info on Romeo and Juliet

[beyondtomorrow]

***********Please give your comment on this thread*************
It can be very frustrating to write essays on R&J (Romeo and Juliet) when you can not understand the language itself. Therefore you won’t understand what the ‘heck’ is going on.
I decide to post my own essays and give you some useful websites to find out more interesting information on the play (themes, commentary, chapter summary, character analysis, etc). Of course, you are free to post your own essays or any other writings regarding this subject. However it will be very useful if you do because whoever read your pieces of writing will give you suggestions on how to improve your works. So please make contribution.
Many thanks*********

[beyondtomorrow]

Topic: Romeo and Juliet died for their love, which was destroyed by various factors. Discuss.
Romeo and Juliet fall in love with each other passionately and die for the same reason. It is written on the stars that they will die for their love. It is fate that first brings them together and separates them cruelly in the end. The longstanding feud is one of the major obstacles which prevent the pair of ‘star-crossed lovers’ from being together. Time and passion are mutual factors which prompt them to their tragic deaths. Most importantly, pride and social forces can be seen as strong influences and crucial obstructions which destroy the love between Romeo and his Juliet.
Born and grown up as enemies, fate brings Romeo and Juliet together as lovers. ‘Ancient grudge’ and ‘mutiny’ that exist between the two families of equal, noble rank make it extremely difficult for the young couple to have their love bloom and flourish. It is fate that makes Romeo to fall in love with both ladies of the Capulet household. It is fate, which connects many other obstacles together and stops the lovers from having a happily-ever-after life together.
Family pride and masculine pride are two very important aspects in the destruction of love. The two families have a long-standing vendetta, which makes them regard each other as mortal enemies. They refuse to make peace and constantly bicker. Vanity leads to violence and aggression. Caught up with family pride and self-dignity, the males challenge and fight bitterly to protect and prove their masculinity. This can be seen when Tybalt provokes Mercutio and Romeo to start the fight. The deaths of Tybalt and Mercutio are the symbols of pride, which ironically leads Romeo to his banishment, thus separates the lovers from each other.
Social forces which affect the love between Romeo and Juliet can be in different forms. Two of the main ones are pressure and social image. Both Lord and Lady Capulet forces Juliet to marry Paris for reasons of social status and wealth, in other word: a marriage of convenience. Due to the lack of experience on romantic love, the old Capulets do not understand why their daughter does not obey to marry the approved Paris without refusal. Their lack of understanding causes grief to Juliet, prompting her to take action in haste in order to protect her love and loyalty for Romeo.
Hastiness and passion are two very strong, fundamental elements in the creation and destruction of the love between Romeo and Juliet. Hastiness and passion prompt them to marry in secret; they incite the lovers to risk their lives to be together: Juliet fakes her death with sleeping potion; Romeo enters her tomb without care of being caught. Wrong timing, hasty actions and passion destroy the lovers’ only chance of being together for love.
Although Romeo and Juliet are brought together by love, fate denies them their chance of a happy life. Not without bloodshed and sorrow, their tragic deaths heal the old wounds of their families’ prolonged and bitter quarrel, which is the biggest obstruction of all. Family pride and masculine pride add more bitterness to their families’ feud. Together with the drive of passion of their love, fast-progressed events in short time urge the lovers to make hasty actions without careful thoughts of the consequences. In the end, all of these factors destroy the love between Romeo and Juliet.

[mono]

Well done, beyondtomorrow.
I agree, as you mentioned in your first post of this thread, that some of Shakespeare's language can read with some difficulty, but you have managed very well in summarizing the play.
For any further information, and if the language gets way too difficult in some parts, I would recommend visiting SparkNote's summary of the play (http://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/romeojuliet/).
Good luck!

[volvoreta]

[COLOR=DarkRed]Topic: Romeo and Juliet died for their love.[/COLOR[/FONT]]
Did they? I know the play has always been talked about as an example of love, but I cannot see any love in it. In both Romeo's and Juliet's words and actions I see physical attraction, lust, but not love. Even the words of the friar lead me to think this.

[mono]

volvoreta]Did they? I know the play has always been talked about as an example of love, but I cannot see any love in it. In both Romeo's and Juliet's words and actions I see physical attraction, lust, but not love. Even the words of the friar lead me to think this.
Hello, volvoreta. Welcome back to the forum. ;)
I have always noticed this fact, too, that Romeo and Juliet, especially by their mid-teenage years of age, perhaps experienced some kind of very strong and obsessive infatuation. I loved the classic play, of course, and always have, but feel quite skeptic on topics of "love at first sight," for example. For the sake of incredible poetry, an entrancing plot, and in paying heed to Shakespeare, however, I can play along with such a strong word as "love," knowing, myself, that I could never fall in love so swiftly. :D

[volvoreta]

I love the play. As you said the poetry is beautiful but, apart from the love at first sight that I don't buy either, all the words they use to refer to their love are about each other looks - Romeo forgets Rosalia when he meets Juliet because she is fairer than the other girl; the friar says they need to marry quickly or they'll burn; their dialogue before Romeo leaves Verona, etc., all points to infatuation, sexual attraction, not love.

[beyondtomorrow]

Shakespeare On Line,
http://www.shakespeare-online.com/playanalysis/romeoandjuliet.html
this site consists of:
Commentary
Sources
Plot Synopsis
Play History
Juliet
Romeo The Nurse
Prince Escalus
Mercutio
Friar Lawrence
Montagues and Capulets
Essay Topics
Essays
Chracter analysis is very thorough and detailed with quotes, examples and explanations.

[beyondtomorrow]

Quotes
1) My only love, sprung from my only hate!
Too early seen unknown, and known too late!
Prodigious birth of love it is to me
That I must love a loathed enemy. (I.5.139-142)
Juliet after the Nurse tells her that Romeo is a Montague. She has already fallen in love with him. The information has come too late to save them from this difficult situation.
2) 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 are far more fair than she. (II.2. 2-6)
Romeo, seeing Juliet at her window. He compares her to the sun, light that brightens his dark world. He had previously compared Rosaline to the moon. His love for Juliet, the sun, has risen and killed the feelings he had for Rosaline.
3) What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other word would smell as sweet. (II.2 .43-44)
Juliet lamenting fact that her love is a member of the family that is a bitter enemy of her own. He is not defined by his name. They would be able to express their love freely if he were called anything else.
4) See what a scourge is laid upon your hate,
That heaven finds means to kill your joys with love. (V.3. 292-293)
The Prince to Capulet and Montague. Since the families didn't have the sense to end their feud, heaven has provided a solution for them, at a price. They have all been punished for their actions.
5) These violent delights have violent ends
And in their triumph die, like fire and powder,
Which, as they kiss, consume. (II.6.9-11)
Friar Lawrence, warning Romeo to cool down his passion. Moderate love is less likely to lead to disaster than violent love. His warnings prove to be founded.
6) No, 'tis not so deep as a well, nor so wide as
a church door; but 'tis enough, 'twill serve. Ask for
me to-morrow and you shall find me a grave man. I am
peppered, I warrant, for this world. A plague o'both
your houses! (III.1.94-98)
These are Mercutio's dying words. He still maintains his sense of humor with his pun on the word grave but also blames the feuding families for his demise (ignoring the fact that he jumped into the fight of his own accord).
7) The earth that's nature's mother is her tomb.
What is her burying grave, that is her womb;
And from her womb children of divers kind
We sucking on her natural bosom find,
Many for many virtues excellent,
None but for some, and yet all different. (II.3.9-14)
Friar Lawrence is in his cell philosophizing before Romeo bursts in with his request for marriage. He is talking about the duality of all things in nature, including humans. From death comes new life.
8) O serpent heart, hid with a flow'ring face!
Did ever dragon keep so fair a cave?
Beautiful tyrant! fiend angelical!
Dove-feathered raven! wolvish-ravening lamb!
Despised substance of divinest show!
Just opposite to what thou justly seem'st-
A damned saint, an honorable villain!
O nature, what hadst thou to do in hell
When thou didst bower the spirit of a fiend
In mortal paradise of such sweet flesh?
Was ever book containing such vile matter
So fairly bound? O, that deceit should dwell
In such a gorgeous place! (III.2.73-84)
These are Juliet's words when the Nurse tells her that her new husband has killed her cousin Tybalt. She is speaking of the oppositions in Romeo's character, his duality (remember Friar Lawrence's philosophy). Romeo is both her friend and enemy, a lover and a murderer.
9) O son, the night before thy wedding day
Hath Death lain with thy wife. There she lies,
Flower as she was, deflowered by him.
Death is my son-in-law, Death is my heir;
My daughter he hath wedded. I will die
And leave him all. Life, living, all is Death's. (IV.5.35-40)
Capulet uses these words to inform Paris of Juliet's death. Juliet is Capulet's only living child and sole heir to his estate. With Juliet goes the continuation of his bloodline. He did not show this concern for his daughter when she was still alive however; he had very recently been willing to throw her out in the street for disobeying him. He only becomes a caring father when she is dead.
10) I fear, too early; for my mind misgives
Some consequence, yet hanging in the stars,
Shall bitterly begin his fearful date
With this night's revels and expire the term
Of a despised life, closed in my breast,
By some vile forfeit of untimely death.
But he that hath the steerage of my course
Direct my sail! On, lusty gentlemen! (I.4.106-113)
Romeo is about to enter the Capulet's party and has a premonition that his life will change forever after that night. He feels fate has death in store for him but does not fear it. His life is moving in a direction that cannot be changed.

[beyondtomorrow]

click on attached files (below) for suggestions on metaphor and themes analysis

[beyondtomorrow]

this website is very useful
Barron's booknotes_Romeo and Juliet.... (http://www.pinkmonkey.com/booknotes/barrons/romeojl01.asp)