What Is Romeo and Julliet about Essay Example

What Is Romeo and Julliet about Essay Most people know that Romeo and Julliet is a love play. They know that Romeo and Julliet meet and fall in love. Most people know that in the end Romeo and Julliet commite suicide because they cant be together forever so they feel they have to die. In the prolouge it tells us what will happen in very brief details but doesnt say they play ends in a tragedy. The prolouge tells us of a ancient grudge between two familys which turns even more bitter during the play becuase of what happens to Romeo and Julliet. The prolouge also says A pair of star crossed lovers take thier lives. This means the two lovers commite suicide. This is like fate becuase star crossed is like they where destined to be together. The prlouge tells us enough infomation to make us want to read it because you feel curious and you want to know what happens, if you dont already know. We first see the consequences of the ancient grudge in act1 scene 1 when Sampson and Gregory are joking about in the street. When the two men are jokeing about and Abram a Capulet enters onto the scene. Sampson turns to Gregory and says I will bite my thumb at them. Biting your thumb in shakesperes times was like swearing today and would of been taken as a insult. Abram did take it as a insult and they started fighting. Benvolio (a Capulte) was trying to make peace and stopped the fighting by saying Part you fools and getting his sword out and putting the fighters swords to the floor. Tybalt ( Julliets cousin) enters and Says What drawn and talk of peace? I hate the word, As i hate hell and all montagues. These are strong words and a massive brawl involving all the Capulets and Montagues brakes out. The fight brakes out over such a little manor and it was started by Sampson and Gregory. If Sampson wouldnt of biten his thumb at Abram then the fight would not of broken out in the fir st place. I think Sampson was trying to be all matcho but failed misrably because he chickened out in the fight and was really scared. We will write a custom essay sample on What Is Romeo and Julliet about specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on What Is Romeo and Julliet about specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on What Is Romeo and Julliet about specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Everyone is ready for a fight apart from Benvolio. He trys to make the peace and stop what a fight happening. Benvolios character is portrayed as a peacefull young man and he would of made of trouce if it was not for Tybalt entering and provoking a brawl. My first impressions of Tybalt are that of a hatred, sick and rather uptight person in the Baz Luhram film but in the Zefferelli i think that Tybalt is more of a rich tofty person trying to out do everyone else and failing. He is rather matcho and wants to kill montagues so his family name can be strong. Tybalt says As i hate hell, all Montagues, and thee. These are rather strong lines and are powerfull to hear. If you would of heard that and you where a Montague you would of wanted to kill him and that is how the huge brawl erupted again. A actor playing Tybalt should say those lines in a powefull, slow, dark tone of voice. If the actor was close to another character staring at them saying them lines, Tybalt would come across as a sinister, evil person. Lord Capulet and Lord Montague try to join in the brawl but there wifes do not let them. Lord capulet says to his wife Give me my long sword ho!. Lord capulet wanted to join in the fight but his wife would not let him. This is shown well in the Baz Luhram film because they are driving along and Lord capulet wants his gun and Lady capulet blocks him from it. Lord Montague enters and says thou villian Capulet!- Hold me not, let me go. I think they are both rather sad becuase they are ment to be the heads of the family and they take orders from there wifes. Personnally i think they were both scared. This scene was best shown in the Zeffereli film because they where using swords and it looked quite authentic and showed the scenes true nature. Prince Escaluss men enter and try to stop the fight and pull the Capulets and Montagues apart. When Prince escalus delivers his speach he is even to both houses and says If you disturb our streets again, Your lives will pay for the forfiet. I think the Prince is doing a good job because he is trying to make the town a friendly place to live for all the non house hold people and if the only way he can do it is threatening the Capulets and Montagues then im all for it. It is hardfor Prince Escalus to control the violence of the ancient grudge becuase it stems so far back in both familys and each member of the house holds as been brought up to hate the oppsite house hold and Prince Escalus does a good job in trying to control it. The Capulets and Monatgues do not keep to Prince Escaluss word becuase in act 3 scene 1 Mercutio, Tybalt and Romeo all fight in the street becuase Romeo gate crashed the Capulets party. Act 3 scence 1 starts off by Mercutio and the Montague boys relaxing and joking about. Tybalt and the Caplute gang enter looking for Romeo. Romeo walks in and tybalt says to him Thou arta villain. This is a rather strong way to bring Tybalts character across because He uses such hatefull and strong words which shows his true hate for Monatgues. Romeo turns to Tybalt and says the reason that i have to love thee. Doth much excuse the aparting rage. Romeo is tryign to make friends with Tybalt because he has married Julliet but no-one else knows, Tybalt on the other hand thinks Romeo is mocking him and starts a fight. This scene is best shown in Baz Luhrams modern film because after Romeo has delivered the speach he sticks out his hand wanting to shake hands with Tybalt and Tybalt pushs him away. Tybalt asks Romeo to draw. Tybalt wants a shot off with Romeo becuase Tybalt feels that Romeo has dis-honoured the Capulet name. In the Bez Luhram film Romeo walks away and Tybalt chases after him and starts beating him. I think this a good directors desition because it shows hate and love in equal aspects. Mercutio sees Romeo getting beaten up so he goes and fights Tybalt and Tybalt kills Mercutio. When Mercutio gets hurt he says A plague aboth your houses. I think that Mercutio was one of the only people to see that the ancient grudge was nothing more than a silly argument and people are dieing because of it, Mercutio died because of it. After Tybalt kills Mercutio, Romeo is so Tromatised about his best friends death that he chases after Tybalt and kills him. This is silly because Tybalt would of been killed because of what Prince Ecalus said but Romeo was so badly in raged he went and killed him to get back his best friends honour. Mercutio and Tybalt get into a fight because Mercutio makes fun off Tybalt and the other capulets. I blaim Mercutio because if he wouldnt of said anything to Tybalt then he might not of got killed. Romeo enters before Mercutio and Tybalt start to get physical. Romeo doesnt start fighting because he doesnt want to fight becuase he has just got married but Tybalt wants to fight him and trys to fight Romeo but Romeo just takes the beating. Romeo says Villian am i none..Tybalt, the reason that i have to love thee, doth much excuse the greeting. Romeo says this because he has just got married to Julliet and is realted to Tybalt by marrage now. Romeo didnt want to fight Tybalt but Tybalt wanted to kill Romeo. Romeo couldnt tell Tybalt that he had married Julliet because Romeo and Julliet couldnt tell anyone they were married yet. I think that if Romeo would of told Tybalt that he had married Julliet then Tybalt might not of wanted to fight him because Romeo was now part of Tbalts family. Romeo is a peacefull character but his best friend mercutio ends up dead trying to protect him. When tybalt asks Romeo for a dual and Romeo walks away and Tybalt beats him up, Mercutio goes and pulls Tybalt away but Tybalt kills him. Romeo wasnt the reason that Mercutio got killed, he got killed helping out his best friend. You first see Romeos anger once Mercutio gets killed. He feels distrsaught but has to keep his friends honour and goes and kills Tybalt. In Baz lurham film Romeos anger is portrayed very will and he goes chasing him about in his car and shots him with his kind. In Zefferelli films once Mercutio has been killed Romeo runs after him. I think this doesnt show his anger as well as the modern day film because it doesnt portray his anger enough clearly. I think Romeo shows love for mercutio by killing tybalt because he wanted to avenge his friends life and he fault the only way he could do it was to kill Tybalt. I think if Romeo had been cool then he would of realised that Tybalt would of been excuted for killing Mercutio but by Romeo killing Tybalt he has got himself into alot of trouble. When Romeo first comes onto the scene in act 3 scene 1 he is really happy and hasnt got a care in the world other than his love for julliet, but when Mercutio gets killed he is deeply distraught and is in rage hence why he kills Tybalt. If Romeo is found guilty of killing Tybalt he will either get killed or something of the same concequences. Romeo killing Tybalt will have a a huge effect on the capulets and will damge his chances of seeing Julliet. Prince esalus banished Romeo from Verone for killing Tybalt and will never see Julliet again. This must of been devistating for Romeo because his wife who he only married twenty four hours ago will never see him again and he must of deeply hurt. Romeo killing Tybalt will make the 2ancient grudge ever so more hatefull and bigger becuase Tybalt was a very important member of the Capulter family and they might feel hard doen by because Romeo hadnt been excuted for killing Tybalt and will make things even more harder than they all ready are. During the play you do not see Romeo being violent or aggresive because he is not that sort of person he is a romantic and he belives that you do not need to fight and sits down and talks about problems. You nearly allways see Romeo expressing love and tendernous because at the start of the play he is madly in love with Rosaline and he is dreamy and has not got a care in the world other than being with her. Romeo is unhappy in love because every girl he meets he cannot be with so he writes his feelings down through poetry in his book. Benvolio says to Romeo in love? and Romeo replys out . this is symbolic because Romeo loves Rosaline and he cant be with her so he feels sick. Romeo does not cope very well with rejection because he is over come with emotion and cant do anything becuase he feels so bad. In the modern Baz Luhrmann film you see Romeo at the beach being dozy and sad. I think this is effective becuase it gets Romeos over to the viewer. Romeo only goes to the Capulets bal l to see Rosaline but he meets a beutifully lady in Julliet and just like that Rosaline doent exsit any more and he instantly falls in love with Julliet. Romeo uses words like tender , saint , kiss and dear to get over his amedit attraction for julliet. It is Romeos nature to have sudden and extreme feelings because what ever Romeo does it has a emotional side to it. When Romeo and Julliet talk to each other they use a religeous sonnet, Romeo plays they pilgram and Julliet plays the saint. They use words like unworthy and blushing to get over how much Romeo loves her and how soperery Julliet is to him. Romeo and Julliets teenage desires are woven into the sonnet by Romeo wanting to touch her and kiss but Julliet playing hard to get but using religous terms. Romeo and julliet treat each other with respect because they both have fallen in love with one another at first site and they are being like adults and they both want to one another but are just taking there time becuase they want to be together but when they finally get to kiss each other they fell they are in a dream world. When Romeo found out that Julliet was a Capulet he was stunned for a minute and says O dear account my life is my foes debt and Ay, so i fear, the more is unrest. Romeo means that he will not be able to love her because she is a Capulet so he feels depressed. When Julliet finds out that Romeo is a Montague she says my only love sprung from my only hate This is a powerful line because she is saying that the only lover she has ever had is a enemy of the family not her so she cant love him because of her name. The nurse loves Julliet in mothering sort of way because the Nurse has been more like a mother to Julliet than her actual mother and Julliet loves her more than her actual mother to. The Nurse has not got a child of her own because it died at birth so when Julliet was born the Nuse breast feed her so Julliet is like The Nurses baby . The Nurse helps Romeo and Julliet to get married by making the arrangments with the friar and going as a go between for Romeo and Julliet because they cannot be sceen talking together because of there houses. The playright included a comic character in the nurse because there is so much tragedy going on and so much love that you need abit of comedy to stop you crying and by addign in the nurse you often laugh at her sexual jokes and comments. When Julliet refuses to marry Paris her father comes in starts to shout and throw Julliet about. Ther nurse trys to help her by standing in her fathers way ajnd trying to pull him of Julliet but Lord Capluet pushs N urse to the floor. When Julliet asks Nurse what she can do the Nurse says Romeo is bnaished and marry i will. She is saying that Julliet will never see Romeo again because he is banished so she should marry Paris but at this piont in the play Julliet turns against the Nurse because she loves Romeo so much but the Nurse is only trying to what is best for Julliet but Julliet cant see it. When the Nurse finds Julliets body you feel sorry for her because she thinks that Julliet is dead but she isnt and the Nurse has doen so much for Julliet and it has ended so you feel sorry for the Nurse. Friar Laurence agrees to marry Romeo and Julliet because he belives that if the two star crossed lovers where to get married then the ancient grudge between the two familys will stop and then peace could be achived. I think that Friar Laurence had good intentions by marrying Romeo and Julliet but he was misguided abit by Romeo and Julliet because they put him under alot of pressure by doing the wedding so if he was not under the pressure of the two lovers then he might of sceen that there was more at risk. Friar laurence gives gave the two lovers advice on love, he said these violent delights have violent ends. What he is saying here is that for a short period when no one knows they are married they will love it and enjoy it but when people find out what they have done they will not happy and it will be finished. I dont think that the lovers actually know what they where doing by getting married, i think that it was to sudden to fall in love and they where just rushing into it and th ey hwere carried away by there emotions. Romeo and Julliets love is forbidden love, no one can know they are married. The fact that it is forbidden love makes it more fun and intense. The fact that there is a risk of danger in there relationship must make it even more romantique and emotional because there is a dangerous side to it which must give Romeo and Julliet abit of a buzz. Friar laurence others Julliet a kind of strong sleeping potion, He gives her this potion because he tells Julliet thou shalt continue two forty hours, And then awake from a pleasent sleep. Friar Laurence is telling her that whens she takes the potion she will seem to be dead but actually she is just in a heavy sleep and she will awake after a certain time and then he will get Romeo and then they can go away and live happyily. The audience are glad that somebody is still trying to save there love for each other because it seems like there will be no hope but then when the Friar others Julliet this solution you feel abit happyer and think that they might make it after all. Lord Capulet wants Julliet to meet Paris becuase he thinks that Paris will make a excellent husband for his daughter because he is a wealthy successfull business man and Julliet is at the age when she should get married. When Lord Capulet tells Julliet that she is to marry Paris, Julliet says no. This makes Lord Capulet very angry because back in Shakeperes time the father was like the owner of his daughter and he done what he faught was right for her and she didnt get a say in the matter and when Julliet tells him that she doesnt want to marry Paris he feels distraught because he has raised Julliet and she has shown him disrespect. When a modern day audience watchs the play and Lord Capulet says You are mine, i give you to my friend they might not like it because it is a bit sexist and disresoectfull towards women so some people might be against it. A Elizabethan audience would not be suprised when Lord Capulet says You are mine, I give you to my friend because that sort of thing h appens in there time so they think its just common to do so. Julliet does not have a very close relationship with her parents because they wherent really there when she was growing up and have not really treated her with much respect and shown her close parent love but Julliets parents do love her but its a kind of distant love. The Nurse is more a motherly figure for Julliet that her actual parents because the Nurse loves Julliet like her own child and has been there for julliet when she needed help. Shakespere Includes love and sex in his play to make the audience more excited and to try and get the audience more involved with the play. The nurse often makes sexual jokes in a rough and jolly manner because this adds abit of comedy into the play. In act to sceen 5 The Nurse says You know not how to chose a man:Romeo? no, not he, though his face be better than any man, yet his legs excels all mens. The nurse obvious likes Romeo and thinks he is good looking and the audience must think this is quite funny becuase here is this middle aged women and shes talking about men and sex. In the Ben Luhrmann film this potrale of the Nuse is quite funny because the actress who plays here makes the sceen more enjoyable and funny. Mercutio condems love and makes lewd and vulgar remarks about women like in act 2 sceen 4, Mercutio is playing a joke with the nurse and when he is finished and he walks away. When Mercutio is walking away he sings An old hare hoar, And an old hare hoar, Is very good mean in lent; but a hare is hoar is too much for a score when it hoars ere to be spent. I think this a rather bad example of Mercutio hatred towards women because he doesnt actually know the Nurse and he has made some rather bad remarks to her. I think Mercutio is like this because he has had some trouble in the past with women and he has been heart broke a couple of times so his hatred towards woemn might have sprung from this. Romeo and Julliet are never rude or vulgar towards each other they use romantique and loving words to stimulate each others emotions and if they do want to talk about sex or love they use a dramtique aproach and it is quite an effective method. In act 2 sceen 2 Romeo describes julliet as an angel and the sun which are to beutiful things to stimulate beauty and magic. When Julliet says if thy bent of love be honourable thy purpose marriage. I think this a very beutiful moment in the play because it shows that Romeo and Julliet love each other very quickly and how using such romantique words can emulate the effection for one another. The dawn after the wedding when Romeo and Julliet are lying next each other in bed, Romeo says that he must go and Julliet says no but then realises that if he is caught he will be killed so she gets him dressed and and tells him to go. This must of been quite a very emotional moment for Julliet having married Romeo the previous day and now she might not ever see him again. The next time the lovers see each other again is when they both commitee suicide. I think this is the worst moment in the whole film because they didnt get to see talk to each other again. Romeo and Julliet are lying side by side in julliets resting place inside the Capulet tomb. When Romeo enters the tomb paris is in there as well. Paris says This is that banished haughty Montague, That murderd my loves cousin, And here is come to do some villainous shame to the dead bodys. I will apprehend him. Paris thinks that Romeo is there to vandelise Julliets tomb and trys to stop him but he doesnt know that Romeo is Julliet husband and Romeo kills Paris so he can lie side by side with Julliet forever. Paris is not a vistim of the ancient grude because he is not a Capulet or a Montague but he just got caught up in Romeo and Julliets love and got killed trying to brake it up. Romeo talks to his bride (julliet) in a very powerfull way. He uses words like death and fear to get other how badly he feels. Romeo is saying that he is hurt so much he cannot go on any more and then he drinks then poisen and then kisses Julliet one last time and dies. This is the last kiss and proberbly is the most effective because the audience are over come with how much Romeo cared for Julliet and shows what Julliet ment to him. When julliet awakes form her long sleep she sees that Romeo is lying dead next to her. The audience feel upset when Julliet says thy lips are warm because it was only a matter of seconds since Romeo died, Julliet awoke and if she had woke up sooner then they would be happy. Julliet says oh happy dagger because know that Romeo is dead Julliet wants to die to so she can be with him forever so she trys to take the poisen off of Romeos lips but it doesnt work so she picks up Romeos dagger and stabs herself with it. The audience have an image of death at the end of the play because with in a matter of minites three people have died two of them being Romeo and Julliet and this is quite a stong image to see. At the end sceen there are 4 bodies lying in the tomb. At the end of the play we have sceen 5 deaths Romeo and Julliet, Paris, Tybalt and Mercutio. The people who are suffering at the end of the play are Lord and lady Capulet and Lord and Lady Montague because they have lost there children to love and didnt know that they where married so they must feel overwelmed with tragedy. When PrinceEscalus makes his speach nearly everline is harsh to hear, but the hardest of them all must be That heaven finds means to kill your joys with love, and i for winking at your discords too, have lost a brace of kinsmen. All are punished because he is saying that Romeo and Julliets Parents are to blaim for there deaths because of there rivalry they couldnt be together so they had to die. This must be hard on Lord and Lady Capulet and Lord and Lady Montague because hearing that you where responceable for the death of your child is heartbreaking. In the Baz Luhrmann film i think that his final sceen is the best because the actor who plays Prince Escualus de livers the lines with power and they get through to all the charachters. I think the play ends in a hopefull manor because Lord Capulet and Lord Montague shake hands and end the ancient grude which is quite good but still doesnt account for the loss of Romeo and Julliet. I think that Romeo and Julliet lying next to each other and Lord Capulet and Lord Montague shaking hands is enough for the audience because it is the only way that Romeo and Julliet could ever be together and the ancient grudge is broken. I think that love has conquerd hate overall because Romeo and Julliet had to die to brake the ancient grudge and make a better future for the two familys.