It is quite clear to see that ‘Romeo and Juliet’ involves a lot of fate and fortune. The whole story is about two star crossed lovers that both die while trying to be with each other. Juliet even says: “Me thinks I see thee, now thou art below as one dead bottom of a tomb.” This is basically prophesising what is going to happen.
The sense of time moving quickly runs through the play and how the love was sudden also supports this. Earlier on in the play when Romeo is with Rosaline he complains that the day is long which shows us how he feels about Rosaline and that it is in contrast with what he feels about Juliet. This is also ironic because Romeo and Juliet hardly have any time together; they die before they can get together properly.
The play contains quite a few references to nature: Romeo says “Lady of yonder blessed moon I vow with tips of silver all these fruit tree tops” which means Romeo swears his love by the moon. “People are like flowers”- Friar Laurence, it means that they can be poisonous meaning bad or healing meaning good. “I will make thee think thy swan a crow.” Said Benvolio meaning I will make you think beautiful is ugly, this is another metaphor.
Even though light shows positive thoughts it is quite ironic that Romeo and Juliet prefer the dark because that is when they can show their love for each other and hide away from their families.
‘Romeo and Juliet’ has a wide range of characters, in the Montague family there is Romeo who is an only son, and is quite impulsive and passionate because he marries Juliet. At the start of the play he thinks he in love with Rosaline but this is quickly forgotten when he meets Juliet. Romeo’s friend Mercutio gets killed by Juliet’s cousin Tybalt, Romeo avenges the murder.
Old Montague and Lady Montague are the parents of their only son Romeo they aren’t in the play much only briefly in the beginning and the very end but still play an important part because they help the audience understand the family feud.
Other than his mother and farther he has two friends Mercutio is one of Romeo’s friend he always seems to be very energetic, strong and powerful especially by the way he speaks when he.
Another one of Romeo’s friends is Benvolio, he is young and always quite serious about things but usually gets picked on by Romeo and Mercutio, Mercutio says to Benvolio “Thou art like one of these fellows that, when he enters the confines of a tavern, claps me his sword on the table and says, ‘God send me no need of thee!’, and by the operation of the second cup draws him on the drawer, when, indeed, there is no need.”
In the Capulet household there is Juliet who like Romeo is an only child. She is prepared to obey her parents and who they decide for her to marry but when she meets Romeo she falls in love with him.
Tybalt who is Juliet’s cousin is a little like Mercutio in a sense that he is full of energy but is always serious.
Juliet’s nurse is a very strong but plain character. She is closer to Juliet than Juliet’s mother is to Juliet because when Lady Capulet says “where is my daughter?” she does not use her name to address her which shows lack of respect and motherly affection. We also find out that the nurse is eager to assist Juliet in her secret marriage.
The play still attracts modern readers and audiences because it has an original story and a solid structure. The story line is so strong and simple that you could make different versions while keeping the same basic story. The story is also interesting because it is set in a different era and when people read about it or watch it they find out interesting things about the time. The themes are also still relevant today.
PARAGRAPHS ARE TOO SHORT!
Quotes
Act 3 Scene 5 is a very important part in the play because it is the time when Romeo and Juliet need to take another step in their relation in order for it to continue. This is because everybody especially in the Capulet household knows about their relationship and Lord Capulet wants Juliet to marry Paris. It is a catalyst for events that follow.
Before Act 3 scene 5, the audience learns that Tybalt has died, Romeo has been banished and that Romeo and Juliet are now married in secret.
Juliet’s love for Romeo is difficult for her to cope with because she can’t obey her parents and marry Paris and also she can’t tell them about her marriage with Romeo because her parents will be furious. This is because she did it without even them knowing and in those days it was wrong not to marry who your parents have arranged a marriage to.
Juliet could run away and never she her family again or continue loving Romeo but also marry Paris and live a life of continuous secrecy and denial.
In this scene Juliet’s relation with the nurse is still quite strong because she tells Juliet to be careful because she cares about her, “The day is broke; be vary, look about”. She is also sticking up for her and saying Lord Capulet is to blame: “You are to blame my Lord to rate her so.” She also gives her advice at the end of the scene.
Juliet’s relation to her Lady mother is week because she doesn’t give her advice like the nurse does, she just says things like: “what are you mad!” as a reply or “I’ll not speak a word” but she does tell Lord Capulet who is angry at Juliet that he is too hot (“You are too hot”).
The audience learn a great deal of family life in the Elizabethan era like the father is in charge of the house, parents were strict, they had arranged marriages, it was normal for rich people to have nurses and not be close with their children like Lady Capulet.
In Elizabethan times marriages considered to be for the family and not for the individual, it was to make money, unite families and carry on the family name. Women were seen as property, and in this scene we see Lord Capulet Very angry because Juliet was not obeying him and doing something against his will.
Overall this is an important scene in the play because it shows us how Elizabethan times were and it is also tells us a lot about the play because by just reading that scene you can figure out what is going on in the whole play.
Juliet’s and her mother’s relationship is conveyed at the beginning of the extract when she thinks her daughter is crying over Tybalt and says “Some grief shows much of love; But much of grief shows still some want of wit.” This means that too much crying means you don’t love him as much as you would if you weren’t crying. We see that their relationship is quite distant.
There is another dramatic impact which involves irony this is when Juliet says: “And yet no man like he doth grieve my heart.” Juliet’s mother thinks that Juliet is on about how much he hates Romeo by saying he grieves my heart but in actual fact she means that she loves him but it grieves my heart because it’s hard to see him. The audience knows this and obviously so does Juliet herself but Lady Capulet doesn’t know.
There is a lot of conflict and tension between Juliet and her parents because at this point in the play there is a very serious argument between Juliet and her father. The argument contains exaggeration, metaphors, alliteration (“doth drizzle dew”) and long rhythmical sentences that emphasise the words.
Lord Capulet: “How now! a conduit, girl? What, still in tears? Evermore showering? In one little body Thou counterfeit’st a bark, a sea, a wind; For still eyes, which I may call the sea, Do ebb and flow with tears; the bark thy body is, sailing in this salt flood; the winds, thy sighs; Who, raging with thy tears, and they with, Without a sudden calm, will overset Thy tempest-tossed body. How now, wife! Have you deliver’d to her our decree?” Exaggeration when he shows his concern for Juliet, metaphors when he uses Juliet’s emotional state as a boat in a storm, (the boat being the body, the sighs being the wind, the eyes being sea, etc)long rhythmical words that build up when he says “Thou counterfeit’st a bark, a sea, a wind”
At the end of this scene Juliet is very isolated because no one is supporting her or agreeing with her because Lord Capulet is extremely furious with her, Lady Capulet is not speaking with her and the only thing the nurse can say is that it would be wise to marry: “Marry, I will: and this is wisely done.”
Romeo and Juliet would have differed when played in Elizabethan times because firstly the stage would be different it would be outdoor, have no lighting, males playing females and people would take it less seriously they wouldn’t be watching like we would be today because they would be shops and stuff and people would walk around while being crowded they would also be no speakers so they had to be more exaggerated and symbolic. They would also where different clothes and they would where masks.
In conclusion an Elizabethan audience would feel sad but it would me more like a drama something sad that happens commonly everyday. This is because they are used to it and it is accepted in their society but the nature of it and how Shakespeare wanted it was to be a tragedy so they would still respond sadness. Where as a modern audience would be unfamiliar with it and not only be sad but would be shocked as well. To make this scene very dramatic the actor playing Juliet must show a lot of emotion because this will help the audience feel sympathetic and for her and it will also look more believable.
