Romeo And Juliet By William Shakespeare (1564 – 1616) Essay, Research Paper

Perhaps Shakespeare’s most famous play,

Romeo and Juliet combines the contrasting elements of humor and sorrow,

bawdiness and civil strife, and innocent love and ignorant hate to rouse

an amazing depth of mixed tenderness and tension. Although a Chorus begins

the play by notifying the audience that these near-perfect lovers will

in the end take their own lives, an irrational sense of hope remains that

somehow they might escape their destiny. But the pride-hardened hatred

between the feuding families leads the play to its inevitable tragic end.

Moreover, though the drama is one of ultimate

reconciliation, ironically, both families lose their only children – neither

family line will be carried on. In a sense Shakespeare is suggesting that

war and hate lead, not to victory for either side, but to spiritual annihilation.