Wednesday, May 6, 2020

I intend to examine how Shakespeare makes the prologue Essay Example For Students

I intend to examine how Shakespeare makes the prologue Essay In this essay I intend to examine how Shakespeare makes the prologue and Act 1 of Rome and Juliet exciting, dramatic and memorable for the audience and how he prepares us for the tragedy to come. Romeo and Juliet, set in Verona, tells the story of how two star crossd lovers life comes to an end after nothing but their deaths would put a stop to a long existing feud between their families. The play Rome and Juliet was written in 1595, inspired by a poem by Arthur Brook called The tragical story of Romeus and Juliet. This was written in 1562, one of the early origins of the play. Rome and Juliet is based around a mixture of love, hate, tragedy and disguise. Shakespeare added a few changes to the play such; Act 1 scene 1 was added, he invented the character of Mercutio who acts as a balance to Tybalt as they are on opposing sides of the two families. He also made the Nurse and Benvolio more important and shortened the time scale from 9 months to 5 days, faster pace is more exciting as it is more interesting for the audience. I think he made these changes to get people more interested and improve it for what he thought was best. Tragedy occurs as various points of the play, the most memorable bit being when both Rome and Juliet die, I thing this fits in well with the traditional idea of death in the play. Love also features in the play and links in with the tragedy as Rome and Juliets love for eachother ultimately leads to their deaths. Four main types of love are included in the play, courtly, true, sexual and dutiful. Rome and Juliets love for eachother is an example of true, where as Paris love for Juliet is courtly, rules that they were supposed to follow in marriage. Dutiful love is that where the marriage of two people is set up. True love is usually passionate and fast moving. Marriage was different then from how it is today, in their time girls married around the age or 13 or 14 and in most cases the ladys husband was picked by her parents. In play Capulets were reluctant to see this happen so quickly. She hath not seen the change of fourteen years. This is slightly true in our play and Juliet is reluctant to marry Paris but more than happy to marry Romeo, this is dramatic irony as the two were married the next day. The prologue is an introduction to the play which is meant to draw people in and make them find out more, similar to a blurb on a book. Shakespeare set it out as a sonnet, this is appropriate as sonnets nearly always include love and so does the play. The lines in the prologue all have 10 syllables. It is also set out chronologically to match the sequence of events in the play. Phrases included in the prologue which prepare us for the tragedy are; Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean which indicates that blood is shed which could refer to death. Another phrase is from fort the fatal loins of these two foes. This talks of the two families being enemies. Whose misadventurd piteous overthrows, a series of tragic accidents. This interests the audience into finding out what accidents happen. Lurhmann directs the play in a modern way; this could include contrast between the uses of language of then and now. He uses a news bulletin to begin to begin it, usually things which appear on the news are important, and it also introduces people to the play and the setting. The same thing is soon after repeated by Friar Lawrence with images included, these help us get an insight to the play and also the religious resemblance of it. Shakespeare’S Play ‘Romeo And Juliet’ Essay PaperThere are many key characters in the play of Romeo and Juliet. We first meet the characters of Sampson and Gregory who are not so important but give us an important insight towards the situation between the two families and how they feel about eachother. Another character in the play is the Nurse, she is very bawdy and is not afraid to speak her mind. She is affectionate towards Juliet and sees her as a replacement to her own daughter who died years ago. The character of Mercutio was invented by Shakespeare and acts as a balance to Tybalt. Mercutio is Romeos best friend and his personality is that of he is reliable of trustworthy. Benvolio is a more sensible character and is a sort of a peacemaker, I do but keep up the peace. Romeo and Juliet are the two main characters of the play and are described as two star crossd lovers in the prologue. Juliet comes across as a very mature character compared to some others, even though she is younger than them, she is naive and loyal It is an honour I dream not of. However she is only loyal until the point where she refuses to marry Paris and marries Romeo instead. Romeo is a very passionate character and his feelings show towards Juliet. To begin with we first hear about Romeo being described as sad. He appears obsessed with love and is deeply in love with Rosaline. However, he soon is over her after he meets Juliet at the party. Paris character is not a very important one, but he adds a bit of shock for the audience when he asks to marry Juliet, it is exciting for the audience to see if this will hinder Romeo and Juliets love for eachother. Friar Lawrence is an important character as he adds the religious resemblance to the play, he also supplies Juliet with the potion which consequently ends Romeo and Juliets lives. In Shakespeares Romeo and Juliet there are 2 main ways in which the language is used. The first of the two is blank verse; it is used by the higher class people such as Lord and Lady Capulet. The second one is prose, used by more lower class people such as the Nurse. Romeo also uses it in a different way at one stage of the play as he talks in oxymorons; this helps us to establish his sad mood and interests us into what has caused it. Another noticeable change is in the speeches of the play and also in the prologue, they usually come to the end with a rhyming couplet. Which with you if patient ears attend, what here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend. The man themes in Romeo and Juliet are a mixture of love, hate, betrayal, disguise and fate. The main example of love is between Romeo and Juliet and hate between the Capulet and Montague families. Betrayal is shown when Juliet refuses to marry Paris and ends up with Romeo. Disguise is shown at the party when Romeo and a few other Montagues go in masked disguise to the Capulet party. Shakespeare makes act 1 exciting by the use of a range of styles of language and devices. Some events are memorable for the audience because they have shocked them, such as Sampsons comment in the first scene. The heads of the maids or their maiden heads. The clear feud between the two families also helps us prepare for the tragedy. A faster pace is used during arguments and makes the characters words more aggressive and threatening. I feel the prologue and the first act sets up the whole play and in a way lays out the foundations for it. They are both exciting and intriguing for the audience, this makes them want to find about the rest of the play and you can see clear links back to prologue in various places of the play.

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