...Analysis of the Function of Speed in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Romeo and Juliet is an avalanche. As a loose pebble in the snowcapped mountain wobbles in the wind, Romeo yodels to Juliet in the cliffs just to send it tumbling, lightly, down a vertical abyss. It does not end there, of course, for this pebble held back the rocks and boulders constituting the height of the peak, and the reaction now begins as each individual stone rolls with momentum. They pick up speed and snow, growing in velocity and size until the inevitable occurs and Romeo and Juliet are engulfed in the upheaval and finished forever. William Shakespeare’s version of the play Romeo and Juliet, taken from Arthur Brooke’s play similarly titled Romeus and Juliet, is a fast paced tragedy in which a boy and girl from two feuding families meet, fall in love, bond in matrimony, and commit suicide in a matter of four days. Compared to the nine-month romance that takes place in Brooke’s play, Shakespeare’s version is a consciously hastened piece of work during which the most significant parts of a young couple’s lives begin and end in less than one week. Speed, a well-utilized literary tool in Shakespeare’s play, serves to emphasize emotion, as opposed to reason, in the characters’ decisions. Through this device, Shakespeare demonstrates his skills as a playwright by showing control of time in the play. Perhaps the most well known episode in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, the balcony scene is a prime example...
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...Themes Although Romeo and Juliet is classified as a tragedy, it more closely resembles Shakespeare's comedies than his other tragedies. The lovers and their battle with authority is reminiscent of As You Like It and The Winter's Tale. "Characteristically, those comedies concern themselves with the inborn, unargued stupidity of older people and the life-affirming gaiety and resourcefulness of young ones. The lovers thread their way through obstacles set up by middle aged vanity and impercipience. Parents are stupid and do not know what it best for their children or themselves . . . [Romeo and Juliet] begins with the materials for a comedy - the stupid parental generation, the instant attraction of the young lovers, the quick surface life of street fights, masked balls and comic servants" (Wain, p. 107). Indeed, one could view Romeo and Juliet as a transitional play in which Shakespeare merges the comedic elements perfected in his earlier work with tragic elements he would later perfect in the great tragedies -- Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth, and King Lear. This mixture of styles ultimately hurts Romeo and Juliet, exposing the immaturity of the playwright. The heroes of the play must contend with external forces that impede their relationship, but, unlike the great tragic heroes, they are devoid of the inner struggle that makes for great tragedy. The influential Shakespearean scholar, A.C. Bradley, went so far as to neglect the play entirely in his well-known collection of lectures...
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...believe it is the right choice. Who is the adult and who is the teenager? While William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet suggests that teenagers in the 1600s made impulsive decisions, many teenagers today still struggle with that issue. Shakespeare’s...
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...------------------------------------------------- How the Nurse Feels “As the nurse, I have eighty-eight lines, appear in eleven of twenty-four scenes, and, unfortunately, I have no costume changes. From what I know, most of Shakespeare’s women don’t”(page 2, line 12) is a quote from the teenager Tess, the main character in Greg Changnon’s short story How the Nurse Feels from 1998. Everyone can relate to the grief of Romeo and Juliet, but the nurse does not play a significant part in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, which makes it hard for Tess to imagine how the nurse feels and therefore how to play her role. In this short story, however, Changnon uses symbolism to throw light on feelings from characters we might miss out on when we normally read or watch the world famous tragedy. How the nurse feels is about the high-school student, Tess, who is playing the role of the nurse in the school production of Romeo and Juliet. In the very middle of her struggle finding out how to act her part, there is another drama taking place outside. Bad weather conditions have postponed the play and cancelled school, and suddenly Tiger De Soto, a minor performer in the play, has disappeared. Tess seems like a typical high school student, living a life with the relatable struggles of a teenager; parents with expectations, boring environment and confusing romantic feelings. She seems attracted to the boy Tiger, whom she barely knows and when she finds out that he has disappeared, she jumps to the...
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...The Mortal Instruments and Romeo and Juliet Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is a tale of forbidden love, disapproving families, and a coming of age, The Mortal Instruments: The City of Bones series uses the base of these components from Romeo & Juliet, and creates a new way to interpret the story with added fantasy and adventure. The Mortal Instruments can be compared to Romeo & Juliet because of the similar topics, but they are very different in many ways. Two of the main characters, Clary Fray and Jace Lightwood are two characters that resemble Romeo and Juliet characteristically, but also have gone through similar struggles. Although Romeo & Juliet and Jace and Clary have a fair share of family problems, they are still very different. Romeo & Juliet had to deal with being from two...
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...AP LIT TERMS 1. Allegory: figurative treatment of one subject under the appearance of another. George Orwell's 1984 (ex. Big Brother: Stalin, Airstrip One: Soviet Russia), Shakespeare's All the World's a Stage (metaphor of human lives being as in a play) 2. Alliteration: The repetition of the same letter or the same consonant sound in words that are together. Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven(While I nodded, nearly napping...) 3. Allusion: A casual reference to a significant figure from the past Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet ("...when King Cophetua loved the beggar maid!": Allusion to an old legend) 4. Ambiguity: An unclear, indefinite, or vague word, expression, meaning, etc J.D Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye(“... I’m quite a heavy smoker, for one thing—that is, I used to be. They made me cut it out. Another thing, I grew six and a half inches last year. That’s also how I practically got t.b. and came out here for all these goddam checkups and stuff..."-"Here" and "there" are ambiguous) 5. Analogy: A comparison that shows the likenesses in two things Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet("What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other word would smell as sweet. So Romeo would, were he not Romeo called.": Compares Romeo to a rose and says a rose is sweet smelling no matter how you call it.) 6. Anaphora: The repetition of words in two or more successive clauses, sentences, or verses J.D Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye("It rained on his lousy tombstone...
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...Romeo and Juliet: Who’s to Blame? What started as one of the greatest love stories, turned into a tragic struggle, in Shakespeare's, Romeo and Juliet. Romeo and Juliet realize that being together wont be auk with their feuding families, but they are selfish with their love and have no idea the consequences that will unfold. Romeo and Juliet had help with their tragic demise. Tybalt, Lord Capulet and Friar Lawrence also played a part in their lives. Juliet;s haughty cousin Tybalt is largely to blame for the lover’s untimely parting. Tybalt is always trying to start fights with Romeo or anybody who shares the last name Montague, and at last one of these fights goes to far and he ends up killing Mercutio. Also Tybalt hates Romeo, and would to anything to have him be gone, and while this doesn’t have immediate effect on Romeo and Juliet, in the end Tybalt dies by Romeo’s hand which in turn gets Romeo banished. Tybalt shows his hate for Romeo when at the ball he says, “I will withdraw; but this intrusion shall/Now seeming sweet, convert to bitter gall” (I.v.100-101). What Tybalt means by this is that he wont kill Romeo then, at the ball, but he will in the end kill him. Tybalt plays a major part in why Romeo and Juliet kill themselves in the end, he unintentionally, but would have liked it, separated them with his death. Lord Capulet also indirectly caused Romeo and his daughters pain, and eventual death. Lord Capulet tries to marry juliet to Paris when she is already married...
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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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...Story of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare is know all over the world for being one of the most famous love stories. The play teaches us about forbidden love and young death. Romeo and Juliet's unforgettable story of love and loss is the inspiration for many well know songs. The play and these songs relate to each other in many ways. Check Yes Juliet written and performed by We The Kings has almost direct relation to Shakespeare's play "Romeo and Juliet". Romeo and Juliet are teenagers who come from two of the richest families in Verona, Italy (Romeo is a Montague and Juliet is a Capulet) . Their families are enemies and this causes trouble for the two young lovers. In the popular song Check Yes Juliet the singer's lover is off...
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...Find out what the Communist Manifesto is. Learn the main ideas of each chapter of the Manifesto, and the points of communism's political platform. Read the lesson, then take a quiz to test your new knowledge. We also recommend watching Karl Marx & Friedrich Engels: The Communist Manifesto and Balcony Scene in Romeo and Juliet: Summary, Analysis & Quiz The Communist Manifesto The Communist Manifesto is a brief publication that declares the arguments and platform of the communist party. It was was written in 1847 by political theorists Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, and was commissioned by the Communist League, a political party based in England. Summary The Communist Manifesto was published in 1848, and consists of a preamble and four chapters, which are summarized below: Bourgeois and Proletarians In this chapter, Marx famously states 'The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles'. The chapter lays out the position that the bourgeois, through competition and private ownership of land, are forever exploiting and oppressing the proletariat (working class). Marx then states that the system always results in class conflict and revolution, and should be replaced by communism -- a society without class distinctions. Proletarians and Communists This chapter explains the relationship between the communist party and other working parties, stating that the communist parties would not organize against them. The chapter also declares the...
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...Shakespeare’s Writings William Shakespeare used many different writing styles in order to capture the minds and hearts of his audience. He wrote thirty eight plays (Boyce 119), two narratives (Boyce 294), and 154 sonnets (Boyce 607). In order to do his writing, Shakespeare had to put his mind, body, and soul into his work. Shakespeare wrote three different types of genres, comedies, histories, and tragedies. “A comedy is a drama that provokes laughter at human behavior, usually involves romantic love, and usually has a happy ending.” The plots of the comedies were usually about the struggle between two young lovers. Shakespeare wrote eighteen comedies (Boyce 119). His histories dealt with England’s historical events. He wrote his histories to define the perfect king. Shakespeare wrote ten histories (Boyce 294). “A tragedy is a drama dealing with a noble protagonist placed in a highly stressful situation that leads to a disastrous, usually fatal conclusion.” He developed his tragedies from other tragic plays. Shakespeare based all of his plays from these three genres (Boyce 652). Shakespeare had five major themes about which he wrote. He used these themes in almost all of his plays. In his comedy, The Taming of the Shrew, a “drunkard” named Christopher Slay is tricked into believing he is a lord and later finds himself in many conflicts with the ladies of the house (Chazelle, n.p). In this comedy, Shakespeare demonstrated contrasting worlds by comparing men versus women...
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...Explore the ways writer’s present characters in difficult circumstances. What similarities and differences do you find in the ways Juliet in ‘Romeo and Juliet’ and Hermia in ‘A Midsummer night’s dream’ are presented in their battle to be with the man they love. Both plays, Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night’s dream are based upon the theme of love. Shakespeare’s explores the difficulties faced by the characters in both plays and how they struggle to be with the person they love, I will be exploring two main female characters in both plays which are Juliet in “Romeo and Juliet” and Hermia from “A Midsummer Night’s dream”. Both Women face difficult and challenging decisions throughout the plays however the plays differ on what kind of story they are “Romeo and Juliet” is a tragedy, whereas “A Midsummer Night’s dream” is a comedy. Juliet is in a land of hostility where the audience knows from the very beginning the audience know she is controlled by fate and is going to die at the end. The Audience are told this right at the beginning in the prologue where it says “The fearful passage of their death-marked love,” this tells the audience that the lovers of the story are going to die in a tragic way. On the other hand, Hermia’s surroundings are fair more kind and because the play is a comedy, the audience know it’s going to end with a wedding and you could say “happy ever after”. There are parallels throughout both plays that copy each other but these parallels exist within...
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...Defining the Humanities Wanda Lawson HUM 100 Artistic Themes from Ancient Cultures Greece and Rome: Love September 1, 2011 Professor Sarah Farenick The Bible states that love is patient and kind, love is not jealous it does not brag, and it is not proud. Love is not rude, is not selfish, and does not get upset with others. Love is extravagant in the price it is willing to pay, the time it is willing to endure, and the strength it I willing to spend. As a race of people, we all strive for some aspect of love. In our childhood, we strived for the love and acceptance of our parents and siblings. As adolescents, we strive for the love our peers and, as an adult we look for love from that special person, it is important to our daily living. Doctors and scientists of today have found that the lack of love can be contributed to lots of illness. Mental to physical has proven that love can cure many, many illnesses. In the early years of Greece and Roman, citizens were just touching the surface of what we know as love. From cave drawings to carved busts of fertility deities its seen that earlier man thought of love with a spiritual depth that has been diluted today. In Roman times, love portrayed as a minor aspect of ones life. In some Roman literature stories of what may be epic love affairs. Today’s love affair happens often and ends abruptly. Love was known as a feminine emotion in that it was an after thought to the might of the war...
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...Chapter II: literature of the renaissance (End of the 15th - beginning of the 17th century) In the 15th - 16th centuries capitalist relation began to develop in Europe. The former townspeople became the bourgeoisie. The bourgeoisie fought against feudalism because it held back the development of capitalism. The decay of feudalism and the development of capitalist relation were followed by a great rise in the cultural life of Europe. There was an attempt at creating a new culture which would be free from the limitation of the feudal ideology of the Middle Ages. The epoch was characterized by a thirst for knowledge and discoveries, by a powerful development of individuality. It was then that great geographical discoveries of Columbus, Magellan and other travelers as well as astronomical discoveries of Copernicus, Bruno, Galilei were made. The invention of the printing press (Fyodorov in Russia, Guttenberg in Germany, Caxton in England) contributed to the development of culture in all European countries. Universities stopped being citadels of religious learning and turned into centers of humanist study. There was a revival of interest in the ancient culture of Greece and Rome ("Renaissance" is French for "rebirth"). The study of the works of ancient philosophers, writers, and artists helped the people to widen their outlook, to know the world and man's nature. On the basis of both the ancient culture and the most progressive elements of the culture of the...
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