Romeo and Juliet is a romantic tragedy first performed on the Elizabethan stage in around 1595 Essay Example For Students

Romeo and Juliet is a romantic tragedy first performed on the Elizabethan stage in around 1595 Essay Romeo and Juliet is a romantic tragedy first performed on the Elizabethan stage in around 1595. It was first performed by the Lord Chamberlains company whilst they were the occupants of the Shoreditch Theatre. As this play is a romantic tragedy there are many different ways which the themes of love and death are portrayed. My essay is going to deal and discuss in greater detail these themes and try to discover who is responsible for the deaths. In the play many different types of love are revealed. One type is Romantic love, this form of love is shown throughout the play. Romeo and Juliet fall in love at first sight and he starts to refer to himself as a pilgrim and to Juliet as Dear-Saint. This shows that the feelings he has for Juliet are true and not just sexual. You can see more examples of this in Act 2 Scene 2 where Romeo says Juliet is the sun, and the brightness of her cheek would shame those stars. Juliet too expresses love in a heart-felt romantic way, poetic lines crammed with romantic imagery. The fact that Romeo and Juliets is a secret forbidden love makes their relationship all the more romantic Juliet à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" This bud of love by summers ripening breath, my prove a beauteous flower when next we meet. Act 2 Scene 2 There are many examples throughout the play which shows how pure and innocent their love is. Towards the end of the play Romeo is told that Juliet is dead and he almost instantly decides that he can no longer live without her. This shows how strong their love really was as no one would kill themselves over the death of someone that they have not got the strongest possible feelings for. The play has many allusions to sexual and more uncouth references to lustfulness. This brings me on to another form of love, Sexual love. Right from the very beginning of the play sex is referred to in crude and aggressive terms by the Capulet servants Sampson and Gregory. They are the first characters the audience see and they refer to love as just a physical thing. Their language is earthy and vulgar treating women as weaker vessels and speaking of how the maids of the Montague household will be raped. Sampson à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" Tis true, and therefore women being the weaker vessels are ever thrust to the wall: therefore I will push Montagues men from the wall and thrust his maids to the wall. Act 1 Scene 1 From the outset we see a superficial view of love and sex where women are mere objects of sexual gratification. This is always in stark contrast to the innocent and true love of the star crossed lovers. Another type of love central to the play is the special love between friends of the same sex. Benvolio, Romeos god friend is someone  he can confide in. They share deep inner secrets of their emotions. In Act 1 Scene 1 Romeo talks openly about his desires where love is concerned, speaking of Rosaline and the unrequited idealized love. Instead of mocking him Benvolio is supportive and empathises Romeo à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" This love feel I, that feel no love in this Dost thou laugh? Benvolio à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" No coz, I rather weep. Romeo à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" Good heart at what? Benvolio à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" At thy good hearts oppression. Act 1 Scene 1 If this was not such a close friendship Romeo would never be so revealing about his feelings and what is more, less intimate friends would laugh at the confession. Benvolios suggestion that Romeo attends the Capulet ball shows how he wants to cheer Romeo up and prove to himself that Rosaline isnt right Romeo. Benvolio à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" With all the admired beauties of Verona, Go thither, and with unattainted eye, Compare her face with some that I shall show, And I shall make thee think thy swan a crow. Act 1 Scene 2 Some of the dialogue between Mercutio and Romeo captures this strong sense of friendship. They talk of love in an open candid way. Romeo à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" Is love a tender thing? It is too rough, Too rude, too boisterous, and it pricks like a thorn, Mercutio à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" If love be rough with you, be rough with love. Prick love for pricking, and you beat love down. Act 1 Scene 4 Another kind of love the play deals with is Parental love, which is shown most forcefully in the case of Capulet, father of Juliet. His attitude to his daughters well being is that father knows best. Whatever father says must be right and good for his children, whether they like it or not. Whenever he is questioned he flies into a rage because as far as he is concerned, as the head of the household, Juliet and her cousin Tybalt must abide by his every rule without question. Juliet is to marry Paris. Full stop. No arguments! In Act 3 Scene 5 he makes his wishes clear Analyse sonnet 18, 130, 55 by William Shakespeare and 'Strugnells sonnet' by Wendy Cope EssayTybalt à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" What drawn and talk of peace? I hate the word, As I hate hell, All Montagues and thee There were so many characters in the play that have a tragic end through fate or misfortune but some characters were as you might say cruising for a bruising. Tybalt doesnt miss an opportunity to insult and mock Romeo and his family. Tybalt à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" Romeo the love I bear thee, can afford No better term than this thou art a villain Act 3 Scene 1 Tybalts belligerence results in him challenging Romeo to a duel and even though Mercutio intervenes, Tybalt doesnt care. He has no fear of either of them and will take them both on. Ultimately Mercutio is fatally wounded by Tybalt. Amongst his dying words he says: Mercutio à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" I am hurt. A plague o both houses, I am sped Act 3 Scene 1 These words blame both Romeo and Tybalt for his death. This makes Romeo very angry and gives him the rage to take vengeance on Tybalt. In Romeos eyes, Mercutio had no reason to die and now Tybalt must pay for his actions. This results in a fight between the two in which Romeo is triumphant and kills  Tybalt. I think that Romeo was not to blame for the death of Mercutio, he was not encouraging the fight between himself and Tybalt, in fact he was trying to prevent it. It was Mercutios decision to intervene, not Romeos. I think Tybalt was the one to blame, as by first killing Mercutio, he could then proceed to kill Romeo. Committing murder so readily is never justifiable. As for Tybalts death you could say Romeo is responsible but you would be forgetting his reason for killing him. Unlike Mercutios death this one has a motive. Tybalt had just killed his best friend right in front of his eyes without reason and Romeo is now so angry with Tybalt he is prepared to do the ultimate and kill him with his own hands. So, I think Tybalt was responsible for his own death. After all he was asking for it, and as the saying goes an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. Pariss death is more straight forward than the other two weve talked about. There is one reason and one reason only and that is he wouldnt let Romeo see into the tomb of Juliet. This makes the distressed Romeo even more frustrated and causes him to lash out at Paris resulting in Pariss death. This can only be blamed on Romeo but I dont think he was worried about the consequences of committing murder as he intends to commit suicide anyway. Romeos death is perhaps the most famous death in the play. Romeo kills himself as he thinks Juliet is dead and to him he cannot live without Juliet as she is the love of his life. Earlier in the play Romeo had bought some poison after hearing of Juliets alleged death. After killing Paris he lays down beside Juliet and consumes the entire contents of the poison. Just then Juliet awakes from her deep-sleep just in time to see Romeo die. She tries to take some of the poison but there is none left so instead she kills herself using Romeos knife. I cant really put all the blame on the characters for their own deaths. In fact most of the blame could be put on the two families. If it werent for their feud, Romeo and Juliet would not have had to conceal their relationship and therefore they would not have needed to take any risks which was eventually the cause of their deaths. Conclusion It takes the death of the two lovers to unite these two feuding families. When they finally make up, its over the bodies of their beloved children. Its a tragedy of obstinacy, short-sightedness and sheer petty mindedness. Love and friendship is thrown aside as a consequence of less noble motives. This though is only acknowledged right at the end of the play. It could be argued that the nurses love is the most enduring love  of the play because whatever happened, the nurse constantly supported Juliet. Of all Shakespeares tragedies, Romeo and Juliet is the most romantic. However this does not mean it is any less powerful than Macbeth or Othello. In some ways it could be seen as doubly tragic as there are two terrible unnecessary deaths. The story would have been well known to Elizabethan audiences but how he adapted it would have stirred the audiences greatly. We do know that suicide was a sin to the Elizabethans, so the shock factor of Romeos death would wet their appetite for the outcome.