Romeo and Juliet - Faith or Folly.
William Shakespeare's play, "The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet," is the story of two "star crossed" lovers who both meet a tragic end. They did not imagine that their love would lead into the tragedy, it did. 'Romeo and Juliet' is a tragedy; however, the poetic and vivid manner in which Shakespeare engages the viewer or reader makes this a beautiful play. The first words said in the play are the prologue. In the Prologue we are presented with a brief summary of the play. The Prologue is written as a sonnet, and sonnets were a popular form of poetry in Shakespeare's time; they were a traditional and respected poetic form that usually dealt with a theme of love. A sonnet has 14 lines with a set rhyme scheme, this helps to create a sense of harmony and acts to link the ideas expressed in the sonnet. The feud between the two families was one factor that contributed to the love of Romeo and Juliet being destined for destruction. "From ancient grudge break to new mutiny" The other aspects of their destruction included the nurse and her betrayal of Juliet and the most important aspect of all is fate. The two families, Montague's and Capulet's, hated each other so much and here we are told about the 'ancient grudge' is about, that even their servants hated each other. This feud would have caused many problems for Romeo and Juliet. These two young lovers knew this and this is why they kept their marriage a secret. If their parents discovered their secret, they would have murdered them.
The play is set in Verona where both the Montague's and the Capulet's live. Verona is located in Mantua, this is where Romeo get exiled. The Friar in Romeo and Juliet had been trying to get two rivals, the Montague's and the Capulet's, to unite and end their rivalry. Romeo and Juliet, each from the different families, fall in love and want to be married. Romeo asks Friar Laurence to help him wed Juliet, and the Friar has severe doubts at first about the true intentions of Romeo. When Friar Laurence realizes that the one Romeo wishes to wed is a Capulet, he thinks that their uniting in marriage would lead the families to end their feud. "In one respect I'll thy assistant be; for this alliance may so happy prove to turn your households, rancor to pure love".
A definition of fate would be the power that is supposed to settle, ahead of time how things will happen. Fate seemed to control Romeo and Juliet's lives and forced them together, becoming a large part of their love, and the ending of their parent's hatred. The wheel goes round and round and an individual's fortune may go up and down. Romeo see's his fortune when he marries Juliet, and he says he's in 'fortunes foal', when he kills Juliet's cousin, Tybalt. The prologue refers to 'star crossed lovers' which is another word for fate. Fate became the ultimate control power in this play, and plays a large part in modern everyday life. Fortune and fate are different because fortune is like a wheel, anything can happen. A definition of folly would be a foolish mistake, which can be caused by human actions, and has consequences which may be unseen.
The prologue describes Romeo's and Juliet's fate, which we see come up many times later on in the play. Romeo and Juliet's foreseeable future is stated at the beginning of the play, in the prologue. However, there are still aspects of foreshadowing that further convinces the audience of the importance of the aspect of fate in this play. One example is shown, when Juliet asks the Nurse to find out who Romeo is: "If he be married, My grave is like to be my wedding bed." By this, Juliet means; if Romeo is already married, then she does ...
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The prologue describes Romeo's and Juliet's fate, which we see come up many times later on in the play. Romeo and Juliet's foreseeable future is stated at the beginning of the play, in the prologue. However, there are still aspects of foreshadowing that further convinces the audience of the importance of the aspect of fate in this play. One example is shown, when Juliet asks the Nurse to find out who Romeo is: "If he be married, My grave is like to be my wedding bed." By this, Juliet means; if Romeo is already married, then she does not know what to do with herself, because she thinks she has fallen deeply in love with Romeo. This is dramatic irony when later the 'dead' Juliet lays waiting for her husband (Romeo) and comes to rescue her from her 'death'.
Fate is mentioned at the beginning of the play, in the prologue. We are to see the story of two 'star-crossed lovers'. The audience is left in no doubt that the story is to be tragic. In Act 1, scene 5, Romeo talks of 'some consequence yet hanging in the stars'.
At the Capulets' party, Tybalt is furious at Romeo's presence and wants to kill him. He promises: 'this intrusion shall, for seeming sweet, convert to bitt'rest gall.' He intends to challenge Romeo, but he is tempting fate. The future holds 'bitt'rest gall ' for both families, because he decides to fight Romeo. The fate of the young lovers is caused by the actions of others; they cannot change what happens, but they have to bear the consequences. The deaths of Mercutio and Tybalt lead to Romeo's exile and the proposed marriage of Juliet to Paris. She tries to avoid this and, as a result, Romeo kills himself just before she wakes. Juliet's fate is then in no doubt. Unable to live without Romeo, she ends her life.
Romeo had been in love with a girl who didn't feel the same why about love as he did. Consequently, Romeo was distraught. He thought no woman could be as fair as Rosaline. Romeo's friend, Benvolio, thought differently about Rosaline. Benvolio encouraged Romeo to go to the Capulet's feast and accurately predicted that Romeo would find other girls more attractive than Rosaline. This was highlighted when Benvolio said "Compare her face with one that I show, / And I will make thee think thy swan a crow." ( I. ii. 86-87). Juliet comment on how Romeo kisses, "You kiss by th' book", this is suggesting that Romeo is not an experienced kisser or that he kisses with out passion. This was written when Shakespeare was writing his love poetry and sonnets; this is because the first word Romeo and Juliet say to each other is a sonnet. Romeos ideas of love come from books or stories that he has read. Like Mercutio, he can play word games-as in the first conversation with Juliet which is a sonnet, but Juliet is always one step ahead of Romeo, by being emotionally more mature despite the fact that she is only fourteen years old.
Romeo is an example of the tragic hero. There are six things needed to be a tragic hero, the character has to be of high rank, originally good, in a conflict, flawed, realize his error too late and he/she become isolated. The Friar in this play, expresses and shows all of these traits, and therefore can be considered a tragic hero alongside Romeo.
Juliet Capulet is in love with Romeo Montague. It was love at first sight says Juliet. They met at a Ball thrown by her parents Lord & Lady Capulet for Juliet who was to suppose to marry Paris. Juliet then sees Romeo from across the room. Juliet did not know that her feelings were for someone from the Montague, until the end of the party.
Juliet then goes out on the balcony after the ball, to tell the stars of her forbidden love. Romeo accidentally overhears Juliet's thoughts. This scene shows that Juliet is physically above Romeo, showing that she is like an angel that has come from heaven. The moon is also personified in this scene "Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon, who is already sick and pale who grief", this is showing that the moon is a goddess and the moon is being compared with Juliet. So we get the idea that Romeo worships Juliet, rein forcing some religious ideas expressed in their first conversation. Romeo also compares Juliet to a shrine or a saint and in the conversation that they have it has the concept of religion. "o then, dear saint, let lip's do what hand's do". This is also showing that Juliet is more mature than Romeo; this is because they have just met each other and he already wants to kiss her. Girls at that time were said to be more mature than boys and still are said to be. Juliet was rushed in to getting married because an that time women didn't have much choice in what to do with their lives, it was up to their parents. On the other hand Juliet's parents were hardly there for her. Her mother cannot talk to Juliet about marriage without the nurse being there.
The Nurse is the comic character in the play, due to the fact that everything she says is related to sex. The Nurse is more like a mother to Juliet than her own mother; this is because the Relationship between the Nurse and Juliet is confident. Juliet can freely say anything to the nurse. Juliet told the nurse about Romeo and not her mother. "me you hence to Friar Lawrence' cell, there stays a husband to make you a wife". On the other had the nurse is disloyal to Juliet's because she lets her down, "I think you are happy in this second match (to Paris) for it excels your first (Nurse to Juliet) ancient domination! O most wicked fiend' is it more sin to wish me thus foresworn... (Juliet after the Nurse left)". This is the same type of situation with Romeo; this is because the Friar is like a father figure to Romeo, because the Friar knows all about Rosaline and his own father doesn't, at this point of the play Benviolio, Romeos best friend doesn't know about her. Friar Lawrence plays a dominate role in the eventual death of Romeo and Juliet even though he is not on stage for most of the play.
There are basically three major parts that lead to the tragedy; the marriage, the plan, and the inevitable deaths in all which Friar Lawrence plays a vital role. The Friar is of high rank because he is a priest and a priest at that time period was considered to be the highest of all. The Friar is originally good because he tries to marry Romeo and Juliet to unite the two households but it does not work out. He also is originally good because at first he does not think they should rush into things, but he thinks of uniting the households. "In one respect I'll thy assistant be; for this alliance may so happy prove, to turn your households to pure love" (Act 2 Scene 3.) Friar Lawrence believes that this holy marriage would bring the Capulet family and Montague family closer together; for he waits for that the families will stop hating each other and be peaceful. The Friar marries Romeo and Juliet without their parents consent. His attempts to make the marriage of Romeo and Juliet are admirable but poorly planned. The Friar plan was a failure; he could have helped Romeo and Juliet to run away, rather then them resulting them in dieing. What was equally not planned was that he should get a massage about the plan across to Romeo as soon as possible.
In Romeo and Juliet, events were developed by the choices made by fate, meaning Romeo and Juliet did not choose what path to go on. Some of the choices were crucial to the development of the play's outcome, for instance Romeo's banishment and Paris's engagement to Juliet. By killing off Romeo and Juliet, it meant that Shakespeare was able to reveal the other characters' true identities. Romeo and Juliet were fated to be with each other, but they were also fated to be with each other after death. Shakespeare showed that Romeo and Juliet's fate was controlled through signs, dreams, and premonitions throughout the play, nothing to do with the couple's actions. From the beginning of the play, it was already stated that the young couple were destined to die. "A pair of star-crosses lovers take their life/whose misadventur'd piteous overthrows/Doth with their death bury they parents' strife" To be able to die of fate, one has to believe in fate. Which both Romeo and Juliet did believe in, this is because both Romeo and Juliet overcame any obstacles that came in their way. When considering the destruction of Romeo and Juliet the most significant fact you must think about is fate. Fate destroyed Romeo and Juliet. A lot of what happens in the play reveals that the love of Romeo and Juliet would end in death. "A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life". Also, in the prologue it states that the dreadful course of their love was destined for death. "The fearful passage of their death marked love". Both of these quotes show us that the love of these two was destined to end tragically.
The masquerade party was above all the most important aspect of the play this is because this is the scene where Romeo and Juliet first meet. In the play Romeo and Juliet are very foolish, this is because they act very childish about everything, especially love, this is because they want to get married as soon as possible. Shakespeare is trying to get the message across to the audience that both Romeo and Juliet were too young and too naive. At the end of the play, Prince Escalus says that everyone is punished, and then a few lines later, "some shall be pardoned and some punished". People can be punished for there actions but cannot be punished for fate, for example, Mercutio and Tybalt. Whilst no single person can be held responsible for what eventually happens, each person plays there part. The death of Tybalt resulted in Romeo's banishment, which led into the rush of getting Romeo and Juliet married. This is foolishness because, Romeo and Juliet did not give time for their feelings to settle, an allow them to figure out why they really loved each other.
In my opinion I think it is all fate, except some parts, when they rush into getting married, this is because they didn't know what was going to happen to them, they just went along with what ever came to them.
Kirandeep Jaswal Romeo and Juliet 10x4
