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
The Supernatural in "Macbeth"
Macbeth Supernatural, no matter if you believe in it or not it still attracts the audience's heart. In the time of William Shakespeare there was a strong belief in the existence of the supernatural. Thus, the supernatural is s recurring aspect in many of Mr. Shakespeare's plays. In "Macbeth", the supernatural is an integral part of the structure of the plot. Not only do witches appear but also a floating dagger transforms into reality. Shakespeare intelligently introduced the elements of the supernatural in Act 1, Scene 3. Shakespeare located his scene in a mysterious marshy, deserted "heath" on a day with "thunder", perfect for paranormal activity. Thunder and lightning was believed to be associated with evil, and when the play was presented in Shakespeare's time, cannonballs would be rolled to create the sound effect. Three characters are introduced; immediately we knew that they are involved with the supernatural because the second witch told the others that she was "killing swine". Witches tried to hide from humans in fear of being burned at stakes, so they had to be in an empty heath to meet Macbeth. Back in the day, witches were blamed for the death of animals. Also, the witches repeated phrases three times. "I'll do, I'll do, I'll do" and instead of any other number of witches, there were three of them. The number three was regarded as a magic number. The
