’s tragedy Romeo and Juliet, we follow the two young risk-taking teenagers making some of the biggest decisions of their life. Some of the decisions vary between getting married at 14, committing suicide, and leaving their family and taking on their enemy's name. All the decisions we make can be influenced by people around us, as well as the circumstances. Throughout reading this play, I tried putting my feet into some of the characters’ shoes, keeping in mind the era and situation. After finishing Romeo and Juliet I established a few similarities and differences between me and the characters. For instance differences I found was I had support from my parents with the decisions I made, and I also am able to choose my relationships. One similarity I found was our parents have high expectations.

Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy that has captivated audiences since 1594 when the play made its debut performance. Written by William Shakespeare this play has touched people to this day, as the themes Shakespeare’s partakes in the play are timeless. Themes such as Rivalry, violence, impulsivities and death are constantly expressed throughout the play. In act 3, scene 1, Mercutio and Benvolio are loitering around town in the heat of the day, Benvolio feels trouble will come upon them and soon enough, Tybalt appears looking for Romeo. Mercutio and Tybalt banter, before deciding to fight. Romeo enters, Tybalt than asks Romeo to draw, Romeo refuses. Mercutio, disgusted by Romeos lack of masculinity, then thrust a sword at Tybalt and they stated to duel. Romeo tries to stop the two, Tybalt stabs Mercutio causing his death, Romeo in retaliation to his friends’ death strikes Tybalt casing his death. This seen had a phenomenal impact on the outcome of the overall play. this is one of the most well know scenes throughout the play to this day as there was an effective use of themes and compelling foreshadowing to really captivate the audience.

Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet was inspired by English poet, Arthur Brooke’s renowned long narrative poem. Shakespeare’s most famous play took after The Tragicall Historye of Romeus and Juliet (1562) which itself, took inspiration from an Italian tale written by Matteo Bandello in his book Novelle, written in the early 16th Century. However, Bandello’s tale was not the original source of text, being derived from Luigi da Porto’s ‘Guilietta e Romeo’ which was believed to be written around 1530. Like most stories passed on over time, Brooke’s version of Bandello’s tale had some notable changes, such as the nurses character being developed much further and the final scene being noticeably different. Due to these changes being included in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, it allows us to believe Brooke’s poem was the primary source of inspiration for Shakespeare, rather than Bandello’s or Porto’s stories. The biggest difference between Shakespeare and Bandello’s stories is the pace at which the events take place. Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet fall in love, become wed and die for each other within just days of meeting, which contrasts to Bandello’s prolonged tale of young star-crossed lovers who run away for a number of months together and then decide to be wed.

While scrolling through the interweb out of pure, harmless boredom, I immediately found myself in the google search bar typing many useless topics. I had begun to grow more and more disinterested in doing nothing until my hands had begun to type what my mind had suddenly started to wonder. I began to type “ who are the top 100 greatest writers of all time?” and soon enough, I was brought to millions of links that could easily answer my question. So I clicked one. According to the link that I had chosen(Jones, Jr. Bill,) the 5th greatest writer of all time was William Shakespeare. When seeing the name Shakespeare, I had instantly started to think of how we had recently finished one of the most engrossing plays ever written in English class, Romeo and Juliet (Shakespeare, William.) Written in 1597, Romeo and Juliet (Shakespeare, William) is a most fascinating play involving themes of all sorts, such as family dynamics, good vs evil, fate vs free will, and many more. Yet with each theme provided, the most distinctive one included the adolescent experience. Throughout the play Romeo and Juliet (Shakespeare, William), Shakespeare had suggested that youth can often be identified through the impetuous and emotionally immature behavior they tend to display, this behavior commonly leads to an unwanted outcome.

There is no doubt that the tale of Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy full of conflict, each character able to point fingers at another, to blame them for the fate of these two star-crossed lovers. Throughout his appearances in this play, bad luck and tragic results seem to follow Friar Lawrence. Therefore, Friar Laurence is most at fault for the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, from his role in the marriage of the fatal duo, to the initiation of a risky plan, and the unsuccessful delivery of a letter that could’ve saved them all. Beginning with his first decision, and perhaps, the one that could’ve stopped the road of misfortune that followed, was his decision to wed Romeo and Juliet. When Romeo approached him, the Friar went along with his plan, assuming that everything would go right and the feud between the families would end, but he didn’t stop to consider the bad that could come from this unlikely marriage, “But come, young waverer, come, go with me, In one respect I’ll thy assistant be; For this alliance may so happy prove, To turn your households’ rancour to pure love,” (Shakespeare 19). The neglection of the possibility of a different outcome led the Friar to wed these children without a second thought. If he were to think over the many possible outcomes of this alliance, he could’ve seen the possibilities of negative effects on the families relationships, disownment of their children, among other things. But, he wed them in secret, without consultation of the families, and

Romeo and Juliet is a play written around 1597 by William Shakespeare. Romeo and Juliet is tragedy about two young, star-crossed lovers who are from rival families. They instantly fall in love at first sight before knowing which family they come from. In less than twenty-four hours, the lovers are married. Tybalt, Juliet's cousin, saw Romeo at the Capulet ball and he was furious and seek revenge. After Romeo and Juliet were married Tybalt approached Romeo, Romeo tried to make peace, but he gave in and fought Tybalt. Romeo killed him and was therefore, banished from Verona. Seeks Friar Lawrence's help, he moves to Mantua and Juliet’s parents were forcing her to marry Count Paris. She then seeks help from the Friar who gives her a potion which will make it seem as if she was dead. Romeo hears and rushes to Verona were he finds Juliet ‘allegedly’ dead. He then kills himself next to her and she wakes up to see him dead and she then kills herself. After the two are dead the Friar explains what has happened and the families are no longer rivals.

All of these life experiences rise up when comparing the text of Shakespeare’s source material for Romeo and Juliet, and the text of the play. It is not know for sure when

understand, overlaid as it was by her thick Malayali accent. She was working among. Now she is, miraculously it seems to her, one of them. But it is no miracle, for, if Tressa has change.