Romeo and Juliet a True Aristotelean Tragedy Aristotle defines a tragedy as “an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude”. However, it is his claim that a story must contain six parts in order to be a tragedy that causes much controversy. Many critics argue that William Shakespeare does not follow the guidelines for a tragic story in his famous piece Romeo and Juliet. Their main argument is with the way he presents his tragic elements. But as Lois Kerschen says, “Shakespeare may have altered the classic form of the Greek tragedy, but that does not mean he totally ignored the Greek formula”(261). It is his strong emphasis on certain elements that prove his case. Shakespeare’s contribution of harmatia, …show more content…
For instance, he shows his first act of impetuousness after Mercutio has just been killed by Tybalt. As stated by Lois Kerschen: “Killing Tybalt is a rash act that needed not have happened if Romeo had been better able to control himself” (261). Romeo’s rash attitude leads to the death of Tybalt and his banishment from Verona. His banishment from Verona essentially leads to the death of both him and Juliet because he is uninformed about Juliet’s fake sleep. Had Romeo and Juliet not exhibited their flaws, they would without a doubt still be alive. Pity and fear rise in the play as a direct result of the flaws of Romeo and Juliet. As stated by Douglas Waters: “We pity the lovers when Romeo is banished, when Juliet drinks the sleeping potion, and when Romeo gets the false message about her death” (70). The multiple counts of catharsis in the play engage the audience’s interest. It is Juliet’s extreme love for Romeo that leads to her many downfalls in the play. As the story progresses, it seems as if Juliet’s life keeps getting worse. Her family is against her and she is left all alone: “add a different quote”. The audience is overwhelmed with pity when Juliet is sitting all alone on her bedroom floor begging for mercy from her parents. To make matters worse, the Nurse sides with Lord and Lady Capulet leaving Juliet without any support. Fear is developed by the audience while they wonder what Juliet will decide to do next. In fact, fear becomes
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In the play Romeo and Juliet, written by William Shakespeare, we learn of the many hardships and highs Romeo and Juliet go through over the course of the story. The play Romeo and Juliet is based off two star-crossed lovers who are separated from each other due to a feud between their two families. Their love is so strong that at the end of the story Romeo and Juliet both end up committing suicide because they can’t live without each other. Whether it is problems with love, or them complimenting each other on how they feel about the other person, Shakespeare uses many literary devices to make the reader dig deeper into the context to find the meaning behind the sentence. Some of the literary devices are; similes, metaphors, and personification.
When Juliet finds out that Tybalt has been killed and Romeo is in exile, for killing Tybalt, Juliet feels both passionate about Romeo and disappointed in both Romeo and herself, which reveal her inner struggle. In Act 3, Juliet’s Nurse comes back with this news that Tybalt is dead and that Romeo is such an awful person for killing him. Juliet fights back at the Nurse, and herself, for speaking bad about Romeo. She claims, ““Shall I speak ill of him that is my husband? Ah, poor my lord, what tongue shall smooth thy name, When I, thy three hours' wife, have mangled it? But wherefore, villain, didst thou kill my cousin? That villain cousin would have killed my husband.” (3.2.99-101). This shows that Juliet is passionate about Romeo, because first of all, she says that she was wrong to say bad things about her husband.
Love is spoken about a lot in all of these stories, one thing that these stories talk about is love can come with a cost. As you will see in these stories ( Romeo and Juliet, Pyramus and Thisbe, and Duty) there will be death due to love.
Reckless actions lead to untimely deaths. In Shakespeare’s tragedy “Romeo and Juliet”, both protagonists fight for their hopeless love. Bloodshed and chaos appear inevitable in fair Verona; Romeo and Juliet come from enemy households, the Montegues and the Capulets, who have sworn to defeat one another. The young and handsome Romeo weeps over his unrequited love for Rosaline, until he lays his eyes on Juliet. Strong and independent, Juliet seeks to escape her family’s will to marry her off to Paris, a kinsman of the Prince. Fate ties these adolescents’ lives together binding them to witness the ill-fortunes of Romeo and Juliet’s love. Romeo and Juliet prove themselves woefully impulsive through their words and actions, which ultimately
William Shakespeare wrote the play Romeo and Juliet, which is about the star-crossed lovers Romeo and Juliet. Romeo and Juliet are forbidden to see one another, due to their families’ feud. The Capulets, Juliet, and Montagues, Romeo, are the enemies in this feud. The question is, were the parents against them? Or were they just trying to protect and make them happy? Shakespeare was born on April 26, 1564 and died on April 23, 1616. When he was eighteen years old, he married Anne Hathaway and has three children, Susanna, Judith, and Hamnet.
In the tragedy 'Romeo and Juliet', Shakespeare presents the inner struggles of Romeo and Juliet, the two protagonists as one of the main themes. This is clearly shown at the end of Act 3 Scene 2 when Juliet receives the news that Romeo has been banished and Tybalt has been killed. Juliet is distraught at the conflict of her loyalties. Should she express love for her family or should she express love for Romeo? By using many different language features, such as oxymorons, paradox, antithesis and dramatic irony, Shakespeare effectively displays Juliet's conflicting emotions. Later in the play, Shakespeare uses the betrayal by adults to again show the inner struggles of Romeo and Juliet.
Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare is a play about two star-crossed lovers who risk their lives to be together. In Acts One and Two of Romeo and Juliet, the motif of light is often used to compare feelings and emotions pertaining to love. However, in Act Three, light becomes more of a sign of distress and worry. At the beginning of Act Three, light is still being used in positive ways. When Friar Lawrence is talking to Romeo about how he murdered Tybalt, he says: “There art thou happy.
“Fore shame bring Juliet forth; her lord is come” (4.5.22) This quote shows how Juliet was sailing to fake her death to avoid marrying Paris and marrying Romeo instead. Romeo’s tragic flaw of being impulsive can also be seen when he kills Tybalt. “ I am fortune’s fool” (3.1.136) where he acts on his emotions rather than reason. His carelessness led him to make rash decisions, such as killing
The tragedy of the star-cross'd lovers in William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet has broken the hearts of admirers around the world, but it is speculated upon those who may be responsible for their deaths. Romeo has many flaws throughout the play which guides him towards his death. Juliet is naive and far too rebellious, and it results in her committing suicide. Friar Laurence, as a figure of authority carries out his plans irresponsibly for selfish reasons, which results in their deaths. Romeo and Juliet are to blame because of their fatalistic views on life, and for their behaviour. Friar Laurence has made many flawful choices for teens so young, which includes a very dangerous plan that has impacts on a larger scale than the lovers themselves.
Some plays have a happy ending and other plays end in a tragic, heartbreaking manner. In the play The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare two lovers from feuding families fall in love, but their love id ill fated. A young man by the name of Romeo, who is a Montague, falls in love with a young lady named Juliet, who is a Capulet. The irony of this is their families are feuding so they cannot tell their own families that they are in love. The complexity of this situation heightens when on the day Romeo and Juliet get married; Romeo kills his new cousin Tybalt because Tybalt killed Romeo’s good friend Mercutio.
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
In many literary works, there are methods that authors use to make a story better. In The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, dramatic irony is the driving method. Dramatic irony is something in which characters do not know something, but the reader or audience knows what the true reality is. According to some researchers, “A staple of Elizabethan and Shakespearean drama was dramatic irony” (Halio 25). Furthermore some researchers also belive that dramatic irony is very prominent in the play, “ One of the more prominent literary devices in the play is irony” (Sauer 673). Romeo and Juliet, and also their friends and families face a lot of instances of dramatic irony in the story. Dramatic irony creates suspense and adds to
Cleopatra and Mark Antony, Lancelot and Guinevere, and Paris and Helena are some of the best and most know love stories of all time. Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare stands far above all of these, and is definitely the greatest love story ever written. This play is renowned for its passion and is one of the most viewed plays ever, being republished twice in Shakespeare's lifetime. This story also contains several different kinds of love.
Have you ever seen a murder mystery movie before? If so, you would recall that the detective tries to look for clues that leads to the suspected murderer. In the play, Romeo and Juliet, the same format applies, however, the murdering was done by the victims, Romeo and Juliet. With the tragic play coming to an end, we, the readers, are left wondering, “Who is to blame for Romeo and Juliet’s death?” While most characters may have a clear correlation to their suicide, the real murderer was in the stars, or in other words, fate murdered Romeo and Juliet. If fate had not have Romeo and Juliet’s death already foretold, provide hardships for the two, and mess up the Friars scheme to save Romeo and Juliet’s marriage, the play would not have been considered a tragedy.