Write about the play 'Romeo and Juliet commenting on the social and historical background, and the language which he uses in this play and elsewhere.

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John Wingerath 11C

English Coursework

Romeo and Juliet

Write about the play ‘Romeo and Juliet commenting on the social and historical background, and the language which he uses in this play and elsewhere.

‘Romeo and Juliet’ was written in 1595 and the plot was taken from Arthur Brooke’s poem ‘Tragicall Historye of Romeus and Iuliet’ of 1562. It is set in Verona and Mantua, Italy, several centuries earlier than 1595. English people of Shakespeare’s time regarded Italy as an immoral country famous for illicit sexual affairs and violent crime. Shakespeare depicts Italy thus, with duels, street fights and feuds between opposing families. There were no police to enforce law and order, but the Prince of Verona could decide the fate of criminals and others – often death or exile. Daughters belonged to their fathers, wives to husbands. Fathers and husbands could dispose of their women as they chose. Arranged marriages were normal practice, particularly for the wealthy, and husbands were selected from a range of possible suitors. Daughters obeyed their fathers’ wishes whether they liked it or not and romantic love was not the basis of marriage which is why the feelings that Romeo and Juliet shared were not only forbidden but unusual for that day and age.

Shakespeare’s use of, and ability with language is evident in all of his works. Not only are his plays full of clever word play but he also uses his characters’ speech to give clues both to their personality and social standing. The noble characters, such as those from the wealthy families like the Capulets and Montagues, use a more elaborate and poetic way of speaking. In Act 1, Scene 2, Capulet says

‘Go sirrah, trudge about

Through fair Verona, find those persons out

Whose names are written there, and to them say,

My house and welcome on their pleasure stay.’

Capulet is an important, wealthy character so Shakespeare mirrors this by the way he talks, in an elegant manner. The quote also illustrates another trick of Shakespeare’s, that of using rhyming couplets to mark either the end of a scene or a particular character’s exit from it, as this is Capulet’s last speech in Act 1, Scene 2. Indeed at the end of Act 3, Scene 1 the final speeches, by Lady Capulet, Montague and the Prince of Verona, are entirely in rhyming couplets concluding with:

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‘Therefore use none. Let Romeo hence in haste,

Else, when he’s found, that hour is his last.

Bear hence his body, and attend our will.

Mercy but murders, pardoning those that kill.’

In Act 1 Scene 5, when Romeo is speaking to Juliet, we learn from the words he uses that he is both an educated and a very romantic young man.

‘If I profane with my unworthiest hand

This holy shrine, the gentle sin is this,

My lips two blushing pilgrims ready stand

To smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss.’

Within these few lines Romeo flatters Juliet ...

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