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Religion As Portrayed In Shakespeare's Romeo And Juliet

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Faith has two meanings, one which has to do with God, and another of trust in others. Romeo and Juliet, the tale of two “star-crossed lovers,” written by William Shakespeare, is defined majorly by this theme of faith. Their love story, mangled by a feud dividing their two families, Montagues and Capulets, encompasses a broad range of situations where faith is the difference between life or death, marriage or solitude. Throughout the play, God is seen as an important figure to both Romeo and Juliet, tying to the religion of Catholicism, altogether creating a religious motif. Friar Lawrence, a guiding priest, is the embodiment of the second meaning of faith, as Romeo and Juliet both trust the Friar more than anyone else. Utilizing a religious …show more content…

Right from the start, when Romeo speaks with Juliet, religious references are present. Romeo compares Juliet to a saint, and Juliet compares Romeo to a pilgrim. The conversation they share during their first meeting at the Capulet party precisely embodies the idea of faith in God and complements their own love. Romeo consoles Juliet for approaching her by calling her a “holy shrine,” apologizes for “the gentle sin” he committed, and is ready to use his lips “to smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss” (1.5.105-108). When Romeo calls Juliet a “holy shrine, ”he is describing her as a sacred person, connecting directly to faith and religion. The “gentle sin” section also demonstrates the religious motif as he elevates the mistake of beseeching Juliet to the level of an offense due to his spiritual values. Later on, during the balcony scene, when Romeo stumbles upon Juliet’s room, he references faith in religion once again. As Juliet expresses her love for Romeo and her hatred for his name, Romeo jumps out from behind the bushes and impulsively yells, “call me but love, and I’ll be new baptized” (2.2, 54-55). Here the idea of baptism connects distinctly to the ideas of church, sanctity and divinity. While Romeo and Juliet’s love is expressed through religious faith, another part of the church represents a significant part of their

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596 Words | 3 Pages

At the Capulet party, Romeo and Juliet call each other “saints” and “pilgrims”. Juliet tells him to cast his family name, and Romeo calls out, “Call me but, love and I’ll be newly baptized” (2.2.50). If Juliet calls him her love, he will no longer be a Montague which is like how when someone has a baptism done to dispose of their sin. Romeo responds to Juliet and calls Juliet “dear saint,” (2.2.66) asserting that Juliet is holy and is in or will go to heaven. Romeo surrenders his entire being to Juliet, closely encroaching to an obsessive level as if he is a martyr or someone with

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553 Words | 3 Pages

Friar Laurence, making poor decisions, is largely responsible for the two star crossed lovers written by William Shakespeare in “Romeo and Juliet”. With great support of their secret love, he didn’t make rational decisions that could have improved the secrecy of their relationship. He hoped his decisions could make the greater good. By believing he could solve years-long of two royal families fighting just by marrying Romeo and Juliet is not logical. His intentions were good and no one may have had the same plan as him, but there were missteps, he overlooked.

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400 Words | 2 Pages

In conclusion, Friar Lawrence’s personality and tendency to break church laws plays a significant role in the tragic events of Romeo and Juliet. While some may know him for his wisdom, his impulsive actions are against the well-established

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895 Words | 4 Pages

“Swear by thy gracious self, which is the god of my idolatry.” Juliet is idolizing Romeo, especially when she referred to him as her god while she was daydreaming about a future marriage proposal. In conclusion, relating to both Pickhardt’s article and Shakespeares' play, Romeo and Juliet’s romance can be categorized as a crush, because of them idolizing each other the first day they

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176 Words | 1 Pages

In the two excerpts, Act 1, Scene 5, and Act 5, Scene 3 of "Romeo and Juliet" written by William Shakespeare, Romeo expresses emotions of symbolism and personification to represent his undying passion for Juliet. For example, his interactions with Juliet in the two sections include heavy instances of imagery to show these feelings. In Act 1, Scene 5, on lines 100 and 101, Romeo states, "O then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do... They pray—grant thou, lest faith turn to despair. " Using the symbolic definitions of saints and prayers, Romeo expresses his great passion for Juliet.

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712 Words | 3 Pages

The Blame As is the case with many others, Romeo and Juliet fell in love accidentally in the story “Romeo and Juliet,” by William shakespeare. Romeo’s unreal love for Rosaline was soon cleared with the introduction of the capulets daughter, Juliet. As can be known with any tragedy, their love failed. While many reasons remain for this failure, including fate, young age and a no rationality, it will be argued in this essay that Friar Lawrence also played a role in their love’s failure. Without thinking, Romeo and Juliet became victims of their own love chargeable to Friar Lawrence, young age and fate.

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No matter how holy a man may be, sin will efface into his choices. In The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, two teenagers find themselves in a whirl of conflict by falling in love. However, their families have had a seemingly perpetual feud for years. This forces Romeo and Juliet to believe that their love is forbidden, and that they will never have a happy ending. Disregarding the feud, Friar Lawrence mindlessly assists the teenagers in their journey of love by illegally bringing them even closer than before.

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Shakespeare uses the form of a sonnet to set up the dialogue between Romeo and Juliet. The contrasting imagery in the sonnet suggests that even though Romeo and Juliet are physically attracted to each other Shakespeare implies that their love is pure and innocent in comparison to the previous views of love expressed by the Nurse and Mercutio. Firstly, the imagery in the sonnet is highly romantic and religious, yet often physical. For instance, in line 3-4 Romeo says “This holy shrine, the gentle sin is this: / My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand. ” In this passage, Romeo says many religious terms such as holy, shrine, gentle, sin, blushing, pilgrims, this portrays that Romeo and Juliet 's love is very innocent and pure as there are many religious allusion.

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Emiliano Rincon-Benitez Miss Escarcega ENG I 22 May 2023 Argumentative Essay: Choices & Destinies In William Shakespeare’s play, Romeo and Juliet, Friar Lawrence commented on their marriage, stating,“ In one respect I’ll thy assistant be For this alliance may so happily prove To turn your households’ rancor to pure love.” (2.3 97-99), This exemplifies how the characters in the play had their choices influenced for them. More specifically, this illustrates how the conflicts of others change how others may think.

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Religious representation in the play brings contrary connotations to symbols of blasphemy, idolatry, zealous obsession and inherent sinfulness that are subtle clues as to the deeper meaning of this relationship and its inevitable fate. The religious symbolism in Romeo and Juliet, rather than exalting their relationship as sacred and condoned, grounding it as fundamentally flawed and marked for failure The metaphor of their

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216 Words | 1 Pages

In Act 1, Scene 5 of Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare writes to show the intense chemistry between the two lovers upon their first meeting. Shakespeare develops this attraction through a sonnet. Two of the lines in the verse state, “This holy shrine, the gentle fine in this… Which mannerly devotion shows in this,” which shows how Juliet imitates Romeo’s language. She is only 13 years old, so she uses his dialect as an example of how to speak. Romeo and Juliet express their affection towards each other by relating it to religion.

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195 Words | 1 Pages

Romeo and Juliet is a famous play by William Shakespeare. Its setting is Verona, Italy in the 16 century. Although the characters are fictional,the setting and social elements of the play are realistic. Arranged marriages,family feuds, and duels are often associated with 16 century and 17 century .This essay will explore the geography, government, religious, world events and literature in Italy and Verona during this time frame. The bordering nations Italy is bordered by the Adriatic sea Athenian sea, lion sea and the Mediterranean sea.

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718 Words | 3 Pages

Carter Peck Mrs. Judd 5th Hour English 18th May 2023 Romeo and Juilet Romeo and Juilet does make a specific moral statement about the relationship between love and society, religion, and family. It also portrays the chaos and passion of being in love, combining images of love, violence and death ,religion and family in an impressionistic rush leading to the conclusion of the story.

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426 Words | 2 Pages

In Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare presents a complex and nuanced exploration of the role and status of the Church. Through the use of various characters and their interactions, Shakespeare questions, reinforces, and subverts traditional ideas about the Church and its influence on society. In Act 2 Scene 3, Friar Laurence, a key figure of the Church in the play, speaks about the dual nature of plants and how they can both heal and poison. This metaphor can be read as a commentary on the Church itself.

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1171 Words | 5 Pages

Emerging infection is an infection that is new meaning it has not been previously recognised in humans. HIV/AIDS is an example of an emerging infection. It appeared in the 20th century; HIV was first recognised in 1981 but was likely around for decades. The human species had never had a pandemic of HIV before, so it is a classical emerging infection of profound global health impact. The emergence of an infection can be due to several factors like genetic mutation and the environmental factors

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