The Role of Authority in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet

When picking a scene to analyze in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, it is easy to go straight to the temptingly classic and romantic balcony scene. Especially in the case of Baz Luhrmann’s film adaptation Romeo + Juliet, the director gives viewers plenty to talk about with his innovative staging that puts Romeo and Juliet on the same level. However, a more brief scene that gives way to important insight about the film is Romeo and Juliet’s wedding. In Shakespeare’s play the audience does not actually witness the wedding, so Luhrmann had total creative freedom in what he wanted this scene to look like. When the two young lovers finally reach the end of the aisle together, they quickly evoke the image of children playing dress up. Romeo’s suit is old-fashioned and too big for him, as if he borrowed it from his father’s closet. Juliet wears a 1950’s style halter dress, hanging on her like a costume. Her hair is messily pulled into an updo with strands hanging down by her face, making her look like a kid who has tried to do a fancy new hairdo but does not quite know how and could probably use a haircut besides that. Attire aside, Romeo and Juliet just have very young-looking faces. The actors portraying them, Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes, are ages 21 and 17 and you can tell by their bright faces and softened features that they are still quite young to be getting married (Rolling Stone). Their clothes and faces combined

Many have said that romance brings love and affection, but when taken to the extreme, it can lead to tragedy and despair. Among the great literary tragedies, Romeo and Juliet may be the most famous of them all. The eternal feud between the Montegues and Capulets prohibits the love of Romeo and Juliet and ultimately results in their unfortunate deaths. It may be difficult to truly determine who is to blame for the tragedy, because their lives had been influenced, criticized, and controlled by many figures. Among the most important characters, Friar Lawrence enables the forbidden marriage of the two lovers and devises a plan to ensure that they end up together. On the other hand, Lord and Lady Capulet feed into the rivalry between the two

Justice is defined as being fair, right, or lawful. To determine if an action is just, the question “was it morally right or wrong” must be answered. In law today, justice is determined through written rules or laws. Similarly, the novel Romeo and Juliet uses the idea of justice, for two lovers have families are at war, which creates great tension throughout the families. The two families, the Montagues and the Capulets often begin riots throughout the streets of Verona, which causes many complications for Romeo and Juliet, as well as challenges the idea of justice. In the novel Romeo and Juliet, written by William Shakespeare, justice was not achieved through the Prince’s ruling.

In a patriarchal society, women are expected to conform to social restrictions by demonstrating reverence and obedience to the males in their lives. Shakespeare's tragic play, Romeo and Juliet, explores the effects of patriarchal authority exerted over women and how the patriarchal structure left no escape from it, save death. Through Juliet, Lady Capulet, and the Nurse, Shakespeare establishes a common understanding of this type of society, but illuminates three different reactions to the social oppression by portraying the responses of a passionate lover, an idyllic housewife, and an attendant.

Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare has many conflicts concerning the adults and children of the play. The fault of the numerous conflicts throughout Romeo and Juliet is clearly to blame of the parents and adult figures in the play, clearly shown through the adults forcing the children into unideal circumstances, and the adults attempting to make the problems that were created better. The children although histrionic, were prompted towards bad decisions and convinced towards erroneous plans.

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.

For instance, in Act III scene II the nurse expressed in distress that “there’s not trust, no faith, no honesty in men, all perjur’d… Shame come to Romeo.” William Shakespeare positions the audience to sympathise for the nurse, that as a mother she desires for Juliet’s happiness, and by scolding Juliet for defending Romeo, she’s trying to save Juliet from the adversity she’ll be facing later on. However, Shakespeare clearly uses dialogue to express that within the nurse there are aspects of jealousy and enviousness seeing how much Juliet cares for Romeo, but not much for her. As audiences, we gain insight into the nurse’s life, she’s been treated as a servant, though takes part in intimate family affairs and as Juliet’s confidant, but overall her role as a second mother is not recognise. She treats Juliet like her own birth daughter, hence even though she chides Juliet for defending Romeo by saying “Will you speak well of him that kill’d your cousin?”, her love cannot be

The main role of a parent is to urge their child to make the right decisions in order to guide them through a healthy life. During a child’s life, helpful guidance is necessary to ensure a bright future. Authoritative figures are influential through how they behave toward certain subjects, such as religion, sports, and politics. These figures leave an impression on their children as they grow into adults. Throughout The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare and West Side Story by Arthur Laurents, the protagonists face challenges with influences ranging from their views on feuds, marriage, and the presence of authoritative figures.

The nurse means well, and has Juliet’s interests at heart, but is not a very good mentor either. “I think it best you married with the county. Oh he’s a lovely gentleman. Romeo’s a dishclout to him (Shakespeare 204). The nurse is insulting Romeo in this quote and is telling Juliet that it’s best to marry Paris because he’s lovely and that Romeo’s a dishcloth compared to him. Also, considering the nurse’s position as a maid and how she immediately changes her mind about Romeo, she isn’t a good mentor. “These griefs, these woes, these sorrows make me old. Shame come to Romeo!” (Shakespeare 160). The nurse finds out about Tybalt’s and comes home to tell Juliet about it, while also shaming Romeo. Later on the nurse’s mood changes so quickly and instead of insulting Romeo she says she’ll bring him here to comfort Juliet. The nurse changes so quickly, but it is so Juliet won’t stay mad at her, not out of her own will.

“We’ve called it Family Safety. We are calling it Family Safety rather than Parental Control because people don’t like that term. Both parent and definitely child don’t like the idea of controlling, blocking, or spying on them or others” (written by unknown). Most parents think to have control of your child is the way parenting works. Some of these parents find that their child rebels against their “very specific” instructions. Between parent and child, their will always be a aspect of control and rebellion but this is because it could feel like the parent doesn’t trust the kid, the kid disagrees with the judgement call, and it has been proven to happen through surveys. In Romeo and Juliet’s time, when parents tried to use authority to control

During the fourteenth century, they have had rules that we couldn’t even follow in the present. Right now, you can do whatever you want in order to make your life happy, healthy and strong. In the past times which in this case, the fourteenth century, some rules contain getting married at a young age, making sure that you are not related to each other. The list goes on and on. In Romeo and Juliet (No Fear Shakespeare), these rules have been used when Juliet is getting ready to marry Romeo. She had disliked Paris, so she refuses to marry him.

Romeo and Juliet is a prime example of what "going against traditions" is. It is made know throughout the book that montagues and capulets are not to have any kind of relations. Disregarding this fact, Romeo (a montague) and Juliet (a capulet) fall in love. They struggle throughout the play, to end with their deaths. Shakespeare constantly appeals to the reader's emotions through Romeo and Juliet's character. He wants the readers to be have the attitude that the two should be together so he starts them in situations that we can relate to. For example, not everyone has experienced this but Romeo starts with a broken heart, longing for love. Juliet on the other hand experiences the peer pressure of everyone telling/getting her to marry someone

Shakespeare does this by noting how Romeo and Juliet do not actually love each other. This is represented by Romeo and Juliets actions and rash decision making. Their decisions are very impulsive and rushed. As a result, it impacted them negatively in the future and as well as their relationship. Romeo and Juliet’s love for each other is not actually how love really is. They’ve mistakenly confused lust for love.

Stoppard’s satirical movie, Shakespeare in Love, is a play on Shakespeare’s tragic love story, Romeo and Juliet. Stoppard places Shakespeare himself into a relationship with Viola De Lesseps, that resembles the relationship between Romeo and Juliet. Stoppard incorporates countless parallels into the film from Shakespeare’s love story, including the character development of major authority figures. The prince and the queen, Capulet and Viola’s father, and the Friar and the Priest are all figures of authority and parallel between the two works; Stoppard gave his cast similarities to Shakespeare’s characters, but they also varied in some aspects. Stoppard’s decision to both keep some and change some character attributes of these authority figures helps contribute and develop the ending of the movie, just as Shakespeare’s character developments contributed to the outcome of his plays.

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.