william shakespeare romeo and juliet essay

Romeo and Juliet

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Romeo and Juliet: Introduction

Romeo and juliet: plot summary, romeo and juliet: detailed summary & analysis, romeo and juliet: themes, romeo and juliet: quotes, romeo and juliet: characters, romeo and juliet: symbols, romeo and juliet: literary devices, romeo and juliet: quizzes, romeo and juliet: theme wheel, brief biography of william shakespeare.

Historical Context of Romeo and Juliet

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• Full Title: Romeo and Juliet
• When Written: Likely 1591-1595
• Where Written: London, England
• When Published: “Bad quarto” (incomplete manuscript) printed in 1597; Second, more complete quarto printed in 1599; First folio, with clarifications and corrections, printed in 1623
• Literary Period: Renaissance
• Genre: Tragic play
• Setting: Verona, Italy
• Climax: Mistakenly believing that Juliet is dead, Romeo kills himself on her funeral bier by drinking poison. Juliet wakes up, finds Romeo dead, and fatally stabs herself with his dagger.
• Antagonist: Capulet, Lady Capulet, Montague, Lady Montague, Tybalt

Extra Credit for Romeo and Juliet

Tourist Trap. Casa di Giulietta, a 12-century villa in Verona, is located just off the Via Capello (the possible origin of the anglicized surname “Capulet”) and has become a major tourist attraction over the years because of its distinctive balcony. The house, purchased by the city of Verona in 1905 from private holdings, has been transformed into a kind of museum dedicated to the history of Romeo and Juliet , where tourists can view set pieces from some of the major film adaptations of the play and even leave letters to their loved ones. Never mind that “the balcony scene,” one of the most famous scenes in English literature, may never have existed—the word “balcony” never appears in the play, and balconies were not an architectural feature of Shakespeare’s England—tourists flock from all over to glimpse Juliet’s famous veranda.

Love Language. While much of Shakespeare’s later work is written in a combination of verse and prose (used mostly to offer distinction between social classes, with nobility speaking in verse and commoners speaking in prose), Romeo and Juliet is notable for its heady blend of poetic forms. The play’s prologue is written in the form of a sonnet, while most of the dialogue adheres strictly to the rhythm of iambic pentameter. Romeo and Juliet alter their cadences when speaking to each another, using more casual, naturalistic speech. When they talk about other potential lovers, such as Rosaline and Paris, their speech is much more formal (to reflect the emotional falsity of those dalliances.) Friar Laurence speaks largely in sermons and aphorisms, while the nurse speaks in blank verse.

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William Shakespeare – Romeo and Juliet Essay

Shakespeare’s most popular tragedy to date is invariably, Romeo and Juliet. Believed to be written between 1591 and 1595, the play explores various elements ranging from the attraction between the young lovers to the feud between their families and life in the sixteenth century. Set in the city of Verona, Romeo and Juliet contains a variety of literary devices that portray the play as vividly as possible. In fact, immense importance has been given to seemingly unimportant characters and events. And this is where Shakespeare’s genius lies. They play is thus embellished with several characters, each of a different temperament.

Romeo and Juliet begins in the streets of ‘fair Verona [1]’ where the servants of the Capulets and the Montagues are having a brawl. Fed up with the constant warring between the families, the Prince announces that if there is another such brawl, death shall be the final penalty. But in the midst of this hostility is the melancholy son of the Montagues, Romeo, pining for his unrequited love Rosaline. Benvolio, Romeo’s cousin persuades him to go a ball at the Capulet home where he might get a chance to meet not only Rosaline, but also other ‘beauties of Verona [1].’

At the ball though, young Romeo falls in instant love with the beautiful Juliet. Later, the two discover they belong to families that loath each other, yet they decide to marry in secret. In the events that ensue are more fights and duels. Tybalt, a conniving and head-strong Capulet, and Mercutio, Romeo’s friend battle till Mercutio is killed. Incensed, Romeo kills Tybalt. Romeo is then banished from Verona. And Juliet is now due to marry Paris, a kinsman of the Prince within three days.

In desperation Juliet seeks help from Friar Lawarence, who gives her a potion that will make her appear dead for two days. On the wedding day, believed to be dead, she is entombed in the Capulet vault – this where the tragedy happens. The messenger who is to inform Romeo about the potion and Juliet’s transient ‘death’ does not reach Romeo in time. Romeo hears of Juliet’s supposed death and is stricken with grief. He takes poison, goes to her tomb where he finds Paris, whom he kills. In despair Romeo drinks the poison and dies by Juliet’s side. Juliet though, a while later, awakens, but to her horror, her love is lying dead next to her. She then stabs herself with Romeo’s dagger. The families enter and realize what their fruitless feuding and fighting had done, and decide to reconcile their differences.

Shakespeare employs many different literary elements and dramatic skills to make the play captivating and also entertaining. One of the most prominent of these is the sudden shift between comedy and tragedy. Consequently, the readers, or the audience is in a state of constant suspense, not knowing what to expect. For example, before Mercutio’s death, the scene is largely comic. But suddenly, one of the most prominent of characters dies.

Shakespeare also uses the aid of several different sub-plots. These sub-plots provide support to the main plot of the play. In fact, without these plots, the play would lose much of its charm. An interesting little plot is Romeo’s interest in Rosaline, at the beginning. This also reveals the immature side of Romeo. His love for Rosaline lacks depth and passion; in fact, often he seems to be infatuated with the idea of love rather than Rosaline.

Later though, one can compare how his feelings change when he actually falls in love with Juliet. This too develops slowly. His first feelings for her too are not particularly deep. But later the two develop more of a mature relationship. Other dramatic devices used by Shakespeare include the punning typical of most of Shakespeare’s plays. But the one dramatic plot that dominates the play is that of hostility and hate. The play begins with the servants of the two families squabbling. The affair between Romeo and Juliet is thus set in a background of extreme enmity. Shakespeare also uses poetic language as a powerful tool to convey especially, the romance of the two lovers.

Most of the play though is in blank verse, which does not follow a rhythm. On analyzing the play, one can also come across many themes. Most important and obvious is that of love. The love between Romeo and Juliet is classic. Shakespeare depicts their love as a very powerful force. The emotions described depict feelings of intensity and force. There is Romeo and his poetry where he compares his love to the sun. And then there is Romeo, violent, and brash. Another important theme in the play is that of light and darkness, depicted in the form of day and night. Romeo compares his love to the ‘bright sun [1],’ ‘a lamp [1],’ ‘bright angel [1]’ and that she is like ‘a jewel sparkling in the night [1].’ Juliet compares their love to lightening. Even in the vault, Romeo exclaims that her presence had made the vault ‘full of light [1].’ The morning after the death of the lovers, the Prince says that the morning is ‘gloomy,’ and that ‘the sun, for sorrow, will not show his head [1].’ The theme of light and darkness describes how their love, like light was opposed by the outside world of darkness.

The passage of time is also important in the play, and is closely related to the theme of light and darkness. In the beginning, time seems to be passing leisurely when young Romeo is pining for his supposed love Rosaline. Suddenly though, time starts moving quite fast, changing the course of events. In fact, had there been even a little more time, the play might have ended with the lovers uniting. Juliet claims that her affair with Romeo is moving too fast, ‘too rash and sudden [1].’

Later Lord Capulet insists on Juliet marrying Paris within three days. This sets another time frame. And it eventually leads to the tragedy. Shakespeare also uses fate and the power of destiny in the play. In fact, fate and destiny are cardinal themes of most Shakespearean plays. In the opening chorus the reader is told the lovers are ‘star cross’d [1].’Later both Romeo and Juliet make references to stars, implying predestination and fate. When Romeo learns of Juliet’s death, he is unwilling to believe it. ‘Then I am willing to defy you stars [1].’ Another theme in the play is that of family values.

The backdrop of the play is about the Capulets and the Montagues. When Romeo and Juliet learn of each others identity, they know their love is ‘forbidden.’ The feud between the two families appears to be well known, but without obvious reason. Their disputes and their pride did not allow them to realize that their differences were petty. And this is what the families realize when they see their children dead. ‘In fact, one mark of the play’s greatness lies in the way different characters respond to the family pressures which alternately define, nourish, and sometimes suffocate them [2].’

Over time, Romeo and Juliet has been performed all over the world, in many different languages. One reason for its success can also be the fact that even though it is set in Verona, in the sixteenth century, its story is by no means limited. In fact, it is relatable in all cultures and all times. The other reasons for its success are of course, because of Shakespeare and his amazing style. Romeo and Juliet has also been adapted in various movies over time. ‘In our own time, the Zefferelli motion picture and the Broadway production of West Side Story are well established [3].’ ‘Coincidence, chance, unawareness: fate weaves its inexorable pattern against the background of a bitter and deadly feud, working through persons who would never knowingly harm the lovers, but who do so nonetheless [3].’

‘Shakespeare wrote almost no original plots. He used an English poetic retelling of an old Italian tale: Arthur Brooke’s The Tragicall History of Romeus and Juliet [4].’ But even with the plot in mind, the play Shakepeare wrote is remarkable. Even though Romeo and Juliet was written over four hundred years ago, it remains, till today, one of the most popular and adored tragedy’s of English literature. ‘Eventually, their (Romeo’s and Juliet’s) misfortunes and their loves have healed the enmities of which they were the victims [5].’

Works Cited:

• Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet
• Flachmann, Michael. Romeo and Juliet: Family Matters. Midsummer Magazine. 1998
• Romeo and Juliet: A Tragedy of Pity and Pathos. Utah Shakespearean Festival. (Also available at http://www.bard.org/education/studyguides/romeoandjuliet/romeotragedy.html)
• Study Guide for Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet (1591?). 2000, February 2. (http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/love-in-the-arts/romeo.html)
• Bates, Alfred. Romeo and Juliet. The Drama: Its History, Literature and Influence on Civilization. 1906 (pp. 6-13) (Also available at http://www.theatrehistory.com/british/romeoandjuliet001.html)

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Master Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet using Absolute Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet essay, plot summary, quotes and characters study guides.

Plot Summary : A quick plot review of Romeo and Juliet including every important action in the play. An ideal introduction before reading the original text.

Commentary : Detailed description of each act with translations and explanations for all important quotes. The next best thing to an modern English translation.

Characters : Review of each character's role in the play including defining quotes and character motivations for all major characters.

Characters Analysis : Critical essay by influential Shakespeare scholar and commentator William Hazlitt, discussing all you need to know on the characters of Romeo and Juliet.

Romeo and Juliet Essay : Samuel Taylor Coleridge's famous essay on Romeo and Juliet based on his legendary and influential lectures and notes on Shakespeare.

Literary Theory and Criticism

Home › Drama Criticism › Analysis of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet

Analysis of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet

By NASRULLAH MAMBROL on July 25, 2020 • ( 6 )

Shakespeare, more than any other author, has instructed the West in the catastrophes of sexuality, and has invented the formula that the sexual becomes the erotic when crossed by the shadow of death. There had to be one high song of the erotic by Shakespeare, one lyrical and tragi-comical paean celebrating an unmixed love and lamenting its inevitable destruction. Romeo and Juliet is unmatched, in Shakespeare and in the world’s literature, as a vision of an uncompromising mutual love that perishes of its own idealism and intensity.

—Harold Bloom, Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human

Romeo and Juliet, regarded by many as William Shakespeare’s first great play, is generally thought to have been written around 1595. Shakespeare was then 31 years old, married for 12 years and the father of three children. He had been acting and writing in London for five years. His stage credits included mainly histories—the three parts of Henry VI and Richard III —and comedies— The Two Gentlemen of Verona, The Taming of the Shrew, The Comedy of Errors, and Love’s Labour’s Lost. Shakespeare’s first tragedy, modeled on Seneca, Titus Andronicus , was written around 1592. From that year through 1595 Shakespeare had also composed 154 sonnets and two long narrative poems in the erotic tradition— Venus  and  Adonis   and  The  Rape  of  Lucrece.  Both  his  dramatic  and  nondramatic  writing  show  Shakespeare  mastering  Elizabethan  literary  conventions.  Then,  around 1595, Shakespeare composed three extraordinary plays—R ichard II, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Romeo and Juliet —in three different genres—history, comedy, and tragedy—signalling a new mastery, originality, and excellence.  With  these  three  plays  Shakespeare  emerged  from  the  shadows  of  his  influences and initiated a period of unexcelled accomplishment. The two parts of Henry IV and Julius Caesar would follow, along with the romantic comedies The Merchant of Venice, As You Like It, and Twelfth Night and the great tragedies Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth, and Antony and Cleopatra . The three plays  of  1595,  therefore,  serve  as  an  important  bridge  between  Shakespeare’s  apprenticeship and his mature achievements. Romeo and Juliet, in particular, is a crucial play in the evolution of Shakespeare’s tragic vision, in his integration of poetry and drama, and in his initial exploration of the connection between love and tragedy that he would continue in Troilus and Cressida, Othello, and Antony  and  Cleopatra.  Romeo  and  Juliet   is  not  only  one  of  the  greatest  love  stories in all literature, considering its stage history and the musicals, opera, music, ballet, literary works, and films that it has inspired; it is quite possibly the most popular play of all time. There is simply no more famous pair of lovers than Romeo and Juliet, and their story has become an inescapable central myth in our understanding of romantic love.

Despite  the  play’s  persistence,  cultural  saturation,  and  popular  appeal,  Romeo and Juliet has fared less well with scholars and critics, who have generally judged it inferior to the great tragedies that followed. Instead of the later tragedies of character Romeo and Juliet has been downgraded as a tragedy of chance, and, in the words of critic James Calderwood, the star-crossed lovers are “insufficiently endowed with complexity” to become tragic heroes. Instead “they  become  a  study  of  victimage  and  sacrifice,  not  tragedy.”  What  is  too  often missing in a consideration of the shortcomings of Romeo and Juliet by contrast with the later tragedies is the radical departure the play represented when compared to what preceded it. Having relied on Senecan horror for his first tragedy, Titus  Andronicus,  Shakespeare  located  his  next  in  the  world  of  comedy and romance. Romeo and Juliet is set not in antiquity, as Elizabethan convention dictated for a tragic subject, but in 16th-century Verona, Italy. His tragic protagonists are neither royal nor noble, as Aristotle advised, but two teenagers caught up in the petty disputes of their families. The plight of young lovers pitted against parental or societal opposition was the expected subject, since  Roman  times,  of  comedy,  not  tragedy.  By  showing  not  the  eventual  triumph  but  the  death  of  the  two  young  lovers  Shakespeare  violated  comic  conventions,  while  making  a  case  that  love  and  its  consequences  could  be  treated with an unprecedented tragic seriousness. As critic Harry Levin has observed, Shakespeare’s contemporaries “would have been surprised, and possibly shocked at seeing lovers taken so seriously. Legend, it had been hereto-fore taken for granted, was the proper matter for serious drama; romance was the stuff of the comic stage.”

Shakespeare’s innovations are further evident in comparison to his source material.  The  plot  was  a  well-known  story  in  Italian,  French,  and  English  versions. Shakespeare’s direct source was Arthur Brooke’s poem The Tragicall Historye of Romeus and Juliet (1562). This moralistic work was intended as  a  warning  to  youth  against  “dishonest  desire”  and  disobeying  parental  authority. Shakespeare, by contrast, purifies and ennobles the lovers’ passion, intensifies  the  pathos,  and  underscores  the  injustice  of  the  lovers’  destruction.  Compressing  the  action  from  Brooke’s  many  months  into  a  five-day crescendo, Shakespeare also expands the roles of secondary characters such as  Mercutio  and  Juliet’s  nurse  into  vivid  portraits  that  contrast  the  lovers’ elevated lyricism with a bawdy earthiness and worldly cynicism. Shakespeare transforms Brooke’s plodding verse into a tour de force verbal display that is supremely witty, if at times over elaborate, and, at its best, movingly expressive. If the poet and the dramatist are not yet seamlessly joined in Romeo and Juliet, the play still displays a considerable advance in Shakespeare’s orchestration of verse, image, and incident that would become the hallmark of his greatest achievements.

The play’s theme and outcome are announced in the Prologue:

Two households, both alike in dignity, In fair Verona, where we lay our scene, From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean. 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.

Suspense over the lovers’ fate is eliminated at the outset as Shakespeare emphasizes the forces that will destroy them. The initial scene makes this clear as a public brawl between servants of the feuding Montagues and Capulets escalates to involve kinsmen and the patriarchs on both sides, ended only when the Prince of Verona enforces a cease-fire under penalty of death for future offenders of the peace. Romeo, Montague’s young son, does not participate in the scuffle since he is totally absorbed by a hopeless passion for a young, unresponsive beauty named Rosaline. Initially Romeo appears as a figure of mockery, the embodiment of the hypersensitive, melancholy adolescent lover, who  is  urged  by  his  kinsman  Benvolio  to  resist  sinking  “under  love’s  heavy  burden”  and  seek  another  more  worthy  of  his  affection.  Another  kinsman,  Mercutio, for whom love is more a game of easy conquest, urges Romeo to “be  rough  with  love”  and  master  his  circumstances.  When  by  chance  it  is  learned that Rosaline is to attend a party at the Capulets, Benvolio suggests that they should go as well for Romeo to compare Rosaline’s charms with the other beauties at the party and thereby cure his infatuation. There Romeo sees Juliet, Capulet’s not-yet 14-year-old daughter. Her parents are encouraging her  to  accept  a  match  with  Count  Paris  for  the  social  benefit  of  the  family.  Love  as  affectation  and  love  as  advantage  are  transformed  into  love  as  all-consuming, mutual passion at first sight. Romeo claims that he “ne’er saw true beauty till this night,” and by the force of that beauty, he casts off his former melancholic  self-absorption.  Juliet is  no  less  smitten.  Sending her nurse  to  learn the stranger’s identity, she worries, “If he be married, / My grave is like to be my wedding bed.” Both are shocked to learn that they are on either side of the family feud, and their risk is underscored when the Capulet kinsman, Tybalt, recognizes Romeo and, though prevented by Capulet from violence at the party, swears future vengeance. Tybalt’s threat underscores that this is a play as much about hate as about love, in which Romeo and Juliet’s passion is  increasingly  challenged  by  the  public  and  family  forces  that  deny  love’s  authority.

The  first  of  the  couple’s  two  great  private  moments  in  which  love’s  redemptive and transformative power works its magic follows in possibly the most famous single scene in all of drama, set in the Capulets’ orchard, over-looked by Juliet’s bedroom window. In some of the most impassioned, lyrical, and famous verses Shakespeare ever wrote, the lovers’ dialogue perfectly captures the ecstasy of love and love’s capacity to remake the world. Seeing Juliet above at her window, Romeo says:

But soft! What light through yonder window breaks? It is the East, and Juliet is the sun! Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon, Who is already sick and pale with grief That thou her maid art far more fair than she.

He overhears Juliet’s declaration of her love for him and the rejection of what is implied if a Capulet should love a Montague:

O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy father and refuse thy name! Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, And I’ll no longer be a Capulet. . . . ’Tis but thy name that is my enemy. Thou art thyself, though not a Montague. What’s Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot, Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part Belonging to a man. O, be some other name! What’s in a name? That which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet .So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call’d, Retain that dear perfection which he owes Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name; And for that name, which is no part of thee, Take all myself.

In  a  beautifully  modulated  scene  the  lovers  freely  admit  their  passion  and  exchange vows of love that become a marriage proposal. As Juliet continues to be called back to her room and all that is implied as Capulet’s daughter, time and space become the barriers to love’s transcendent power to unite.

With the assistance of Friar Lawrence, who regards the union of a Montague and a Capulet as an opportunity “To turn your households’ rancour to pure  love,”  Romeo  and  Juliet  are  secretly  married.  Before  nightfall  and  the  anticipated consummation of their union Romeo is set upon by Tybalt, who is by Romeo’s marriage, his new kinsman. Romeo accordingly refuses his challenge, but it is answered by Mercutio. Romeo tries to separate the two, but in the  process  Mercutio  is  mortally  wounded.  This  is  the  tragic  turn  of  the  play  as  Romeo,  enraged,  rejects  the  principle  of  love  forged  with  Juliet  for  the claims of reputation, the demand for vengeance, and an identifi cation of masculinity with violent retribution:

My very friend, hath got this mortal hurt In my behalf; my reputation stain’d With Tybalt’s slander—Tybalt, that an hour Hath been my kinsman. O sweet Juliet, Thy beauty hath made me effeminate And in my temper soft’ned valour’s steel!

After killing Tybalt, Romeo declares, “O, I am fortune’s fool!” He may blame circumstances for his predicament, but he is clearly culpable in capitulating to the values of society he had challenged in his love for Juliet.

The lovers are given one final moment of privacy before the catastrophe. Juliet, awaiting Romeo’s return, gives one of the play’s most moving speeches, balancing sublimity with an intimation of mortality that increasingly accompanies the lovers:

Come, gentle night; come, loving, black-brow’d night; Give me my Romeo; and, when he shall die, Take him and cut him out in little stars, And he will make the face of heaven so fine That all the world will be in love with night And pay no worship to the garish sun.

Learning the terrible news of Tybalt’s death and Romeo’s banishment, Juliet wins her own battle between hate and love and sends word to Romeo to keep their appointed night together before they are parted.

As Romeo is away in Mantua Juliet’s parents push ahead with her wedding to Paris. The solution to Juliet’s predicament is offered by Friar Lawrence who gives her a drug that will make it appear she has died. The Friar is to summon Romeo,  who  will  rescue  her  when  she  awakes  in  the  Capulet  family  tomb.  The Friar’s message to Romeo fails to reach him, and Romeo learns of Juliet’s death. Reversing his earlier claim of being “fortune’s fool,” Romeo reacts by declaring, “Then I defy you, stars,” rushing to his wife and breaking society’s rules by acquiring the poison to join her in death. Reaching the tomb Romeo is surprised to find Paris on hand, weeping for his lost bride. Outraged by the intrusion  on  his  grief  Paris  confronts  Romeo.  They  fight,  and  after  killing  Paris, Romeo fi nally recognizes him and mourns him as “Mercutio’s kinsman.” Inside the tomb Romeo sees Tybalt’s corpse and asks forgiveness before taking leave of Juliet with a kiss:

. . . O, here Will I set up my everlasting rest And shake the yoke of inauspicious stars From this world-wearied flesh.

Juliet  awakes  to  see  Romeo  dead  beside  her.  Realizing  what  has  happened,  she responds by taking his dagger and plunges it into her breast: “This is thy sheath; there rest, and let me die.”

Montagues, Capulets, and the Prince arrive, and the Friar explains what has happened and why. His account of Romeo and Juliet’s tender passion and devotion shames the two families into ending their feud. The Prince provides the final eulogy:

A glooming peace this morning with it brings. The sun for sorrow will not show his head. Go hence, to have more talk of these sad things; Some shall be pardon’d, and some punished; For never was a story of more woe Than this of Juliet and her Romeo.

The  sense  of  loss  Verona  and  the  audience  feels  at  the  lovers’  deaths  is  a  direct  result  of  Shakespeare’s  remarkable  ability  to  conjure  love  in  all  its  transcendent power, along with its lethal risks. Set on a collision course with the values bent on denying love’s sway, Romeo and Juliet manage to create a dreamlike, alternative, private world that is so touching because it is so brief and perishable. Shakespeare’s triumph here is to make us care that adolescent romance matters—emotionally,  psychologically,  and  socially—and  that  the  premature and unjust death of lovers rival in profundity and significance the fall of kings.

Romeo and Juliet Oxford Lecture by Emma Smith

Analysis of William Shakespeare’s Plays

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“Romeo and Juliet” by William Shakespeare: Play’s Concept Essay

Romeo and Juliet is one of the greatest love stories of all time. Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written by Shakespeare and it is thought to have been written in 1595 or 1596. The play is set in the city of Verona. It is a tragic love story and the love between Romeo and Juliet eventually killed them in the end. Romeo and Juliet were responsible for their own destiny and from the start to the end they their love remains strong.

The young lovers Romeo and Juliet are both from families who hated each other for centuries. Their love causes many tragic events to occur as they are from a family of Capulet and Montague. Romeo and Juliet is a tragic story of a forbidden love due to their families’ strong objection to their love. The two young lovers’ untimely death ultimately united their feuding families.

“William Shakespeare was born allegedly on April 23, 1564 in Stratford- Upon-Avon. The church records of Holy Trinity show that he was baptized on April 26 th , 1564. In reality” (Shakespeare’s Birth para. 1) the actual date of Shakespeare’s birthday is unknown. William Shakespeare father was John Shakespeare who was a Glover and leather merchant. His mother was Mary Aden who was a landed local heiress. According to the church register of Holy trinity, William Shakespeare was the third of eight children.

Little is known about Shakespeare’s education and it is alleged that he probably attended the endowed grammar school of Stratford where he learned “little Latin and less Greek” as referred by Ben Johnson. In 1582, Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway, who was eight years his senior. In 1587, Shakespeare left his family to pursue his dreams in London where joined Burbage’s company of players. Shakespeare poems marked the beginning of his success.

His poem “Venus and Adonis” became immensely popular in London. After this he wrote a succession of wonderful plays, – Merchant of Venice, As you like it, twelfth night, Julius Ceaser , Hamlet, Mac Beth, Othello, King Lear, Antony and Cleopatra etc. “At the time of Shakespeare’s death twenty- one plays existed in manuscripts in various theaters” (William).

There are many controversies as to when exactly Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet . Apart from this, many historians are claiming that the works of Shakespeare are really the work of Edward de Vere. “Many Oxfordians believe that the true author of Shakespeare’s plays was an aristocrat named Edward De Vere” (History of Doubts Surrounding the Authorship of Shakespeare’s Works). Edward de Vere was the 17th Earl of Oxford and was born in 1550. He graduated from Cambridge University at a tender age of 14.

The theories that the work of Shakespeare’s was that of Edward de Vere was based on the upbringing , knowledge , education and many of the similarities of works between the two writer. Many historians believed that the Edward De Vere wrote plays and sonnets under the pseudonym of Shakespeare. Despite all these allegations and theories, there is no concrete proof to that Edward de Vere was the real author of Shakespeare’s plays as many of Shakespeare’s plays were written after the death of Edward De Vere.

In Romeo and Juliet, the development of characters eventually led to the tragedy of the main characters. The characters developed throughout the story. In the beginning of the story, we are introduced to a young girl Juliet. Juliet is the daughter of Capulet and Lady Capulet. The development of Juliet in the play is the most dynamic as she undergoes a huge transformation in terms of love, loyalty and maturity. At the beginning of the play Juliet is a carefree and innocent girl who is not ready to settle down in life.

When her nurse jokes about the sexual life of marriage to Juliet, Juliet goes on to tell the nurse that ‘It is an honor that I have not dreamt of’ “(Romeo and Juliet: Act 3, Scene 5). From this we can see that Juliet is not ready to marry yet and has not taken the responsibility of settling down in life. Juliet in the beginning shows no intention of marrying and has not taken the responsibility of fulfilling her parents wish.

Juliet rapidly evolves into a mature young lady and transforms into a determined, sober-minded woman in the four day span in the play. Her sense of loyalty to her parents is shown in her dutiful determination to try to love Paris, her fiancée, “I’ll look to like, if looking liking move” (Romeo and Juliet: Act 3, Scene 5). She is an obedient who is respectfully to her mother and sensible towards her parents need, “Madam, I am here, / what is your will?” (Romeo and Juliet: Act 3, Scene 5).

Juliet rapidly transform from a carefree young girl to a lady after she falls in love with Romeo. She no longer feels the need to comply her parents wish or the need to sacrifice her happiness for her parents. She revolts against her parents by and stands by her decision to die rather than marry a person whom she does not love: “If all else fail, myself have power to die”(Romeo and Juliet: Act 3, Scene 5 244). Her love for Romeo makes her defy her parents wish.

In her relationship with Romeo, Juliet gives her all and is loving, faithful and strong. She is the one who suggests that they get married even without their parents’ approval. Often times, Romeo is rash in decision, but Juliet always seems to be clear headed. Her maturity is seen in the balcony scene of Act 11, scene 2, when she comments about the rashness of their love “It is too rash, too unadvis’d, too sudden.”

Juliet lives under the control of a patriarch. She has very little freedom and is completely dependent on her father. However, she is prepared to leave everything dear to her life and marry her lover Romeo. She matures throughout the play and abandons her family to be with Romeo.

Juliet bravery is noteworthy as she is a mere child of 14 years old. She makes logical decision and does not rush to anything. Even when Romeo kills Tybalt in his rash decision, Juliet takes time to think about her decision to marry Romeo. She does not blindly follow Romeo when she makes a decision that her guiding priorities should be her true love, Romeo.

After a lot of thinking and reflecting, she finally awakes from her prior social life – the nurse, her parents as well as her social standing in Verona to reunite with her lover. When Juliet wakes from her sleep in the tomb to find her husband dead, she stabs herself with a dagger out of the intensity of her love for Romeo. Juliet development from an innocent, naïve girl to a strong, independent woman is one of Shakespeare triumph in characterization.

The love of Romeo and Juliet is a remarkable love as they have to undergo many obstacles to be united. Many good things come out of their love as their death finally united the family of Capulet and Montague. It is a tragedy that their families have to find out through the death of the young lovers that love always triumphs. The death of Romeo and Juliet finally end the bitter feud between the Capulet and Montague. The Chorus also reminds us that “their death [will] bury their parents’ strife,” (Shakespeare & Pearce 204).

Works Cited

History of Doubts Surrounding the Authorship of Shakespeare’s Works. Oxford Society. 1995. Web.

Pearce, Joseph. Romeo and Juliet: William Shakespeare . Lgnatius Press. San Francisco. 2011. Web.

Romeo and Juliet: Act 3, Scene 5 . Shakespeare Navigator. n.d. Web.

Shakespeare’s Birth. Amanda Mabillard. 1999. Web.

William, J. Long. English literature: Its History and Significance. BiblioBazaar, 2007. Print.

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The prologue of Romeo and Juliet calls the title characters “star-crossed lovers”—and the stars do seem to conspire against these young lovers.

Romeo is a Montague, and Juliet a Capulet. Their families are enmeshed in a feud, but the moment they meet—when Romeo and his friends attend a party at Juliet’s house in disguise—the two fall in love and quickly decide that they want to be married.

A friar secretly marries them, hoping to end the feud. Romeo and his companions almost immediately encounter Juliet’s cousin Tybalt, who challenges Romeo. When Romeo refuses to fight, Romeo’s friend Mercutio accepts the challenge and is killed. Romeo then kills Tybalt and is banished. He spends that night with Juliet and then leaves for Mantua.

Juliet’s father forces her into a marriage with Count Paris. To avoid this marriage, Juliet takes a potion, given her by the friar, that makes her appear dead. The friar will send Romeo word to be at her family tomb when she awakes. The plan goes awry, and Romeo learns instead that she is dead. In the tomb, Romeo kills himself. Juliet wakes, sees his body, and commits suicide. Their deaths appear finally to end the feud.

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Romeo And Juliet Essay for Students and Children

500+ words essay on romeo and juliet.

Romeo and Juliet is the most famous love tragedy written by William Shakespeare. This is a story of love and fate. Furthermore, the basis of this tragic love story is the Old Italian tale translated into English in the sixteenth century. The story is about two young star-crossed lovers whose death results in reconcile between their feuding families. Moreover, Romeo and Juliet is among the most frequently performed plays by Shakespeare .

Lessons of Love from Romeo and Juliet

First of all, Romeo and Juliet teach us that love is blind. Romeo and Juliet belonged to two influential families. Furthermore, these two families were engaged in a big feud among themselves. However, against all odds, Romeo and Juliet find each other and fall in love. Most noteworthy, they are blind to the fact that they are from rival families. They strive to be together in spite of the threat of hate between their families.

Another important lesson is that love brings out the best in us. Most noteworthy, Romeo and Juliet were very different characters by the end of the story than in the beginning. Romeo was suffering from depression before he met Juliet. Furthermore, Juliet was an innocent timid girl. Juliet was forced into marriage against her will by her parents. After falling in love, the personalities of these characters changed in positive ways. Romeo becomes a deeply passionate lover and Juliet becomes a confident woman.

Life without love is certainly not worth living. Later in the story, Romeo learns that his beloved Juliet is dead. At this moment Romeo felt a heart-shattering moment. Romeo then gets extremely sad and drinks poison. However, Juliet was alive and wakes up to see Romeo dead. Juliet then immediately decides to kill herself due to this massive heartbreak. Hence, both lovers believed that life without love is not worth living.

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Legacy of Romeo and Juliet

Romeo and Juliet is one of Shakespeare’s most popular plays. Furthermore, the play was very popular even in Shakespeare’s lifetime. Scholar Gary Taylor believes it as the sixth most popular of Shakespeare’s plays. Moreover, Sir William Davenant of the Duke’s Company staged Romeo and Juliet in 1662. The earliest production of Romeo and Juliet was in North America on 23 March 1730.

There were professional performances of Romeo and Juliet in the mid-19th century. In 19th century America, probably the most elaborate productions of Romeo and Juliet took place. The first professional performance of the play in Japan seems to be George Crichton Miln’s company’s production in 1890. In the 20th century, Romeo and Juliet became the second most popular play behind Hamlet.

There have been at least 24 operas based on Romeo and Juliet. The best-known ballet version of this play is Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet. Most noteworthy, Romeo and Juliet have a huge impact on literature. Romeo and Juliet made romance as a worthy topic for tragedy. Before Romeo and Juliet, romantic tragedy was certainly unthinkable.

Romeo and Juliet are probably the most popular romantic fictional characters. They have been an inspiration for lovers around the world for centuries. Most noteworthy, the story depicts the struggle of the couple against a patriarchal society. People will always consider Romeo and Juliet as archetypal young lovers.

Q1 State any one lesson of love from Romeo and Juliet?

A1 One lesson of love from Romeo and Juliet is that love brings out the best in us.

Q2 What makes Romeo and Juliet unique in literature?

A2 Romeo and Juliet made romance as a worthy topic for tragedy. This is what makes it unique.

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Romeo and Juliet William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare.

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Romeo and Juliet Essays

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Home — Essay Samples — Literature — Romeo and Juliet — Romeo And Juliet Argumentative Essay Argument

Romeo and Juliet Argumentative Essay Argument

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• Romeo and Juliet Essays

William Shakespeare Romeo and Juliet Essay

When positioned side by side, a critical assessment of the film Shakespeare in Love and the play Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare, offers insight into the life and mind of the playwright. We are offered a glimpse into the hypothetical history of William Shakespeare and the events that one can imagine may have inspired his great works. Shakespeare in Love is a largely fictional account of the life of William Shakespeare who, although his plays enjoy continued success after hundreds of years, is known very little about. Rather than rely solely on the sparse facts available, Stoppard has interweaved the story of William Shakespeare’s life with that of one of his most read plays: Romeo and Juliet.

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In this way, Will—as he is referred to throughout the film—becomes less of a historical figure and more of a literary character in his own right; Stoppard has created a Romeo with wisdom, showing the audience what might have happened to the tragic lovers had they been less rash. Although Will is fresh faced and handsome like his counterpart, Romeo, he also has maturity and the ability to think things through. Essentially, although many parallels exist between the works, each positive and negative turn of events in Shakespeare in Love speaks to responsibility and sacrifice for the greater good rather than the impulsiveness and selfishness of youth.

In the original play, Romeo and Juliet, it is love at first site, with the two falling in love upon first meeting and marrying soon after. Although Romeo woos her with beautiful words, it is clear that attraction is rooted in the chemistry they feel upon meeting more than anything else. Their families are locked in a perpetual feud and Juliet is betrothed to another man, which makes their love forbidden. This of course makes the affair more exciting but more complicated as well.

When Romeo is banished for murder, Juliet concocts a plan to fake her own death but Romeo is never informed of it and kills himself in grief. Waking to find him dead, Juliet kills herself and their families are left to deal the fall out from their deaths. We are left to believe that they agree to restore peace among them.

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Shakespeare in Love, on the other hand, related the story of a young noble woman who falls in love first with Will’s poetry, his ability to use words to paint pictures and invoke deep emotions. Many of these words are used within the film, creating a play within a play. Rather than create a direct parallel, wherein all of the elements follow a recognizable predetermined path based upon the play, Stoppard chooses to sprinkle these elements throughout the action.

The feud, for example, is not between the families of the lovers for example, but between two play houses—The Rose and The Curtain—and their playwrights—Marlowe and Shakespeare. However, the death of Marlowe and the shutting down of The Rose sparks a truce between the two houses. “Will Shakespeare has a play. I have a theatre,” (Stoppard) says the owner, Burbage, when he offers his stage to the now defunct players.

Loss brings together these warring groups, just as it did in Romeo and Juliet; however the lesson here is greater. When both children are dead, a truce serves only to prevent further bloodshed. It will not bring these children back nor allow them to enjoy the peace that their deaths have brought. It is a bittersweet victory. However, when the two play houses form a truce, they are both elevated beyond their previous quality, producing a play worthy of the Queen’s approval and praise as one that is able to truly demonstrate love.

This diversion from the play serves to move the action forward by giving the play a stage, it provides everyone involved with some measure of success, and one could learn a lesson in cooperation—if they were so inclined—as neither party could have reaped the rewards on their own, our lovers Will and Viola included.

Another parallel between the plays is the morning after the lovers have first consummated their love affair and are torn from each other by the quickly approaching day. The dialogue of Romeo and Juliet is so reminiscent of the dialogue between Will and Viola that one might venture to guess that Stoppard is trying to suggest that the passage below was inspired by such an event in Shakespeare’s own life.

“It was the lark, the herald of the morn; 
No nightingale. Look, love, what envious streaks 
Do lace the severing clouds in yonder East. 
Night’s candles are burnt out, and jocund day 
Stands tiptoe on the misty mountain tops.


I must be gone and live, or stay and die.” (Shakespeare, Scene III Act V)

Viola and Will argue over whether the birds they hear are the own or the rooster but the idea communicated is the same. The morning is a dreadful thing for two lovers who must meet only under the cover of darkness lest they be discovered. However, Viola eventually banishes Will from her bed because she knows that his work is more important than a few more moments together. He is to create theatre, an art she holds closely to her heart, and she cannot imagine holding him back from that pursuit.

The line “You would leave us players without a scene to read today?!”(Stoppard) from the film during the scene when Viola sends Will away from her bed that first morning is not as straightforward as it may first appear. The word “us” indicates that she counts herself among the players, a vocation forbidden to women in that time period. By sending Will away to complete his work, she is not only allowing more art into the world and furthering Will’s career, but she is providing herself with the vehicle by which she will eventually realize her dream of acting on stage for an audience.

Every moment with Will is fleeting no matter how hard they try to make them last. Rather than sacrifice the moment solely so they may meet up again like Romeo and Juliet, Viola sacrifices time with the love of her life so that they, and others, will benefit in a deeper and more lasting way. The experience of the final performance, in which Viola takes the stage as Juliet, will undoubtedly leave a mark on all the players and certain members of the audience, such as the Queen. Furthermore, the play itself is a testament to the value of Viola’s sacrifice; had she kept Will in her bed all day, we might not have the play to read, perform, and watch today, almost four hundred years later. In this way, the legacy of her sacrifice is immortal.

This world renowned play, as previously discussed, ends in the tragic death of the two young lovers. One can’t help but feel that, aside from the selfishness and impulsiveness of youth, the deaths were partly to blame on poor communication. Had either known what the other had in mind, the tragedy may have been avoided. Romeo would have had the patience to await Juliet’s awakening and the two would have been reunited. It is unknown, of course, whether their problems would have persisted beyond that point, where they would have fled to, and how they would survive on their own. We can never know this because these two young people chose to die rather than to suffer the loss of one another, thereby stepping out on their duties to their families and leaving them in grief. Despite being romantic, this kind of behavior is impulsive and selfish; it is not a long term plan and doesn’t account for the good these people might have gone on to do had they lived.

The ending to Shakespeare in Love follows an entirely different path. Viola and Will say their goodbyes and agree to always love each other but to go on and fulfill their duties far away from each other. To refuse to follow Wessex to America would not only be a disgrace to her family, who has invested a large sum of money into this man but it would be in direct defiance of the Queen who had given her approval to the marriage. Wessex states previously that “once gained, her consent is her command,” (Stoppard) indicating the futility of trying to change the Queen’s mind to allow Viola to remain with William.

The only solution, that would have kept them together, would have been for the two to run away, effectively banished from their friends and family. Will likely would not have flourished as the renowned playwright he is known as today and any children they produced would have been raised in a life of poverty—being cut off from Viola’s previous wealth—and without their countrymen in England. They would be refugees of a sort, hiding out just trying to survive, all because their parents refused to be separated. The whole idea is unjustly cruel to everyone involved through no fault of their own.

Instead, Viola leaves Will behind to venture off to America, and perhaps raise a family. If so, her children will have the family fortune, grandparents, and a respectable life. Will now has more inspiration that he can put into words and will continue to write amazing plays, including Twelfth Night which he is seen writing at the end. Stoppard let’s us believe that the character of Viola in that work is inspired by Shakespeare’s own Viola and her cross-dressing. Nonetheless her bravery and intelligence serve as strong inspiration for Will alongside her beauty which, Will says will endure in his mind. “You will never age for me, nor fade, nor die” (Stoppard). She will remain his muse, always as perfect as when he last saw her.

This most notable departure from the original play is discussed at length because it most adeptly illustrates the differences between the two sets of loves, despite their similarities in circumstance. While both are instantaneously and passionately in love yet are destined to be separated, one pair hurtles down a tragic path to death because they are unable to understand life and rationally make a decision. Perhaps it is to blame on their youth, as Juliet is only fourteen years old while Will and Viola are portrayed as adults. Perhaps, as teenagers in present day, their age prohibited them from understanding the impact their actions would have on others, not to mention the fact they were not gaining anything by taking their own lives.

Adults, such as Will and Viola, may be more able to understand that, while they cannot have what they most deeply desire, each other, they can go on to have many other wonderful things in their lives. The loss of their love for each other is not the end of their stories; they opt to accept their duties and make the best of the circumstances. This is not to say that they don’t mourn the loss or wish deeply that they could stay together, but have the ability, as adults, to cope with the circumstances they are given. Thus the passion and love of Romeo and Juliet are maintained in this film, while lending maturity and rational thought to temper the tragic aspects of the story.

Works Cited

Billington, Michael. Stoppard the Playwright. London: Methuen, 1987.

English Association Staff, The Year’s Work in English Studies. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers Inc, 1999.

Shakespeare, William. Romeo and Juliet. 14th. Philadelphia, PA: J.B. Lipincott Company

Shakespeare in Love. Dir. John Madden. Screenplay: Tom Stoppard. Miramax, 1998

Straussler, Tomas. “Critical Survey of Drama.” (2003)

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Romeo and Juliet Themes Sheet - Essay Ideas

Subject: English

Age range: 14-16

Resource type: Assessment and revision

Last updated

9 April 2024

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This resource provides top-grade essay ideas for exam questions about Shakepeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’. Revising ‘Romeo and Juliet’ themes is made simple, with three points on each theme (11 themes total) that are designed to make three high-level paragraphs for your Romeo and Juliet essays.

This resource suits anyone who:

• would like to feel prepared for any theme question that could come up in their exams (all exam boards considered)
• is unsure how they would make three points out of a harder theme question (e.g. time or youth)
• wants to feel confident discussing all characters
• is looking to double check their notes or read through some essay content ideas before a mock or exam
• struggles to integrate context into their essays and would like some comprehensive context ideas.

We hope this helps! :)

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