Romeo And Juliet's Deaths example essay topic

By's Pascoe. This essay will discuss Romeo and Juliet, an extremely famous play by the Sixteenth Century playwright, William Shakespeare. The play introduces us to two families; the Capulets and the Montagues who are have long been sworn enemies. The first act of the play contains a claim that Capulets are better than Montagues, and with a fight between the two houses. Unfortunately, two young members of the feuding families fall in love- Juliet first sets eyes on Romeo at a Capulet party that the young Montague Romeo has sneaked into. Juliet does not care that Romeo is Montague; she says, "That which we call a Rose / By any other word would smell as sweet" (ii. ii.

44). The youngsters marry secretly with the help of Friar Lawrence, and when Juliet is arranged to be married to somebody else, they hatch a plan to save her. Juliet drinks a poison to fake her own death and thus avoid the ceremony, but there is a flaw in her plot. Romeo (who is in exile following a fight with the Capulets) fails to receive the letter informing him that Juliet is not really dead but asleep, and so believes that she has died. When he arrives at her tomb, he sees her lying as if dead and poisons himself. When Juliet awakes and finds Romeo dead she commits suicide using his sword.

On learning of their deaths, the Capulet and Montague tribes agree to reach a truce to avoid any more deaths. This is the main plot of the play but there is also many subplots and additional characters. Romeo and Juliet was advertised as a tragedy in the Shakespearian times but many disagreements go on to argue whether or not Romeo and Juliet's deaths were a tragedy or merely unfortunate. In drama, a tragedy is a play with an inevitable negative outcome. Something that is unforeseen by the characters, but which they cannot avoid-they seem to have no power over their fate. Also, in tragedies from Shakespeare's period, there are usually many deaths, including those of the protagonist (main character).

We will now examine if Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy. Shakespeare wrote many tragedies such as Anthony and Cleopatra, Hamlet and Macbeth. In these plays all the main characters die, and this was often the simplest way of indicating to the audience that the play was tragic. Death was also the easiest way of signifying the end of a characters story on stage. It is also important to consider that death was a massive part of the Elizabethan life with the plague and high mortality rates and short life spans.

For this reason death was often teaching in tragedy. For example, Romeo and Juliet's deaths are seen as GOOD deaths because they died with integrity for love. This is shown by the talk of love and the kiss with which Romeo dies "Here's to my love! ... Thus with a kiss I die" (vs.. 120).

The use of the Chorus in tragedy began in ancient Greece with the parts of the chorus representing female servants or villagers. They would sing and comment on the action on and off stage, they would seem to watch the play just like the audience, although they were also involved and could speak to characters and warn them or tell them off. In Romeo and Juliet the chorus at the beginning of Act 2 is commenting on the action and warning of future danger. It is in beautiful verse but also serves to keep the audience up to date with the plot and also adds dramatic tension and foreboding of the play's sad and tragic ending; It says that Juliet does not have the means "to meet her new beloved any where" and refers to Romeo and Juliet being 'Foes'.

Another device used is that of revenger's tragedy. This is an old moral code whereby justice is served not by court and law but by people. Thus if someone wrongs you, you have the right to wrong them back. There is a lot of honour in this kind of revenge in Romeo and Juliet but this cycle of violence is what has kept the two families feuding.

This is seen with Romeo killing Tybalt after Tybalt has killed Mercurio. Romeo says " My very friend, hath got this mortal hurt / In my behalf; my reputation stained" ( . i. 103) showing that honour and reputation were very important. Shakespeare seems to be very clear in instructing the audience that this revenge justice is wrong as it does not help any of the characters and in fact makes things worse. The deaths of Romeo and Juliet were a tragedy because they are shown to love each other truly, and were it not for their families being enemies they would be together. The play itself states "For never was a story of more woe / Than this of Juliet and her Romeo" (vs..

308). The couple tried to escape their fate, and stay together and this backfired leaving two young people dead. There is additional tragedy in the way Friar Lawrence's letter not arriving meant that Romeo killed himself because he did not have the correct information and believed Juliet already dead. Also very sad in this portrayal is that Juliet wakes so quickly after Romeo has died, if he had waited but a matter of minutes they could have been together. This is the effect ness of good tragedy on an audience; it makes you wish you could do something to change the characters' fate, while the play is telling you that Romeo and Juliet's deaths were inevitable. The message of the play seems to be that you cannot help who you fall in love with-Juliet and Romeo fall in love although they are supposed to be sworn enemies.

It shows that hatred is futile and unnecessary while love is real and should be cherished. Additional factors in the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet are the peripheral details that could have led to the lover's deaths. As has been previously discussed, the family feud, which was long running and based on long ago events, meant that Romeo and Juliet could not be together as they wished. Nothing good can come out of such a feud. Also the personalities of the individual characters could be seen as partially to blame.

For instance both Romeo and Juliet had quite impulsive natures, Romeo in his rash killing of Tybalt, and Juliet in her rush to marry Romeo. You could also argue that their suicides were also impulsive decisions, with little thought before hand, which could have prevented the tragedy. An alternative factor could be the fact that Juliet's parents rushed forward her arranged marriage to Paris, aided by the Nurse who was often encouraging Juliet to marry. As an adult who was relatively aware of what was happening, the Nurse might have been able to intervene in the tragedy, yet she merely contributed. This could also be said of Friar Lawrence who agreed to marry the couple; if he had instead urged them to wait or if he had told their parents, the young lives may have been saved. Also, the fact that the Friar did not take Juliet's letter himself resulted in Romeo being unaware that Juliet was still alive and so ultimately resulted in Romeo's death, and thus Juliet's.

We have examined various characters and plots from Romeo and Juliet and the result is a tragedy on many levels. In the first instance the play makes the audience sad because of the tragic storyline, but also there are messages about fate-About how small decisions can have huge consequences. Although the play is a tragedy the ending is almost positive when the families have stopped blaming each other, in a way Romeo and Juliet's deaths have brought the families together. This is perhaps the biggest tragedy because if the families had been able to do this earlier, Romeo and Juliet would have been saved.