Opinion Between William Shakespeare's Romeo And Juliet

Romeo and Juliet - Opinion Essay

A great writer is able to engage the audience into their stories effectively. In William Shakespeare's famous play, Romeo and Juliet, he absorbs readers with his creative writing techniques. These include his use of poetic ambience, emotional impact and consistant action continuing throughout the play. He uses these skills in his writing to capture his readers attention successfully. Shakespeare's use of poetic ambiance keeps his readers constantly entertained. Poetry does not follow any rules and can be written however the writer chooses to make it more interesting for the audience. To start, Shakespeare uses a variety of literary devices in his writing, but one that stands out to me is the way he is
able to successfully manoeuver personification into his writing. One of my personal favourite examples from text is when Juliet says "Back, foolish tears, back to your native spring;" (3.2.102.) I enjoy this line because Juliet is telling herself not to cry over something she thinks is so foolish and silly. The way he uses the metophor "native spring" to describe her eyes is very creative and original. Another example, is Shakespeares rhyming scheme throughout the play. I find this very interesting and engaging because it is not all a poem, and does not always follow a certain rhyming scheme. He has divided his play into small sonnets, a fourteen line poem with any rhyming scheme the writer wants to use. Shakespeare includes sonnets in the prolouge in Act I. "Two households, both alike in dignity/ In fair Verona, where we lay our scene/ From ancient grudge break to new mutiny/ Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean/ From forth the fatal loins of these two foes/ A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life/ Whole misadventured piteous overthrows/ Do with their death bury their parents' strife/ The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love/ And the continuance of their parents' rage/ Which, but their children's end nought could remove/ Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage/ The which if you with patient ears attend/ What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend." (1.Prolouge.) This is just one example, but there are many more sonnets throughout the play. Shakespeares sonnets and rhyming schemes keep the play fun and engaging to all audiences. Next, William Shakespeare gives readers a new view on the English language with his use of the older version of English. I personally find this interesting and slightly humorus that people once spoke like this. The old English is throughout the entire play, but one part in the play that I found quite entertaining is when the servants of the two warring households meet. The servant of the Montague family, Sampson, states "Nay, as they dare. I will bite my thumb at them; / which is a disgrace to them, if they bear it." (1.1.55.) In Shakespearan time, "biting your thumb" at someone was considered an insult. It is very fascinating how much English has changed over the past few centuries. In all, Shakespeare is able to capture his readers attention with his poetic vibe he continues throughout his play. Secondly, in the play Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare keeps a consistent amount of action throughout making the read fun and exciting!
He uses this very effectively in his writing with battles between characters, humour, and the fast pace of the play. To begin with, he puts the characters in certain situations where they must battle against one another to claim something, to prove a point, or just out of pure hate. The fighting is very exciting, yet sometimes tragic because it mostly leads to a death of one of the characters. For example, in Act 3 Scene 1, Tybalt demands to fight Romeo, but Romeo refuses. Mercutio, eager to fight, jumps in Romeos place and battles Tybalt for himself. Tybalt ends up killing Mercutio. When Tybalt re-enters, Romeo states "Now, Tybalt, take the villain back again,/That late thou gavest me; for Mercutio's soul/Is but a little way above our heads,/Staying for thine to keep him company:/Either thou, or I, or both, must go with him." (3.1.120-124.) Romeo is threatening Tybalt saying that since Mercutio is now dead, one of them, or even both, must die as well. This threat angers Tybalt, and they fight. Tybalt is killed by Romeo, and Romeo flees. This gives the reader a lot to think about. The fight lead to two deaths, and Romeo murdered his new brides cousin. At this point, the play begins to reach its climax, making it very exciting for audiences. Next, to lighten up things from the dreary, depressing mood of the play, Shakespeare adds a bit of humor
into it. This keeps the play fun and less upsetting in some aspects. A scene that I found particularly amusing was in Act 1 Scene 3, when the nurse recalls old memories of breast feeding Juliet. The nurse states "When it did taste the wormwood on the nipple / Of my dug and felt it bitter, pretty fool, / To see it tetchy and fall out with the dug!" (1.3.30-32) She is saying that she stopped breast feeding Juliet as soon as she could and recalls Juliets reaction to the wormwood very hilarious. The nurse sounded very happy and fun while explaining this story which would make readers feel the same. Another example is how Shakespeare has the play take place over about a 4 day time period. If the play were to take place over weeks or months, that could cause the readers to become bored and unamused. Considering the plays in Shakespearan time took place during the hour of noon, and did not have a roof over the theater, it was very difficult to keep audience members constantly entertained. In the play, Lord Capulet decides to change the date of the wedding keeping the play moving at a faster pace. He moves it to the next day to keep his daughter, Juliet, from being so upset over her cousin, Tybalt's, death. Little does he know, Juliet is crying over her husband Romeo, and not her murdered cousin, Tybalt. In Act 3 Scene 4, Capulet moves the wedding to Wednesday instead of Thursday. To conclude this paragraph, Shakespeare uses a consistent amount of action throughout the play Romeo and Juliet to keep readers on their toes. Thirdly, Shakespeare keeps his play full of emotion.
The characters are constantly either happy, sad, angry and any other emotion you could name. He uses the emotional impact so the audience can feel the same. When a character in the play is upset, so are the readers. For example, Shakespeare writes many asides in his play so the audience can know what the character is feeling or thinking throughout. One example of an aside is Friar Laurence's opinion about the wedding being moved to Wednesday instead of Thursday. He states "[Aside.] I would I knew not why it should be slow'd" (4.1.16-17.) This means he wish he didn't know why the wedding should be slowed down. He feels bad going against the Montague and Capulet families. This makes me feel bad for Friar Laurence for being dragged into Romeo and Juliet's plans and not knowing what to do or how to fix the mess they have created. Next, the tragedy that the lovers are unable to be together automatically from the start makes the reader feel sympathy for the two "forbidden" lovers. Juliet states "How camest thou hither, tell me, and wherefore?/ The orchard walls are high and hard to climb,/ And the place death, considering who thou art,/ If any of my kinsmen find thee here." (2.2.62-65.) She is saying that since Romeo is a Montague, he would be killed if he were inside the walls of the Capulet household. If the guards were to find Romeo, she says they will surely kill him. This makes me feel bad that they must hide their love
for one another. They are unable to control what their heart wants, and unfortunately, their families dislike each other and would never approve the marriage. Also, since the story is a romance, this could attract older audiences into the play. The tragic ending causes readers sadness due to the characters misfortune. Lastly, William Shakespeare's creative writing allows readers to have many emotions while reading. He keeps the readers feeling exactly what the characters feel at any given moment. Overall, William Shakespeare's writing continues to keep audiences constantly engaged even after hundreds of years. With his famous play, Romeo and Juliet audiences are pulled into the exciting story by his creative use of emotion, poetry and action. Thus, leaving readers amazed by Shakespeare original writing techniques.