...but their families won’t allow it. In the play Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare, he writes in motifs for example light and dark or celestial motifs. Shakespeare writes these motifs to have a deeper meaning behind them. The Capulets and the Montagues are sworn enemies, neither are good or bad but these two families represent light and dark. Romeo’s father and mother notices Romeo’s depression because he stays in his room and barely eats. Benvolio tells Romeo’s parents that he will talk to him and see what’s wrong. Romeo tells Benvolio about Rosaline and after that Benvolio tells Romeo that they are going to a party that night to forget Rosaline, “compare her face with some that I shall...
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...secrets through its absence of light. People see darkness in black cats and eclipses. Society sees black cats as evil by color and witch association. Eclipses perceived as evil for causing darkness. Elizabethans view darkness as evil, as it blocks out light and destroys hope. We see darkness used by William Shakespeare, one of the great writers of the Elizabethan Era. He uses it as a motif in his plays. In the play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, the motif of darkness represents foreshadowing of tragedy and the sinful situations faced by Romeo. A source of evil in the Elizabethan era is darkness. During this time period, there are a lot of superstitions flying around. Many of the superstitions involved items of darkness. A black cat...
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...Light Over Dark: The Choice Romeo and Juliet Didn’t Make The purpose of the light/dark motif in Romeo and Juliet is to show how Romeo and Juliet are unable to tell light from dark, or good from bad. I think everyone has the potential to distinguish what choices lead to “light” and what choices keep them in the “dark”. So Romeo and Juliet had that potential but I don’t think they wanted to know about that, since nothing else mattered to them but them. In this play, Romeo and Juliet do never make a clear choice of light over dark because they almost do not want to deal that decision in the middle of their romantic journey. They could have brought their situation which was becoming more of a mess each day, into the light by talking openly about it. However that would’ve ended the feud between the families that would have to be dealt with in some way and I’m sure Romeo and Juliet would not have lost their lives doing that. By ignoring their responsibilities and ignoring the darkness that was rising on them quickly both Romeo and Juliet allow tragedy to take them both. In the first scene, Romeo is depressed because his love for Rosaline is a one-way love. His parents are worried because Romeo spends all his time in the dark. Even when it is light, he shrouds himself in darkness to reflect his dreary mood: Away from the light steals home my heavy son / And private in his chamber pens himself / Shuts up his windows, locks fair daylight out / And makes himself an artificial night (I...
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...The sky is like an hourglass, time is the sand in it, while night is when most of the sand is in the bottom half, and day is when most the sand is in the upper half. Time flies by as the sand slowly slips from the upper half into the bottom half, changing day into night. In William Shakespeare’s play, Romeo and Juliet, the two houses, the Montagues and the Capulets hate each other. Romeo, a Montague, falls in love with Juliet, a Capulet, often at night, Romeo sneaks into the Capulet garden to talk to Juliet. Fate divides them apart many ways, the Prince of Verona banishes Romeo, and Juliet drinks a potion as part of a plan. But miscommunication happens and Romeo believes that Juliet is dead, thus commits suicide by drinking poison. Juliet wakes...
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...young people in the play. Do these two people do the “right thing” by Romeo and Juliet? The nurse and Friar are sophisticated characters that act as parental figures within the prolix and truculent play. The timeless classic Romeo and Juliet (RJ) by William Shakespeare revolves around the notion of determinism, death, love and deception. Despite Romeo and Juliet having warring parents who pay little regard to them, the Nurse and Friar act as parental figures towards them who guide through vexed situations in their best interest, however, this only prolongs their declivity, with the Friar acting as a motif of death and the Nurse acting as a beacon of hope. By understanding the way Shakespeare has shaped the characters of the Friar Lawrence and the Nurse, the audience can understand the way they are presented in the play and the role they play in foreshadowing Romeo and Juliet’s’ cataclysmic fate. In the midst of this thespian play, the Nurse is depicted as a more favorable parental figure rather than Juliet's Parents. This decision is reasonable considering the social taboos of the historical context during the Elizabethan era, which depicts parents of high status as being stern and adamant, making it fairly uncomfortable for the young to discuss personal affairs. Juliet is preferable of the Nurse over her own mother because the Nurse has been looking after her from a very young age, stating that Juliet is like her own daughter, and even remembers that ,"Come Lammas Eve at...
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...Fleeting Love In Act 2 of the tragic play Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare, two star-crossed lovers begin their whirlwind romance. After meeting Juliet at the Capulet party, Romeo Montague confesses his love to her, and despite his awkward, somewhat unconventional confession, Juliet’s reciprocated feelings are also revealed, and the two are married the next morning. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to the ever-oblivious Romeo, his new cousin-in-law, Tybalt, sends him a letter demanding a duel. Time plays a menacing force in the play, and drives the protagonists to rush their relationship. Two acts of the play pass in just two days, creating fast-paced action The sun and the moon, two opposite celestial beings, are destined to chase each other, falling into a cycle, never managing to truly catch the other. In this way, the orbs are similar to Romeo and Juliet, who face an obstacle at every turn in their dizzying...
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...Anna Current Mrs. Nelson 1st Honors 9th Lit Oct 23rd, 2015 Don’t Assume Anything The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet Research Paper “The world is such a scary place. Sometimes it seems like it's nothing but anger. And violence. And hurt. It can be terrifying when you're out there in it. But if you know where to look for it... the world also has warmth. And love. And forgiveness. The world has joy in it. When you find a place that allows you to experience that joy, when you find people that make you feel safe and loved, like you belong... you don't walk away from it. You fight for it.”( Espenson). In The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare a lot of violent and scary things happen, but the characters somehow find a way, in the midst of the chaos, to find that happiness. Shakespeare focuses on the power of love to capture the attention of his audience. This love leads to things all throughout the play to come across as much different than suspected and end up defying stereotypes. Shakespeare uses characterization, visual motifs and dialogue to convey this theme that things aren’t always what they seem. The first way that Shakespeare conveys this theme to his audience is through showing the thoughts on marriage from Capulet and Lady Capulet. Capulet says “And too soon marred are those so early made. / Earth hath swallowed all my hopes but she; / She is the hopeful lady of my earth. / But woo her, gentle Paris, get her heart, / My will to her consent is but a part...
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...Today I will be pitching forward to you, my own vision for Romeo and Juliet. Why is Romeo and Juliet still relevant to a modern audience after over 400 years? Simply because it contains themes that are still applicable to a modern audience, of love, hate, youth, mortality, fate, foolishness and exile. All timeless themes and relatable to all age groups, specifically adolescents. Although these themes may resonate with youths, the target audience for this historical drama will be the older generations. By keeping the original text, costuming and setting, the film will aim to inform the viewer about the daily lives of the elite in the 1500’s, as well as conventions and struggles of the time whilst still using well-known actors to relate to the...
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...to find as many light and dark images as you can. In each case, identify the context; who is speaking? When and where? What kind of effects do these images have? Light and dark imagery: Act 1 scene 1- scene 4 Montague says: Away from light steals home my heavy son Shut up his windows, locks fair daylight out And makes himself an artificial night He talks about Romeo as he is depressed and locked himself in a room. Capulet says: At my poor house look to behold this night Earth treading stars that make heaven light He means there will be a lot of beautiful ladies at the party and their beauties will light up the night sky. Romeo says: Give me a torch: I am not for this ambling Being but heavy, I will bear the light Romeo said this to Benvolio at Capulet party. He doesn’t want to wear a mask because he is in the bad mood, heavy and he will stand still and carry the light. Romeo says: But, soft! What light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun Romeo said this to Juliet. He is saying that her beauty is like the sun. Shining beauty, pure, shiny. Romeo says: Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon, Who is already sick and pale with grief, That thou her maid art far more fair than she Romeo said this to Juliet at the balcony. He is saying that he does not want the sun to arise because that means he will have to go home and there are chances that he will see Juliet again. Act 1 scene 5 Romeo says: O, she doth...
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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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...1. W. Shakespeare « Hamlet» (Renaissance) Character List Hamlet - The Prince of Denmark, the title character, and the protagonist. About thirty years old at the start of the play, Hamlet is the son of Queen Gertrude and the late King Hamlet, and the nephew of the present king, Claudius. Hamlet is melancholy, bitter, and cynical, full of hatred for his uncle’s scheming and disgust for his mother’s sexuality. A reflective and thoughtful young man who has studied at the University of Wittenberg, Hamlet is often indecisive and hesitant, but at other times prone to rash and impulsive acts. Hamlet is extremely philosophical and contemplative. He is particularly drawn to difficult questions or questions that cannot be answered with any certainty. Faced with evidence that his uncle murdered his father, evidence that any other character in a play would believe, Hamlet becomes obsessed with proving his uncle’s guilt before trying to act. Claudius - The King of Denmark, Hamlet’s uncle, and the play’s antagonist. The villain of the play, Claudius is a calculating, ambitious politician, driven by his sexual appetites and his lust for power, but he occasionally shows signs of guilt and human feeling—his love for Gertrude, for instance, seems sincere. Gertrude - The Queen of Denmark, Hamlet’s mother, recently married to Claudius. Gertrude loves Hamlet deeply, but she is a shallow, weak woman who seeks affection and status more urgently than moral rectitude or truth. Polonius - The...
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...Why do Ferdinand and Miranda have to fall in love? It simply could not have been love at first sight. Yes, perhaps there is such a thing as love at first sight, but for Ferdinand and Miranda, there is much more to the story. Ferdinand and Miranda’s love for each other was born out of necessity; there are no other simple reasons for them falling in love. There is much reason to stipulate their love was born out of necessity. One such argument is since Prospero wants them to fall in love; they have to because he is in complete control of the island and controls the entire plot of the play. Another such reason for their marriage is that they are ideal characters for each other, all the other primary characters are corrupt, yet Ferdinand and Miranda being young and innocent are the ideal candidates for each other. As well I shall explore one commonality between two of Shakespeare’s plays. One final reason to support these views is of the very nature of this play, which is the nature of Shakespearian Comedy. All Shakespearian Comedies must end in a marriage, and this is no exception. Drawing on my first two arguments to support my third it is quite evident why Ferdinand and Miranda simply have to be. On the island Prospero wields complete power, over the forces of nature and even to some extent over the wills of others. What Prospero wants, Prospero gets. He accomplishes this through his magical powers and sorcery, and to a certain extent- his cunning. So how does...
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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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...Shakespeare’s Sonnets: Form: 14 lines, each with ten stressed and unstressed syllables known as iambic pentameter (rhythm of the heartbeat) Genre: Lyric poetry – Lyric poetry presents the deep feelings and emotions of the poet as opposed to poetry that tells a story or presents a witty observation. Rhyme: ABAB CDCD EFEF GG Rhymes may be ear-rhymes or eye-rhymes: an ear-rhyme is one that rhymes in sound, e.g. “increase” and “decrease”; an eye-rhyme is one that rhymes by sight, e.g. “compare” and “are”. Structure: This rhyme sequence sets the usual structure of the sonnet as three quatrains (sets of four lines) concluding with 1 couplet (a pair of lines). It is usual for there to be a pause for thought in the sonnet’s message at the end of each quatrain, especially the 2nd, in order to add tension, with the sonnet resolving to its objective in the final couplet, just as a song normally resolves to its root chord at its close. To convey the sense of resolution and completeness at the end of the sonnet there are often key-words, or tie-words, present in the closing couplet that are also present in the earlier quatrains. This structuring provides a framework on which to build the words, phrases, themes, rhymes, syncopation, punctuation and rhythm of the sonnet making it, at its best, a self-contained work of art. Having established this structure though, the author can then go on to breach the framework to add tension and meaning: a quatrain will not necessarily comprise...
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...Themes Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work. The Decline of the American Dream in the 1920s On the surface, The Great Gatsby is a story of the thwarted love between a man and a woman. The main theme of the novel, however, encompasses a much larger, less romantic scope. Though all of its action takes place over a mere few months during the summer of 1922 and is set in a circumscribed geographical area in the vicinity of Long Island, New York, The Great Gatsby is a highly symbolic meditation on 1920s America as a whole, in particular the disintegration of the American dream in an era of unprecedented prosperity and material excess. Fitzgerald portrays the 1920s as an era of decayed social and moral values, evidenced in its overarching cynicism, greed, and empty pursuit of pleasure. The reckless jubilance that led to decadent parties and wild jazz music—epitomized in The Great Gatsby by the opulent parties that Gatsby throws every Saturday night—resulted ultimately in the corruption of the American dream, as the unrestrained desire for money and pleasure surpassed more noble goals. When World War I ended in 1918, the generation of young Americans who had fought the war became intensely disillusioned, as the brutal carnage that they had just faced made the Victorian social morality of early-twentieth-century America seem like stuffy, empty hypocrisy. The dizzying rise of the stock market in the aftermath of the war led to a sudden, sustained...
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