Romeo and Juliet

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GCSE English Coursework: Unit 4, Literary Heritage        February 2007

Romeo and Juliet

Explore the different approaches to the theme of love and marriage presented in Acts one and Act Two of Romeo and Juliet

         William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is one of the most famous love stories of all time. Written in approximately 1595, it is considered to be one of Shakespeare’s great works. Using the on-going feud between the Montagues and the Capulets as a backdrop to his play, Shakespeare gains an insight into the lives of the residents of Verona. As the story unfolds, a great variety of moral approaches and explanations as to the meaning of love and value of marriage are explored.

        Different characters in the play have diverse approaches to the theme of love and marriage. At the beginning of the play, Romeo is clearly fascinated with the notion of being in love. It is this attraction to being in love rather than actual love that is displayed for the character of Rosaline. The audience does not see Rosaline throughout the whole play; they only gain an insight to her from Romeo’s clichéd descriptions.  Shakespeare makes a play on words in the language he uses when describing the places Romeo goes when ‘in love’ with Rosaline. e.g. Benvolio tells of Romeo’s times in ‘the grove of sycamore’ (sick-a-more), revealing Romeo’s love sick indulgence. In the words of Mercutio, Romeo’s love for Rosaline is ‘nothing but vain fantasy’. Romeo is seen to spend much of his time in darkness whilst he is infatuated with Rosaline. Benvolio describes him as stealing away ‘into the covert of the wood’. A comparison can be made with Romeo’s love for Juliet and the infatuation with Rosaline in the language that is used. With Rosaline, Romeo is always described as being confused and lamenting at his situation. Romeo’s use of oxymorons develop this impression of bewilderment; ‘…heavy lightness, serious vanity /…feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire…’, but his love for Juliet is genuine and pure.

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     An interesting interpretation of Romeo’s rehearsed love for Rosaline is made in Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliette (1996). When the character of Romeo is first introduced he is writing down the oxymorons ‘oh brawling love, oh loving hate…’ Later, when he speaks to Benvolio he repeats these words again, giving the false impression of spontaneity though the audience know that this is not the case.

         Taking the popular expression ‘to be in the dark’ to mean not knowing the full truth or not understanding, Shakespeare is dropping a subtle hint at the fact that what ...

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