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Latest post Wed, May 11 2005 9:40 PM by p3t3r. 0 replies.
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p3t3r
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98395
Wed, 11 May 05 09:40 PM
Hi, anyone can spare a little time to correct to see if there are any grammar mistakes in my Shakespeare project? I checked them all but I usually need someone to proofread to be perfect. It's on Romeo and Juliet. They are mainly about chracter summary and theme statements. Should take only 30 minutes max. Thanks alot to those who could help.
Romeo
One thing he likes: Juliet
One thing he dislikes: Tybalt
Memorable quote: “O dear account! My Life is my foe’s debt.” (Shakespeare 1.5.118)
Character Summary: Romeo is the son of the Montague family. He is young, passionate, imaginative and quick to fall in love. Romeo is only a few years older than Juliet, who is almost fourteen. He is quick to avenge the death of his friend and never let his honors down. His passion for Juliet led him through extreme dangers and he sometimes suffered harsh consequences for the dangers he ignored. Romeo speaks in a poetic way and uses a lot of images to communicate with others. Romeo fell in love at first with Roseline but switched to Juliet quickly when he saw her for the first time at a party. Romeo felt such deep love for Juliet that he went to her right after the party and convinced her to marry him the following day. He stayed true to Juliet right till his death.
Juliet
One thing she likes: Romeo
One thing she dislikes: Paris
Memorable quote: “O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo?” (Shakespeare 2.2.33)
Character Summary: Juliet is the daughter of the Capulet family. She is very young and obedient but can be very rebellious and passionate if she set her mind to it. Juliet is barely fourteen, the normal age for girls to marry at the time. Juliet has lived most of her life following the wishes of her parents. She doesn’t have control of her own affairs and did everything according to the advice of her parents. She even followed her parent’s wishes for her to get married with Paris without a single complainant. Everything changed when she met Romeo. Romeo is the son of the family that is in a feud with her own. Juliet decided to join in hands with Romeo rather than do what her parents wishes. She married Romeo in secret and Paris’s offer to marry her openly. This angered her parents and they forced her to marry Paris. Juliet let passion took over her and she risk her life to be together with Romeo. Her life was ultimately sacrificed to love.
Friar Laurence
One thing he likes: The nature, free from the evils of human.
One thing he dislikes: People who look good on the outside but evil on the inside.
Memorable quote: “Virtue itself turns vice, being misapplied, and vice sometime’s by action dignified.” (Shakespeare 2.3.17-18)
Character Summary: Friar Laurence is a holy man of wisdom and intelligence that belongs to the order of St.Francis. He lives by himself and occasionally arranges marriages for people. His wisdom sees the nature of flowers inside out and he is able to relate that to humans. Both flowers and humans can be good when properly used but both can also be bad when misused. His wisdom also helped him to arrange the importance of a marriage between Romeo and Juliet: a possible peace between the Capulets and the Montagues. His intelligence helped him to solve many conflicts and he was able to use it to help Juliet.
Mercutio:
One thing he likes: Joking around
One thing he hates: Backing away from a duel
Memorable quote: “O, then I see Queen Mab hath been with you.” (Shakespeare 1.4.53)
Character Summary: Mercutio is a kinsman of Prince Esculas. He is a good friend of Romeo and Montague family. Mercutio loves to joke and jest in front of his friends. He often joked about Romeo’s love and the way Romeo talked. His excessive use of humor hurt those around him and yet he seems to never notice at all. Mercutio also loves to duel and hate to back down from a duel no matter the circumstances. He has formed a high opinion of duels and of those who are good at it. He is quick to answer a challenge and quick to draw his sword. This part of Mercutio’s character eventually got himself killed in the end.
Benvolio:
One thing he likes: No violence between the two feuding families.
One thing he hates: Pursue those who gladly fled from him.
Memorable Quote: “By giving liberty unto thine eyes; Examine other beauties.” (Shakespeare 1.1.225-226)
Character Summary: Benvolio is the nephew of Montague and a good friend of Romeo. Benvolio is a very practical and sympatric man who always seemed to be the subject of teases made by Romeo and Mercutio. He is very sympatric to Romeo’s pains in love and tried to ease and comfort Romeo using his best knowledge. Benvolio sees the concept of life in a very logical and yet practical way. He tried to stop the servants of the two families from dueling because he knows that it is not a cure to the conflict. He told Romeo to get a new love because he knows that there might be better women out there. Benvolio’s way of doing things always sparked a tease or two from either Romeo or Mercutio. Romeo teases him because of his suggestions and Mercutio teases him because he is too peaceful.
Tybalt:
One thing he likes: Violence
One thing he hates: Montagues
Memorable Quote: “As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee.” (Shakespeare, 1.1.68)
Character Summary: Tybalt is the nephew of Lady Capulet and the cousin of Juliet. He is very quick and agile with his swords and is considered one of the best by Mercutio. Tybalt is the harbinger of violence and death. He spark conflicts and encourage violence wherever he goes. He absolutely hates peace and he will not be subjected to any reasoning. Tybalt made that statement clear when Benvolio tried to make him part men who dueled on the streets of Verona. The only solution for Tybalt is to issue challenges and duel whomever he doesn’t like. Due to this violent character of him, he killed Mercutio and was killed later by Romeo.
Nurse:
One thing she likes: Juliet
One thing she hates: Been making fun of
Memorable Quote: “I think it best you married with the County.” (Shakespeare 3.5.218)
Character Summary: Nurse is the guardian of Juliet. She has cared for Juliet since she was a baby and had lots of affections for her. Nurse belongs to the Capulets but she is only a servant to them. She is the only person whom Juliet can share a secret with. She is an old lady who spoke her heart and who helped Juliet as much as she can. Nurse helped Juliet with contacting Romeo as well helping her with errands countless times. The way she spoke her heart openly though, upset Juliet so much in the end that Juliet vowed to never trust her again. Nurse hate of been making fun of by youngsters and she showed that part of her when Mercutio tried to make fun of her.
Prince:
One thing he likes: Peace
One thing he hates: Violence created by the Montagues and Capulets.
Memorable Quote: “For never was a story of more woe than this of Juliet and Romeo.” (Shakespeare 5.3.308-209)
Character Summary: Prince Esculus is the official leader of Verona. He runs the city and tries to protect it from violence. He has two kinsmen, Mercutio and Paris, both of which were slain. He is a very just ruler and he is impartial when dealing with conflicts. The Prince is the ultimate symbol of law and order in the city. He doesn’t favor the Capulets or the Montagues and he sets his verdicts and laws fairly under all circumstances. This is evident when Mercutio was killed under the hand of Tybalt. The Prince didn’t just lay all charges on the Capulets. He based his verdict on the evidence and he ensured the fairness of both families.
Paris
One thing he likes: Juliet
One thing he hates: Romeo (Near the end)
Memorable Quote: “Beguil’d, divorced, wronged, spited, slain! Most detestable Death, by thee beguil’d.” (Shakespeare 4.5.55-56)
Character Summary: Paris is another kinsman of Prince Esculus. He is the supposed husband of Juliet. He is the husband that the Capulets wanted for their daughter. He has all the qualities that the Capulets think would benefit their daughter. He has huge amount of wealth and power as well as good looks. Paris is a man who is very selfish but he knows the right timing of speaking. He only cared for his marriage and nothing else mattered to him. As long he get Juliet all other things can just slip by. This part of him is very clear from his conversations with the Capulets. Paris would speak a few sentences to express his brief grief and immediately jump on the topic of his marriage. It didn’t matter to him that there was a duel on the streets involving the Capulets or the fact that Tybalt was just killed. His polite manner of speaking and right timing certainly helped him to win the Capulets.
Themes
Love
Theme: Love is a very precious part of human emotions. It is precious because it can overcome the impossible, make a man crazy without such valuable, and yet meet violent ends if rushed.
Love is seen as a passion without border and without ends in Romeo and Juliet. Love seems to be impossible to exist between two families with so much hatred and death. Yet, love spread rapidly between Romeo and Juliet, who are the son and daughter of each feuding family. Love made them to sacrifice themselves so that they could together forever in heaven. Romeo is a good example of what love can do to make man go wild. Romeo wept daily without control and often spend times alone, away from his friend and families. He sees his life as forfeit until he fell in love again with Juliet. “Therefore love moderately-long love doth so: Too swift arrives as tardy as too slow.” (Shakespeare 2.6.14-15) Friar Laurence’s passage warned us that long, happy love could only exist if treated slowly and moderately. This is a sharp contrast to the love of Romeo and Juliet. Their love were rushed and filled with such passion that it resulted in a violent end: death for both lovers.
Therefore, love should be treated like the precious thing it is. Precious because it can overcome anything, make a man crazy and give out violent consequences if mistreated.
Person versus Society
Theme: A person going against his or her society can gain brief happiness but can also result in grave consequences.
Romeo is one of the victims of this conflict. His society sees him as one of the Montagues. Therefore, he should never have any contact with the Capulets, much less love affairs with their daughter. Yet he won the love of their daughter and married her. His association with the Capulets punished him by having the death of Tybalt under his own hands. He was banished and sacrificed himself later for the love of Juliet. “What’s Montague? It is nor hand nor foot. Nor arm nor face nor any other part.” (Shakespeare 2.2.40-41) Juliet clearly expressed her will against society. The society around Juliet see her married to Paris and hate the Montagues as the only acceptable action she can take. Yet, she clearly said that Montague is just a name and nothing else. She thinks there is no harm to fell in love with the son of the Montagues. She gained her short happiness by marrying Romeo but ultimately lost her own life as a consequence. Their marriage is perhaps the perfect example of person versus society. They had a brief happiness but society twisted it so much that the marriage resulted in a very tragic end: death of both lovers.
In short, people who going against the wishes of the society can gain brief happiness but they will suffer very tragic endings for their action. Romeo, Juliet and their marriage are the perfect examples of that.
Fate
Theme: Fate is a power that controlled everything happened to people. It can either aid you or fight against you in your struggles. It is uncontrollable and work in mysterious ways.
Fate aid Romeo and Juliet in their conquest for love. It just happened that the servant of Capulet couldn’t read and meet Romeo on the way. It just happened that Roseline was on the invite list. It just happened that Romeo and Juliet both fell in love in the party. It just happened that Romeo saw Juliet in the balcony expressing her love for him. Without those fates, Romeo might have meet Juliet in the very much different way. “Tybalt is gone, and Romeo banished; Romeo that kill’d him, he is banished.” Fate worked against them right after they got married. In the passage above, Romeo killed Tybalt. It just happened that Tybalt challenged Romeo right that Romeo got married. It just happened that Tybalt killed Mercutio and Romeo slew him in anger. In the later part of the story, it just happened that the letter to Romeo was delayed. It just happened that Romeo went immediately to Capulet’ tomb and found Juliet dead. Neither Romeo nor Juliet can control the fate that worked against them and in the end fate sacrificed them for a reason they never understood. It wasn’t till the very end that people learned the true reason of the tragic fate between Romeo and Juliet: to stop the feud between Capulet and Montague.
Fate controlled Romeo and Juliet and worked them in mysterious and tragic ways. It helped them to develop a deep love relationship but in the end took them away.
Light and Dark
Theme: Shakespeare used light and dark to a very contrasting degree in Romeo and Juliet. It is such a contrast because he used light as the main idea for love and happiness. He used dark for the idea of sadness.
“O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright!” (Shakespeare 1.5.43) Romeo said this passage when he first saw Juliet and immediately fell in love with her. The image Romeo used for this love is a brightness and light. He used a similar passage when he saw his love, Juliet, in the balcony. “But, soft! What light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun!” (Shakespeare 2.1.2-3) Romeo also expressed his happiness with light. A good example of this would be when he saw Juliet in her tomb. He felt such joy in seeing her that he said: “For here lies Juliet, and her beauty makes this vault a feasting presence full of light.” (Shakespeare 5.3.85-86) Sadness is represented by darkness. The first example of that is when Romeo felt so much sadness for not having Roseline. “Away from light steals home my heavy son.” (Shakespeare 1.1. 135) Romeo also used darkness when he saw Juliet’s body in the tomb. “And that the lean abhorred monster keeps thee here in dark to be his paramour?” (Shakespeare 5.3. 104-105)
Shakespeare used darkness and light to a contrasting degree because he associated one with love and happiness while the other one with sadness.
Poison
Theme: Poison is seen as weapon of death in Romeo and Juliet as well as a symbol of violent love. It is a weapon because it can cause death instantly and leave behind sadness and grief. It is like love because poison consumes a person slowly until it kills the person entirely, much like violent love.
Romeo used poison to kill himself near the end of the play. He used it as a weapon to terminate himself and end his grief. He died quickly and suffered little pain. Little did he know that it caused Juliet so much grief that she stabbed herself using a weapon so she could join him. “There is thy gold-worse poison to men’s souls.” (Shakespeare 5.1.80) In this passage, Shakespeare emphasized poison to make it as a weapon that desperate men use to resolve their conflicts. Poison enters a body from the veins and spread through the entire body until it reaches the heart and terminates the user. It is much like violent love. Love enters a body and spread it to the entire body until it becomes violent passion. The passion consumes them and bid them to do violent things like poison bid men to die.
Therefore, poison can be seen as a weapon but also a symbol of violent love.
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