Language Literature Coursework Shakespeare; Romeo Juliet Essay Example For Students

Language Literature Coursework: Shakespeare; Romeo Juliet Essay Q. How does Shakespeare maintain tension and interest in Act 1 scene 5 and who do you blame for Romeos and Juliets death? Shakespeare maintains interest in Act 1 scene 5 using dramatic devices like dramatic irony, mood/atmosphere, shifts of focus, contrasts of emotion language etc. As well as imagery, hyperbole, contrast of language and so on. Shakespeare tends to use contrast which means placing two things in comparison (in this case probably two characters) highlighting the qualities of one thing to the less apparent one. For instance when the feeling of pain is contrasted with the feeling of relaxation people would appreciate relaxation because they wouldnt know what I would be talking about unless they felt pain. In other words, contrast shows the reader the appreciation of one quality only through the experience of both the qualities that are being juxtaposed. The essay that I will be writing will be about what characters are the most to blame for Romeo and Juliets death, but first I will be writing about how Shakespeare maintains tension and interest in Act 1 scene 5. At the end of Act 1 scene 4, the mood of the play is foreboding this is due to Romeos soliloquy as it seems that he has foreseen his death, Romeo expresses this by saying a consequence, yet hanging in the stars knowing that fate doesnt allow him to be with Juliet. Also Romeos soliloquy consists of dramatic irony Shakespeare shows this vile forfeit of untimely death which means that Romeo is having a premonition of something that might happened to him gravely. This is dramatic irony as the audience knows what will happen to Romeo and that his premonition is of his death. Furthermore Shakespeare creates tension by Romeos carefully chosen words announcing his strong belief in God. He that hath steerage of my course and Direct my sail these are also metaphors that Shakespeare uses describing a ship carrying Romeos fate and God as the ships captain. He is also representing fate as the sea; the reason for this is that the sea depicts a force of power and unpredictability. Shakespeare continues using dramatic irony in this scene as the audience already know that Romeos fate is fixed. Also Shakespeare represents God as stars; this could be because they were seen as mystical and powerful objects during Romeos time. From this scene the reader can see that Romeo is troubled and doesnt know whether to go to the Capulets ball or not. In anguish he expresses his great belief in religion and rests his fate in God, showing his fatalistic bravery. Basically, in this scene the atmosphere is serious as there is tension because of Romeos soliloquy. In the opening of act 1 scene 5, Shakespeare relieves the tension of Romeos soliloquy from the last scene with servants of the Capulets getting ready for the ball; the atmosphere is wholehearted with the servants in a happy mood joking among each other. The scene changes to Lord Capulet and his cousin inviting the guests to the ball whilst reminiscing about their youth when they once used to go to balls and dance. The mood at this point is one of excitement, anticipation, nostalgia and humour. This positive sense among the Capulets continues when the pay suddenly switches to Romeo once he gatecrashes. Once Romeo sees Juliet he considers her to be the most beautiful girl he has ever seen as he had neer saw true beauty till this night. The effect of this is instantaneous as Romeo is captivated by her beauty. Romeo expresses his love for her by contrasting her to a rich jewel he also associates her with a glowing light and compares her to a dove among crows presuming that her beauty outshines every other girl, he then concludes his speech with a question Did my heart love till now? this suggests that Romeos love for Juliet is so strong that he cannot think that he loved a girl as much as this. Shakespeare uses metaphors i.e. a rich jew el to portray to the reader Juliets beauty and Romeos love for her. Romeos emotions and thus the tone of the play at this point are the ones of desire, love and passion. Shakespeare immediately juxtaposes these emotions with ones of anger, hatred and frustration as Tybalt enters and sees Romeo. Shakespeare contrasts Romeos gentle love speech and Tybalts hatred for Montagues. The reader can notice that Tybalt is as eager to hate as Romeo is to love. Whilst Tybalt is rearing for a fight with Romeo, Capulet is a calming influence and stops him due to Romeos good reputation, yet Tybalt persists to fight Romeo saying Ill not endure him. Capulet becomes angry at Tybalts disobedience but still restrains him. Nevertheless, Romeo pursues Juliet; Shakespeare shows their connection by making a duet take place between them in sonnet form. The sonnet consists of words related to religion as words are mentioned pilgrims, holy shrine, saint, faith, prayer etc. these somehow cause isolation to the rest of the ball, focusing on their passionate love. As Romeos and Juliets speeches towards each other contains religious overtones but most of the sonnet refers to the human body and touching and kissing and they actually touch and kiss each other. However their formal use of language has a dignified tone which focuses on sincerity and purity of their love for each other. The mood at this stage is again one of desire, passion and love. After their sonnet, the atmosphere changes to a dramatic one as Romeo learns that Juliet is a Capulet, the family that is at a feud with his own. Romeo is at distraught and expresses this saying My life is my foes debt. As the guests leave Juliet also discovers that Romeo is from her familys enemy, she becomes distressed with the idea of Romeo being a Montague and says if she cannot marry him she will die- this is an ominous comment. Juliet continues saying My grave is like to be my wedding bed this tells the reader that death is portrayed as a bride groom, although this image occurs again at the end. Moreover Juliet now feels devastated due to the fact that she has found her only love within the family that she was brought up to hate as she says My only love sprung from my only hate! Shakespeare ends this scene on a cliff-hanger, creating tension between the characters. This scene also gives it away to the audience what might befall Romeo as the scene leaves them with questions, lik e Is Romeo going to carry on seeing Juliet and at what cost-death? Overall, we can see that Shakespeare uses a variety of dramatic devices suited to what atmosphere he wishes to create or how much tension he may inflict upon the characters. He maintains interest by using contrast which is to highlight one quality by placing to another quality so the reader may see the appreciation of it. He also uses things like a sonnet to portray how strong the connection between Romeo and Juliet is, as well as imagery which was used in Romeos soliloquy. William Shakespeare - Taming of the shrew EssayThe Montagues, who are the family of Romeo, do not appear much in the play but are obviously in the feud with the Capulets. The Capulets who are Juliets family are much involved as they are the ones who host the ball and Lord Capulet-Juliets father-is the one who pressurizes her to get married to Paris like making an ultimatum. But at some other times he acts as a loving father, this makes it very difficult to analyse Lord Capulets character as he behaves quite contradictory. Juliet compared to Romeo is more involved in her familys situations, her mother who in those times didnt care for her when she was young but was rather given to a maid to look after, this shows how much their is a connection with Juliet and her mother which is hardly any. Juliet also shows much more maturity and independence even though she is under the age of fifteen. At the beginning of the play the reader can suggest that Juliet is an obedient daughter to her parents but she suddenly changes this when she meets Romeo, yet Shakespeare makes Juliet seem more perceptive and intelligent than Romeo she is also aware of the problems she will face because she says O Romeo, Romeo wherefore art thou Romeo. Deny thy father and refuse thy name She probably obeys him because of their utmost love towards each other, this is shown at the end of the play when Juliet kills herself, there is irony due to the fact that it was fate that had brought them together and it was fate that had destroyed t hem both. The Nurse also acts as a confidant, and she ahs a much stronger bondage with Juliet then Juliets mother, Shakespeare shows this when Lady Capulet wanted to talk to Juliet about Paris proposal however she had found it uncomfortable and then called for the Nurse as they had a stronger connection. The reason for this is that The Nurse had a daughter about the same age as Juliet but sadly died while an infant, she was then looking after Juliet and saw her as her daughter caring for her, giving her a mothers love that she never had from her own mother. Furthermore this could suggest that Juliets absence of love from her own parents-which should have happened naturally-acted as a catalyst for her to love Romeo that bit more and was willing to defy her parents name for it. The Nurse is a sincere intended person although she has a bawdy sense of nature, all the actions that the Nurse does is seen by her for Juliets benefits. As I had said before, the Nurse acts as Juliets confidante and help ing her throughout the ordeal she faces but Juliet thinks of her disloyal and is shocked once she the Nurse advises Juliet to marry Paris and reconsider Romeo. Benvolio is basically the peacekeeper of the play as he says I do but keep the peace This in juxtaposition to Tybalts character is hugely diverse, as Tybalt is more or less the opposite of Benvolio. Also Benvolio is a person which can be trusted as it was him that the Prince asked for information about the feud, Benvolio is also more cautious than Romeo in love and has the tendency not to fall in love deeply. Mercutio on the other hand is of a lively nature rather than a peacekeeper; he also uses imaginative language such as Queen Mab to describe his views of abstract things e.g. love, peace and so forth. Mercutio who is clever and eloquent in speech indicates that he cares little for life or death, but even though they have contradicting views of life Mercutio is considered to be loyal to Romeo and interferes on his behalf to fight against Tybalt causing him to die. Tybalt who by far surpasses everyone else in hate and anger towards the feud held between the two families. He proves this by attacking not only Benvolio seen as a peacekeeper but then was encouraging his uncle Lord Capulet to fight against Romeo and Mercutio who had gate crashed at the time. Tybalt expresses his hate and enmity towards the Montagues and everything that stands in its way like for instance peace saying What, drawn and talk of peace? I hate the word, as I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee. This further shows his ever increasing passion towards hate and loyalty towards his family. In conclusion, Romeo and Juliet is a romantic tragedy which consists of tension, amusing parts and the climax of several characters actions. Thought and emotion play a major role as they all somehow revolve around each other. In addition to this every character has a part to blame for the death of Romeo and Juliet however fate which people at the time believed in or were fatalistic- that life was controlled by a more powerful force or presence. There are numerous key characters that are to be blamed for the death of Romeo and Juliet, but fate is the most to be blamed. It is as if fate will not allow these two to be together and in result a tragic event occurs. This takes a toll on both the families as well as the royals as Paris and Mercutio were killed. When Romeo and Juliet die it causes the feud to end as both families finally recognize their wrong and mourn for the death of their young. Furthermore the Princes family were affected by the feud as well, as two of their relatives were killed; Paris and Mercutio. Actually both of them had died due to their own fault as it was Mercutios pride and quick temper and Paris anger and misunderstanding. But what plays mostly in everything of this play is fate. However there was a minor repelling force which allowed Romeo to meet Juliet but fates course was to repel these two lovers as they werent meant to be, all these actions are against fate. Also once fate culminates it becomes unstable as it reaches its peak, finally it then releases the mounting pressure and a tragic event occurs time after time leaving death behind its trail; Mercutio, Tybalt, Paris, Romeo and Juliet.