Comment on the importance of Act 3, Scene 1 in the play 'Romeo and Juliet' by William Shakespeare

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GCSE English Coursework: Pre 1914 Drama Study

Comment on the importance of Act 3, Scene 1 in the play 'Romeo and Juliet' by William Shakespeare

The Play 'Romeo and Juliet' is a Shakespearean tragedy about the love between two people that is doomed to fail from the start. Set in Verona, Italy, the two young lovers have to face a number of complications along their way to love. But, when a message fails to reach Romeo, things get missed and misunderstood.

The main themes in this play concern love of different kinds. Courtly love is a conventional view of love. For example Romeo is in love with Rosaline but he knows he cannot force her to love him. "Is love a tender thing or is it too rough, too rude, too boisterous and it pricks like a thorn?"

Sexual love or infatuation is the state of being completely carried away by unreasoning passion or love and this is what Romeo feels when he first sees Juliet. He is strongly impacted by Juliet and forgets about Rosaline. "Did my heart love till now?" "For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night."

Dutiful love is a love that is required because of position or situation. Paris and Juliet are arranged to be married so it is her duty to love him even if she does not. Paris' love for Juliet is a dignified one. "O nurse, how shall this be prevented?"

The love between Romeo and Juliet would be described as true love, the strongest, most sincere type of love. The couple, described as 'star-crossed' lovers, are destined to be together as their paths are 'crossed' and their love lights up the skies. "...when he shall die, take him and cut him into little stars, and he will make the face of heaven so fine that all the world will be in love with night..."

There are also other themes such as hate and death in the play. The hate is portrayed strongly through the relationship between the Montagues and the Capulets. What makes Romeo and Juliet's love so tragic and yet so beautiful is the fact that the society is effectively at war with itself. Love against the odds. Even though the two families detest each other, an innocent, yet illicit love can still blossom.

Romeo and Juliet die at the end of the play; this is because of how the hate in the society they are in. Their deaths show how love conquers all and is fated to show the damage a divided society can do. At the end of the play, both the Montagues and the Capulets are united in the grief of their children.

There is also a theme of destiny and fate running throughout the play, a sense that everything had been planned out and that there was nothing that they could do to stop it.

In the Oxford English Dictionary, a tragedy is described as an event causing great sadness or a serious play with an unhappy ending. There are a lot of elements of a typical Shakespearean tragedy in 'Romeo and Juliet.'

Usually, Tragedies end with the death of the tragic heroes (Romeo and Juliet) and this would have a big impact on everyone around, other people might die, too, as a part of the tragic events, for example; Tybalt, Paris and Mercutio. The heroes reach a 'peak' in the play - of happiness or achievement, for instance, when Romeo and Juliet get married. This usually happens about half way through the play. After this, events take a terrible turn for the worse (Mercutio's and Tybalt's death). The heroes are usually in some way, responsible for this change in events. There is also an element of fate - something that's inevitably going to happen, but it can still seem like a terrible accident.
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As you can see the play 'Romeo and Juliet' follows all of these patterns and examples.

The play set in 13th century Italy and was written in 16th century England, so the ideas and acceptability would be different to the values which exist now. In the 13th century it would be acceptable to get married at the age of 14 but today, you are not even allowed to be married legally, without parental consent, until the age of 18. The big feud between the families would have been common place then too but now it would be ...

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