Essay on Romeo and Juliet - page 2
Keywords: Shakespeare Romeo and Juliet essay character development
By Jenny on 02/07/2009
Level: GCSE Key Stage 4 (Years 10-11)
Page Number: 2 of 5 pages: 1 2 3 4 5
himself married in haste, which could be why he gives Romeo and Juliet’s tale such a tragic ending.
The play is a tragedy because right from the start in the prologue we know what is going to happen
“two starcross’d lovers take their life”.
The tragedy is that we watch the events unfold knowing what is going to happen but unable to stop it.
Now I am going to start to explore how Romeo’s state of mind is revealed to the audience from the start of Act 1.
The first line that mentions Romeo is
“O, where is Romeo? ………….. this fray.”
This tells us that his family doesn’t know where he is, he is spending lots of time by himself.
Benvolio then gives us our first real insight into Romeo’s state of mind
So early walking ………………. From me.”
This tells us that Romeo has been taking early morning walks by himself and is avoiding other people – he wants to be alone.
This is confirmed by
“Many a morning ……………….. morning dew””,
which tells us that he has been crying – he is upset, has something on his min d.
We know that he has been avoiding daylight
“But all as ………………… artificial night”,
telling us that he is so miserable he doesn’t want to be heartened by the “all-cheering sun”, would rather have an artificial night in which to dwell on his misery.
When he is described as “heavy” we can guess that something is weighing down on him, and the phrases
“private”, “locks …… out” and “Shuts up his windows”, indicate that he is retreated into himself with his misery and locking everyone else out.
When his father says
“Black and ………………. cause remove”
we realise that he is so depressed that even his family thinks that he needs help. His father also says
“I neither ………………. Of him”
when asked if he knows the cause which shows that has tried to help Romeo but cannot – Romeo is so far gone that even his father can’t help him.
“Both by myself ……………….. so close”,
tells us that no one else has been able to discover the course either.
The phrase
“As is …………………. The sun”,
compares Romeo to a bud being eaten by a worm from inside so that while his outside still seems beautiful, the inside is being consumed and no one will know until it is too late and the damage is done.
The first line that Romeo speaks is
“Is the day so young?”
and along with
“Ay me! Sad hours
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