Romeo and Juliet Essay - a play with a tragic theme

This essay gives a general answer to a 'theme' question from a higher English past paper.

Question -

Choose a play which involves a tragic theme and show how the dramatist makes the play a moving experience for the audience. You may refer to structure, characterisation, key scene(s) or any other appropriate feature.

Structure -

1. Introduction
2. The character of Romeo / the start of the play
3. Key scene - act 3, scene 1
4. Juliet’s monologue
5. Conclusion

‘Romeo and Juliet’ is one of Shakespeare’s best known stories and most celebrated tragedies. In this essay I will show how the structure and characterisation of the play make it a moving experience for an audience. The tragedy comes from the play’s twin themes of love and violence. The prologue suggests the ‘star-crossed lovers’ will meet a tragic end and in the first scene there is a brawl between the Capulet and Montague families; the Prince forbids any fighting in public and shortly after this, we are introduced to Romeo, who stands in contrast to the violent society of Verona.

Romeo represents the wide-eyed romantic who falls in love at first sight. who is pining for his love Rosalind. He has missed the violence in the street. Mercutio and Benvolio persuade him to attend the party at the Capulet’s house where he meets Juliet. The dialogue of the play emphasizes his rush of emotion at their first meeting: ‘She doth teach the torches to burn bright’. Comparing beauty to fire suggests that it can be a destructive force. In contrast, Mercutio is a more down-to-earth character; he makes rude jokes and puns at Romeo’s expense and mocks his friend for being naïve and idealistic.

The turning point of the play is act 3, scene 1. Before this, things have been going well for the lovers. In the previous scene, they were married, after the Nurse and Friar Benedict have given them advice and support. At the start of this scene, Mercutio mocks Benvolio for being a troublemaker. When Tybalt arrives, Mercutio turns his jesting to him. The tone of this dialogue is light rather than serious. When Romeo arrives, his attitude towards Tybalt is that of reconciliation.

The death of Mercutio is accidental. He is wounded under Romeo’s arm as he tries to break up the fight. It can be played by the actors as horseplay that goes wrong. Mercutio continues to joke as he dies, about his wound: ‘it is not as wide as a cellar door but it may suffice’. Comedy co-exists with tragedy through the course of the play; however, with the death of Mercutio, the tone of the play changes as the lovers launch their desperate plan.

The outcome of this scene is that the play ends in tragedy. The lovers make plans to elope but bad luck and rash decisions mean that they both end up committing suicide. Romeo is rash and idealistic, without the climate of violence created by the Capulets and Montagues, the plan to escape with Juliet may well have worked. It is therefore difficult to argue that the lovers were fated to die, even though this is the tone of the play’s prologue.

The events at the cemetery are foreshadowed by Juliet’s final monologue:

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

The Nurse is a stabilising influence upon the young lovers, but at this point in the play Juliet has rejected any further help, as she criticised her romance with Romeo. 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 – the world of brawling and one-upmanship is perhaps the factor that caused her to fall in love with Romeo in the first place. Even though it puts her in danger, Juliet would rather make her own decisions than do what is expected; and this leads to the final tragedy of the double suicide.

In these ways, ‘Romeo and Juliet’ is a tragic play which makes the audience think about issues of love and violence. The fact that it may have ended happily makes it a moving experience.

Romeo and Juliet Essay Plan - Fate

Another 'Romeo and Juliet' essay. This is answers a theme question from a higher exam paper. Is there a mystical force at work in the play? Or does the tragedy just come from bad luck?

Question -

Choose a play in which a main theme is made clear early in the action. Show how the dramatist introduces the theme and discuss how successfully he or she goes on to develop it.

Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’ is a tale about a ‘love at first sight’ which leads to tragedy; its impact comes from the two lovers escaping their violent world through the power of love, yet from the start of the play, there are hints that fate is against them. During the Renaissance, beliefs in supernatural powers affecting human events were commonplace and this is explored by various references in the play.

The prologue introduces the idea that ‘two star-crossed lovers take their life’, This suggests the events of the play have already been ‘written in the stars’. This theme is continued in Act I Scene V, where Romeo attends the Capulets masked ball to take his mind off his unrequited love for Rosaline. There he sees the daughter of his families sworn enemy, and the two fall in love at first sight. However, both are unaware of this fact at the time and come to learn it later on in the night: ‘O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?’ The repetition of ‘Romeo’ shows Juliets anguish, and her disbelief at the minute chances of Romeo being from her family’s worst enemies.

Perhaps the most evident development in the theme of fate comes in the turning point of the play, and key scene Act III Scene I. In this scene, Romeo tries to break up a fight between Mercutio and Tybalt, but tragically his mistake helps Tybalt slay Mercutio. Romeo then avenges Mercutio, after stating that ‘fiery eyed fury be my conduct now’. Romeo believes that this outcome was already predetermined by fate: ‘O, I am fortune’s fool.’ This shows that Romeo believes that fate was set to follow its course, and that he was simply fulfilling his fate. By having these unlikely “misadventured piteous overthrows” Shakespeare is able to manipulate and strictly enforce the theme of fate, which he picks up on again later in Act V.

Yes this also shows that Romeo is perhaps reluctant to take full responsibility for his actions. He shows naiveté in assuming that Tybalt will leave him in peace; the fact he has just married Tybalt’s cousin seems to blind his reason. This is a tension throughout the play – the references to fate suggest that supernatural forces are at work, yet the tragedy comes about because of human passions.

After Romeo’s exile, the Friar and Juliet form a plan to get him back in, but it seems once again that fate has intervened, against the hapless lovers: ‘A greater power than we can contradict/Hath thwarted our intents.’ The Friar believes there was nothing that anyone could do, and that fate was always going to run its course for better or for worse.

Upon hearing the news, Romeo decides to return from exile to be with Juliet in death. He tries to defy fate, exclaiming: ‘I defy you, stars!’ Once again, the idea of his fate already being written in the stars is included, and it also shows that Romeo is eager not to let fate prevail. However, Shakespeare's inclusion of this helps bring an effective conclusion to the theme of fate; in Romeo trying to defy his fate, he is in fact tragically fulfilling it. It emphasizes that Romeo’s rash impulsiveness is as much the agent of this tragedy as any mystical force.

And thus, Shakespeare effectively introduces and develops the theme of fate. By using a prologue to introduce the theme, and putting the emphasis on the theme of fate in the turning point, Shakespeare develops the theme in what I deem to be a successful and entertaining way.

My comment -

The theme of fate in 'Romeo and Juliet' is slightly harder to discuss than the theme of love and hate, or society. Although the playwright tells the audience that the stars have determined that the lovers will die a tragic death, and Romeo tells the audience that he is 'fortune's fool', in fact the whole play could have easily turned out differently if Romeo and Juliet had made better decisions. You can contrast this with 'MacBeth', where the whole play is built around a prophecy and all the action leads up to his defeat.

Personally, I think the two lovers were acting impulsively because they were surrounded by violence and early death. This explains Juliet's last monologue before taking the sleeping draught in act 4, scene 3. She thinks about all her relatives in the family mausoleum, including that of her young cousin, Tybalt. To her, living in Verona and being a Capulet means death; so, her only option is to fake her death in the hope that she can escape with her new husband.

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