Romeo and Juliet however, rushed into their relationship; they let their hearts run away with each other’s causing hurt on the two feuding families, Juliet being a Capulet and Romeo a Montague. Alternatively, on their first encounter of each other’s company they use delicate, poetic language to show their love is pure:
“For Saints have hands, that Pilgrims’ do touch,
and palms to palm is holy palmer’s kiss.” (Act one, Scene 5)
Juliet later doubts their love as being “too rash, too unadvis’d…” (Act two, Scene 2)
The arrival of Romeo at the Capulet’s masquerade ball incensed Tybalt,
Juliet’s cousin:
“This is Montague our foe: A villain that hither come in spite,
To scorn at our solemnity this night”
With Tybalt being such a fiery character, he tries to fight Romeo but Romeo is married to Juliet so therefore he couldn’t fight him. Mercutio, Romeo’s best friend fails to comprehend this, ensuing him in the desire to step in for Romeo. Consequently, he dies. Mercutio feels hurt by Romeo as he sees him as disregarding the love of friendship they share. Before he dies, Mercutio declares to Romeo: “A plague on both your houses!” Romeo then kills Tybalt in revenge for his act of vice resulting in much pain for Juliet and her family. I deem that Tybalt’s love of family honour is to blame for this run of deaths. The audience watching of that time would probably perceive Tybalt’s feelings as somewhat respectable as they were very house-proud citizens. A dramatic device used by Shakespeare to accentuate the passion of this scene is his reference to the temperature. Benvolio comments that “for now these hot days, is the mad blood stirring” meaning, if they meet the Capulet’s then fighting will follow, foretelling the events of this scene for the benefit of the audience. This device prepares the audience and makes them anxious as to how a brawl will begin, after the calm of the preceding scene.
Throughout the play we see Romeo trust in Friar Laurence and he plays a massive part in this play. I realise that he is trying to help save the couple and reunite them but the flaws in his plan are innumerable! Friar Laurence is often seen as a character that tragically meddles with events that he cannot control. Furthermore, he is not only a confidant to the misguided youth but Friar Laurence has a duty to maintain towards all the people of Verona. He is their priest and their role model. But underneath his ceremonial garments he is a man, someone with opinions, desires and fears. I believe that this is what William Shakespeare tried to convey to the audience when he wrote ‘Romeo and Juliet’, that a priest who has strong and important hold over the community will have to fight to prevent a conflict of interests.
In the city of Verona there is a political feud between the two families, the Montagues, Romeo’s family and the Capulets, Juliet’s family. This becomes very important later in the play as it drives the Friar to the extremes that he does. As the audience we have to presume that the Friar would not like to see anger and hatred in his community and he may have seen his position in the church as a way to stop what was happening. The Friar’s involvement hurts Romeo and Juliet because Romeo doesn’t receive the Friar’s letter and thinks Juliet is dead, making Romeo commit suicide then Juliet does this too. The Friar then leaves Lord Capulet without a daughter and Lord Montague without a son adding to his sorrow as Lady Montague died of a broken heart at the news that her son was banished. I think the Elizabethan audience would view the Friar’s actions as love of friendship with Romeo by wedding them and also love of God and the church. I speculate this because Juliet tries to kill herself and he prevents it by this plan. Also he is very good friends with Romeo and he wouldn’t purposely wound his heart.
The nurse hurts Juliet when Juliet is being forced to marry Paris and she looks to the nurse for confidentiality but doesn’t receive it when the nurse states:
“I think it best to marry with Paris as your second marriage
excels your first”.
She betrays Juliet by turning her back on her when she needed help. Nonetheless, Juliet leads me to believe that she hurts the nurse then by not telling her of the plan to fake her death, resulting in the nurse feeling much pain thinking Juliet is dead. The Elizabethan audience must contemplate that the nurse should just do her job and not get so involved and perhaps agree with Lord Capulet’s view of the situation.
Romeo and Juliet hurt their parents by marrying, as they are household enemies and by proving so negligent there is a loss of love of their family honour. However, their parents hurt those by making Romeo banished to Mantua and forcing Juliet to marry Paris. The Elizabethan audience may expect the young lovers to handle their relationship with a naïve, vulnerable approach however they should maintain the customs of the day. Therefore respecting their family’s honour.
The County Paris’s involvement hurts Juliet since Juliet is in such deep love with Romeo. The day before her wedding to Paris, she threatens to kill herself with a dagger whilst in the company of Friar Laurence.
“Do thou but call my resolution wise,
And with this knife I’ll help it presently”.
Prior to this outburst Juliet’s father gets immensely angry with her and hit her when she refused to marry Paris. Elizabethans watching this should be very familiar with this form of love: Courtly love as it was common back then. Arranged marriages were accepted also as families tried to marry into wealth etc. Some may be able to relate to Juliet at that moment in time, whilst others think she’s a fool to resist him and be ungrateful to her family. As Capulet threatens his daughter another Shakespearean father is recalled, that being King Lear. Both men exhibit the dictatorial role of a father at this time, where their anger is led by what society may perceive them as if they cannot control their daughters.
Romeo and Juliet were extremely unlucky with fate. Fate tore them apart then reunited them at the end. They have always been known as the “Star-cross’d lovers”. The couple forever use poetic language like when they share Shakespearean sonnets and iambic pentameter, which proves to a watching audience the purity and depth of their love. I feel Romeo is partly to blame after murdering Tybalt as this caused him to be banished and Juliet to drink the poison, concluding in his own death. Suicidal actions are said to result in the person getting sent to hell after, as “Taking their own life” in Christianity, is morally wrong. The audience watching would not agree with their behaviour. They were doomed from the beginning.
This play constantly relates to the Elizabethan way of life. When The Elizabethan audience see this I think that they would have blamed it all on Romeo and Juliet as they agreed with the way their parents treated them and would have agreed with the way the Capulet and Montague families treated their children. Especially the way Lord Capulet treated his daughter when she refused to marry Paris. The play fits in perfectly with the Elizabethan way of life and their attitude towards their family and parent-child relationships. I think that the Elizabethan audience would have agreed with Lord Capulet threatening his daughter seen as though she had disobeyed him. The Elizabethan’s may share the same view as me and feel that it was fate that tied them together and they died together out of pure love for one another, and that it may be the moral message at the ending of the play.
In conclusion to my essay I can say that Friar Laurence was one individual to blame due to all his meddling and also Tybalt for killing Mercutio meaning Romeo getting banished from Verona for vengeance. It all boils down to the fact that the two houses have too much love of family honour but they all reconcile at the end when Lord Capulet offers his hand to Lord Montague:
“O brother Montague, Give me thy hand…” (Act five, Scene three)
Only till the Death of their children do they realise just how petty these civil brawls really were.
