The Tragedy Of Romeo And Juliet Essay, Research Paper

AUTHORWilliam Shakespeare was born on April 23,1564 in Warwickshire, England. He was the third child and first son of John and Mary Shakespeare. John Shakespeare was a maker, worker, and seller of leather. William went to school at the Stratford grammar school. He married Anne Hathaway on November 28, 1582. William and Anne had three children together. A daughter name Susanna in 1583 and twins named Hamnet and Judith in 1585. William became an actor and playwright between 1592 and 1594. During that time he wrote ?Venus and Adonis? and ?The Rape of Lucrece.? Most of Shakespeare?s sonnets were written in 1598, but were not published until 1609. Shakespeare returned to Stratford in 1610. He made his will just one month before he died on April 23, 1616.

SETTINGThis play takes place in Verona and Mantua.

MAIN CHARACTERSRomeo Montague was in love with Juliet. He was fickle and impulsive. Romeo did not think about his actions before he did them.

Juliet Capulet was loyal and devoted to Romeo. She was also defiant towards her parents.

Friar Lawrence was a wise old man that helped Romeo and Juliet get married. The Friar made plans for Romeo and Juliet to leave Verona, but Romeo was too desperate and the plan did not work.

The Nurse is very helpful, loving, and caring towards Juliet.

MINOR CHARACTERSRosaline was Romeo?s first love.

Mercutio was a loyal friend to Romeo. He was also a willful person.

Sampson was a servant of the Capulet?s.

Gregory was a servant of the Capulet?s.

Abraham was a servant of the Montague?s.

Tybalt was a fighter. He was also mean and strong.

Benvolio was a peacemaker. He was very friendly.

Balthasar was Romeo?s messenger.

Capulet is a strict and wise man. He is also Juliet?s father.

Lady Capulet is a nice woman. She is also strict and stuck-up. She was the mother of Juliet.

Montague is a strict father to Romeo, but he is a very smart man.

Lady Montague is the type of person that likes to make peace. She is the mother of Romeo.

The Prince is strict and mean, but he understands the death of Mercutio and Tybalt.

Paris is a proud young man that is very lonely and nice.

Friar John was an assistant to Friar Lawrence.

THEMEThe theme of the play is that hate is the destruction of all man. In this theme the author is trying to say that there is no point for a person to hate another person because it just leads to violence or even death. In this play the theme is applied by the Capulet?s and Montague?s having a feud but not remembering what the feud was about. The feud caused the death of many people such as Romeo, Juliet, Paris, Mercutio, and Tybalt.

PLOTThe play starts off when the Capulet?s have a costume party. Romeo goes to the party looking for Rosaline, but instead finds Juliet. He falls in love with her when he sees her at the party. Tybalt notices that Romeo is not a Capulet and wants to fight him, but Capulet stops him so Tybalt says to himself that Romeo will get his for coming to the party.

Romeo and Juliet get married secretly and no one knows but the Nurse and Friar Lawrence. Tybalt sees Romeo and tries to fight him, but Mercutio fights instead. In the fight Tybalt kills Mercutio, and in spite of anger Romeo kills Tybalt. Because Romeo killed Tybalt he was banished out of Verona. Romeo was banished instead of killed because Benvolio explained to the Prince that Tybalt was the one who started the fight. Juliet finds out that Tybalt is deceased and Romeo is banished. She begins feeling sad, but not because Tybalt is dead, but because Romeo is banished.

The Capulet?s arrange Paris to marry Juliet on Thursday, but Friar has a plan to keep this from happening since Juliet is already married to Romeo. Friar gives Juliet a potion to drink the night before the wedding. The potion makes Juliet look dead but she will be sleeping for 42 hours. The Friar?s plan is to fool everybody into thinking that Juliet is dead. The only person that will know that Juliet is alive is Romeo because the Friar is going to send Romeo a letter telling him the plan. Juliet will be inside the casket when the potion wears off and she wakes up. Romeo is supposed to be beside the tomb when Juliet wakes up so that they will be able to live in Mantua together in peace without anyone knowing.

The plan works great except that Romeo doesn?t get the letter about the plan and he thinks that Juliet is really dead. Romeo thinks that Juliet is dead because Balthasar tells him that she died. When Romeo gets the news from Balthasar he doesn?t think to wait for the Friar?s letter he just goes straight to Juliet?s tomb. On the way to the tomb Romeo buys a potion from someone to kill himself. When Romeo gets to Juliet?s tomb he sees Paris. Paris thinks that Romeo is at the tombs because he wants to disturb the dead. Paris begins to fight with Romeo and Romeo ends up killing Paris. When the potion wears off and Juliet wakes up she sees Romeo drinking the potion that he bought on the way to her tomb. When Juliet sees Romeo died she picks up a dagger and kills herself.

OPINIONI thought that the story was very romantic. It was romantic because at the end Romeo died for Juliet and Juliet died for Romeo. I disagree about the decision that the Friar made for Juliet to drink the potion. I think the Friar should have told Romeo and Juliet?s parents. The Friar should have made Romeo and Juliet leave Verona. When they were in Mantua the Friar should have told their parents that they were married.

RECOMMENDATIONNo, I would not recommend this book to anyone looking for an interesting book. I would recommend this book if you were looking for a book that is sad and boring. I say this because I thought that this book was very boring, sad, and not interesting. I don?t think anyone would benefit from reading this book because I didn?t benefit from reading it. I thought the book was a good sad love story, but it wasn?t something I would read for pleasure.