...------------------------------------------------- Romeo and Juliet Mini Essay 3.4 The idea of love for young men, especially Romeo is more attraction than relationship. Both Romeo and Juliet are fairly young, so the qualification for their love is either 'fake' or 'real'. Both Romeo and Juliet saw each other as deep, true lovers but realistically the love both of the character developed was infatuation. Romeo sees Juliet as the beautiful woman in the world or the most beautiful girl he saw far. Simultaneously Juliet sees Romeo as the most handsome guy she has ever seen. Both of the lovers based their love on appearance of the other. Romeo's love is only the desire of lust. According to the character list Romeo is described as someone who likes the idea of love. Being in love is appealing to him. Towards the beginning of the play Romeo decides to be in love with Rosaline. After being supposedly rejected by Rosaline, sulking Romeo goes to the Capulet banquet to see Rosaline but instead he "falls" in love Juliet. Friar Laurence correctly describes Romeo's case of love regarding the fact of his fairly fast movement from heart break to new love. "Holy saint Francis, what a change is there! Is Rosaline whom thou didst love so dear, so soon forsaken? Young men's love then lies, not truly in their hearts but in their eyes." (I. ii 61-4). Romeo's respond to friar's comment by justifying his cause, "I pray thee chide me not, her I love now, doth grace for...
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...ROMEO AND JULIET The play, set in Verona, begins with a street brawl between Montagues and Capulets. The Prince of Verona intervenes and declares that further breach of the peace will be punishable by death. Later, Count Paris talks to Lord Capulet about marrying his daughter, but Capulet is wary of the request because Juliet is only thirteen. Capulet asks Paris to wait another two years and invites him to attend a planned Capulet ball. Lady Capulet and Juliet's nurse try to persuade Juliet to accept Paris' courtship. Meanwhile, at the house of Montague, Benvolio talks with his cousin Romeo, Lord Montague's son, about Romeo's recent depression. Benvolio discovers that it stems from unrequited infatuation for a girl named Rosaline, one of Lord Capulet's nieces. Persuaded by Benvolio and Mercutio, Romeo attends the ball at the Capulet house in hopes of meeting Rosaline. However, Romeo instead meets and falls in love with Juliet. After the ball, in what is now called the "balcony scene", Romeo sneaks into the Capulet courtyard and overhears Juliet on her balcony vowing her love to him in spite of her family's hatred of the Montagues. Romeo makes himself known to her and they agree to be married. With the help of Friar Laurence, who hopes to reconcile the two families through their children's union, they are secretly married the next day. Juliet's cousin Tybalt, incensed that Romeo had sneaked into the Capulet ball, challenges him to a duel. Romeo, now considering Tybalt his...
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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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...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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...Romeo and Juliet is the most epic love story of all time. It is said they were destined to fall in love, or maybe just destined to fall. Romeo and Juliet were two star-crossed lovers whose story played out in Verona, Italy. Romeo was from the family of the Montagues, whom are long-time enemies of the Capulets, the family from which Juliet came. Romeo crashed a party thrown by Capulet, Juliet’s father. At the party, he met Juliet, and they fell in love instantly. As destiny would have it, they get married, but the fateful, whirlwind love affair ultimately leads to the untimely deaths of both Romeo and Juliet. Friar Lawrence, Romeo’s priest, is often falsely accused of being responsible for the double suicide that ended the tragic love story of Romeo and Juliet. However, all of the major events that lead to the deaths...
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...Discuss romantic love in Romeo and Juliet Romantic love is a recurring theme throughout the play. Shakespeare introduces Romeo at the beginning of the play when he is depressed about love. “Out of her favour, where I am in love” He’s been rejected by Rosaline despite his efforts to court her. However, this is not seen as romantic love, but just infatuation. Romeo is portrayed as innocent towards love and has not yet experience so-called “true love”. The idea of romantic love is shown all the play. Shakespeare presents this as a force of nature. This idea is established in the play’s prologue “a pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life.” When Romeo meets Juliet at the Capulet’s party, Romeo’s feelings towards Rosaline are completely forgotten. “Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight! For I ne’er saw true beauty till this night” this shows how awestruck Romeo is with not only with the possibility of love but also with Juliet’s beauty. Romeo and Juliet's love can be seen as fate. Romeo and Juliet’s love is not prevented by the Capulet and Montague households, and Juliet is to marry Paris. Yet, they find themselves drawn together. Juliet’s attitude to love is rather different to Romeo’. In the beginning, she appears to be very mature towards the feelings of love when discussing the prospects of marrying Paris. “I’ll look to like, if looking liking move” Paris’ love for Juliet is borne out of tradition, not passion. He has identified her as a good candidate for...
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..."The blame for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet ultimately rests with Friar Lawrence." Do you agree? The play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare ends with the death of both title characters, Romeo and Juliet. With many contributing factors to the cause of these deaths it could be said that Friar Lawrence is ultimately to blame. Although one could conclude that this statement is true as Friar Lawrence had a large amount of responsibility, it could also be concluded that this statement is false as there are many other factors in the play that resulted in the death of Romeo and Juliet. It is easy to blame the Friar as he is supposed to be a neutral character in this matter, but factors such as the feud and complexes in Romeo and Juliet’s personalities also carry a lot of...
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... Romeo and Juliet Literary Analysis While undefined, love can be a fatal attraction. In Romeo and Juliet, two star-crossed lovers race into a relationship without much thought as to what it might do. The family feud between the Capulet’s and the Montague’s restricts Romeo from seeing the “love of his life” in broad daylight which leads him to sneaking around in the middle of the night with almost a complete stranger. When the two decide to get married without anyone knowing, they do it hurriedly and go to Friar Lawrence. The same day the feud becomes out of hand and a brawl is started between Mercutio and Tybalt in which Mercutio is stabbed in the heart. In turn Romeo murders Tybalt in a rage that could not be controlled and is banished from the city of Verona. Juliet is devastated both because her cousin has been murder by her husband and also because her husband has banned from the city. She goes to Friar Lawrence seeking help and they formulate a plan. She is given a potion that will fake her death and shall wake up in 2 days while a letter is sent to Romeo telling him of the plan. But other news reaches him first stating that Juliet has died. When Romeo arrives at the tomb he sees her and he kills himself. Not long after Juliet wakes and sees Romeo dead body lying there on the stone floor. She then takes a dagger and stabs and kills herself. This is when the families arrive and see the horrific scene laid out in front of them. This is what stops the feud between the...
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...All Pun Intended Samantha Garapati Period 4: English Date: 30th May 2010 “Prick love for pricking, and you beat love down”(1.4.28); it doesn’t take the mind of a rocket scientist or a teenage boy to figure out the innuendo behind that quote. That’s precisely Shakespeare’s genius; people can enjoy his plays, whether they have the intellectually tuned minds of inventors or the less stimulated minds of cottars. Puns are one of the tools with which he accomplishes this popularity in all spectrums. Not only does he use puns to add rude humour to scenes with bawdy jokes to enhance the enjoyment of the public, he also uses it to indirectly characterize, adding dimension to characters. Finally, he also uses it to foreshadow approaching events, creating anticipation and tension in audiences. William Shakespeare’s primary use of pun is to add humour to scenes with bawdy jokes, thus providing audiences and readers comic relief and dissolving some of the tension of the previous and following scenes [T]. In the following quote, Shakespeare manages to both create the sexual imagery concerning virgins in readers’ minds and suggest that the best kind of wit is wit that is able to mould itself and accommodate many levels of meaning. Applying this to a larger subject, Shakespeare is suggesting that the best way to live life is to live on every level, base or intellectual. Our perception of life is essentially our personality, and our perspective is limited or broadened by our experiences...
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...A TEACHER’S GUIDE TO THE SIGNET CLASSIC EDITION OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE’S ROMEO AND JULIET By ARTHEA J.S. REED, PH.D. S E R I E S W. GEIGER ELLIS, ED.D., E D I T O R S : UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA, EMERITUS and ARTHEA J. S. REED, PH.D., UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA, RETIRED A Teacher’s Guide to the Signet Classic Edition of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet 2 INTRODUCTION William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is an excellent introduction to Shakespearean drama; teenagers can relate to its plot, characters, and themes. The play’s action is easily understood, the character’s motives are clear, and many of the themes are as current today as they were in Shakespeare’s time. Therefore, it can be read on a variety of levels, allowing all students to enjoy it. Less able readers can experience the swash-buckling action and investigate the themes of parent-child conflict, sexuality, friendship, and suicide. Because of the play’s accessibility to teenagers, able readers can view the play from a more literary perspective, examining the themes of hostility ad its effect on the innocent, the use of deception and its consequences, and the effects of faulty decision making. They can study how the characters function within the drama and how Shakespeare uses language to develop plot, characters, and themes. The most able students can develop skills involved in literary criticism by delving into the play’s comic and tragic elements and its classically...
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...Bloom’s Classic Critical Views W i l l ia m Sha k e Sp e a r e Bloom's Classic Critical Views alfred, lord Tennyson Benjamin Franklin The Brontës Charles Dickens edgar allan poe Geoffrey Chaucer George eliot George Gordon, lord Byron henry David Thoreau herman melville Jane austen John Donne and the metaphysical poets John milton Jonathan Swift mark Twain mary Shelley Nathaniel hawthorne Oscar Wilde percy Shelley ralph Waldo emerson robert Browning Samuel Taylor Coleridge Stephen Crane Walt Whitman William Blake William Shakespeare William Wordsworth Bloom’s Classic Critical Views W i l l ia m Sha k e Sp e a r e Edited and with an Introduction by Sterling professor of the humanities Yale University harold Bloom Bloom’s Classic Critical Views: William Shakespeare Copyright © 2010 Infobase Publishing Introduction © 2010 by Harold Bloom All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher. For more information contact: Bloom’s Literary Criticism An imprint of Infobase Publishing 132 West 31st Street New York NY 10001 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data William Shakespeare / edited and with an introduction by Harold Bloom : Neil Heims, volume editor. p. cm. — (Bloom’s classic critical views) Includes bibliographical references...
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