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Romeo and Juliet Review Essay Sample
Shakespeare, William. Romeo and Juliet. The Riverside Shakespeare, edited by G. Blakemore Evans et al., vol. 2, Houghton Mifflin, 1974, pp. 1307-42.
The Chorus in Romeo and Juliet's opening Prologue refers to the title characters as "star-crossed lovers," a reference to the concept that stars and planets have the power to influence events on Earth.
Many interpreters interpret this sentence to mean that Romeo and Juliet are destined to fall in love and equally doomed to have their love shattered. Despite the fact that Shakespeare's play suggests that Romeo and Juliet's lives are shaped by some impersonal, supernatural power, it is evident by the end of the play that the characters share more responsibility than Fortune.
Though the Prologue contains the play's earliest and possibly most renowned example of celestial imagery, references to the stars, sun, moon, and heavens appear throughout the play, and the imagery as a whole appears to reflect a new perspective on human responsibility.
When Romeo and his group approach the Capulet's ball in Act 1, scene 4, he expresses his concern about "some consequence yet hanging in the stars." Romeo, on the other hand, did not note the stars' astrological significance in his next reference to them. Rather than using the picture of stars to convey Juliet's otherworldly beauty, he uses the image of stars.
From Romeo's love-struck comparison of Juliet to the sun to Juliet's own wish to "cut [Romeo] out into little stars" when he dies, the play's subsequent heavenly images follow in the same spirit. These astral imageries are more frequently connected with the two lovers than with divine fate throughout the play, indicating that, as the drama progresses, we cannot simply blame the tragedy on some impersonal external force.
True, Romeo and Juliet have had some extremely horrible luck. On Romeo's wedding day, Tybalt picks a fatal fight with him, prompting Capulet to speed up the wedding with Paris. Due to an untimely outbreak of the plague, Friar Lawrence's essential letter goes stolen.
Romeo commits suicide just as Juliet is about to awaken. It's also true that the lovers aren't exclusively to blame for their unfortunate circumstances: their friends, families, and society all played a part in bringing about the tragedy.
Even if we accept that fate or some other divine force prompted Romeo and Juliet to fall in love at first sight, so initiating the action, Shakespeare makes it plain that the characters' own choices ultimately lead to the sad conclusion.
It is suggested that either Romeo or Juliet could have stopped the onslaught of destruction at any of the numerous points. Romeo's proclivity for hasty action lands him—and his beloved—in serious peril. His rashness has made him a romantic symbol in our culture, but it proves to be his ruin in the play.
Shakespeare warns us from the start not to romanticize Romeo's unexpected bouts of passion—after all, Shakespeare makes it clear that Romeo's love for Juliet only replaced another, earlier infatuation. Romeo, more than any other character, arguably propels the play more forcefully toward catastrophe with his rash acts. On the night they meet, he climbs over Juliet's wall and forces her to bind herself to him. In a fit of wrath, he murders Tybalt. He then poisons himself, believing Juliet is dead.
Romeo never considers the implications of his acts, and his lack of foresight makes him liable for them. Though Juliet proves a strong-willed partner for Romeo, she bears less of the blame for their joint fate because she, at least, is wary of the speed at which they progress. In the balcony scene, she compares their love to lightning, which flares up suddenly but can just as quickly fade into darkness. Unlike Romeo, each of Juliet’s fateful choices is a logical response to a situation. She agrees to marry him because she needs evidence that he is truly committed to her. She takes the potion not out of despair, but because she believes Friar Lawrence’s plan will set things to rights. Though each of her choices ends up getting her and her lover deeper into trouble.
Despite the fact that Juliet is a strong-willed partner for Romeo, she carries less of the blame for their shared fate because she, at the very least, is suspicious of their progress. In the balcony scene, she compares their love to lightning, which flashes brightly but then fades away just as swiftly. Each of Juliet's catastrophic decisions, unlike Romeo's, is a reasonable response to a scenario. She agrees to marry him because she requires proof of his true devotion to her. She takes the pill not because she is hopeless, but because she believes Friar Lawrence's plan would bring everything back to normal. Despite the fact that each of her decisions gets her and her beloved deeper into danger,
The conclusion of Romeo and Juliet is a severe denunciation of the protagonists' behavior. The Capulets and Montagues assemble around the tomb in the final family portrait to observe the repercussions of their foolish fight. Even if you don't believe Romeo and Juliet could have saved themselves, you must acknowledge that it was their families' blind hatred, not the gods, that precipitated the tragedy. Even "[t]he sun for sadness will not show his head†on that tragic day, as the Prince observes—even the heavens are hurt by the human folly they see below.
Romeo returns to Verona at the conclusion of Romeo and Juliet because he believes Juliet is dead. When he gets to her tomb, she appears to be lifeless, and in his grief, he poisons himself. Juliet wakes up a few moments later, and when she discovers Romeo is dead, she plunges his sword into her breast. The framework of the play as a whole is recreated in a microcosm in this ending. The lovers have been drawn together by their love for one another throughout their narrative, but they have also been torn apart by the animosity and violence that exists between their families. The love they share and the violence that separates them become one and the same by the end of the play.
Though they will be buried together, permanently in each other's arms, the lovers will also be separated by death for all eternity. When Prince Escalus chastises Capulet and Montague, he emphasizes the connection between love and death: "See what a scourge is laid upon your hate, / That Heaven finds means to kill your joys with love!†(V.iii.292–93). The Prince, therefore, informs the men that they had murdered their own children and that Romeo and Juliet's love for each other was the instrument of their murder.
In addition to bringing the play's themes of love and violence together, the ending also puts an end to the Capulet and Montague families' long-running enmity. Peace between the families, on the other hand, may only be fleeting. Following the Prince's accusation of Capulet and Montague for their children's deaths, the two men express their willingness to end their feud. Capulet greets Montague as his "brother" before asking for his hand in friendship. Montague retaliates by outdoing Capulet.
He promises to commission a monument of Juliet made of pure gold, and he ends with a boast: "while Verona is renowned by that name, / No figure at such a charge shall be placed / As that of honest and faithful Juliet†(V.iii.300–2). "As wealthy shall Romeo's by his lady's lie, / Poor sacrifices of our enmity,†Capulet retorts (V.iii.303–4). Healing is swiftly tainted by a power struggle, implying that Romeo and Juliet's tragedy would not bring complete reconciliation, but rather "a glooming calm," as the Prince describes it (V.iii.305).
