...In The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, two lovers in the city of Verona take their lives. Their unfortunate demise is a result of many factors; adult influences, fate, and the animosity between their families. However, the two lovers made all the decisions leading to their tragedy even though they knew the consequences of their actions. Romeo and Juliet make many bad decisions throughout the course of the play, deciding to get married the day after they met at the Capulet party, and killing themselves in their despair, which dooms themselves from the very beginning. Romeo’s impulsive nature led to him killing two men, and Juliet put bother her and Romeo’s lives at risk by taking the fateful potion.Knowing the consequences, they still made terrible...
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...The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet is a play directed by “fate”, according to the characters. Although the events of the play are definitely conducted by the characters influencing them, one being Juliet. Juliet’s defiance to her parents, reliance on other people, and her terrible plan to reunite with Romeo set the stage for the calamity to occur. The main dilemma in the play The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet is that Romeo and Juliet are “secretly” married. It is “secret” because Juliet’s brilliant mind believes it’s a good idea to tell her parents they’re married about half way through the play. “I will not marry yet; and when I do, I swear it shall be Romeo…” (Shakespeare, Act III, Scene V). The point of having a secret marriage is to keep it a secret, but this does not translate to Juliet. This did not directly kill anyone, but it was still a idiotic decision since it raised the tension for Juliet to marry Paris....
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...play The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, the two main characters Romeo and Juliet fall in love and end up killing themselves. If Friar lawrence would have come up with the plan for Juliet to fake her death than either Romeo or Juliet would be dead. If juliet wasn't so stupid, she would have told someone about the plan so nothing bad would happen. Friar Laurence’s plan and Juliet’s stupidity caused the tragedy. Even Though friar lawrence tried to help romeo and juliet his plan caused the tragedy. For example, when juliet cries to friar he give juliet the potion :take thou this veil, being in bed, and this distilling liquor drink thou off” if Friar lawrence wouldnt have gave juliet the potion she would have not been taken to the tomb. If...
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...There are many themes in Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet; the most important themes are love, death and grief. These themes are displayed in the play in a number of scenes and incidents. Romeo and Juliet is the most famous and oldest recorded love story in the English literary tradition. Love is naturally the play’s dominant and most important theme this play may be over 400 years old but, is still relevant today due to popular and common themes in modern times. Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet is about two teenagers who fall in love at first sight, but is forbidden and unrequited because the two families (Capulet and Montague) are feuding. The lack of communication between the two in this play leads to both of the lovers taking their own lives so they can be eternally together. Love is unsurprisingly the play’s most overriding and most significant theme. The love that Shakespeare ultimately portrays in the play is a youthful lust that the kind of love that Romeo and Juliet display leads the star crossed lovers to enact a selfish isolation from their parent’s demands and expectations around them. Romeo and Juliet avoid their commitments to anyone else and choose to act selflessly only towards one another. Romeo and Juliet’s youthful lust is one of many reasons why their relationship grows so intense so quickly. Throughout the play, Shakespeare only describes Romeo and Juliet's love as a short-term burst of youthful passion. In most of his work, considering that no other relationships...
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...far do you think Shakespeare presents Romeo and Juliet as victims of fate? “Romeo and Juliet” is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare in 1597, when people believed that their lives were controlled by fate, like a force or spirit that decides the course a person’s life should take. They believed in magic, horoscopes and that the Sun, Moon and stars could change their destiny. In this play Shakespeare presents Romeo and Juliet as victims of fate in many different ways. At the prologue of the play the chorus describes Romeo and Juliet as "star-crossed lovers". This suggests that they fight against (or cross) their fate, which is written in the stars. It means that they are in love but fate is against them, their families have been arguing for years, so they have grown up hating each other, however Rome and Juliet are inseparable. Secondly, the Capulets and Montagues are at odds with each other. After the prologue, members of each house, as well as their servants break into a sword fight, crossing swords with each other. Sampson says "Draw, if you be men. Gregory, remember thy swashing blow." (Act 1, Scene 1, Line 60). The feuding between the two families motivates Sampson to challenge the Capulets. Another example of how the two houses despise each other is what Romeo and his friends have to do to get into the Capulet feast. So they will not be recognized, Romeo, Mercutio, and Benvolio wear comic masks to hide their faces. Romeo and his friends would never have known...
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...is always a result of many other factors. In the brutal tragedy, ‘Romeo and Juliet’ by William Shakespeare tells a story of two star-crossed lovers living in the quaint city of Verona, Italy. Their families, the Montagues, and the Capulets have been at each other's throats for generations, but when the two adolescents meet at a masquerade it’s love, at first sight, a series of unfortunate events take place leading to the demise of the young couple, however, along the way they are aided by the nurse and the priest who play major roles in the play. Although the families feuding was a major factor in Romeo and Juliet's deaths, it was also caused by; rushed planning and rash decisions. The Capulets and Montagues have equal blame in the deaths of Romeo and Juliet between a spiteful arranged marriage and starting fights amongst each other the young pair of lovers were being set up for catastrophe....
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...Romeo and Juliet: Are the Parents to Blame? In every tragedy, it is a common goal to find out who or what is to blame for causing the event. This allows us as humans to punish the culprit or declare the event and accident. In the case of Romeo and Juliet, it is no different. There is a part of every reader who wants to know what happened to drive the star-crossed lovers to their death. Was it their parents or was it the naive teenagers? It was both. Both sides of the tragedy lacked communication with each other, seeing others points of view, and not putting in the effort to listen to each other. Throughout most of the drama, readers are exposed to the two opposing sides of a rooted family feud. The Capulets and Montagues want absolutely no relations between one another at all. This feeling of isolation from one another is...
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...The Tragic Love Story Romeo and Juliet brings affection but when taken to extreme, it can lead to an incident. Romeo and Juliet’s love story may be the most famous of them all. Who is to blame? Who would kill such a strong love story? Romeo and Juliet is about a story which takes place in Verona and is about a huge feud between the Montague family and the Capulet family. The feud causes a terrible result that leads to the lovers death. The events contrast hatred and secret marriage. While several characters share the blame for the deaths of the star-crossed lovers, the guiltiest of them all is Friar Lawrence. Friar’s decisions in this strong love story end in tragedy. “For this alliance may so happy prove to turn your households rancour to...
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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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...Romeo and Juliet Essay Emily Ma In the wake of a tragedy, people place blame on others from their perspectives. Blame can be placed onto whoever is responsible for the disaster in a situation. In Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, Friar Laurence is to blame for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet. By making many poor decisions, he ends the lives of two young lovers who believed that their love was stronger than anything else on earth. Friar Laurence’s dedication to his job and optimism for love lead him to make premature, negligent decisions about Romeo and Juliet’s relationship while disregarding the consequences of the family feud. Priest’s aren’t allowed to have love so when Friar Laurence sees Romeo and Juliet’s passion for each other, he puts his hopes about love into their relationship and ignores the inevitable repercussions. Friar Laurence has just married Romeo and Juliet in secret and says, “So smile the heavens upon this holy act/ That after-hours with sorrow chide us not” (II, vi, 1-2) when he has gotten a feeling that this marriage is doomed and something...
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...William Shakespeare: Love and Tragedy The Elizabethan era (1500-1600) was a great age fro poets, artists, and writers to become illustrious around the country and be fortunate enough to entertain Queen Elizabeth. A man from a family of farmers and glove makers didn’t know that his entertain plays for Elizabeth I would one day become a masterpiece in English literature. It was in the 1500 when the Renaissance was in its initiation. The entire world was going through this moment where the rebirth of cultural ideas such as the study of literature and ancient values brought interest to the people living in this era. William Shakespeare became one of the most respected playwrights for his famous plays such as Romeo and Juliet and Macbeth among other respected and famous works. (www.britannica.com/ebc/article-9376718, www.britannica.com/shakespeare) Born the 23rd of April 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon, England, Shakespeare has captivated reader’s hearts by his romantic, humerous, and historic plays. During the 1500s, the Renaissance was a massive curiosity for everyone. Renaissance era was a period where everyone was interested in the affairs of the Greek and Roman cultures and when William Shakespeare was born. Being the middle brother of the Shakespeare’s, William son of John Shakespeare and Mary Arden was interested in writing since he was a child. Baptized in the Holy Trinity Church, William was raised in a family of seven children in the town of...
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...Over the years legislators have passed several law. The first law that passed was 1994 Jacob Wetterling Crimes Against Children and Sexually Violent Offender Act. This act was made because of the case of 11 year old Jacob Wetterling who was abducted while riding his bike near his home. This act required sex offenders to register with local authorities. Later on in 1996, a 7 year old girl named Megan Kanka was raped and murdered by her neighbor. Later on the Kanka family found that her murderer had a prior sex conviction. This tragedy led legislator to propose and pass the law known as Megan’s law. Megan’s law amended Wetterling Act. This law required all 50 states to notify the public of any sex offenders that live nearby them. The act resulted in law enforcement establishing a system that includes informations such as the sex offender’s photograph, address, and name that the public could access themselves. In addition, in 2006, Adam Walsh Act was signed which required law enforcement to categorized the sex offenders into a 3-level tier system. Those at 1-tier registers for 15 years, 2-tier registers for 25 years, and the 3-tier registers for life. It also promoted Internet safety. Many people have questioned the effectiveness of these...
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...Antigone, Haimon, nor Creon act with reason because of their intense personal losses and grief. Unfortunately, both extreme passion and radical reasoning manifest serious tragedy. Antigone, the protagonist of the play, lives with her father’s banishment and the death of her two brothers in a civil war. To add to the torment of the death of her brother, Polynieces, a decree passed by Antigone's uncle, Creon,...
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...Throughout ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’ the reader is shown two sides to the character of Dorian. Whilst a strong dislike from the reader emerges as a result of the decisions he chooses to make, one can also sympathise with the character due to him being perceived as weak and easily influenced. One could argue that Oscar Wilde presents Dorian Gray as a selfish and self-centred character. This is shown through his constant disregard of other people’s feelings and his ignorant nature to put his needs first. Dorian’s interaction with Sibyl Vane supports this as Sibyl purposely refuses to act her role in Romeo and Juliet well to show “infinite joy” toward Dorian. He, however, finds this to be extremely humiliating despite claiming moments before that he was in love with her. This is a prime example of how Dorian puts his self before the one he supposedly loves. Sibyl claims that by finally committing herself to Dorian, she has no desire to pretend to be anybody else and so therefore she cannot perform her role. She claims that Dorian has “freed my soul from prison” and cannot “mimic” another person’s persona. Instead of seeing this as a gesture of love, Dorian feels betrayed and states that Sibyl is nothing without her art. He believes that he will now suffer because of this which portrays the characters selfish and egotistical nature for Sibyl is actually the one who is left without a career and without love. However, one could argue that at times Dorian’s love for Sibyl is genuine...
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...Elegy –poetic lamentation for the dead 3.Sonnet –can be distinguished by its form for it always consist of 14 rhymed lines 4.Idyll –a descriptive poem of rural or pastoral character which expresses the poet’s feeling of his immediate landscape 5.Song –has a particular melodious quality 6.Simple Lyric –includes all those lyric poems that don’t belong under the other types c.Dramatic Poetry - focus on the characters feelings- designed to be spoken or acted on stage These are plays whose dialogues are written in the form of poetry1. Comedy –a dramatic play of light and humorous character w/ a cheerful or happy ending 2.Tragedy –portrays struggle of a strong –willed protagonist against fate Ex. 5 great Shakespearean Tragedies ~ Hamlet –indecision~ King Lear–parental love~ Macbeth –ambition~ Othello –conjugal love~ Romeo and Juliet –young love 3.Dramatic History –a dramatic play dealing w/ past historical event 4.Farce –a comic play marked by broadly satirical comedy and improbable plot 5.Melodrama–characterized by heavy use of suspense, sensational episodes, romantic...
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