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AS and A Level: Romeo & Juliet

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558 AS and A Level Romeo & Juliet essays

  • Marked by Teachers essays 4
  • Peer Reviewed essays 1
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  1. Marked by a teacher

    How effective is the Prologue as an introduction to Romeo and Juliet?

    5 star(s)

    This is a very good essay which supplies an analytical and detailed close reading of the prologue, while at the same time making effective textual links with the rest of…

    • Essay length: 1720 words
    • Submitted: 05/12/2007
    • Marked by teacher: (?) Katie Dixon 07/03/2012
  2. Marked by a teacher

    HOW DOES JULIET'S CHARACTER DEVELOP FROM DUTIFUL DAUGHTER TO INDEPENDENT YOUNG WOMAN IN 'ROMEO AND JULIET'?

    4 star(s)

    There are however missing apostrophes and one or two errors which could have been eliminated by careful proof-reading.…

    • Essay length: 3564 words
    • Submitted: 09/12/2007
    • Marked by teacher: (?) Katie Dixon 07/03/2012
  3. Marked by a teacher

    How does Shakespeare present the characters of Romeo and Juliet in Act Two, Scene Two of the play?

    3 star(s)

    A good essay with a variety of well selected embedded quotes to show Rome and Juliet's characters. Some excellent and thorough language analysis clearly following PEA (point, evidence and analysis…

    • Essay length: 1225 words
    • Submitted: 01/09/2009
    • Marked by teacher: (?) Katie Dixon 07/03/2012
  4. Marked by a teacher

    Shakespeare coursework- Romeo and Juliet Why is Act 1 scene 5 an effective piece of drama?

    3 star(s)

    There are some problems with this text. Although it shows understanding and knowledge of the scene the analysis is over simplistic and chronologically structured.
    There are no topic sentences and…

    • Essay length: 1761 words
    • Submitted: 17/05/2009
    • Marked by teacher: (?) Katie Dixon 07/03/2012
  5. Peer reviewed

    Is lord Capulet a good father?

    4 star(s)

    This is a good essay, and one that tackles a deceptively hard question because it calls into play the understanding of Shakespearean morals, so a contextual appreciation of the social…

    • Essay length: 612 words
    • Submitted: 15/01/2004
    • Reviewed by: (?) 21/08/2012

  6. Romeo and Juliet: Act One Scene One. Despite all the violence that eventually follows, Act One Scene One for the most part borders on comical. Sampson and Gregory exchange sex jokes linked to the conflict

    • Essay length: 1291 words
    • Submitted: 08/11/2011

  7. Romeo and Juliet: Give Me Love or Give Me Death

    • Essay length: 620 words
    • Submitted: 25/02/2011

  8. The theme of haste in Romeo and Juliet

    • Essay length: 1460 words
    • Submitted: 25/09/2010

  9. Themes introduced my Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet

    • Essay length: 741 words
    • Submitted: 16/02/2010

  10. Romeo And Juliet

    • Essay length: 1729 words
    • Submitted: 05/06/2009
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The social and historical context of 'Romeo and Juliet'

  1. 1 William Shakespeare was born in 1564 – He was a very successful poet and playwright in his own lifetime and is probably the most well-known English writer.
  2. 2 Romeo and Juliet is probably his best known play and was based on a poem – it is not based on a true story.
  3. 3 In Elizabethan times girls could be married as young as twelve. They were considered the property of their father until they married and then they became the property of their husband.
  4. 4 The Elizabethans would have recognised the theme of fate (star cross’d lovers) as they believed that a person’s destiny was already written in the stars and there was little an individual could do to change their destiny.
  5. 5 Romeo and Juliet was written to be performed in a theatre and the prologue makes it clear that this is not a real story.

Shakespeare's ideas and expression

  1. 1 Romeo and Juliet would be recognised by the audience as being a ‘romantic tragedy’ following Aristotle’s definition of tragedy that includes a cathartic experience for the audience who would leave the theatre feeling better after releasing emotion.
  2. 2 Shakespeare created dramatic events to entertain the audience and quickly switches from one event to another. As the audience know more than the characters do about the plot, dramatic irony increases the pathos and drama.
  3. 3 Themes include love, hatred, violence, death and fate. There are also comic scenes.
  4. 4 Most of the play is written in blank verse but includes prose, rhyming couplets and sonnets.
  5. 5 Shakespeare included a range of techniques including puns, similes, metaphors and personification.

Key things to remember when writing essays on Shakespeare's plays

  1. 1 Use PEA – point, evidence and analysis in essays. Ensure you are supporting all of your points with an appropriate quote from the play.
  2. 2 Refer to the essay question in the introduction and conclusion.
  3. 3 Use topic sentences at the beginning of paragraphs to refer back to the question and to inform the reader what is going to be in the paragraph.
  4. 4 Use terminology accurately when analysing Shakespeare’s language.
  5. 5 Information on tragedy as a genre should be included in the main body of the essay.

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Conclusion analysis

Good conclusions usually refer back to the question or title and address it directly - for example by using key words from the title.
How well do you think these conclusions address the title or question? Answering these questions should help you find out.

  1. Do they use key words from the title or question?
  2. Do they answer the question directly?
  3. Can you work out the question or title just by reading the conclusion?

  • Discuss Shakespeare's use of the chorus in Romeo and Juliet paying particular attention to the language and its dramatisation.

    "If there was no prologue the story may be a bit confusing as the plot thickens the audience would be baffled as to what's going on. The ending would not be as effective as the audience wouldn't know they were going to die so it would be a shock, and they then would not realise how cleverly produced the play was to come to this conclusion in such an exciting and eventful way. By Claire Brocklesby"

  • Analyse and comment on the success of the title sequence of Baz Luhrmann's 1997 film adaptation of 'Romeo & Juliet'.

    "In conclusion, considering all the areas of the title scene, Baz Luhrmann has successfully given birth to a fantastic opening to Romeo and Juliet. The title scene underlines key aspects of the sonnet which opens the play, to help the people in the audience who don't understand Shakespeare and even the ones who do. He introduces the principle characters, again to stop the audience from getting confused. The use of exciting images, such as the gun and the images of police and violence makes certain people in the audience stay and not walk out because they may believe it to be boring; many teenagers would believe Shakespeare to be boring. The opening scene had a very strong effect on me personally. It really made me want to see the movie again, even though I had already seen it about three times. The scene gripped me and not many title scenes have done that to me. Baz Luhrmann's version of Romeo and Juliet was a complete success. Alex Kirshbaum"

  • Discuss the relationship between Capulet and his daughter Juliet in the play 'Romeo and Juliet'.

    "In conclusion to my essay the relationship isn't very strong. They don't know much about each other, they don't trust each other and aren't very close. Shakespeare puts the two characters in different situations to let us think this and gives both of them very strong personalities. I think Shakespeare has written about this kind of relationship because of the way his family might have treated him or maybe because he didn't like the way fathers were allowed to treat their daughters."

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