...Juliet's Character Throughout William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet Juliet is first introduced to us in Act 1 Scene 3, where we learn about Juliet’s character. We know she is a polite, obedient girl. We can see this in the line where she says: “Madam, I am here. What is your will?” (Act 1 Scene 3 L78). This shows that Juliet is a well-mannered girl because she addresses her mother as Madam. This quotation also shows Juliet as obedient and always willing to help her mother because she says: “What is your will?” This scene also tells us that Juliet is thirteen and has never considered marriage, something which would have been common for girls her age at that time. She is still pure and innocent. “It is an honour I dream not of.” (Act 1 Scene 3 L66). From this scene we can observe that Juliet has a closer relationship with the nurse rather than with her own mother. “Faith, I can tell her age unto an hour.” This example shows how well the nurse knows Juliet. Shakespeare shows us that Juliet is still of the age where she does what her mother asks of her, without question. In the same scene again she says “Well, think of marriage now.” Which also shows us that Juliet does what her mother says. In Act 1 Scene 5 the first conversation between Romeo and Juliet is in the form of a sonnet (poem of sixteen lines). Romeo and Juliet take it in turns to speak; which shows how perfect they are for each other. A good example: If I profane with my unworthiest hand This...
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...Immaturity: the Real Poison in Romeo and Juliet In William Shakespeare’s play, Romeo and Juliet, Romeo is a tragic hero with the tragic flaw of immaturity. His immaturity is demonstrated countless times in this love story; he weeps because Rosaline does not return his love, and he hastily kills Tybalt without reflecting on the consequences. If Romeo had properly thought through some of the potential consequences prior to resorting to such extreme measures to see Juliet again, Romeo and Juliet most likely would not have met such a tragic ending. Lastly, the marriage of Romeo to Juliet was impulsive and again lacked forethought. They “fall in love” before even getting to know one another and they fail to think through their situation before getting married without their parents’ consent. There are many examples where Romeo lacks maturity. For example, when he is muddled because Rosaline does not return his affection. Romeo says, “O, teach me how I should forget to think!” (Shakespeare, 1. 1. 217). He is unable to take his mind off Rosaline. A more mature man could do so. Another example occurs when the hopeless romantic is ranting wistfully based only on his experience with Rosaline, “Is love a tender thing? It is too rough, Too rude, too boisterous, and it pricks like thorn” (Shakespeare, 1. 4. 25-26). Romeo’s negative view of love based on a single experience demonstrates his lack of maturity. Finally, Romeo’s breakdown over Rosaline greatly impacts the plot. “At this...
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...English Essay- Evolution of Romeo and Juliet William Shakespeare’s well-known play, Romeo and Juliet addresses the ill-fated love of two young children from feuding households set in Verona. Even though they are both children and Juliet is younger than Romeo, they both mature at different rates and ways. In addition, they are very different characters. Romeo is withdrawn, whereas Juliet is bold and brave. The differences go on and are made more obvious as the play progresses. This essay will highlight these differences and how they evolve as characters through the course of this play. Both the characters strike us as very different when we meet them for the first time. Romeo is recovering from his unrequited love. He is shown to be pining with love for a woman called Rosaline. He seems very immature in the beginning as he loses track of time and he stays in a dark room throughout the day due to his love-sickness. The play's emphasis on characters' eyes and the act of looking accords with Romeo's role as a blind lover who doesn't believe that there could be another lady more fair than his Rosaline. Romeo denies that he could be deluded by love, the "religion" of his eye. This zeal, combined with his rejection of Benvolio's advice to find another love to replace Rosaline, highlights Romeo's immaturity as a lover. We immediately feel as though his feelings are not real love, it is more of a infatuation. Romeo is in love with the concept of being in love. Juliet on the other hand is more...
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...and is seen when Capulet abuses Juliet when she refuses the marriage and the fact that Lady Montague only has two lines in the whole play as her husband is the higher status. Male dominance in the Elizabethan Era was common in society but Shakespeare has produced a play about women breaking the status que and leading her own life against the wills of society in a time where women couldn’t even perform on stage and the female roles were performed by men. Throughout the play women as whole are portrayed as “the weaker vessels” and are objectified by men. Mercutio in particular talks about women in a purely sexual way suggesting that they serve no other purpose other than sex “An open-arse and thou a Poperin pear”. However Juliet is not portrayed in this way and there are many references to suggest that she has a higher status in society than Romeo. A suggestion of this is in 2.2 Juliet stands on the balcony whilst Romeo is admiring her from below. The proxemics of Juliet higher up on stage suggests that Juliet is of higher status in their relationship. At the beginning of the scene Romeo uses the motif of Juliet as the sun “Arise fair sun” showing Juliet as something wonderful; during Romeo’s soliloquy the audience haven’t found out weather Juliet loves Romeo yet but Romeo has shown all of his feeling for Juliet. Juliet has much more stage time than Romeo and Romeo doesn’t feature in the whole of Act four and the focus of the action is on Juliet, therefore highlighting that her...
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...v when Juliet is talking to Romeo, Shakespeare shows their relationship with the use of natural imagery. For example he makes references to birds such as “Lark” and “Nightingale”. Shakespeare also uses natural locations such as “pomegranate tree” and “misty mountain tops”. The use of natural images is a metaphor for Romeo and Juliet’s love as it their love is natural and it was love at first sight. He also says in the prologue that they were “Star-crossed lovers” which means that their love was fate and that is was nature that dictated their love. .Shakespeare also uses the structure of the script to show the relationship between Romeo and Juliet. Romeo: How is’t, my soul? Let’s talk, it is not day Juliet: It is, it is, hie hence, be gone, away! (III v 25, 26) This symbolises how much Romeo and Juliet understand each other and how well they connect (They speak together and their conversations shows a structure). Shakespeare makes their relationship apparent through these techniques and it helps show how hard Romeo’s exile from Verona is going to be for Juliet after he leaves in the morning. As Romeo’s leaving Juliet says: “The window, let day in, and life out” (III v 41) In this line Juliet is saying farewell to Romeo and she’s saying now that day has come and Romeo has to leave or he’ll die if someone finds him and that Romeo is life and he’s leaving so she now has no life. As Romeo is departing...
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...We all know that Romeo and Juliet has countless remakes, but why? Because Romeo and Juliet is considered a classic. Many people of all ages love this play because they can relate to some of the themes, or make connections to the story line. Between the years 1591 and 1596, Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet, along with many other plays. Directors have been writing and directing plays and movies that are all based off of Romeo and Juliet, including Twilight and Titanic. West Side Story is a musical that is more modern example of a Romeo and Juliet, because it has the forbidden love, the feud between both sides, and the most of the main characters sacrifice themselves. Evidently, in Romeo and Juliet, Romeo comes off as a smart, passionate,...
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...their romances end badly, either in the death of their bodies or souls. A second similarity is that their loves were forms of rebellion, forbidden in their society at the time. They had to meet in secret, love in secret, and fear discovery at the hands of those who forbade their relationships. A third similarity is that their initial attraction was mostly physical; Romeo is struck with Juliet's beauty and thinks he is in love. Later, they build on that initial attraction and form a more solid and mature connection. It is the same with Winston and Julia; their first real meeting involves merely a physical encounter; later, they establish an emotional and mental connection. Differences between these two relationships are that in the case of Winston and Julia, they betray each other and their love in the end; Romeo and Juliet did not, staying true through death. In Romeo and Juliet it was their families who disagreed with the match; with Winston and Juliet it was the government. Romeo and Juliet are much, much younger, young teenagers. Then, Romeo and Juliet's love forged a bond between warring families; the example of their love for each other was so powerful that it changed hearts and lives of many, many people. This is not hte case with Winston and Julia; their story ends more sadly, even though they do not die. Even love wasn't powerful enough to overcome the all-powerful Party; their love for themselves and their own survival trumped their love for each other. Society...
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...This story of star-crossed lovers is one of William Shakespeare’s tenderest dramas. Shakespeare is sympathetic toward Romeo and Juliet, and in attributing their tragedy to fate, rather than to a flaw in their characters, he raises them to heights near perfection, as well as running the risk of creating pathos, not tragedy. They are both sincere, kind, brave, loyal, virtuous, and desperately in love, and their tragedy is greater because of their innocence. The feud between the lovers’ families represents the fate that Romeo and Juliet are powerless to overcome. The lines capture in poetry the youthful and simple passion that characterizes the play. One of the most popular plays of all time, Romeo and Juliet was Shakespeare’s second tragedy (after Titus Andronicus of 1594, a failure). Consequently, the play shows the sometimes artificial lyricism of early comedies such as Love’s Labour’s Lost 1594-1595, . 1598) and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (. 1595-1596, . 1600), while its character development predicts the direction of the playwright’s artistic maturity. In Shakespeare’s usual fashion, he based his story on sources that were well known in his day: Masuccio Salernitano’s Novellino (1475), William Painter’s The Palace of Pleasure (1566-1567), and, especially, Arthur Brooke’s poetic The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet (1562). Shakespeare reduces the time of the action from the months it takes in Brooke’s work to a few compact days. In addition to following the conventional...
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...How does Fate play a role in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet Change Slide: What is fate? Fate is the idea that the future is already planned even if people do not know what is going to happen to them. I’m going to talk about Romeo and Juliet, a play by William Shakespeare's, one of the greatest love stories of all time. This story has been known to be timeless even though it was written around 1595. This play is a story of forbidden love that is resolved in two tragic deaths of Romeo and Juliet, who come from feuding families. Their ignorance of defy and falling in love is not accepted by their families. For the five short days they share love, many events take place. All of the events surround characters from both the Montague and Capulet families. The powers and affects of love and hate are also very evident between the two families throughout the play. In the end, Romeo and Juliet's love finds a tragic way to overcome the hate between their families. The story mainly revolves around Juliet while she grows up and falls in love, only to have fate keep her from complete happiness. Change Slide: Juliet is the beautiful, courageous young daughter of Capulet, a rich man in Verona. Shakespeare made her character a mere thirteen years old, but she acts very mature compared to her age. She appears to be practical, honest, and loyal to herself and her family. The play is about how she discovers and loses love. She appears to have thought very little about love and marriage...
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...‘Romeo and Juliet/Catrin/Follower’ Controlled Assessment: Examining Shakespeare’s ideologies on parental influence and the impact on modern/Elizabethan audiences: Examine the way Shakespeare presents the relationship between Juliet and her parents. By Tiffanie Gould, 10x1 The iconic tragedy written by the world’s most honoured writer William Shakespeare, ‘Romeo and Juliet’ is a title the world is familiar with. Its impact on modern society is impeccable, whether related to love, tragedy or both moral and academic education, the modern media adopts its philosophy. Shakespeare is trying to educate, and the ever-pending battle is the matter of character vs. society; relationships differ even today between parent and child, and the way it may be interpreted is affected by women’s role in society in Elizabethan England and how the audience’s perspective of prejudice and patriarchy. Shakespeare explores emotions and allows adjustments in the relationship in an attempt to drop the audience’s jaws open in eras of both old and new. In this assessment, I will examine just how the way Shakespeare presents the relationship between Juliet and Lord/Lady Capulet with supported evidence. Lord Capulet: the very wealthy patriarch of the Capulet family and empire, probably just as important, the husband of Lady Capulet, the uncle of Tybalt, potential father-in-law of Count Paris, legitimate (but unknowingly) the father-in-law of Romeo Montague… and the father of Juliet Capulet-Montague....
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...‘Romeo and Juliet/Catrin/Follower’ Controlled Assessment: Examining Shakespeare’s ideologies on parental influence and the impact on modern/Elizabethan audiences: Examine the way Shakespeare presents the relationship between Juliet and her parents. By Tiffanie Gould, 10x1 The iconic tragedy written by the world’s most honoured writer William Shakespeare, ‘Romeo and Juliet’ is a title the world is familiar with. Its impact on modern society is impeccable, whether related to love, tragedy or both moral and academic education, the modern media adopts its philosophy. Shakespeare is trying to educate, and the ever-pending battle is the matter of character vs. society; relationships differ even today between parent and child, and the way it may be interpreted is affected by women’s role in society in Elizabethan England and how the audience’s perspective of prejudice and patriarchy. Shakespeare explores emotions and allows adjustments in the relationship in an attempt to drop the audience’s jaws open in eras of both old and new. In this assessment, I will examine just how the way Shakespeare presents the relationship between Juliet and Lord/Lady Capulet with supported evidence. Lord Capulet: the very wealthy patriarch of the Capulet family and empire, probably just as important, the husband of Lady Capulet, the uncle of Tybalt, potential father-in-law of Count Paris, legitimate (but unknowingly) the father-in-law of Romeo Montague… and the father of Juliet Capulet-Montague....
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...Who is to blame when teenagers make destructive decisions? Teenagers, nowadays, are known for their bad decision making. They go out and drink and do drugs and just make bad, dangerous decisions. Teenagers just want to have fun and they think they can only do that at their age, when they are young. However, this is not true! Not only is it dangerous to do the things they do for fun, (like drinking and drugs), but they aren't even old enough to do those things they want to do. Most teens ignore that and also that their parents are always telling them not to do those kinds of things. They rebel and do bad things that will come back to bite them and things they will most likely regret. Teens are getting worse and worse when it comes to their decision making everyday. It is their fault if they make a bad decision because they have full control of their mind and body, and they need to start taking more responsibility for it. Parents can persuade their children but ultimately, teenagers make their own decisions. Obviously, like any other human being, teenagers have a brain and a mind of their own. Parents can try to convince their child to do the right thing in a certain situation all they want. However, it is the teenager who ultimately decides what to do with their own brain. Our parents always know what is best for us and will always tell us the right thing to do. Our parents want the best for us and would never encourage or tell us to do something dangerous or something...
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...Comparing the voice of love and loss in Bryon’s “When We Two Parted” and the Balcony Scene in Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” Lili Mutyambizi From the beginning of Act 2 scene 2 it is evident that Romeo conveys a different voice of love and loss compared to Bryon. Because at this point, he knows that he has no other company and so therefore does not restrict any of his feelings or thoughts that go through his mind. So in the first part of his monologue, the language in this monologue includes phrases that are associated with subjects that are essential tot he human body as he expresses:: “It is the east and Juliet is the sun, arise far sun and kill the envious moon” this signifying that he needs Juliet to come out for him to ‘live’ and destroy the feelings he has for Rosaline ‘kill the envious moon’. This showing that Romeo’s voice of love is immature as he quickly wants to diminish his previous love of Rosaline and replace with Juliet as “kill” causes a fast action of death. However when comparing the first stanza of Byron’s “When We Two Parted” the mood of this is regretful as he reflects on past events:”Pale grew thy cheek cold colder thy kiss” as this effect is reinforced by the use of enjambment that is a common theme in the poem. This signifying that Bryon’s voice of loss is mature as he is accepting that what he thought was love was growing to be non existent which Romeo does not acknowledge as in this play he thinks that his and Juliet’s love will always be there as in this...
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...Translator’s Coming of Age by Omaya Ibrahim Khalifa Through studying the three translations of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet done by Mohammed Enani in 1965, 1986 and 1993 respectively, this study adopts a diachronic approach. In addition to examining the historical dimension, this study attempts to address itself to crucial questions related to the process of translating a literary text. A few of these are: how a translator can approach a given text in three different ways and how each translation changes according to the approach and the methods chosen by the translator. More importantly, the study proposes to discuss the pragmatic conditions governing the act of translation and how far these result in prominent modifications in the relationship between the source and target texts. The first part of this study discusses the problem or problems which confront a translator attempting to transpose Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet into Arabic, and the second analyses the three translations and how each deals with the problems discussed. Mohammed Enani, in his introduction to his third translation of Romeo and Juliet, singles out tone as the main difficulty that faces any translator attempting a rendering of the play. In the Elizabethan era romance was regarded as a subject for comedy and as such allowed playful treatment. Harry Levin explains that Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet was an innovation at the time. He reveals the effect of the play on contemporary audiences as follows: ...
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...ROMEO & JULIET Prologue (ACT 1) As a prologue to the play, the Chorus enters. In a fourteen-line sonnet, the Chorus describes two noble households (called “houses”) in the city of Verona. The houses hold an “ancient grudge” (Prologue.2) against each other that remains a source of violent and bloody conflict. The Chorus states that from these two houses, two “star-crossed” (Prologue.6) lovers will appear. These lovers will mend the quarrel between their families by dying. The story of these two lovers, and of the terrible strife between their families, will be the topic of this play. ANALYSIS This opening speech by the Chorus serves as an introduction to Romeo and Juliet. We are provided with information about where the play takes place, and given some background information about its principal characters. The obvious function of the Prologue as introduction to the Verona of Romeo and Juliet can obscure its deeper, more important function. The Prologue does not merely set the scene of Romeo and Juliet, it tells the audience exactly what is going to happen in the play. The Prologue refers to an ill-fated couple with its use of the word “star-crossed,” which means, literally, against the stars. Stars were thought to control people’s destinies. But the Prologue itself creates this sense of fate by providing the audience with the knowledge that Romeo and Juliet will die even before the play has begun. The audience therefore watches the play with the expectation that it must...
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