Romeo and Juliet Essay Plan - a play with a tragic theme

This essay plan features topic sentences at the start of each paragraph, and a technique - characterisation, turning point, dramatic monologue and so on.

Question -

Choose a character who is at odds with their own family. Write about how the writer sets up this conflict and how it is effectively resolved by the end of the play.

Introduction - ‘Romeo and Juliet’ by William Shakespeare is an example of a play in which the main characters are at odds with their own families. In this essay, I will focus on Juliet. I will show how Shakespeare sets up this conflict and explain how it is resolved in the tragic ending. The main theme I would like to discuss is about the individual and society. In this play the lovers make decisions which go against the values of their society and lead to their own deaths.

Characterisation - Our first impressions of Juliet, in act 1, scene 3, are that she is down to earth and pragmatic.
- the play is set in the violent world of Verona; mention the brawl at the start
- the prologue tells us that the lovers are fated to die
- preparing for the party, the nurse seems closer to Nurse than her mother
- her mother enquires about marriage, but Juliet’s answers are polite
- ‘I’ll look to like, if looking, liking move’

Turning point - When she first meets Romeo in act 1, scene 5, Juliet’s character appears to change.
Our first impressions of Romeo are of an idealistic romantic.
- pining over Rosalind at the start; soon forgotten after he sees Juliet at the party scene
- the dialogue between the two lovers shows their intense attraction. It often takes the form of sonnet poems
-‘My only love sprung from my only hate!’ – after Juliet finds out he is a Montague
- this antithesis shows that she is aware of the difficulty of her situation; but for the rest of the play, she shows a determination to act
- at the end of the balcony scene, however, an actual plan is in place

Relationships - The Friar and the Nurse give the lovers guidance within the play.
- the Nurse acts as a go-between and gives the impression that there may be a solution for the lovers
- the Nurse and the Friar are not relatives of Romeo and Juliet, and they represent common sense and reason, while the Capulets and Montagues seem happy to let Verona be torn apart by fighting

Conflict - Juliet becomes estranged from the Nurse in act 3, scene 5
‘Thou and my bosom henceforth shall be twain’
This follows the death of Tybalt, Juliet’s engagement to Paris and her argument with Capulet.
- the Nurse compares Romeo to Paris and offends Juliet
- the Nurse is Juliet’s real ‘family’
- with the end of the Nurse’s influence, there is no-one to advise the lovers to proceed with caution
- the outcome – she takes the sleeping draught from the Friar and the play ends in tragedy.

Dramatic monologue - Juliet’s monologue in act 4, scene 3 prepares us for the tragic resolution.

I'll call them back again to comfort me.
Nurse!- What should she do here?
My dismal scene I needs must act alone.

- the audience is prepared for the final scene in the graveyard
- she fears waking up with Tybalt’s corpse in her family tomb
- this symbolizes that her own family may represent death to her
- even though it puts her in danger, Juliet would rather make her own decisions than do what is expected

Conclusion - In these ways, Juliet is a character who is at odds with her own family. Her decision to disown the Nurse, who in many ways is her real family, leads her to choose a course which leads to the tragic ending of the play. The lovers rebel against conventional thinking but die in the process; the play makes them into sacrifices in order to heal the violent society in which they live.

My comment -

In my opinion, Juliet is way more interesting than Romeo, who spends half the play moping and the other half making terrible decisions. A good Higher essay might comment on whether it was really fate that causes the lover's terrible deaths, or whether it was the violent society in which they grew up. Although Shakespeare tells the audience that fate is at work, during the play, it's the combination of Romeo's reckless idealism and plain bad luck which causes the tragedy.

See also http://pass-english-in-scotland.blogspot.com/search/label/romeo%20and%20juliet