play of the week
Here we have featured the review of the absolute best play of this week with our thoughts and opinions. This week's is Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. Stay tuned next week, to find another review of another fantastic play!
The Tragedy of Romeo And Juliet
By William Shakespeare
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Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare is about the tragic love between two
teenagers named Romeo and Juliet. In the setting of Verona, there are two family rivals; Montague and Capulet. A very lovesick heir from the Montague family, Romeo, is helped by his friends to attend a Capulet party in hopes of cheering him up. He is reluctant, but soon meets Juliet for the first time. After discovering she was a Capulet, he quickly leaves the party with his friends. Later that night, he returns to her home, confesses his love to her, and they plan to marry the same morning. In secrecy, they married happily, but unfortunate events followed. Throughout the play, deception runs rampant.
Deception is first represented when Juliet decided not to tell her parents about the
marriage between Romeo and herself. In Act 1: Scene 3, Juliet is told by her mother that her parents would like for her to marry a rich fellow named Paris. She agrees until she falls in love with Romeo at first sight. He left the party early after discovering she was a Capulet, however, he returned to her balcony and proposed they should marry. Prior to the wedding, Friar Laurence warned Romeo and foreshadowed, “Wisely and slow. They stumble that run fast.” Then, the same morning, Romeo and Juliet secretly married. As a result for not telling her parents about the wedding, Juliet discovers a wedding has already been arranged for her and Paris on Thursday. By keeping the marriage a secret, Juliet’s family assumed she wasn’t seeing anyone for the time being, and assumed there was opportunity to wed her with Paris. For Juliet, however, this was no where near convenient and set a trap for herself for being dishonest.
Another example of the play’s deception is when Romeo and his friends sneak into a Capulet party. Disguised by masks, they tricked the members of the household into letting them in. However, Romeo’s deception did not fool Tybalt, who swore revenge by saying: “He is a Montague, our foe; A villain, that is hither come in spite. To scorn at our solemnity this night.” (Act 1: Scene 5) The next day, Tybalt did good on his words and challenged Romeo to a duel. That duel was instead accepted by Mercutio, who unfortunately lost both the duel and his life. That one deception for a night of partying was paid for with a life.
Moreover, in hopes of avoiding the wedding her parents had planned, Juliet seeks guidance from Friar Laurence. In exchange, he gives her a potion that will make her appear dead for forty-two hours, but is actually in a deep sleep. Additionally, her family had already been rushing for the wedding; now they had to prepare a funeral for Juliet. Romeo wasn’t able to receive the letter, so he didn’t know about the plan between Juliet and Friar Laurence. As a consequence, he thought Juliet was actually dead and decided to kill himself because he could not live without her; “For fear of that, I still will stay with thee, and never depart from this palace of dim night depart again. Here, here will I remain with worms that are thy chambermaids; O, here will I set up my everlasting rest..” After his suicide, Juliet awoke and then killed herself too. This shows that by lying about her death, it did not turn out to be in her favor. Furthermore, it ended up killing her lover and herself.
The story of Romeo and Juliet is one about true love and misfortune. Deception is a subtle part in the play, but has a huge role. This tragedy is filled with the consequences of deception, and the lords of both families understand this in the Prince’s last line:
“For there was never a tale of more woe than that of Juliet and her Romeo.”
teenagers named Romeo and Juliet. In the setting of Verona, there are two family rivals; Montague and Capulet. A very lovesick heir from the Montague family, Romeo, is helped by his friends to attend a Capulet party in hopes of cheering him up. He is reluctant, but soon meets Juliet for the first time. After discovering she was a Capulet, he quickly leaves the party with his friends. Later that night, he returns to her home, confesses his love to her, and they plan to marry the same morning. In secrecy, they married happily, but unfortunate events followed. Throughout the play, deception runs rampant.
Deception is first represented when Juliet decided not to tell her parents about the
marriage between Romeo and herself. In Act 1: Scene 3, Juliet is told by her mother that her parents would like for her to marry a rich fellow named Paris. She agrees until she falls in love with Romeo at first sight. He left the party early after discovering she was a Capulet, however, he returned to her balcony and proposed they should marry. Prior to the wedding, Friar Laurence warned Romeo and foreshadowed, “Wisely and slow. They stumble that run fast.” Then, the same morning, Romeo and Juliet secretly married. As a result for not telling her parents about the wedding, Juliet discovers a wedding has already been arranged for her and Paris on Thursday. By keeping the marriage a secret, Juliet’s family assumed she wasn’t seeing anyone for the time being, and assumed there was opportunity to wed her with Paris. For Juliet, however, this was no where near convenient and set a trap for herself for being dishonest.
Another example of the play’s deception is when Romeo and his friends sneak into a Capulet party. Disguised by masks, they tricked the members of the household into letting them in. However, Romeo’s deception did not fool Tybalt, who swore revenge by saying: “He is a Montague, our foe; A villain, that is hither come in spite. To scorn at our solemnity this night.” (Act 1: Scene 5) The next day, Tybalt did good on his words and challenged Romeo to a duel. That duel was instead accepted by Mercutio, who unfortunately lost both the duel and his life. That one deception for a night of partying was paid for with a life.
Moreover, in hopes of avoiding the wedding her parents had planned, Juliet seeks guidance from Friar Laurence. In exchange, he gives her a potion that will make her appear dead for forty-two hours, but is actually in a deep sleep. Additionally, her family had already been rushing for the wedding; now they had to prepare a funeral for Juliet. Romeo wasn’t able to receive the letter, so he didn’t know about the plan between Juliet and Friar Laurence. As a consequence, he thought Juliet was actually dead and decided to kill himself because he could not live without her; “For fear of that, I still will stay with thee, and never depart from this palace of dim night depart again. Here, here will I remain with worms that are thy chambermaids; O, here will I set up my everlasting rest..” After his suicide, Juliet awoke and then killed herself too. This shows that by lying about her death, it did not turn out to be in her favor. Furthermore, it ended up killing her lover and herself.
The story of Romeo and Juliet is one about true love and misfortune. Deception is a subtle part in the play, but has a huge role. This tragedy is filled with the consequences of deception, and the lords of both families understand this in the Prince’s last line:
“For there was never a tale of more woe than that of Juliet and her Romeo.”
Glossary
"They that stumble run fast" - implying those that rush into things, bad things happen to them.
hither - to dare
chambermaids - servants who clean up after the chambers or bedrooms.
woe - great distress
"They that stumble run fast" - implying those that rush into things, bad things happen to them.
hither - to dare
chambermaids - servants who clean up after the chambers or bedrooms.
woe - great distress