What Factors contribute to Romeo and Juliet's love being shortlived?

Mimi Anim-Nyame 11KL pg

What Factors contribute to Romeo and Juliet’s love being shortlived?

Romeo and Juliet were victims of their own fate. Events around them had a major impact on their love and the fact that they could not be together. The parents were not at the forefront of the feud. The servants causing the parents to face of to each other did most of the feuding. We see this in Act 1 Scene 1 when Gregory and Sampson speak about upholding their master’s name, which is Capulet. They immediately see the Montague servants and instantaneously start a fight with them. This shows that the feuding will continue for a long time. This will eventually cause the two young lovers to take their lives. It can be said that Romeo and Juliet were to blame because they were not able to deal with their situation, which made them make rash and impulsive decisions. In this essay, I will answer this question in five phases.

The first phase is at the start with the prologue. The chorus instantly tell the audience that Romeo and Juliet will die which brings little surprise as the play progresses.

“Two households, both alike in dignity,” this line describes the Capulet’s and the Montague’s; this gives us some clue to why they might be feuding. Status plays a huge part in this play; in the Elizabethan times, status determined how you were treated in life. The Elizabethan audience would have acknowledged this and to them it was everyday life. The families would have been feuding with who was more important. It is significant to notice that the Prince is related to the Montagues, which could have started their feud

“From ancient grudge break to new mutiny…

Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean..

The fearful passage of their death-marked love”

These lines are significant in showing us how the play is going to turn out, how the events unfold, and how they influence the rest of the story. Shakespeare uses very poetic language to illustrate the ill fate of the young lovers. Lines such as “From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, where civil blood makes civil hands unclean,

From forth the fatal loins of these two foes, a pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life;

Whose misadventur'd piteous overthrows” really shows the nature of this play.

The second phase is the problem with the families; this is a major cause for Romeo and Juliet’s love being shortlived. The audience is never told about the nature of the feud. Shakespeare is very clever in doing this. If the reason were known the whole manner of the play would be changed. It would be a negative change or a positive change. It could further the audiences understanding of the two families and it could also change the play from a tragedy into a play with a successful conclusion. This would undermine the deep message that is hidden underneath the play. We see the servants fighting at first and then Lord Capulet and Lord Montague joining in. The fact that the servants are fighting shows us that the feud is not only between the Lords but that it has reached the servants and they are the ones that orchestrate the fighting. The way Shakespeare displays this to the audience is very clever. He gives us signs that the fighting will intensify and have disastrous consequences. Shakespeare wants us to focus on what is being said by each character. He lets us know straight away that the fighting is intense and the insults are sharp and witty. It is also important to note that Benvolio is the peacemaker and Tybalt is the violent rouge. There is stark contrast between the two, Benvolio at the beginning is publicized to be wanting to separate the fighting “Part, fools! put up your swords; you know not what you do.” Tybalt then says after Benvolio asks him to help him part the fighting servants “What, drawn, and talk of peace! I hate the word, as I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee: Have at thee, coward!” This shows that Tybalt is very aggressive and has taken the feud very seriously and it is his mission to kill all the Montagues.

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The third phase is the rash, sudden and quick actions of the young lovers. We meet Romeo first in his love struck mood and his unhappiness and his misery. Romeo is very immature at the beginning when he talks about love. “Why, then, O brawling love! O loving hate!” His heart is poured out to Benvolio, which shows that he and Benvolio are very close. “Love is a smoke rais'd with the fume of sighs; Being purg'd, a fire sparkling in lovers' eyes; Being vex'd, a sea nourish'd with lovers' tears: What is it else? A madness most discreet, a choking gall, and a preserving sweet.” Romeo’s view of love is very clear; he is in love with the idea of being in love. This in turn shows us that he is a young immature boy who is trying to discover himself. He is a contrast to Juliet who is naïve but has discovered the world. This does not hinder the fact that they Romeo and Juliet are made for each other. They fall in love immediately and this shows just how quickly Romeo fell for Rosaline. The events of this play happen over a week. At the party (being held by Capulets) Romeo goes in search for Rosaline, but sees Juliet and at once fall in love with her. He delivers a soliloquy, which in its own right is a sonnet

“O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright…!

For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night.”

After that, Shakespeare shows the two lovers speaking to each other. Shakespeare uses religious language to show the meeting between the two lovers:

Juliet: Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much,

Romeo: Have not saints lips, and holy palmers too?

Juliet: Ay, pilgrim, lips that they must use in prayer.

Romeo: O, then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do”

Shakespeare uses this language to illustrate the love between the two lovers. The first conversation between Romeo and Juliet also provides a glimpse of the roles that each will play in their relationship. In this scene, Romeo is clearly the aggressor. He uses all the skill at his disposal to win over a struck, but timid, Juliet. It is important to note that when Romeo kisses her the first time Juliet does not move and lets Romeo kisses her. She is still a young girl, and though already in her dialogue with Romeo has proved herself intelligent, she is not ready to throw herself into action. This clearly shows her level of maturity and how she is a sharp young girl. This is shown when Juliet’s mother asks her what she thinks of Paris’s proposal of marriage:

She simply replies

This is replies is a contrast to when she meets Romeo. She does a lot growing during the scenes. Romeo and Juliet contrast each other because Romeo is shown to be an immature boy who falls in love quickly while Juliet is revealed to be a quiet yet mature girl. Tybalt is killed after Romeo and Juliet have married which makes it a coincidence. Tybalt plays a major part in the play because he is shown to be rouge and the fact that he takes the feud between the two families seriously shows him to be violent and aggressive. He is always looking for a fight with the Montagues, we see this at the beginning when the servants are fighting and Tybalt arrives promptly. He even tries to start a fight with Romeo at the party held by Capulet. Shakespeare does not go into much detail into Tybalt. However, it is clear to see that Tybalt despises all the Montagues. Another big factor in Romeo and Juliet’s quick decision making is Mercutio; he is Romeo’s best friend and close confidant. Nevertheless, the differences between the two are very clear: Mercutio is loud and extroverted and has a view on everything. He uses very elaborate language (which was common in Shakespeare’s time).

His views on love are much grounded, he says to Romeo who is clearly heartbroken to forget about love and to enjoy himself. This says much about Mercutio’s character and leads us to think why he feels that way. Maybe events in the past have made him think this way; also, you could think that underneath the tough shell on the outside he is vulnerable and needy of affection. He is the first to die as he dies he says

“A plague o' both your houses,” this is foreshadow of what is to come. The plague comes again in the play when the Friar sends a message to Mantua to Romeo stating that Juliet is not really dead and that he should come to the tomb and then leave for Mantua with Juliet does not get to Romeo because the priest sending the message does not get to Romeo because of the plague. If he had given the message to Romeo then the subject of the play would be changed. Juliet’s parents are the ones that make Juliet and Romeo make their hasty decisions because they force their daughter to marry Paris, which in those days was a common affair because it was a patriarchal society where men ruled the councils, towns and the decision making. The fact that Juliet is 13 and getting married in Elizabethan society was a fact. , For the Elizabethan audience it was everyday life. Shakespeare wrote for his day just as playwrights write for our day today, this must be taken into consideration. Juliet’s father at the beginning shows his more caring side by saying to Paris that Juliet is too young to marry:

Then when Paris replies that some girls have been made mothers younger than Juliet, Capulet replies

This shows that he truly loves his daughter Juliet a great deal but is unaware of her feelings. The fact that he tells Paris to wait really contradicts with when Tybalt is killed and he pushes the wedding ahead from three years to 2 days. Although it is important to note that Lord Capulet does this thinking, that it might please Juliet and get her out of her depression of Tybalts death. It can also be noted that he has a short-tempered and he demands respect and is very liable to fly into a rage if his demands or orders are not met. We see this when Juliet says

He replies quite hot headed and angry

The audience is in two minds about Capulet, on the one hand, he loves his daughter deeply and wants to do what is good for her but he makes choices for Juliet and does not really listen to her. Audiences of Shakespeare’s time would have identified with the story. The Capulets would have been seen as good parents who matched their daughter with a prefect match who is in the same class as the family. However nowadays the Capulets are seen as bad parents because nowadays we all have free choice of whom we are going to marry. If Romeo and Juliet were translated into the 21st Century, the parents would be more involved in their daughter’s growth. In the play, they have a nurse who has been the only true mother figure to Juliet. Her actual mother is an ineffectual mother, relying on the nurse for moral and pragmatic support. She herself gave birth to Juliet at the age of fourteen and views that Juliet should be married straightaway. She has an opposite opinion to Lord Capulet, which shows that she and her husband do not get along. She is emotionally detached from her daughter and does not show emotion towards her. In the 1996 film by Baz Luhrmann, we see Lady Capulet as a self-centred woman who does not seem to know anything about her daughter and always relying on the nurse to help her when she needs to talk to her daughter. Much can be said about the Capulets approach to parenting. The Montagues on the other hand are shown to be good parents. At the beginning we see Lady Montague saying “O, where is Romeo? —saw you him to-day? Right glad I am he was not at this fray.” This statement shows that she cares about her son deeply, and is deeply worried about his well being. She is a clear contrast to Lady Capulet; she understands her son and feels for his despair. Shakespeare does not go into much detail into the Montagues. We are only allowed to see the Montague family through Lord and Lady Montague. Lord Montague is also a contrast to Lord Capulet because Lord Montague takes a deep interest in his son. We see this when he says that if he knew why Romeo was so sad then he would find a way to cheer him up. “Could we but learn from whence his sorrows grow, we would as willingly give cure as know.”

The fourth phase is the themes of the play: love, superstition, fate, hate and light. Love is the focus of the play; Shakespeare’s underlining message is that true love can overcome anything even hate. He also uses the most romantic language ever known and it can even be said that his language is rhythmical. Romeo is shown to be affected deeply by Rosaline and we see this line being taken again, when he meets Juliet. They both use sentiments to each other. In addition, the fact that they decide to get married straight after meeting each other brings about the idea love at first sight. Their love is intense and they put their whole being into being together. In Shakespeare’s time, a male actor would have played the part of Juliet because women were seen as second class citizens. In our day the fact that a man was playing Juliet would lessen the audience understanding of Juliet because they would be focusing on the part that Juliet was a man and how the first kiss would be portrayed. To the Elizabethan audience it would be the most ordinary sight because it was normal life for them. I think that Shakespeare made a powerful representation of love when he wrote this play. The theme of hate comes in as well, the hate between the two families. It is important to note that it is not Lord Montague and Lord Capulet that are doing the fighting it is rather the younger generation, the hot headed, quick decisive young generation. The hate between them is re-kindled and especially most noticeable in Tybalt. He takes the feud seriously and is always waiting to have a fight with a Montague. He feels that the Montagues are filth and so must not be respected, his feeling. Hate is seen in every aspect of this play, from the language to the characters themselves. Superstition is a significant theme in this play, it is mentioned in some of the dialogue. The audience is forced to listen carefully and try to catch any mentions of superstition. We see superstition being mentioned when Romeo kills Tybalt he says

“Romeo: O, I am fortune's fool” This statement underlines Romeo’s feelings; this statement shows how fate has played him to be a fool. In Shakespeare’s time, superstition played a major factor in people’s lives; many people thought supernatural forces caused the things that happened. The most significant belief was in witches. This caused a major witch hunt in which thousands of people were killed. This superstitious view of people in Shakespeare was a major basis for most of his plays.

Furthermore the theme of light is important to this play, Romeo makes many references to light. We see this when he sees Juliet at her balcony “But soft! What light through yonder window breaks?”

The reference to light is made again when Romeo goes to see Juliet in the Capulet tomb. “For here lies Juliet, and her beauty makes. This vault a feasting presence full of light.” Romeo uses beautiful language even as he is grief stricken; he says that even Juliet is ‘dead’ her beauty lights up the dark tomb. I feel that Shakespeare has made good use of all these themes to create the atmosphere behind the play.

The fifth and final phase is the part that the Nurse and Friar Laurence play in giving advice to both Romeo and Juliet. The Nurse is a close confidant to Juliet and the Friar is like a father figure to Romeo. Both the Nurse and the Friar are contrasts to each other the Nurse is very ambiguous and in my opinion gives solace to Juliet. She also comforts Juliet after her father hits her. She also adds a bit of humour to this tragic play. When she says “Go, girl, seek happy nights to happy days.” She gives Juliet bad advise, she does not think about the advice she gives. Moreover makes a joke out of everything when she talks her own dead daughter she adds humour

This reveals a possibility that has found that making a joke about everything helps her to deal with her grief. In my opinion, I think that she is a good woman with a good heart who loves Juliet deeply as if she was her own daughter. The fact that she does not know how to give good advice does not hinder her in anyway. Friar Laurence on the other hand is a questionable character. He is a priest that deals with herbs and constructs potions, which makes you question his holiness. He is a man who gives good advice; he marries them secretly with the view that if they get married it would bury the feud between the Montagues and Capulets. When Romeo and Juliet both come to him separately considering suicide, he gives them good advice, he does not panic and is rather calm. When his plan does not work, the audience do not blame him for the plan for working. The audience praise him for devising a plan that would have easily worked if certain circumstances had been avoided. His view on the feud is that people are dying and to prevent this from happening the feud must be overcome. He makes a good observation about young men in love and how they behave which leads us to identify it with Romeo and his infatuation with Rosaline “Young men's love, then, lies, not truly in their hearts, but in their eyes.” This is a true observation about love because people fall in love with their eyes before they fall in love with their heart. He is clearly a well informed man who takes his time when decision making. The fact that he deals with herbs and makes potions would have surprised the Elizabethan audience because they saw Priest as being divine beings that were close to God. To the modern audience they might find it a joke to see a Priest dealing with things like that.