Romeo and Juliet.

Romeo and Juliet

William Shakespeare was a very prominent playwright for his time, he lived in a very rigid society where women were classed as below men and that wasn’t about to change. He wrote many of his plays for Queen Elizabeth I as she had a great enjoyment for theatre. This society was very passionate about religion and were all god fearing people, but at this time England was in great turmoil as Elizabeth’s father Henry VIII had turned they country from Catholic to Protestant. There were many arguments and debates about which church England should belong to, I think that these issues are reflected by the ancient grudge.

In the play Romeo and Juliet we see many kinds of conflict. One of which I’m going to focus on which is the conflict of love and hate. The love between Romeo and Juliet is violent, ecstatic and overpowering, it overcomes values, loyalties, and all emotions. Love between two people is often affected by outside issues such as violence, rules, parents, law and eventually death. I think that is why this play is so popular because the issues in it are still very relevant.

In this play whenever something loving and passionate happens, something horrific and destructive will happen just after, as if to balance out life. I also believe that to this day not much has changed and that no relationship in unaffected by outside issues and every relationship be with a lover or a friend is without its ups and downs. The love of Romeo and Juliet is threatened by a society full of hate. In this play love is never without its troubles and just when the young lovers think they’re going to get a break something else catastrophic happens to shatter their dreams. Love in Romeo a Juliet is not seen as a precious little dainty thing, it is a huge overwhelming passion and can blind a person almost as powerfully and completely as hate can. But this extreme passion also shows itself to be a beautiful thing that few people would be able to resist.

The theme of love and hate is introduced before the play is even starts, in the prologue. The prologue sets out the whole story, in this quote, ‘A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life’ we get the idea of love vs. death. But Shakespeare also says ‘life’ I don’t believe this is an accident I think its meant to show that they were so close that they had almost become the same person and were living the same life. ‘From forth the fatal loins of these two foes’ also tells us that death and the ancient grudge get in the way of love and happiness. The prologue also mentions the ancient grudge and says that two people will fall in love and they will die for that love 'Doth with their death bury their parents' strife,'.

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The opening scene is all about violence and it’s all fuelled by the ancient grudge, ‘The quarrel is between our masters, and us their men’, ‘I will be civil with the maids; I will cut off their heads’ in this quote he is suggesting that he will rape their women. . Although the fight only turns into a brawl when Tybalt arrives ‘I do not bite my thumb at you sir, but I do bite my thumb, sir’ this is an inflammatory, violent gesture, there is also the use of sarcasm with the word ‘sir’. (Tybalt; a name that suggests the word tyrant, meaning a cruel and oppressive ruler who seizes absolute power without legal right) But we also see love in this scene as Romeo pines for his lost love Rosaline. However I think his love for Rosaline is unrequited and more of an infatuation than love because he soon forgets about her when he meets Juliet. The Friar also accuses Romeo of being ‘Doting not loving’, this tells us a lot about Romeo’s character, as Friar Lawrence is almost supernatural in his link with god.

There is also family love as the two families stick together and defend each other without thinking about themselves. Over the years this scene has been staged in many ways, for example in Baz Luhrmann’s film it shot in a petrol station and there is a fire. Fire suggests emotions such as rage, passion and fear. In this scene Romeo uses a lot of oxymoron’s to show the contradictions in this play and in love. In Act 1 Scene 1 between lines 167 – 72 he has all these oxymorons: loving/hate, heavy/lightness, serious/vanity, misshapen chaos/well-seeming forms, feather/lead, bright/smoke, cold/fire, sick/health and still-waking/sleep. All these oxymorons give the effect of confusion and chaos. I think one reason for this is to stop the audience getting bored with the play as in those days it was hard for many people to see the actors on stage.

When Romeo Juliet first meet she seems to be beautiful, teasing, in control and in love! Whereas, Romeo comes across as loving, cheeky, over emotional and desperate ‘Have not saints lips, an holy palmers too?’, ‘Ay, pilgrim, lips that they must use in prayer’, here Romeo asks Juliet for a kiss and she coyly refuses showing she is in control.

The next scene is where Romeo and Juliet first meet and set eyes on each other, it’s almost cosmic they are instantly drawn to each other. When they meet there are two sonnets one after the other to emphasise the importance of this moment in the play; it also described in terms of religion. The use of two sonnets one after the other show how deeply the two characters are already intertwined, even thought they hardly know each other. The poetry also signifies high character status. ‘Have my lips the sin that they have took;, ‘Sin from thy lips? O trespass sweetly urged! Give me my sin again’, they instantly talking about the same thing showing their almost supernatural connection.

But in this same scene we also see Tybalt’s violent reaction when he discovers that the Montagues are at the party and he swears vengeance against the Montagues ‘This is a Montague, our foe’, ‘To strike him dead I hold it not a sin’. When he brings this fact to the attention of Lord Capulet he is scolded for wanting to pick a fight and cause a scene ‘Be patient, take no note of him’. This even shows how fate runs through the whole play, as it seems too much of a coincidence that Romeo wasn’t thrown out of the party and wasn’t attacked by Tybalt. There is a disaster for the young lovers just minutes after they first meet, they discover that they are sworn enemies. Both characters are in complete dismay. Quotes such as ‘My only love sprung from my only hate!’ and ‘That I must love a loathed enemy.’ Show us how the characters react when they hear the news. In this scene lines 137 –140 contains examples of many oppositions, which run throughout the play: love/hate, early/late, unknown/known, and love/loathed.

Closely following this is the famous balcony scene where Romeo uses hyperbole and very exaggerated language to express his love for Juliet, which makes him come across as very fickle in love, immature and quite shallow. Whereas Juliet is very sensible, organised and mature, even though she is only thirteen. She is realistic about their problems and wants to find a way for their love to work ‘Deny thy father and refuse thy name’. Romeo on the other hand is very rash about his decisions and doesn’t consider the consequences of his actions ‘Call me but love, and I’ll be new baptised’.

Next is the wedding, this is the most obvious love scene in the play here Friar Lawrence marries the two of them in secret. We see Juliet talk here of her true love and how love doesn’t need words as is so rich it cannot be measured ‘But my true love is grown to such excess;, ;more rich in matter than in words’. This is shown between lines 30-34 (Act 2 Scene 6). On the other hand Romeo gives ornate descriptions of his love for Juliet, such as ‘To blazon it, then sweeten with thy breath’. This shows Juliet to be loving, kind, gentle, and cautious and that her love is true, whereas Romeo is fickle, eager and exaggerated. Here we see Friar Lawrence chid him for being so fickle. Religion plays a fair part in this play and Friar Lawrence is shown to be wise and trustworthy but should he have married Romeo and Juliet? We are meant to trust his decision, as he is noble and honest. I believe that his motivations for marring the two were that it might finally bring peace between the two feuding families. However I don’t think he goes about doing this very well, as it is rarely the case where lies and deceit correct the situation, after all two wrongs don’t make a right. He is also the most scheming character in this play as he secretly marries the young lovers; he also devises the plan for Romeo and Juliet to be reunited these two things serve and main mechanisms for the fatal tragedy of the play to occur.

The wedding is unfortunately closely followed by the death of Tybalt. This death also comes straight from love as Romeo goes to see him to resolve their differences and it turns into a brawl, where another innocent is killed: Mercutio. (A name suggesting mercurial: hot or quick tempered) Before Mercutio dies he says ‘A plague a’both your houses!’ this shows that he no longer wants anything to do with the feud and that it is pointless and has just wasted another young mans life. Just after Tybalt’s death Romeo says ‘O, I am fortune’s fool’ having realised what he’s just done and what the consequences of his actions could be. As a result of Tybalts murder Romeo is banished from Verona, another event to get in the way of happiness for the lovers.

The next obstacle in the way of the two lovers is Juliet’s arranged marriage to Paris. At first Lord Capulet was very protective of Juliet saying Paris must wait until she is older and that she is his one and only treasured daughter. Then he instructs Lady Capulet to break the news to Juliet, she absolutely refuses to marry Paris, Lord Capulet then comes into her chamber and mistake her tears for Romeo as tears of grief for Tybalt and he offers her fatherly support. When she refuses to marry Paris her father declares ‘…hang, die, starve in the streets', 'baggage', 'disobedient wretch…’, he threatens to throw her out. He also says ‘My fingers itch’ suggesting that he wants to hit her, a father’s love for his daughter instantly turning into burning hate. She begs her mother for help and support but receives nothing showing the love less relationship between herself and her mother.

So Juliet then turns to the one parental figure she truly loves; Nurse. But when she urges her to marry Paris she feels utterly betrayed and so goes to seek the advise of Friar Lawrence.

The tragic and violent end to this play is the two lovers committing suicide so they can be together. Juliet even say ‘O happy dagger’ this is yet another opposition of happiness/violence, she can finally be with her love.

However every cloud has a silver lining, due to the tragic event and that both the families have suffered the loss of a child they have an opportunity to right all the wrongs and make a fresh start. In some ways their future ends so societies can begin.