Romeo and Juliet Coursework assignment- How is conflict about love linked to tragedy in Romeo and Juliet?
William Shakespeare was one of the most talented writers ever known, one of his greatest achievements, the love story 'Romeo and Juliet'. His main aspiration for this play and resource was that of Arthur Brooke's poem- 'The Tragical history of Romulus and Juliet'. Arthur Brooke's version was set over 9 months as Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is set over a few days. The main reason for this play being set over a couple of days is because Shakespeare wants his play to be set in a quick movement, dramatic tension and with every event commencing very quickly. 'Romeo and Juliet' was first performed in 1595 and then was published as a folio in 1597. The play was set in the renaissance time in the fourteenth and fifteenth century in 'fair' Verona, Italy on two so called 'star-crossed lovers' Romeo, who is from the Montague family and Juliet from the Capulet family. They fall in love at first sight. But the problem with this being the Montague and Capulet family have had a feud between one another for as long as either family could remember. In the prologue Shakespeare cleverly shows the conflict between the major families in the opening prologue where the whole story is summarized in fourteen lines. In the prologue Shakespeare transfers the events of Romeo and Juliet's death with a very small paragraph. In the prologue both Romeo and Juliet are referred to, as 'star-crossed lovers' making it seem as if they are fated to meet, fall in love and then die. Shakespeare also includes the Code of Revenge which is between the family's responsibilities and traditions which every member has to be loyal to. Shakespeare involves the concept with the two families living in Verona where there is a lot of tradition and passion for the families which lead to many deaths occurring.
Shakespeare represents different attitudes to love is expressed in the play. The main theme of the play is love. However there are four different variations on the theme. These themes of love are called courtly love, sexual love, dutiful love and religious love. In the story there are many crude examples of how men viewed women. They thought of women as 'pretty pieces of flesh' and thought they could 'thrust' maids 'to the wall' and take away their 'Maidenheads', which means women were just used to lay around to be used and abused. Men often didn't love women; they lusted after them. Romeo's best friend, Mercutio has got a very dirty and crude mind. He makes many different jokes about sex whilst talking to Benvolio and Romeo.' Hide his bauble in a hole' indicates sex, and lust not love. When the nurse enters to speak to Romeo, Mercutio shouts out 'A bawd, a bawd, a bawd!' which means a prostitute which then means he is thinking what would an elderly looking lady want with Romeo apart from sex, what he doesn't know is that the nurse is coming to deliver news of Juliet. Romeo then makes a dirty pun to the nurse saying he will 'stand to in a month.' Although it is all so crude it is also what Shakespeare's audience wanted; crude jokes were humorous.
There are many examples of negative love in this story as well. The fact that Romeo takes 'deep sighs' makes you think Romeo is missing someone or something. 'Tyrannous and rough' is a phrase used in the book to describe love. Benvolio feels this as his cousin is feeling upset and hurt by Rosaline and therefore describes Romeo walking through the sycamore trees 'where underneath the grove of sycamore' which suggests that Shakespeare is punning 'sick amour' which is French for sick of love forcing Romeo to be melancholic. Romeo feels he had 'lost' himself, meaning love has changed him and now since his love is unrequited he feels like a different person. Romeo feels 'love is a smoke made with the fume of sighs' and 'a choking gall', he feels Rosaline will not allow herself to be hit with 'cupid's arrow', which can only mean she doesn't feel the same as Romeo feels. Rosaline has 'forsworn to love' and so Romeo says he feels 'dead' because of this. He feels Rosaline will be his only ever love. Benvolio, Romeo's cousin advises Romeo to forget Rosaline and look for another love but Romeo refuses saying he will not find purer. 'O brawling love, O loving hate,' this is a key example of Romeo's immaturity, as it expresses the feelings for a woman he barely knows and also indicates his need for a deeper love. 'Lusty young men', Juliet's father feels too many men have lust on their minds rather than love nowadays. 'Rank poison of the old will die.' Romeo feels Rosaline has poisoned him by her beauty. Romeo has been infected by Rosaline's beauty 'infection to thy eye,' Romeo's feelings towards love are very negative and he feels he is in 'prison, kept without food, whipped and tormented.' This shows what Romeo thinks love is like, evil and unrequited. He doesn't know yet, about Juliet. Benvolio tries again to cheer Romeo up by saying' think thy swan a crow.' Meaning, he will show Romeo other beautiful woman and compared to them Rosaline will seem ugly. Romeo is only in love with Rosaline's beauty as he says 'Ne'er saw her match since first the world began' he is obsessed by Rosaline's beauty. Romeo claims to have a 'soul of lead' meaning he feels down and depressed over Rosaline, and he feels as if he is plummeting 'under love's heavy burden'. Romeo thinks love is 'too ruse, too boist'rous, and it pricks like a thorn,' he feels this way as his love for Rosaline as said before is unrequited, so he doesn't seem to know what true love feels like, he definitely seems to be bewitched by Rosaline's beauty and feelings of lust.
Shakespeare introduces another theme of love being sexual love, physical appetite and a source of humour. Examples of sexual love come up in the first act and scene where the course humour of servants - 'Gregory and Sampson'.Both Sampson and Gregory, use a lot of puns. This type of punning, for example on the words "coals," "collier," "choler," "collar", goes on till the end of the play. The Elizabethan audience used to like puns and hence although Shakespeare has used many vulgar puns, it still has a positive effect on the overall popularity of the play. Although in the Act I Scene 1 there is a fight between the families the humour in the scene makes us forget the seriousness of the fight. Shakespeare then manages to create a fair amount of humour in the play by the creation of some humorous characters. These characters can be found to be humorous in different ways. Mercutio always uses puns deliberately; Peter indulges in witty punning at inappropriate times, while the nurse unintentionally evokes humour most of the time, rarely deliberately. These various characters can be said to have been introduced to provide variety and a touch of reality to the play. They are also used to hold the attention of the audience before the actual action of the play begins (except Peter).One of the characters created mainly for the purpose of humour is the Nurse. The nurse's manner of speaking, her low intellect and her views act as a perfect foil to Juliet and Lady Capulet. This brings out unintentional humour even when she is trying to make them laugh. Her appearances contrast with an earlier serious scene or following a serious one. She also brings out humour by using puns and also by repeating things that she previously said. Apart from this the nurse brings out humour also in the way she behaves. One prime example of this is when the Nurse after returning with news from Romeo goes off into a long talk about her health and that Juliet should be ashamed of sending her on such a long journey. The audience probably find it funny the way the nurse frustrates Juliet by prolonging her agony. Another character who is very important to the play in terms of the humour that he brings to it is Mercutio. Mercutio is very important character because it is he who almost single-handedly creates humour in the play. He does this by punning a lot. The puns and jokes are usually vulgar and sexual, and were used to hold the interest of the Elizabethan audience. Two of the most unforgettable occasions where when we meet the Nurse and the second when he is pulling Romeo's leg over his craze over Rosaline just before the balcony scene. Mercutio's character is completely built up around humour and so it is not surprising that Shakespeare kills him early in the play, so as to keep with the sadness that follows later in the play. In keeping with his character we find Mercutio punning and making fun even when he is dying. "No, 'tis not so deep as a well, nor so wide as a church-door, but 'tis enough, 'twill serve. Ask for me tomorrow, and you shall find me a grave man." This statement is typical of him and is true to his character in the play Mercutio's speech on Queen Mab which was quite famous at those times was a total contradiction to dreams and the dreamers and the element of humour in it along with the wittiness of Mercutio's character was used to mock. Part of this speech is as follows: "And in this state she gallops night by night through lovers' brains' and then they dream of love, O'er courtiers' knees, that dream on cur'sies straight, O'er lawyers' fingers, who straight dream on fees, O'er ladies' lips, who straight on kisses dream," This shows us another important art Shakespeare had and that was to mock a point with the use of humour. The main reason Shakespeare created so much intentional humour in the play is not very obvious at first but after closer examination the reader might realise that Romeo and Juliet would indeed be very dull and tiresome if it weren't for humour. The humour in the play, acts as a balance to the tragedy that already exists in the play. The humour in the play gives the audience a respite from heavy and over romantic scenes thus helping to keep the audiences attention. The lower class people would most probably be interested in the highly comical sections where Mercutio was present on stage and going ahead full steam with his puns and jokes. If Shakespeare hadn't created so much humour in the play the play would have probably died out a couple of months after it had been introduced. The humour in the play helps to relax the readers or audience at times and also keeps the audience interested in the play. Shakespeare uses characters like Mercutio and the Nurse to bring out the comical element of the play, and each character does this in a different way. One of Shakespeare's tools used to evoke humour is the mockery that is aimed at a particular character. Some of the funniest moments are when one character is sarcastic to another. One of the best examples of this is when Capulet asks Lady Capulet for a sword and she replies "A crutch, a crutch! Why call you for a sword?" In this line the mockery of Capulet is obvious and appealing to the audience as it is direct. Shakespeare is known to be fond of puns and uses them quite regularly but he doesn't use them as often as the Elizabethan audience expected him to.
William Shakespeare was one of the most talented writers ever known, one of his greatest achievements, the love story 'Romeo and Juliet'. His main aspiration for this play and resource was that of Arthur Brooke's poem- 'The Tragical history of Romulus and Juliet'. Arthur Brooke's version was set over 9 months as Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is set over a few days. The main reason for this play being set over a couple of days is because Shakespeare wants his play to be set in a quick movement, dramatic tension and with every event commencing very quickly. 'Romeo and Juliet' was first performed in 1595 and then was published as a folio in 1597. The play was set in the renaissance time in the fourteenth and fifteenth century in 'fair' Verona, Italy on two so called 'star-crossed lovers' Romeo, who is from the Montague family and Juliet from the Capulet family. They fall in love at first sight. But the problem with this being the Montague and Capulet family have had a feud between one another for as long as either family could remember. In the prologue Shakespeare cleverly shows the conflict between the major families in the opening prologue where the whole story is summarized in fourteen lines. In the prologue Shakespeare transfers the events of Romeo and Juliet's death with a very small paragraph. In the prologue both Romeo and Juliet are referred to, as 'star-crossed lovers' making it seem as if they are fated to meet, fall in love and then die. Shakespeare also includes the Code of Revenge which is between the family's responsibilities and traditions which every member has to be loyal to. Shakespeare involves the concept with the two families living in Verona where there is a lot of tradition and passion for the families which lead to many deaths occurring.
Shakespeare represents different attitudes to love is expressed in the play. The main theme of the play is love. However there are four different variations on the theme. These themes of love are called courtly love, sexual love, dutiful love and religious love. In the story there are many crude examples of how men viewed women. They thought of women as 'pretty pieces of flesh' and thought they could 'thrust' maids 'to the wall' and take away their 'Maidenheads', which means women were just used to lay around to be used and abused. Men often didn't love women; they lusted after them. Romeo's best friend, Mercutio has got a very dirty and crude mind. He makes many different jokes about sex whilst talking to Benvolio and Romeo.' Hide his bauble in a hole' indicates sex, and lust not love. When the nurse enters to speak to Romeo, Mercutio shouts out 'A bawd, a bawd, a bawd!' which means a prostitute which then means he is thinking what would an elderly looking lady want with Romeo apart from sex, what he doesn't know is that the nurse is coming to deliver news of Juliet. Romeo then makes a dirty pun to the nurse saying he will 'stand to in a month.' Although it is all so crude it is also what Shakespeare's audience wanted; crude jokes were humorous.
There are many examples of negative love in this story as well. The fact that Romeo takes 'deep sighs' makes you think Romeo is missing someone or something. 'Tyrannous and rough' is a phrase used in the book to describe love. Benvolio feels this as his cousin is feeling upset and hurt by Rosaline and therefore describes Romeo walking through the sycamore trees 'where underneath the grove of sycamore' which suggests that Shakespeare is punning 'sick amour' which is French for sick of love forcing Romeo to be melancholic. Romeo feels he had 'lost' himself, meaning love has changed him and now since his love is unrequited he feels like a different person. Romeo feels 'love is a smoke made with the fume of sighs' and 'a choking gall', he feels Rosaline will not allow herself to be hit with 'cupid's arrow', which can only mean she doesn't feel the same as Romeo feels. Rosaline has 'forsworn to love' and so Romeo says he feels 'dead' because of this. He feels Rosaline will be his only ever love. Benvolio, Romeo's cousin advises Romeo to forget Rosaline and look for another love but Romeo refuses saying he will not find purer. 'O brawling love, O loving hate,' this is a key example of Romeo's immaturity, as it expresses the feelings for a woman he barely knows and also indicates his need for a deeper love. 'Lusty young men', Juliet's father feels too many men have lust on their minds rather than love nowadays. 'Rank poison of the old will die.' Romeo feels Rosaline has poisoned him by her beauty. Romeo has been infected by Rosaline's beauty 'infection to thy eye,' Romeo's feelings towards love are very negative and he feels he is in 'prison, kept without food, whipped and tormented.' This shows what Romeo thinks love is like, evil and unrequited. He doesn't know yet, about Juliet. Benvolio tries again to cheer Romeo up by saying' think thy swan a crow.' Meaning, he will show Romeo other beautiful woman and compared to them Rosaline will seem ugly. Romeo is only in love with Rosaline's beauty as he says 'Ne'er saw her match since first the world began' he is obsessed by Rosaline's beauty. Romeo claims to have a 'soul of lead' meaning he feels down and depressed over Rosaline, and he feels as if he is plummeting 'under love's heavy burden'. Romeo thinks love is 'too ruse, too boist'rous, and it pricks like a thorn,' he feels this way as his love for Rosaline as said before is unrequited, so he doesn't seem to know what true love feels like, he definitely seems to be bewitched by Rosaline's beauty and feelings of lust.
Shakespeare introduces another theme of love being sexual love, physical appetite and a source of humour. Examples of sexual love come up in the first act and scene where the course humour of servants - 'Gregory and Sampson'.Both Sampson and Gregory, use a lot of puns. This type of punning, for example on the words "coals," "collier," "choler," "collar", goes on till the end of the play. The Elizabethan audience used to like puns and hence although Shakespeare has used many vulgar puns, it still has a positive effect on the overall popularity of the play. Although in the Act I Scene 1 there is a fight between the families the humour in the scene makes us forget the seriousness of the fight. Shakespeare then manages to create a fair amount of humour in the play by the creation of some humorous characters. These characters can be found to be humorous in different ways. Mercutio always uses puns deliberately; Peter indulges in witty punning at inappropriate times, while the nurse unintentionally evokes humour most of the time, rarely deliberately. These various characters can be said to have been introduced to provide variety and a touch of reality to the play. They are also used to hold the attention of the audience before the actual action of the play begins (except Peter).One of the characters created mainly for the purpose of humour is the Nurse. The nurse's manner of speaking, her low intellect and her views act as a perfect foil to Juliet and Lady Capulet. This brings out unintentional humour even when she is trying to make them laugh. Her appearances contrast with an earlier serious scene or following a serious one. She also brings out humour by using puns and also by repeating things that she previously said. Apart from this the nurse brings out humour also in the way she behaves. One prime example of this is when the Nurse after returning with news from Romeo goes off into a long talk about her health and that Juliet should be ashamed of sending her on such a long journey. The audience probably find it funny the way the nurse frustrates Juliet by prolonging her agony. Another character who is very important to the play in terms of the humour that he brings to it is Mercutio. Mercutio is very important character because it is he who almost single-handedly creates humour in the play. He does this by punning a lot. The puns and jokes are usually vulgar and sexual, and were used to hold the interest of the Elizabethan audience. Two of the most unforgettable occasions where when we meet the Nurse and the second when he is pulling Romeo's leg over his craze over Rosaline just before the balcony scene. Mercutio's character is completely built up around humour and so it is not surprising that Shakespeare kills him early in the play, so as to keep with the sadness that follows later in the play. In keeping with his character we find Mercutio punning and making fun even when he is dying. "No, 'tis not so deep as a well, nor so wide as a church-door, but 'tis enough, 'twill serve. Ask for me tomorrow, and you shall find me a grave man." This statement is typical of him and is true to his character in the play Mercutio's speech on Queen Mab which was quite famous at those times was a total contradiction to dreams and the dreamers and the element of humour in it along with the wittiness of Mercutio's character was used to mock. Part of this speech is as follows: "And in this state she gallops night by night through lovers' brains' and then they dream of love, O'er courtiers' knees, that dream on cur'sies straight, O'er lawyers' fingers, who straight dream on fees, O'er ladies' lips, who straight on kisses dream," This shows us another important art Shakespeare had and that was to mock a point with the use of humour. The main reason Shakespeare created so much intentional humour in the play is not very obvious at first but after closer examination the reader might realise that Romeo and Juliet would indeed be very dull and tiresome if it weren't for humour. The humour in the play, acts as a balance to the tragedy that already exists in the play. The humour in the play gives the audience a respite from heavy and over romantic scenes thus helping to keep the audiences attention. The lower class people would most probably be interested in the highly comical sections where Mercutio was present on stage and going ahead full steam with his puns and jokes. If Shakespeare hadn't created so much humour in the play the play would have probably died out a couple of months after it had been introduced. The humour in the play helps to relax the readers or audience at times and also keeps the audience interested in the play. Shakespeare uses characters like Mercutio and the Nurse to bring out the comical element of the play, and each character does this in a different way. One of Shakespeare's tools used to evoke humour is the mockery that is aimed at a particular character. Some of the funniest moments are when one character is sarcastic to another. One of the best examples of this is when Capulet asks Lady Capulet for a sword and she replies "A crutch, a crutch! Why call you for a sword?" In this line the mockery of Capulet is obvious and appealing to the audience as it is direct. Shakespeare is known to be fond of puns and uses them quite regularly but he doesn't use them as often as the Elizabethan audience expected him to.
