The play Romeo and Juliet Essay Example

The play Romeo and Juliet Essay The play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare is the most famous version. Many others which were written previously have not endured in the same way. This is because Shakespeare use of language had a huge effect on the audience. The use between mixtures of dramatic irony, personification, metaphor and many more were quite new to the audience. The main themes of the play are the love, fate and fortune, light and darkness, and the family feud. It is in grappling with huge obstacles Juliet is made into a brave, independent and mature person as her love attempts to battle with fate. The audience already have a great admiration for Juliet as they already know that she is going to die because of love, but this awe increases as she becomes more mature in the play. At the start Shakespeare portrays Juliet as a very obedient, helpless and innocent young girl. She is restricted in her house without power over anything. The Nurse has been Juliets life companion. Although she is clearly devoted to Juliet, the Nurse provides a stark contrast to Juliet who is young, beautiful and dignified in her language. She was so faithful and submissive to her family, she obeys her mothers wishes to marry County Paris in a dutiful and docile manner Ill look to like it, if looking liking move; but no more deep will I endart mine eyes than your consent gives strength to make it fly. We will write a custom essay sample on The play Romeo and Juliet specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on The play Romeo and Juliet specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on The play Romeo and Juliet specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer She seems happy following her mothers orders but later becomes disloyal and lies to her family. Shakespeare shows that Juliet is a beautiful girl and pure thou knowest my daughter of a pretty age. This image of her is then enhanced when she meets Romeo at the ball when he saw her O she doth teach the torches to burn bright saw true beauty till this night (lines 43- 52 Act 1 Scene 5) Their first words to each other are full of religious overtones. This is part of fate because the reason why Romeo went to the ball was because a Capulet servant was illiterate and before leaving, Romeo says he feels his future is hanging in the stars. Shakespeare wants the audience to feel sorry for Juliet as her life is constantly controlled by fate and that she is destined to die and suffer a tragic death which is made clear in the Prologue. Romeo and Juliet are described as star crossed lovers Juliet is portrayed as even more beautiful and holy when Romeo interacts with her If I profane with my unworthiest hand touch with tender kiss (lines 92-95 Act 1 Scene 5) His lips is compared to a pilgrim which is a metaphor. It is play on words pilgrim and palm of hand palm to plam is holy palmers kiss Romeo portrays Juliet as kissing something so holy like her, his sin will be purged Thus my lips, by thine, my sin is purgd He describes his act as going to the shrines and getting cleansed. Shakespeare uses dramatic irony when Juliet wanted to find out R omeos name if he be married, my grave is like to be my wedding bed. After knowing his name, we now know that the family feud is the reason that Romeo and Juliets love and passion for each other is a forbidden love. Juliet finds herself in a dilemma as Romeo is a Montague which is the sworn enemy of the Capulet family My only love sprung from my only hate! This is part of fate therefore the audience feels sympathy for Juliet as she is faced with a huge obstacle at such a young age. At the balcony scene, images of light and brightness appear again with the connection of love, life and hope. Romeo describes her as being like the sun and brighter than the light of a torch or the stars the brightness of her cheek would shame those starsit were not night (lines 19-22 Act 2 Scene 2) Romeo also describe her as an angel which is in reference to religion O speak again, bright angel This makes the audience feel as if Juliet is unobtainable and so precious. Romeos love for Juliet is natural and holy Would through the airy region stream so bright Romeo even wishes he was a glove so he can touch her cheek O that I were a glove upon that hand, that I might touch that cheek! She is under a lot of pressure from her parents demands with her arrange marriage with Paris, so after meeting Romeo, Juliet becomes independent and courageous. She wants to make her own decisions and almost rebellious to her parents eyes after having a romantic date with him and Ill no longer be a Capulet She is more mature in contrast to Romeo and tells him off by only following his emotions and swearing by the moon do not swear at all; or if thou wilt, swear by thy gracious self, which is god of my idolatry, and Ill believe thee Light and dark are used as symbols in many parts of the play. In this scene, the sun is seen as good and the moon bad, Arise fair sun, and kill the envious moon Romeo is using the sun as a symbol of Juliet, saying she is bright and beautiful. She showed a lot of courage and decided to marry Romeo even though she knows about the family feud. She knew that her parents wanted her to marry Paris but disobeyed them and allowed her love and emotion to lead her w ay. Soon after getting married, Romeo acts hastily and kills Tybalt, Juliets cousin. This was fate trying to break the love between Romeo and Juliet. Even though she was very upset of her cousins death, she protects Romeo when the Nurse says Shame come to Romeo She now act with less thought and follow her love for Romeo fully Blisterd be thy tongue Shakespeare uses alliteration with explosive consonant to add a dramatic effect. She shows maturity when she protected his husband Shall speak ill of him and my mother, Nurse? (Lines 97-127 Act 3 Scene 2) Shakespeare wanted the audience to feel sympathy for Juliet as her biggest obstacle, fate, gives her another dilemma. Juliet has a recurring image of death which makes the audience feel more sorry and respect for her as she follows her heart Methinks I see thee now, thou art so low, as one dead in the bottom of a tomb. Either my eye sight fails, or thou lookst pale. Lady Capulet pressurised Juliet to marry County Paris however, she became a new Juliet after meeting Romeo. So she stood up for what she believed in and refused to marry him now by Saint Peters Church These are news indeed!'(Lines 116-123 Act 3 Scene 5) This shows a lot of bravery coming from Juliet, as she has always been loyal and passive towards her family. Her mother then becomes angry at Juliets rebellious act and thinks of her as a curse but now I see this one is too much, and that we have a curse in having her. This is irony as soon she will regret having these feelings. Due to this, the audience feels sympathy for Juliet because at the start, she is a treasure to her family and priceless. In most situations Juliet relied on the nurse to guide her and make decisions which shows that she is still young and innocent. However when the nurse started forcing and pressurising her to marry Paris, she started thinking for herself and acting based by her emotions Romeos dishclout to hi m This love and her passion for Romeo is so powerful she was prepared to do anything and her doubts and fears were all overcome by her love I will do it without fear or doubt to live an unstaind wife to my sweet love. She is willing to do anything so she becomes desperate and asks for Friar Lawrence help come weep with me, past hope, past help! The audience feels so much pity for her and Shakespeare use of language enhanced this by using repetition. The audience feel sad for her because she thinks that love can triumph over everything but the audience knows that shes going to die because of love and fate. The audience feels the strength of Juliets bravery and how she did not even think about her family or the nurse when Friar Lawrence told her of the potion Give me, give me! another example of the use of repetition. She becomes very disloyally to her family when she just for the sake of her love. This shows the power of her love towards Romeo is at an extraordinary level. The lies she told her parents are almost unimaginable for her to do before she met Romeo henceforward I am ever ruld by you The Nurse deserted her therefore she was just alone when she was taking the potion. She had no one and is isolated by herself Nurse! what should she do here? My dismal scene I needs must act alone. She had no one else to turn up to but the vial Come, vial the audience feels her bravery and daring act even when she is alone and isolated. They feel a lot of empathy for her because the Nurse always helped her make decisions since she was a young age and relied on her. However she left and now she relies by her emotions to lead her and guide her choices in order to get back with Romeo even if it means lying to her family or taking a potion which may be a poison to kill her. She becomes frightened and scared when she was about to take the vial What if be a poison which Friar subtly hath ministerd. She thinks this because the Friar married Romeo and Juliet secretly when he shouldnt have done. She also had fears about waking up early without Romeos company and going mad. Due to the horrific smells and grotesque images madly play with my forefathers joints. Shakespeare made Juliet use desperate language to show the audience how distressed and frightened she was. Shakespeare used very horrific, grotesque and certainly disturbing imagery for Juliet to overcome. However these fears did not stop her. Just thinking of Romeo with her is good enough for her to conquer all her doubts and fears Romeo, Romeo, Romeo! Heres drink- I drink to thee. This portrays Juliet as a daring, gutsy young woman and shows that for Juliet, love triumphs over everything. When the Nurse and Lady Capulet found out of Juliets death, they were shocked O me, o me, my child, my only life! Revive, look up, or I will with thee Shakespeare wants the audience to know how important Juliet is to the Capulet family and how she was respected Upon the sweetest flower of all the field It shows Juliets beauty and vulnerability. In this scene Shakespeare uses a lot of repetition O day, o day, o day and shes dead, shes dead, shes dead! this have a dramatic effect and just shows how tragic Juliets death really is. Shakespeare also makes the characters use very dramatic statements Accursd, unhappy, wretched, hateful day! and Despisd, distressed, hated, martyrd, killd! All of these lines are very dramatic and shows hat Juliet is the most important person in their life. Shakespeare wants the audience to know that the Capulet familys life and joy depend on Juliet and with me my child my joys are buried. Her death shows darkness and sorrow Death is my son in law, Death is m y heir. It is full of blackness imagery never was seen so black a day as this Shakespeare wanted Lord Capulet to give a speech full of contrast to Juliets death Our wedding cheers to sad burial feast Romeo was in a good cheerful mood in Act 5 which is ironic because seconds later he finds out about Juliets death my dreams presage some joyful news at hand He was saying he had a dream about Juliet finding him dead which is a prophetic irony because the audience knows they will die I dreamt my lady came and found me dead and breathed such life with kisses in my lips. This is a part of fate because Friar John was stayed by accident. The audience feels that anything that Juliet do in her power, fate just crushes it. This is exactly what Shakespeare want the audience to feel pity for Juliet. When Romeo saw Juliet lying dead, he still appreciates her beauty thou art not conquerd beautys ensign yet Romeo says that Juliets beauty makes the darkness light and his love for Juliet is so powerful that even in death, he wont give up just to be with her. A dateless bargain to engrossing death! The audience feel so much pity for Juliet as they know that they will not be together alive as they are a victim of a cruel fate. A greater power than we can contradict hath thwarted our intents Shakespeare wanted fate to defeat their love and have the audience feel empathy for Juliet. Juliet soon wakes up and found Romeo dead. She shows act of heroism and courage when she stayed with Romeo even when she was advised by Friar Lawrence. This shows how she has developed as an independent young woman and making her own decisions because at the start, she would submissively do anything she is told to do go get thee hence, for I will not away She shows true commitment to Romeo as she wanted to die with him O churl, drunk all, and left no friendly drop This is an oxymoron which Shakespeare uses so the audience feel sadness and empathy for Juliet. Even when Friar begged Juliet to come away from the tomb, and accept Romeos death was the work of heaven She without hesitation, took Romeos dagger and stabbed herself O happy dagger, this is thy sheath; there rust, and let me die the oxymoron happy dagger refers to the fact that it was fortunate that the dagger was placed there so she can stab herself. Shakespeare wanted this part of fate to happen to portray how a young child, can grow into an independent, daring, and courageous young woman by the power of love. The image of lightness as the play ends shows personification and is in a way makes us think about Juliet and how she is always portrayed as light, bright angel and the sun a glooming peace this morning with it brings, the sun for sorrow will not show his head. The hatred that is set up is in direct contrast to the love of Romeo and Juliet, and in the end they are victims of it, as the Prince points out at the end of the play see what a scourge is laid upon your hate! That heaven finds means to kill your joys with love Shakespeare used these powerful words to show that Juliet become a victim of hatred and fate which the audience feels grief and sorrow. Juliet is a complex character who is difficult to understand fully. She started as a compliant and docile child. As the play progresses, she becomes more mature and independent. She lives in a family in a family where her father can only express his love and care by making difficult decisions for Juliet that he thinks is best for her. Juliets mother is too distant and therefore could not understand how Juliets emotions work. Lord and Lady Capulet was only thinking of love as a financial transaction to do with securing and retaining wealth. The Nurse understood Juliet however not her emotions. She did not understand the power of Juliets love and affection for Romeo as the Nurse think of love from a physical, bawdy point of view. She is portrayed as a divine, holy and goddess figure young girl, which refers to religion. The intensity of her love, her innocence and her constant reckless acting on emotion rather than her intelligence brought her downfall. Countless of times in the play, Juliet shows acts of being independent and heroism. Juliet took a potion that made her seem dead for two day with little hesitation just to stay married with Romeo. She was even uncertain if she would even wake up. This shows a lot of guts coming from Juliet who was only thirteen years of age at the time. She did wake up however just seconds too late to stop Romeo drink the poison. And without thinking twice, her emotions led her to suicide so she could be with Romeo. This just shows how powerful her love meant to Romeo Juliet matures into a daring young woman, because she had to tackle a great deal of obstacle in just three days. This including lying to her parents, making adult decision and choosing to end her life. Her biggest obstacle was however fate which her love could not overcome. It was a very tragic and horr ible death which in a way, showed her bravery, courageousness and heroism because she even ended her own life just to be with her husband Romeo. She transformed dramatically from an obedient, honest and submissive child, to a defiant, courageous and independent young woman which fate sadly, led to her demise.