There are many oppositions in Romeo and Juliet and I am going to explore the oppositions that I think are the most important to the play

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English Coursework: Romeo and Juliet

Oppositions

There are many oppositions in Romeo and Juliet and I am going to explore the oppositions that I think are the most important to the play. The oppositions have a marked effect on the play and cause some of the turning points in the play such as the fight scene where Tybalt and Mercutio are killed. There are also clashes of oppositions such as when Romeo tries to love Tybalt in the fight scene in Act 3 scene 1. This shows the oppositions of love and hate coming to a sharp focus. In another sense, the clashing of oppositions also happens in oxymoron.

        The play begins with a dramatic and exciting fight scene, which serves to show is the world that Romeo and Juliet’s love is situated in is a world where chaos and violence rule. This is very much about the hate and honour of the two families and it is also linked to the opposition of private and public. This fight scene does the dual purpose of capturing the attention of the audience, but also introduce us to the major opposition: that of Montague versus Capulet. The whole play is based upon the “ancient grudge” that is shared by these two “households both alike in dignity”. The way in which the fight is portrayed in the Luhrman film, with the petrol station, guns and the background of heavy rock music, emphasised the fast paced excitement of the scene and it is also very good at attracting our attention. The shift of the play from public to private scenes is symbolic of the other tension in the play such as: the loyalty of groups, like Montague and Capulets versus the loyalty of individuals towards each other such as Romeo and Juliet killing themselves so they could be together; as well as the freedom of personal love versus the constraints of social life. For example the hidden marriage between Romeo and Juliet as their parents wouldn’t have let them marry someone from the enemy. And the last tension is the male dominance versus the vision of equality of the sexes seen in the love of Romeo and Juliet. In Shakespearian times, the man was the leader of the household as he made the money, he was head of the house. Nowadays, both male and female work and make money and that vision of male dominance is less. Romeo and Juliet have this modern vision as they are so in love with each other, they don’t really notice much else and spend all the time wondering about the other person such as when Romeo is banished and they are always talking about the other, “Unless philosophy can make a Juliet”, even in Romeo’s darkest hour, he still thinks about Juliet.

The scene also highlights another oppositions that was used by Shakespeare in the structure of the play: that of private and public. Shakespeare orders the scenes of the play so that dramatic and action-filled scenes that involve many characters are interspersed with very private and intimate scenes between two characters. There are also scenes such as act scene 5 when Romeo and Juliet meet and there is a very intimate scene in a very crowded and sort of public area where there are lots of people. The most obvious of these private scenes are those that involve the two young lovers, Romeo and Juliet. A prime example of the Juxtaposition of such scenes is the Capulet party, which is followed swiftly by one of the most famous love duets in history, the balcony scene between Romeo and Juliet.

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        Of course another major oppositions in the play is that of Love and hate. Many characters and various other oppositions are linked to this opposition. It is interesting to examine the character of Romeo and his involvement with love. At the start, Romeo is shown as a young man who is desperately in love. Although he is in love, he isn’t in love with Juliet but Rosaline.It affects his behaviour so much that his father is concerned for him and says that “many a morning has he been seen, with tears augmenting the morning’s dew” which means that Romeo has ...

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