The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet

The ideology that everything in the universe has a specific place and rank in order of their hierarchy importance created by God is known as the concept of The Great Chain of Being. The order of this concept consisted levels according to highest rank to the lowest accordingly: God, angels, humanity, animals, vegetation life, leading all the way down to crud. Within each category, more specific classification existed, placing these subcategories in a specific order. This concept was believed to be a way to keep the universe in order. As this was believed during Elizabethan times, William Shakespeare also believed in the Great Chain of Being, as many of his plays are prominently based on this concept. Some of his plays include characters that accept their place on the Chain, but others are not so complacent. By examining three different characters from Shakespeare’s tragedies, The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, The Tragedy of Macbeth, and The Tragedy of King Lear, it is obvious to readers who is content with their place on the Chain and which characters have a difficult time accepting their place. Romeo and Juliet do not obey their parents’ orders, therefore suffer harsh consequences towards the end of the play. Macbeth is another Shakespearean character that violates the Chain, due to the committing of several murders, in order to gain the throne. In stark contrast, Cordelia, is content with her place on the Chain as she does not want anything greater in life, unlike her

In William Shakespeare’s play “Romeo and Juliet”, Shakespeare presents characters in difficult situations in Romeo and Juliet through various language techniques and structure. Romeo and Juliet were star-crossed lovers. Both Romeo and Juliet were from feuding families that would not approve of their marriage. In the play they are presented with many difficult circumstances. The play was set in the Elizabethan era; there was a significant change in religion, family and politics. Attitudes and key scenes highlight the theme of love in difficult circumstances and prepare the audience for Romeo and Juliet’s suicides at the end of the play. In this essay I will be exploring the ways Shakespeare presents characters in difficult situations.

Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy play written by Shakespeare. It is set in Verona, Italy during the 13th century, two noble families are feuding and two young lovers, one from each family fall in love. Romeo and Juliet have to keep their love a secret due to the ongoing war between their families. This suggests that their relationship with their parents is not one of trust. Relationships between children and parents then and now are very different because today parents are much closer to their children emotionally however in the time the play was set in the parents and children were distant from each other, this may be because nowadays parents are the prime carers but then people would

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.

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.

If Romeo and Juliet’s families did not hate each other, there would be no suicide, and there would be no reason the two could not be married after meeting and being infatuated. The reason this is so important is because without this factor the play would most likely not be a tragedy, just a romance. If Romeo and Juliet had been married for a while, then true love could have been real between the two. Since the two did not know each other well, and were irrational teenagers, love was not the motivation here, the attraction the two had for each other was the

“What do you want to be when you grow up?” is the question we hear so many times as children. Yet, growing up does not necessarily mean becoming an adult. Rather, growing up is the change within one’s self that is illustrated by a heightened awareness, the ability to think reasonably, and the proficiency to conduct themselves in an appropriate manner. In adolescence, we turn to the adults in our lives to aid us in understanding our choices as we become increasingly responsible for our own actions. During this time in our lives, adults with worldly experience direct us down the path of good judgment in order that we may learn how to make good decisions. They near essential to us, even though not everyone has this advantage. William Shakespeare’s famous and celebrated tragedy, Romeo and Juliet, depicts several instances in which the title characters, though still naïve, behave more responsibly and maturely than the misguided adult figures in their lives–those of the Houses of Capulet and Montague, especially Juliet’s parents, and the culpable Friar Laurence.

To begin with, Shakespeare stated in the prologue, “Two households, both alike in dignity...a pair of star-crossed lovers take their life, doth with death bury their parents’ strife.” (Shakespeare.Prologue.1-6). This means that it was fate that Romeo and Juliet’s relationship could never work out since the vendetta between the two families. In fact, in Kerschen’s critical essay, Kelley Griffith states, “if the plot is only part of a larger or ongoing story, then the characters are more likely to seem at mercy of

‘’For never was a story of more woe than this of Juliet and her Romeo’’ – William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet. Romeo and Juliet are star crossed lovers and their lives are cut short by death. Are family wishes hazardous, or is it deadly to have flaws? Is the victim at fault here? In the play, Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare provides several of actions and influences that caused Juliet’s tragedy. The death of Juliet can be blamed on multiple factors. It is clear that she is partially to blame because of her personality flaw but also external forces such as family expectations played a role in her death.

In Romeo and Juliet, written by the prominent writer William Shakespeare, two teenagers fall in love. Because of their families’ feud, they are not allowed to be together. It is very different back in their era. Juliet was set up with Paris, a kinsman of the prince, by her parents. However, she does not have any true feelings for him. Her heart belongs to Romeo which she has loved from the first time she set eyes on him. This is shown by what she said to the nurse “Go ask his name.- If he be married, My grave is like to be my wedding bed” (1, 5, 133-134). Romeo does not interact often with his parents in the play and spends most of his time outside of his home. Juliet interacts more with her parents then Romeo but Lady and Lord Capulet are unaware with what is happening in her life. Lord Capulet is very rude towards Juliet and tries to plan her life for her. Romeo and Juliet are rebellious towards their parents because of their lack of understanding when they are not allowed to act on their love. Their parents do not allow them to be with each other because of their families past. Romeo and Juliet’s parents care for their children but are clueless about their secret marriage and the stress the two teens are going through in order to be with each other.

As a freshman at Roger Williams University in Bristol, RI, I took the writing class WTNG 102 Section 31, taught by Professor Ramey. All undergraduate students must receive at least a 70 as a final grade in the class prior to being enrolled in Critical Writing, WTNG 200 or 220. Entering college, I was most worried about taking Expository Writing because writing has never been one of my strengths. I have always struggled with writing transitions, and have made endless grammatical mistakes, including comma splices and tense changes. I hoped that Expository Writing would help me with these writing mistakes. Another thing that I hoped that WTNG 102 would do for my writing is that it would… Over the semester, I wrote a total of four papers with three different learning objectives and specific understandings. The first paper, “The Real Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet” shows my understanding of rhetorical knowledge. The second paper, “What is a Discourse Community?” shows my understanding of discourse community knowledge. The third paper, “Genre Analysis” shows my understanding of genre knowledge. Through these three papers, I have achieved the learning outcomes in rhetorical knowledge, discourse community knowledge, and genre knowledge.

The term “star-crossed lovers” is depicted toward a relationship that is doomed to fail. People that study astrology say that “star-crossed” lovers are “thwarted by a malign star,” or that the stars are working against the relationship. Star-crossed relationships are sometimes said to be doomed from the start. Most of these relationships involve people that are kept apart no matter how hard they struggle to be together. In both Dear John and Romeo and Juliet you will learn about two relationships that were doomed to fail from the start.

“Wisely and slow. They stumble that run fast.” This is the warning that Friar Lawrence gave to Romeo about his fast relationship with Juliet. The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet is one of the most famous plays of all time, and many people think of it as a love story. It consists of two teenagers, Romeo and Juliet, who are of opposing families,yet still find themselves obsessed with each other. However, the two are doomed to die together from the very start. It was written by the famous poet William Shakespeare who had no idea h

“The tragedy is not that love does not last. The tragedy is love that lasts.” By Shirley Hazzard. Particularly, Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare has an ideal structure of true tragedy intervening a love story, especially, as Romeo and Juliet’s character flaw is revealed. Romeo starts off as being persuasive in going to the Capulet’s party then later falls in love at first sight with Juliet. In addition, Juliet also falls in love with Romeo and later discover that Romeo is the son of their enemy. However, young Romeo and Juliet still pursues their love for each other. In which will result to Mercutio’s death because of Romeo’s passion and pride. Then Juliet threatens to commit suicide if forced to marry Paris. Juliet also sees potential

I think his character is flawed, but his impulses, his anger, his bitterness are closely related to Juliet. So I think Romeo isn’t a tragic character. I think he had a very good time. They fell in love at first sight .He met the right person at the right time. They pour out their feelings together and talk about family grudges, and they want the family to allow them together. He got a woman hell-bent love, will never change until death. They love each other even die for the other one. Romeo gave up everything just to be with his beloved.