Romeo and Juliet

[u]Assignment EN2 English Coursework

How do the expectations of family and friends affect the relationship between Romeo and Juliet?[/u]

Romeo and Juliet. Possibly the most famous and most performed romance/drama in the world was first written by the playwright, William Shakespeare in the late 1500’s, although variations of the story were told vocally as early at the 1300’s, over 200 years before Shakespeare was born, or even thought of adapting the story for the theatre. William Shakespeare’s version tells of two star crossed lovers from two feuding families, Two households, both alike in dignity - the Montagues, and the Capulets, their names, Romeo and Juliet.

Romeo, the son of Montague, does not share his father’s or families passionate hatred of the Capulets. I believe this to be the influence of Friar Lawrence, for, being a Godly and peaceful man, he would have helped Romeo to reject the ideas of hatred through example. The Friar often appears to be more of a father figure than Romeo’s biological parent, Montague.

However, Romeo still has to obey his father and respect his parents as a Christian because of one of the Ten Commandments, Honour thy Father and thy Mother which would have been taught to him as soon as he was able to comprehend them, the same applying to Juliet. This also meant that Friar Lawrence could not have married Romeo and Juliet if their parents had forbid them to do so, because he would be allowing the two lovers to break the commandment.
This in turn, led Romeo and Juliet to marry in secret for fear of their parent’s utter rejection to the marriage. This led to Tybalt’s misunderstanding of Romeo’s use of the word “love” for Tybalt when “The prince of Cats” challenges Romeo to a duel, the mention of love confusing and angering Tybalt further to the point of attacking Romeo, forcing Mercutio to step in and defend him, whereupon Mercutio is killed.

As realization dawns upon Mercutio that his death is near, he curses the two families, “…a plague on both your houses!” could this have resulted in the “plague” of bad luck leading to Romeo and Juliet’s eventual deaths? It is certainly an unusual coincidence that merely hours after Mercutio’s death; the first misfortunes begin to happen, starting with Tybalt’s murder by Romeo which led to Romeo’s banishment, which to him was a fate worse than death, “…do not say banishment, say death, for there is no life outside fair Veron’s walls” - this of course is punishment to both the houses, as Tybalt is a Capulet, and Juliet’s cousin, and greatly loved within the family of Capulet. Whilst Romeo is a Montague, (we later learn that Lady Montague dies of “a broken heart” when told of her son’s banishment), only son of Montague and Lady Montague and, ironically, perhaps the most peaceful member of the household, an ultimate opposite to the, “Fiery Tybalt” who in the very beginning said, “…peace, I hate the word”.

Tybalt’s anger would have been another reason to hide the marriage, as he was known as competent fighter, and easily angered, Juliet would have been hard pressed to choose a side between her husband and cousin if there had been a more formal duel.

Obviously not finished yet, but would appreciate outside insight and opinions on the current material.
pretty Pretty please >_>
With cherries…and sprinkles?

We are not here to help you do well on your coursework, give us some constructive problems to look at, and we might consider it.

Jon F

i don’t recall asking you to, i need opinions, is it good enough to hand in? does t need to be longer? etc, i KNOW how to do it.
and erm…an informal question…are you borg? O.o or do you just have a multiple personality disorder?

Ok then, some constructive criticism. Firstly though, is this A Level/GCSE Coursework etc.? and what is the word limit? The introduction is not necessary- any use of the context in which the play was written/background etc. should be only used to back up or fuel a point that is answering the question. Or possible alternative introduction would outline some of what you are going to say, but not in too much detail. Secondly, at very few points do you explicitly answer the question. Almost every point you make needs to refer back to the topic under scrutiny. A lot of what u say is therefore irrlevant. Think simply? What affects the R + J relationship as a result of parental/family expectation. I would include the following:

• R + J’s initial meeting and their automatic reference to the conflict between the respective families.
• Obviously they have to meet and marry in secret.
• I think you make too much of the point of honour your father and mother, I would mention simply that, as is also apparent in other Shakesperean plays such as Hamlet, Christian morality exerts a certain amount of influence over their decision making.
• However, they do not obey parents entirely; marry in secret, J takes potion etc.

A lot of the things you write are not very well expressed or clear, andyou need to look at this carefully. And remember to ANSWER THE QUESTION.

As to the lenght, as I say tell me the word limit, by I would say it could easily be twice as long.

Hope that helps,

Jon F

Thank you and no this isn’t A level coursework, i start college in september, this is simply my last piece of Year 11 coursework, the introduction WAS necessary however, as my new teacher claimed i had to mention that it was written by Shakespeare and intended for the theatre.
“Honour thy mother and thy father” earned me extreme brownie points on the base that using outside quotes was A/S level (which i didn’t know…), no word limit, but minimum of 2 sides of A4 this stands at 1 and a quarter at “12” font i think…, my teacher actually did give us a very easy booklet…thing that told us what to put in etc and where…which i immediately rejected, i really really don’t like my new teacher she’s done untold damage to our Romeo and Juilet work by changing the way we made notes completely 3 quarters of a way through the play…

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