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How Does Shakespeare Present Conflict In Romeo And Juliet

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Recommended: Literary analysis on romeo and juliet

Playwrights use tragedies presenting conflicts to explore character behaviour, further allowing an audience to reflect upon complexities of their human nature. Written by renowned playwright William Shakespeare and first performed in 1596, renaissance drama ‘The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet’ follows fatally star crossed lovers' navigating extreme situations and conflicts, to be together. In this, Shakespeare’s mentality after losing his son, Christian ideologies of human will and patriarchal family structures of Elizabethan era London, are reflected. Throughout The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare represents complex facets of human nature including how our emotional fragility causes intense grief in response to loss, moral fragility …show more content…

Lady Capulet speaks in verse adding deep intensity behind her words, emotively professing her deep and complex grief in losing a loved one. Here, repetition of “She’s dead, she’s dead, she’s dead!” emphasises her extreme lament over death, highlighting the immense pain of grief she feels, enforcing how humans’ emotional fragility causes grief from loss to the audience. Furthermore, personification of “But one thing to rejoice and solace in/And cruel death hath catched it from my sight!”, characterises death as cruel when stealing a life, explaining her deep anguish from the sudden loss, further displaying to the audience grief as an impact of loss due to humans’ emotional fragility. Through tragedy displaying Lady Capulet’s reaction to unresponsive Juliet, Shakespeare expresses how emotional fragility causes grief in loss, a complexity of human nature. Our natural attraction to vices due to moral fragility is a fatal flaw and complexity of human …show more content…

These themes are apparent in Act 2 scene 2 where stichomythia between Romeo and Juliet creates fast-paced banter as they meet in a party hosted by Capulets, reflecting their tension in craving the vice of forbidden love. Here, Romeo’s weak morality gives him into vices revealed to the audience through the metaphor “This holy shrine, the gentle sin is this”, comparing Juliet’s innocence to holiness and Romeo’s craving to sin, illustrating his lust as a vice he gives into despite knowing its fault. Moreover, an oxymoron “trespass sweetly urged!” expresses how kissing feels wrong like an illegal act - such as trespassing, however he has strong desire which ‘urges’ it; conveying Romeo’s complex feelings in knowing his desires are wrong to emphasise the strength of a vice’s lure against moral fragility, catering to the intended Elizabethan audience’s widely Christian beliefs. Weak morality leads to vices, exhibiting a complexity of human nature in Shakespeare’s tragedy. Another complexity of human nature is when our pursuit of individuality conflicts against conforming to family

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Playwrights utilise elements of tragedy to display emotional and psychological attributes defining us as humans. In Elizabethan Era England, playwright William Shakespeare conveyed his perspectives of complex emotions through plays and poems such as ‘The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet’, a world-renowned play published in 1597, featuring lovers Romeo and Juliet, facing obstacles of family and society to retain their relationship. Romeo and Juliet express defining aspects of human nature: impact of deep romantic emotions on our decision-making, influence of rage which causes violent tendencies and desires, and how personal desires conflict with commitments to family. Impulsive decisions caused by strong romantic emotions express complexities of

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261 Words | 2 Pages

In the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, I deduce that the male characters have made the most dramatic influence to its readers, thus far, in Acts I and II. In my perspective, the men bestow their standpoints profoundly and they are the initiators of numerous quarrels, which impacts the plot by amplifying suspense. To begin, Romeo commences conflict overall, by having the audacity to love the daughter of his sole enemy. "My name, dear saint, is hateful to myself, Because it is an enemy to thee. Had I it written, I would tear the word"(1024).

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155 Words | 1 Pages

In William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, Juliet's persistently changing feelings toward Romeo after she finds out that he killed Tybalt show that she has trouble deciding whether to abide as Romeo's wife or to be loyal to her family as a Capulet. Juliet is going back and forth between taking Romeo's side or her family's side and says; "But wherefore, villain, didst thou kill my cousin? / That villain cousin would have killed my husband"(Shakespeare, 3.2.100-101). Juliet is having internal conflict to decide whether to be faithful to her family, or to her husband whom she is tied to in marriage. Juliet feels deceived because Romeo killed Tybalt

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838 Words | 4 Pages

The classical ideas of calmness, stoical patience, and broad-mindedness should be joined in human conduct with the Christian virtues of love, faith, and hope” (McKay 384). The themes of love and hope hold prominence in many of Shakespeare’s tragedies. His ability to illustrate characters through actions and emotions largely associates him with this central idea. The use of describing characters through emotive language is largely evident in Romeo and Juliet. Shakespeare describes Romeo and Juliet as “star-crossed lovers”, and he perfectly illustrates this idea by showing the extremes that the two protagonists go through just to be in each other’s

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236 Words | 1 Pages

Analysis: Shakespeare effectively uses metaphors, repetition, and other literary devices to convey Romeo's impulsive and sexually driven character. The metaphor of wanting to be a glove emphasizes Romeo's desire for physical closeness and intimacy with Juliet, while the repetition of the word "touch"

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843 Words | 4 Pages

Shakespeare's, "Romeo and Juliet”, illustrates the powerful impact that love and hate can have on our decision-making and relationships. Romeo's impulsive actions in the face of adversity demonstrate how love can drive us to make irrational choices. However, Tybalt's hatred and narrow-mindedness highlight the harmful effects of holding onto negative emotions. In the end, the character's tendency to overreact ultimately leads to their tragic downfall.

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922 Words | 4 Pages

My soul, and not my child! Dead art thou! Alack, my child is dead, And with my child my joys are buried”. This talks about the death of Juliet and in this case, death comes from violence.

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623 Words | 3 Pages

In The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare uses the repeated concepts of danger, warning, rash decisions, life, and death to contribute to the thematic development of the play. The overall theme conveyed in the story is that impulsivity can lead to undesirable consequences. This is shown through the actions and interactions between star crossed lovers Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet. In a search for love they become too impulsive, leading to their untimely demise. This is the tragic story of Romeo and Juliet.

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“Romeo and Juliet” by William Shakespeare entertains the audience through use of character, language and drama. The plot focuses on the theme of conflict and consequences, using deep characterisation, descriptive language and high drama to entertain. Act 3 Scene 1 focuses on a brutal feud between two enemies and Act 3 Scene 5 follows the patriarchal society’s approach to women marriage and societal expectations. Shakespeare forces the audience to engage with the idea of conflict and what it must have been like to live through this time. Shakespeare cleverly utilises a changing atmosphere in Act 3 Scene 1 to expertly entertain his audience.

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451 Words | 2 Pages

My performance was of Juliet in act 3 scene 2 of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. This scene was showing the inner conflict of Juliet after she finds out that Tybalt was killed and Romeo was banished for killing him. The inner conflict was in the emotions that Juliet was feeling, she was unsure of which was the greater loss in her life. Among all of this grief, Juliet also manages to feel relief that Tybalt, who was trying to kill Romeo had died and that Romeo was safe. This inner conflict contributes to the play’s overall theme of young love, as in the end, Juliet feels that Romeo being banished brought more pain and sorrow to her than her cousin’s death, because of her “undying” love for him.

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535 Words | 3 Pages

One of the main concepts presented in the play is pain. Shakespeare loved to write heart breaking scenes filled with anguish and betrayal. He wrote some of his most famous quotes through the last breath of his characters. Whether the pain you have

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2514 Words | 11 Pages

In William Shakespeare’s iconic 1595 romantic play ‘Romeo and Juliet’, fate is a dominant theme used. This is incorporated into the play by using different literary techniques and a distinctive style of language. The playwright uses destiny to build and develop the personalities of the characters, and to elaborate the plot of the story. The tender-hearted story is set in a prominent Catholic society in Verona, Italy where it is believed that the Shakespearean play was based on a real story focused on the rivalling Capeletti and the Montecci families. William Shakespeare involves the complex theme of fate to connect with his 16th century audience.

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Death may be inevitable, but that does not make it any easier to cope with. ‘The Knight’s Tale’ in Geoffrey Chaucer’s ‘The Canterbury Tales’, death is spotlighted as a common issue characters struggle with. Chaucer defines death as the parting of two people due to one’s life ending resulting in the parting of their soul. Many characters throughout the story deal with losing someone they love or a close friend. Through pain caused by loss and character’s failed attempts at saving other character’s lives, it is understood that death is uncontrollable and inevitable.

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873 Words | 4 Pages

In William Shakespeare’s play “The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet.” Romeo and Juliet risked so much to be together. The two go through a journey where every decision they make has a huge impact on not just themselves but those around them. The pair truly loved each other, from sneaking around to see each other, to risky marriage, and being committed and loyal. Even though, they have a lot of trouble.

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1980 Words | 8 Pages

Facts that happen in life, either happy or sad, affect one’s behavior. People who express themselves through words, people who put their lives and characters in their plays, novels and the pieces of art that they create, tend to transform their inner feelings and their inside world to their works. For a parent, the death of a child, the death of a person who came in life because of you, is the worst curse. Shakespeare could not overtake such a fact. Inevitably, this would affect his life, the way he acts, the way he writes.

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