Summary of the play Romeo and Juliet
The play Romeo and Juliet is about two teenagers who fall in deeply in love with each other but this ends up in a complete tragedy because of the two households Montague’s and Capulet’s who are in rivalry with each other. They are involved in a family feud that goes back years before any members were born. Yet the feud still continues due to the fact that neither family is ready to forget the past and move on. The play is set in Verona, Italy. Romeo Montague goes to a party to ease the pain of his broken heart caused by the he loved Rosaline, it’s there where he first meets Juliet and falls in love at first sight. Later he finds out that she is a Capulet the rival family but this does not seem to bother his feelings for so he confesses his love to her in the famous ‘’balcony scene’’’. While confessing love for each other they agree to get married the next day. In hope to end the family feud Friar Lawrence the priest of Verona agrees to marry them. Unfortunately the matters get worse when Tybalt Juliet’s cousin end up killing Mercutio Montague a good friend of Romeo’s which causes Romeo to kill Tybalt in an angry rage. For this Romeo gets punished and is banished from Verona.
At the same time, the Capulet's are planning Juliet's marriage. Juliet does not want to marry this man so she arranges with Friar Lawrence to fake her own death with a sleeping potion that will make everyone think that she is dead. He promises to send the message to Romeo, but unfortunately he does not receive it on time and upon hearing of her “death” goes to Juliet’s tomb. Romeo arrives at the Capulet vault. It is there where he meets Paris who challenges him to a fight but unfortunately is killed. Seeing Juliet lying in the tomb he drinks the poison and dies kissing her lips. Juliet wakes up moments later and sees Romeo dead beside her Friar Lawrence persuades her to run away but does not seem to listen and ends up killing herself with Romeo’s dagger. The rest of the town starts to arrive, including Capulet and Montague. Friar Laurence tells them the whole story. The two families share their sorrow, and finally make peace with each other.
The second balcony scene in Act 3 scene 5 is known to be dramatic and very important as the atmosphere of this scene contains different moods from both Romeo and Juliet. They say their last goodbyes to each other. Juliet asks if they will ever meet again. She says that she has an image of Romeo dead: "Methinks I see thee, now thou art so low, as one dead in the bottom of a tomb.” They say goodbye and Romeo leaves. Romeo answers that, to him, she appear the same way, and that it is only sorrow that makes them both look pale. As Romeo leaves Lady Capulet calls for Juliet, looking at Juliet in tears she mistakes them for grief of Tybalt. Lady Capulet tells Juliet that her father lord Capulet has arranged to get her and Paris married on Thursday. Juliet is disgusted and refuses to marry Paris and says ‘’ "I will not marry yet; and when I do, I swear it shall be Romeo-whom you know I hate- rather than Paris." Lord Capulet enters the chamber and hears Juliet refusing to obey him. He feels unappreciated by Juliet. She asks the nurse what is she to know, the nurse replies and says its all for the best as Romeo is good as dead anyhow. This point Juliet decides to go and meet Friar Lawrence of any hope.
Arranged Marriages
In Shakespeare’s time marriage was an important aspect of life, the ways in which people were matched and married was very evident in many of his works. In Romeo and Juliet you see marriages were different as they were arranged. When Juliet was 14 years old her marriage was arranged with although know one knew of her secret wedding with Romeo who was 15 years old. You can see they were only teenagers. These days it is illegal for people of such ages to get married before 18 but in most countries and cultures people still have marriages arranged for them by family members. These days love marriages are very common. Men and Women decide to marry whom they will fall in love with. They make their own decisions without their parents help. But from looking at Romeo and Juliet this was not the case Lord Capulet did not believe in love marriages However Lady Capulets point is different she tells Juliet that "she gave birth to Juliet when she was almost Juliet's current age, she excitedly continues that Juliet must begin to think about marriage because the valiant Paris has expressed an interest in her but as you can see it was from a mothers point of view.
Love
In act 2 the love between Romeo and Juliet is quiet blissful which is been tested over and over again in many circumstances due to the conflict between the two households from which they come from. After hearing Romeo is to be banished from Verona, Romeo is grief-stricken and overcome by his passion. He refuses to listen to reason and threatens to kill himself. Where as Juliet on the other hand displays a progress from an innocent girl to a mature and loyal young woman. Juliet regains control of herself and realizes that her loyalty must be to her husband rather than to Tybalt, her cousin.
In the play you see that Lady Capulet and Juliet that there’s not much of a relationship, so there's not much love there. She is a flighty, ineffectual mother as you see in Act 1, Scene 3, she dismisses the Nurse, seeking to speak alone with her daughter, but as soon as the Nurse begins to depart, Lady Capulet becomes nervous and calls the Nurse back.
These conflicts of these different types of love create a lot of dramatic tension because everyone has different views on the situation between Paris’s marriage proposal to Juliet. Yet not everybody will get what they want out of it in the end and some people may end up in hurt and sorrow. Our opinion today of love is very different. People think differently now, their mentality would be different so no one would end up in hurt or sorrow. The opinion of love today is that if you love someone enough you will let them be happy and make their own decisions and stand by them when they need you the most.
