Romeo and Juliet as a tragedy of fate.
Romeo and Juliet as a tragedy of Fate It has always been the dearest hope of mankind that the twists and turns of life, a seemingly random progression of sheer coincidence, are in fact a part of the designs of some higher order. Somewhere, we reason, there must exist an emergent pattern to the chaos of our existence. To this intangible being who directs our course we have assigned the name of fate. It is fate, and not humble human choice or character, that steers Romeo and Juliet to the tragedy of their deaths. Shakespeare creates a clear path for us to follow, as omniscient spectators, to watch as fate manifests herself through a tightly knit web of chance events. Shakespeare makes it clear on several occasions that fate is in control, and that destiny and not flaw in character directs the tragedy. Fate controls the destiny of Romeo and Juliet through a series of coincidences, which is set into motion by the opposition of the houses of Montague and Capulet. Fate leads the plot from one "chance event" to the next in a closely related sequence. The illiterate servant by pure chance asks Romeo to read him the invitation to the Capulet masque. Romeo and Juliet are joined in union just as Paris coincidentally begins to take an interest in Juliet. Mercutio dies for honor, forcing Romeo to avenge him. By chance Friar John is detained at Mantua, and equally by coincidence
Romeo's letter to his father - Romeo and Juliet.
Dear Father, As you read my last words to yourself I am lying dead not because of a sword wound but because of a broken heart. Confusion and puzzle must be swarming through your head like a beehive but as you come to the last word of this letter you should hopefully understand and forgive me. I received an invitation that invited me to my only foes mansion but I met my only true love there. Rosaline was the one that I thought had my heart but my thoughts were deceived and my eyes saw the truth. As I gazed through my mask I saw her. I asked myself 'Did my heart love till now?' only about a quarter of an hour later I knew the answer to this question. I asked for a kiss and was denied at first. When going to kiss I said thus from my lips, by thine, my sin is purged. Our lips touched and my heart throbbed I pleaded 'Give me my sin again.' As I requested she did. A women interrupted our moment and told Juliet that her 'mother craves a word' with her. 'What is her mother?' I asked with curiosity and the answer that I got was like a sharp pain through my heart. A Capulet I asked myself how can this be? 'my life is my foe's debt' A Capulet or not I had to go and see my lady again and see I did. She appeared at her balcony. She gazed into the star night as I looked into her eyes 'Two of the fairest stars in all the heaven,' I fell more in love. She spoke 'Ay me!' I muttered to
How does Shakespeare use imagery in his play Romeo and Juliet to intensify the drama, create atmosphere and illuminate the central themes?
GCSE Coursework: Shakespeare - Romeo and Juliet How does Shakespeare use imagery in his play Romeo and Juliet to intensify the drama, create atmosphere and illuminate the central themes? In Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet", Shakespeare uses imagery to create atmosphere, intensify drama and illuminate central themes. By using a variety of metaphors, dramatic irony, use of figurative language and his explanation of poetic forms he conveys meaning and character excellently. He incorporates all of these dramatic devices and more to convey the plot and reveal those things that were Elizabethan concerns. Shakespeare starts the play with a prologue. This was very popular in Shakespeare's time and he uses a sonnet to imply love because it was established as a poetic form for love and devotional poetry. It's used to set the scene and describes what is going to happen. It describes Romeo and Juliet as "Star crossed lovers"; this shows the audience the play is going to be about romance but also despair and feuds and not being in control of one's own destiny. The sonnet shows Shakespeare's ability to distil the essence of language and draw the audience into the action. Using the sonnet Shakespeare achieves the 'suspension of disbelief', which shows his class as a writer because it highlights the theatricality of the play, to show the audience that the play is completely fictional.
Romeo and Juliet - how Juliet develops through the play.
Romeo and Juliet The Elizabethan society was patriarchal, meaning that men were considered to be the leaders and women their inferiors. Women were regarded as "the weaker sex", not just in terms of physical strength, but emotionally too. It was believed that women always needed someone to look after them. This is when our play is set so in theory Juliet should obey rules, but as we find out she does not always obey the times of the day just because she is a woman. Throughout this essay, I am going analyse the transformation of Juliet. The Prologue tells us that the prince is effectively wasting his time even thought he does not know it. So this shows the theme of destiny, linking to the prologue: "star cross'd lovers." This tells the audience that the pair of lovers are not meant to be together even before the play starts. We know from the start that she is going on a journey that will result in her transformation Juliet's character in the beginning of the story conveys that she is a very obedient child, this is illustrated by, "Madam, I am here what is your will?" This conveys that Juliet is devoting herself to whatever may be asked of her. Also, the word "Madam" tells us that her family is of higher status in her house than others, so she is respectful and selfless. In this scene Juliet is also referred to as a lamb: "I bade her come, what lamb." This reference to a
How effective is the Prologue as an introduction to Romeo and Juliet?
In my opinion, the prologue is a striking and extremely effective introduction to one of the greatest tragedies ever written. One of the most unusual things about the Prologue is its structure; the fact that it is written in the sonnet form is very significant. The sonnet form of poetry is perhaps the most demanding and challenging poetic form that exists. For hundreds of years the sonnet (of which Shakespeare wrote 154) has been recognised as a structure that is only attempted by the greatest of poets such as Shakespeare or Wordsworth. It is often associated with love poetry and the fact that Shakespeare chooses the sonnet format to open Romeo and Juliet suggests his motive to prepare the audience with the love story to come. The sonnet is made up from 3 quatrains each consisting of 4 lines, with the rhyme scheme a,b,a,b, each quatrain telling us something different about the forthcoming play. The sonnet is finished by a rhyming couplet- a pair of lines that have the rhyming scheme c,c. Some might question why Shakespeare chose such a difficult poetic structure to open the play however it is clear to me that he chose the sonnet to grab the audience's attention but also to demonstrate his showcase of literary talent. The sonnet reveals to the audience the degree of Shakespeare's poetic genius to create a language - which in all its diversity can capture the most beautiful
HOW DOES JULIET'S CHARACTER DEVELOP FROM DUTIFUL DAUGHTER TO INDEPENDENT YOUNG WOMAN IN 'ROMEO AND JULIET'?
HOW DOES JULIET'S CHARACTER DEVELOP FROM DUTIFUL DAUGHTER TO INDEPENDENT YOUNG WOMAN IN 'ROMEO AND JULIET'? "O happy dagger, / This is they sheath; / there rust, and let me die." Juliet Capulet (5:3:168-170) First published in 1595, Romeo and Juliet has consistently been one of William Shakespeare's most renowned plays. It is primarily a tragedy, but it tells of one of the most iconic and famed love stories ever written. It tells of the death-marked love between a pair of star-crossed lovers, who must die to bury their parents' strife and end the ancient grudge between the feuding Capulet and Montague families. It tells the tragic lives of two young lovers, in a heart-gripping story containing light and dark, love and hate, life and death. Essentially, it tells of two young people taking their own lives to forever be joined with love. During this essay, I will follow the heroine, Juliet Capulet, in her story of how she burst into adulthood, and how she made the final decision to end her life forever. The first instance in which Juliet demonstrates independent thinking, is during Act 1 Scene 3, when she is asked by her mother about the possibility of an engagement between herself and the Prince of Verona. "It is an honour that I dream not of." (1:3:66) is Juliet's reply. For the Elizabethan era, this is an odd response, and the audience are unsure of whether or not she
Although centuries old Romeo and Juliet is still relevant today. Do you agree or disagree with this statement?
Although centuries old Romeo and Juliet is still relevant today. Do you agree or disagree with this statement? I strongly agree with this statement the reason being, the story of Romeo and Juliet shows arange of emotions and issues that people from any age, gender or background are able to relate to. This is one of many reasons why the story is such a big success in today's culture. Shakespeare's story is focused on the two young lovers that can't be together and all the anguish that surrounds them, this is true as it follows on in to day's society. At the beginning of the play Shakespeare lets the audience have an insight to what the play may be about, he does that in such a way through the prologue which is featured in the beginning of the play. "From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, where civil blood makes civil hands unclean" this quote shows how Shakespeare intrigues the audience interest by letting the audience question themselves on What the grudge is about. In every young age people have fallen in love against their parent's wishes. Shakespeare has shown this when Romeo sneaks his way into Capulet party, his great enemy, once there he set his eyes upon on Juliet and says ("Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight! For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night") and he fall's head over heels for her as she does for him, once Romeo and Juliet found out about
An analysis of Baz luhrmann's interpretation of 'Romeo and Juliet'.
An analysis of Baz luhrmann's interpretation of 'Romeo and Juliet' Shakespeare uses a prologue at the start of his play for a number of reasons. Firstly, it acts as an introduction to the story. We learn about the rivalry between the two families, ''Ancient Grudge'' it also makes clear that it is a tragic story of two ''star - cross'd lovers '' who are destined to die because of their families hatred. The prologue is like the opening to a film because both need to grab your attention. The setting of Baz Luhrmann's 'Romeo and Juliet' is in the west coast of America, in a setting, which he calls Verona Beach. However this is not true as the beach's real name is Venice Beach but the reason why he uses this is because it reminds everyone where William Shakespeare actually set the play, he set the play in Verona so by changing the name he has made quite a remarkable thing by making sure everyone knows where it is set. The other reasons why he filmed 'Romeo and Juliet' in the west coast of America is because Los Angeles is a big city just like Verona and because there is also a lot of violence and gangs in Los Angeles just like Verona. The types of film Baz Luhrmann used in the prologue are TV news style footage showing you how much of their fighting is causing their city to be more violent, as well as this they are trying to say that what is happening between the Montague's
How does Shakespeare Present the Theme of Love in Romeo and Juliet?
How does Shakespeare Present the Theme of Love in Romeo and Juliet? Shakespeare presents the theme of love in different ways for each of the characters and for some, such as Romeo, Shakespeare's portrayal of this theme changes as the play progresses. Shakespeare's first portrayal of the theme of love is in the first act when Romeo is talking of his love for Rosaline with Benvolio. Here Romeo is very confused as he uses oxymorons such as 'o brawling love, o loving hate,' (line 107) which shows how he is confused by his relationship with Rosaline as she does not return his love. Romeo continues to speak about the pain of love as he says 'being vexed, a sea nourished with lovers tears.' (Line 186) This shows how Romeo feels that he is being tormented by his love and he also, in this line speaks of all the lovers who have shed tears over their love and says how this is keeping the sea levels high by saying that the tears nourish the sea. On the following line Romeo says 'A madness most discrete.' (Line 187.) This line shows love in another light - as madness. Romeo feels that he is being driven mad by his love for Rosaline. The portrayal of Romeo's love changes entirely when, at the Capulet party, Romeo meets Juliet. When Romeo sees Juliet for the first time he begins to speak of Juliet's beauty. He says 'She doth teach the torches to burn bright,' (Line 41 I v.) This shows how
romeo and juliet coursework
EXPLORE THE WAYS THAT SHAKESPEARE MAKES ACT1 SCENE 5 OF ROMEO AND JULIET DRAMATICALLY EFFECTIVE. Romeo and Juliet is probably one the most famous tragic and romantic plays ever to be written. It is set in Verona, Italy, whose ruler is Prince Escalus. He is the law as well as the judge. His main objective is to stop the ancient feud between the Montagues and the Capulets, the two families of Verona from which Romeo and Juliet come from. We can learn from this that any type of marriage between the two families was very unlikely and so the love between Romeo and Juliet would be a secretive and tragic affair. We also know that there is tragedy in the play from the prologue: "From forth the fatal loins of these two foes A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life; Whose misadventur'd piteous overthrows Doth with their death bury their parents' strife." Before Romeo and Juliet meet in Act 1 Scene 5 the audience already has a rough idea about their characters. They know that Romeo is a love struck youth that is bowled over by Rosaline, a young Capulet girl. His youthfulness has been shown to the audience through his state of confusion through love when he is talking about Rosaline to Benvolio, his cousin. Juliet is portrayed to the audience as an obedient young girl who obeys her parents fully and is not prepared to argue. She will do whatever they say as long as
