...lovers, Romeo and Juliet, in a play written by Shakespeare over four-hundred years ago, love meant everything. The young Capulet and Montague had a fated relationship, with love at its core. However, love played another role, which was equally as important and just as powerful – the fatal flaw. Juliet’s immaturity and passion showed up numerous times on account of her feelings for Romeo, one could say she was “blinded by love.” The interest between the two sparks at a masked ball held by Lord Capulet. Neither party knew who they were falling in love with. Juliet knew they were a forlorn attempt to be together, but it never stopped her. “My only...
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...Romeo’s Downfall Essay Romeo the lover of Juliet the male lead of Romeo and Juliet, is he impulsive? Romeo and Juliet is a play written by William Shakespeare. In This play we see the tragic tale of two star crossed lovers from two feuding families. An analysis of Romeo’s character in the play Romeo and Juliet, reveals that his fatal flaw was his impulsiveness due to him marrying Juliet quickly, killing Tybalt, and committing suicide. Firstly, he marries Juliet quickly without thinking it through. By around 15 or 16, the parts of the brain that arose a teen emotionally and makes him attention to... and the rewards of action are probably all set (Steinberg). Meaning that he most likely over looks the downside of his decisions thus making him impulsive. Romeo: “The exchange of thy love's faithful vow for mine”(Shakespeare). This also shows his impulsiveness, he decides to marry Juliet only a few hours after they met, they don’t even go on a date first....
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...Romeo and Juliet William Shakespeare Pre-reading 1. Vocabulary: Match word and definition. Words that may come in handy. Match the words in the left column with the explanations in the right column, and write the word over the definition. imagery | Word: Simile a comparison using “like” or “as” | soliloquy | Word: Run-on lines which the sense runs from one line to the next; lines which are not end-stopped. | blank verse | Word: Assonance the repetition of vowel sounds | tragic flaw | Word: Imagery language that produces pictures in the imaginations of people reading or listening | scene | Word: Blank verse unrhymed verse written in iambic pentameter | personification | Word: Dramatic irony difference between the situation as known to the audience and as supposed by some or all the characters of the play | stage | Word: Rhyming couplet two lines of verse of equal length that rhyme one after the other | assonance | Word: Dialogue verbal exchange between two or more characters on the stage | antithesis | Word: Iambic Pentameter a ten syllable line of verse with five stresses: di dum, di dum, di dum, di dum, di dum | metaphor | ...
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...desires can lead to fatal consequences. In Shakespeare's timeless tale Romeo and Juliet, there are two households divided over a feud. The two star-crossed are Juliet from the Capulets, and Romeo from the house of Montague. At the beginning of the play, Romeo is lovesick over a requited love and is advised to look upon other beauties. In the Capulet household Juliet is already set to marry Count Paris and is preparing for the Capulet ball. Romeo and Juliet eventually meet and instantly fall in love without knowing the other’s true identity. This love soon leads them to rush into a marriage along with some help from Romeo’s friend Friar Laurence. Shakespeare uses the motif of sight and blindness to illustrate Romeo’s flaws, which lead to his downfall. In Shakespeare's play Romeo’s major flaw is that he is impulsive and makes quick decisions based off his instinct. This is shown at the beginning of the play when Romeo is in love Rosaline. He quickly changes his mind when he catches a glimpse of Juliet claiming “Did my heart love till now? forswear it sight!”(I, v, 50). He instantaneously forgets about Rosaline and when Friar Laurence inquiries where he was, he states “With Rosaline, my ghostly father? No. I...
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...Romeos promenade fatal flaw is that he is too spontaneous. He does things without thoroughly thinking about them and often does not analyze the current situation with realistic thoughts. instead of putting thought into his future, he chooses to focus on the ‘now’ of situation. One example is in act 1 scene 4 when he decides to go the the Capulet's party even though his instinct tells him he should not as he feels that there will be consequences and the fate of the night will be untimely death. Romeo- “I fear too early, for my mind misgives Some consequences, yet hanging in the stars,” In this instance we can see Romeos fatal flaw in action as even though he feels there will be consequences ‘hanging in the stars’ if he goes to the party, he is too spontaneous and goes against his instinct as he is easily persuaded by Mercutio to attend the Capulet's party. In the end we can in fact see the consequence of Romeos fatal flaw, as if he had stuck to his instinct he would have never met Juliet. In this example we can also see Mercutio’s fatal flaw, as he is too care free and insists that going to the party will be a good idea but logically it is not as if they were to be caught by the Capulets there could be serious consequences. If Mercutio was to be a little more logical, he would have realized that going to the party would be very...
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...pieces of literature in the form of tragedies. There are several elements of Shakespearean tragedy. For example, Tragic hero, Tragic(Fatal) flaw, Internal and external conflict, Comic relief, The supernatural, The abnormality, Revenge, and Death etc. I am going to take a look at some of the elements of Shakespearean tragedy used in very famous plays, 'Hamlet' and 'Romeo and Juliet'. First of all, a 'Tragic flaw', by definition, is a personality trait that leads to the downfall of the protagonist. Hamlet is well aware of his fatal flaw from the beginning, he constantly questions himself on why he continues to delay the fulfillment of his duty. Hamlet finally acts to kill Claudius only after realizing that he is poisoned. But by putting off, his tragic flaw, leads to multiple death such as Polonius, Ophelia, Gertrude, Laertes, Rosencrantz, and Guildenstern and himself, too. Second, Use of 'supernatural' elements is one of common characteristics of the Elizabethan drama. In Hamlet, the ghost of Hamlet's father who tells his son to avenge his death is introduced as a supernatural. Supernatural powers contribute to the fate of the protagonist. However, this is not solely responsible for the downfall of the hero, it still lies in the actions of the hero. These actions are the outcome of the protagonist's feeling of revenge. Next, in Romeo and Juliet, a major external conflict throughout...
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...Some use it as an excuse for their shortcomings. During Romeo and Juliet, Romeo uses luck as an excuse for his actions. After Romeo has defeated Tybalt, he shouts “I am fortune’s fool”(III. 1. 98). Romeo is only half right in saying this, because up to this point, and for the rest of the play, Romeo is both a fool, and he is unlucky. This is due to the fact that some events during the play happen due to bad luck, while others happen because Romeo didn’t think through his actions, and made poor decisions. Throughout the play, Romeo is unlucky...
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...Throughout William Shakespeare's The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, characters demonstrate impetuosity in everyday actions, which ultimately lead to their demises. Mercutio, Tybalt, Romeo, and Juliet are only some of the characters in the play that have an impulsiveness about them, yet they are some of the most important characters in moving the play towards its tragic ending. These characters also meet untimely deaths that are scattered throughout the play, which cause a domino effect that leads to the death of others. In this play, an ancient feud between the Montagues and Capulets cause Romeo, a Montague, and Juliet, a Capulet, to take drastic measures to preserve their love. The unnecessary hate between the Montagues and the Capulets cause the youth of the families to act in desperation. Particularly, Mercutio’s impulsive act of making jokes at inappropriate times led to the demise of characters in this play. When Tybalt is searching for...
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...famous tragedy Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare examines the theme of love. Undoubtedly, he draws upon the wealth of experience in allowing the audience to experience various types of love personified. In his play Shakespeare reveals that love is a complex emotion hovered over an evil cloud of death, is confusing when loved at first sight and is the partner of death.The theme of love in this play is illustrated through the use of cacophony, imagery and metaphor, rhyming couplet and first person. These techniques reveal to the audience how Romeo and Juliet’s love was doomed from the start. The first scene in which love is explored is in the prologue. The quote “death marked love” is portrayed through the technique of cacophony.The effect of cacophony puts a harsh and discrete sound pattern in the reader’s mind and in this case the letters are d, th, m, and rk. The imagery or metaphor stained shows that their love will end in grief and ultimately death. introducing this quote from the beginning expresses that their love was doomed from the start and wasn’t meant to be. The adjective ‘marked’ shows us...
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...unexpected rise of the comic protagonist is to be laughed at due to the wit and humor used. Tragedies end in catastrophe as seen in the death of Romeo and Juliet unlike in comedies where the conflicts are to be made fun of, for example in Sure Thing, Bill the comic protagonist, makes every possible mistake when trying to pick up a girl in a café, but somehow still ends up getting the girl after many attempts. Tragedies and comedies are mostly defined by the emotions they evoke in the public...
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...only by fortuity, but also as a result of one’s own actions. Both fate and one’s own accord are key elements that correlate to a specific occurrence or chain of occurrences. One such example includes William Shakespeare’s tragic play, Romeo and Juliet. In Romeo and Juliet, Romeo and Juliet’s fates were dependent on various constituents, some of which were inevitable nonetheless or due to chance, some due to one or another’s own accord, yet all of which ultimately led to their demises. Character is a crucial contributor to one’s fate. Both Romeo and Juliet display very prominent foibles that contributed to their demises. Impatient and naïve by nature, this duo’s flaws in character would ultimately beseech their tragic, death-marked love affair. For instance, in Act 2, scene 2, when Romeo was courting Juliet on her balcony the same night that he had made her acquaintance, Juliet declared, “If that thy bent of love be honorable, thy purpose marriage, send me word tomorrow, by one that I’ll procure to come to thee, where and what time thou wilt perform the rite, and all my fortunes at thy foot I’ll lay and follow thee my lord throughout the world.” (Lines 143-148) How naïve. The couple had just encountered each other that very night, and yet, Juliet is boldly stating that unless Romeo’s love did...
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...Romeo and Mercutio Opposing Opinions of Love In Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, the views of love believed by Romeo contrast sharply with the views of Mercutio. Romeo's character seems to suffer from a type of agitated misery. He is in love with his own sorrow, quickly captivated and easily crushed again on a passionate roller coaster of emotion. Mercutio, is much more real-world and level headed. His perceptions are clear and quick, characterized by exact thought and careful evaluation. Romeo, true to his character begins his entrance in the play by wallowing in his depression over Rosaline who does not love him back: ROMEO (Act I Scene I Lines 185-193) Why, such is love's transgression. Griefs of mine own lie heavy in my breast, Which thou wilt propagate, to have it prest With more of thine: this love that thou hast shown Doth add more grief to too much of mine own. Love is a smoke raised with the fume of sighs; Being purged, a fire sparkling in lovers' eyes; Being vex'd a sea nourish'd with lovers' tears: What is it else? a madness most discreet, A choking gall and a preserving sweet. (R & J) The references to "fire" and "sea" are signs that these are lines of passion rather than love. Romeo sees himself as subjective to his situation, "Doth add more grief to too much of mine own." and is swallowed up in his self-pity as well. Romeo is only forgiven these faults because he is young, immature...
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...----------------------- FOUR TYPES OF PLAYS: I. Tragedy They contain a heroic figure, often a nobleman, who has a serious fatal flaw. Their weakness thus becomes their down fall and is often the cause of their or others demise. It also included a serious theme, and in the end the death of someone important. Ex. Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth II. Comedy They contain satiric language, word plays, heavy puns, and metaphors, love or lust with obstacles that the lovers must overcome throughout the play. Mistaken identities are often used in both intentional and unintentional ways for comic relief. Ex. The Merchant of Venice III. History The central theme is the gain and loss of power, and the theme of divine right. These plays also help to view the class system of the time period. Ex. King John IV. Romance They contain a redemptive plotline with a happy ending involving the re-uniting of separated family members and a mixture of civilized and pastoral scenes. Ex. The Winter’s Tale A TYPICAL ELIZABETHAN PLAYGOER: A. What time did the performance of plays begin at the Globe? The times of plays at the Globe Theatre generally started at 3:00 pm. B. What did the flying flag mean? Red, White or Black Flags flying form the flag mast at the top of the Globe Theatre indicated whether the play to be performed was a history, comedy or a tragedy. C. Why weather could affect the performance...
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...be William Shakespeare’s most popular tragic plays but there are distinct differences in Shakespeare’s tragic heroes, and other tragic heroes. A Tragic hero is usually a character that makes a mistake that leads to his failure, but a Shakespearean tragic hero is initially one, who is born noble, but not necessarily virtuous; there are some great aspects of personality that he has in excess which would often also be his weakness which creates a conflict for the character. His own destruction brings out the principle or moral of the play. Scholars argues that Othello is not a hero but a murder that commits a crime of passion, but just as every Shakespearean tragic characters, Othello is a person that has made an error of judgment, had a fatal flaw and was destined for defeat; which when combined with external forces, will bring on a tragedies like Julius Caesar, Hamlet, and Macbeth. Like many other characters in Shakespearean tragic plays, Othello is not a weak character nor is he a person of failure, but he is the captain of the Venice army, he is married to one of the most beautiful woman of Venice named Desdemona, and he is very well known even though he was of a different ethnicity. When Brabantio accuses him of putting a spell on his daughter Desdemona; in front of the Venetian senate, no one believes the charges because of his outstanding reputation "Here comes Brabantio and the valiant Moor,"(Othello 1.3.47). Unfortunately, this was only the beginning, Othello’s main role...
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...standardized, thus name spelled in different ways • Shakespeare, Shakspere, Shackspere, Shaxper, Shagspere, Shaxberd, etc. Shakespeare: The most well known playwright of Elizabethan times is Shakespeare. But there were also other writers who in their time were just as, or even more famous than him. WHAT MAKES SHAKESPEARE STAND OUT? – The volume of his works Plays firmly attributed to Shakespeare ■ 14 COMEDIES – funny play – with amusing events – ended in marriage / or happily o Midsummer Night’s Dream, Merchant of Venice, Twelfth Night, As You Like It, Much Ado about Nothing… ■ 10 HISTORIES – Richard III, Richard II, Henry IV… ■ 10 TRAGEDIES – ends in death ← Hamlet, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, Othello, Julius Caesar… ■ 4 Romances – ( chivalry and love) Pericles,...
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