Romeo & Juliet Literary Analysis

Romeo & Juliet Literary Analysis

  • Submitted By: cfricker
  • Date Submitted: 03/09/2010 11:26 AM
  • Category: English
  • Words: 1049
  • Page: 5
  • Views: 2

This scene is set on the streets of Verona. Romeo, Mercutio and Benvolio are approached by Tybalt and his men. Tybalt wishes to fight Romeo because of his appearance at the event held by the Capulet's. Romeo refuses to fight because he is now secretly related to Tybalt because of his marriage to Juliet. Mercutio steps in to fight and as Romeo is standing between the two trying to stop the battle Mercutio gets stabbed and dies. Tybalt then flees the scene, but quickly returns and Romeo stabs him because of what he had done to Mercutio. Romeo runs away just before the Prince and many other villagers arriving at the murder scene. The Prince exiles Romeo from Verona and states that if he is to return he will be killed.
Shakespeare wrote this scene to be the turning point of the play. Until this point Romeo & Juliet was your typical romantic comedy. It was a story about a young man who was in search of love. The young man meets a young lady who he believes to be the love of his life and the two get married. In a traditional romantic comedy the two would live happily ever after and this would be the end of the story. This was never Shakespeare's intent, and after this scene the audience is well aware of the tragedy that is to come with the rest of the play. Along with the plot taking a turn, so does Romeo's character. Romeo goes from being a gentle young man, who wishes for peace and love, to being a more manly character who stands up for himself and his friends. At this time in history men were supposed to be men and act in masculine ways. Things like honour, pride and status were supposed to be of more importance to men then things such as love. If a man was too much in love he lost his manliness. By refusing to fight Tybalt, after being challenged to a duel, Romeo proves that he is letting love take him over. Romeo knows that if he kills Tybalt then he will not get to be with Juliet, but by refusing to fight he gets his friend Mercutio killed. Romeo realizes what...

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