Romeo and Juliet Balcony scene

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Coursework

Explain The Significance of Act 2.2 to the Development of the Play and Explore Shakespeare’s Use of Language to Present the Characters of Romeo and Juliet.

Romeo and Juliet is a play that was written by William Shakespeare around 1595, and is probably the most famous play in history and has also been made into many different movies.

One of the most famous scenes from Romeo and Juliet is the balcony scene in which is the famous quote “O Romeo Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo?”

The balcony scene is what my essay is about.

Explaining the Significance of Act 2.2 to the Development of the Play.

I think that Act 2.2 is very significant to the development of the play because it is the first time that Romeo and Juliet are together and so we can see what they are truly like with each other. Firstly because it establishes Romeo’s and Juliet’s characteristics, especially Juliet independence unlike before when she was slightly timid/shy and did not seem to be a person that would ever be in trouble. Shakespeare gives you the impression that Juliet is more independent and feisty for instance “Swear not by the moon, the inconstant moon” this shows Juliet being more confident and less afraid of speaking out for herself because after Romeo said he would swear on the moon Juliet could have just accepted that but instead she asked him to swear either not at all or on an unchanging thing.

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Also Romeo changes in this scene from being a slightly shy person who is also a little daring into a confident fearless man who will not be put off by what others think “With love’s wings did I o’er-perch these walls…” and his confidence almost grows into arrogance as the scene progresses.

The key themes of love and death are also developed in this scene, for instance “If they do see thee, they will murder thee.” The two main characters using lots of metaphors and similes “How silver-sweet sound lovers’ tongues by night, like softest music to attending ears!” This ...

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