Analyzing The Motivations Of Characters In Shakespeare's Romeo And Juliet

At one point or another you've probably read or seen Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. So you know the basics, but do you know the nitty gritty things like the motivations of characters, how their interactions were designed to affect the plot in very precise ways, or how certain scenes affect the themes and plot? All of these can be represented by Romeo and Juliet themselves. Romeo and Juliet have multiple conflicting motivations. There’s the obvious, Romeo is a Montague, and Juliet is a Capulet. Their families hate each other. But they love each other, so nothing is going to stop them. This is displayed in the balcony scene “’Tis but thy name that is my enemy. Thou art thyself, though not a Montague. What’s in a Montague? It is neither hand, nor

Hence “banishèd” is “banished from the world,” and the world’s exile is death. Then “banishèd” is death mistermed. Calling death “banishèd,” Thou cutt’st my head off with a golden ax. And smilest upon the stroke that murders me” (Shakespeare 39). This scene is right after the climax where Tybalt and Mercutio die. So having Romeo go to Friar Lawrence saying that he is not allowed in Verona walls is essentially a death sentence because he isn’t with Juliet. In Act 4, Scene 1, Juliet runs to Friar Lawrence telling him that she needs a way out of her arranged marriage to Paris. In response, Friar Lawrence gives Juliet a vile that will make her appear dead that way a message can be sent to Romeo once she’s in the crypt and they can live together outside of Verona, “Each part, deprived of supple government, shall, stiff and stark and cold, appear like death, And in this borrowed likeness of shrunk death. Thou shalt continue two and forty hours. And then awake from a pleasant sleep” (Shakespeare 49). Here we know that Friar Lawrence played a part in the “death” of Juliet and that he was the one to tell Romeo about his banishment. He obviously had a large role in both of the characters'