Romeo and Juliet: The Transformation of Juliet - Book Report/Review Example

Romeo and Juliet - The Transformation of Juliet In William Shakespeares The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, love transforms Juliet. Early in the play, Juliet is a young girl who is very faithful to her family. After this young girl meets Romeo Montague, she begins to change. By the end of the play, Juliet is changed into a woman who is now very faithful to her husband, instead of her family. The much-loved and retold story of these star-crossed lovers have shown readers around the world just how powerful romantic love can be. Supposedly, this kind of love does not only bring two people together, but also manages to change a person’s outlook on things. In addition, the play gives audiences a glimpse on how famed playwright William Shakespeare looks at romantic love. In all societies, love is the most commonly discussed topic. The form of discourse does not matter. When asked for an opinion on love, each individual always has an answer. Based on personal experience and observation it would be safe to say that people are always ready to talk about this emotion because it has various facets. As such, everyone has a facet to relate to their personal lives. For example, the second a child is born love is already manifested by the newborn and its parents. There is already love – unconditional (Kohn), trusting, and fierce. This is the reason parents are immediately protective of the infant. This is also the reason why the infant is more comfortable in its parents’ arms than in another’s hold. This kind of love, however, is different from the most common notion of love which is romantic love. This is the emotion characterized by “feelings of closeness and connection coupled with strong physical attraction. (Regan)” This second concept on love is what Shakespeare wanted to present n his very popular narrative The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet. An observation of William Shakespeare’s plays gives one the impression that the playwright feels that love always comes with other emotions and brings about consequences that are not in line with the conventional expectations when people fall in love. Usually, people think that falling in love is generally a good thing. Everything is good, happy, and fun. There are no problems to worry about. Shakespeare’s narrative about two lovers from warring families appears to say that this belief is not entirely true. A quick reflection on Shakespeare’s plays however shows that his take on love varies. For instance, he thinks love is “irrational, compulsive and painful” and thus made his characters in the Twelfth Night go through a number of mix-ups and frustrating events. (Peele) In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare presented how love can have a dark side by making some of the characters make a joke out of the other characters who are in love. (Elze) Finally, Shakespeare seemed to tell everyone through Romeo and Juliet that falling in love also brings death and tragedy even to those who love truly and deeply. Being in love is not just about hearts and flowers. Known as the ill-fated lovers, Romeo and Juliet are two of the most popular personalities in literature. Readers feel for them because after they defied the odds just to keep their relationship, they ended up losing each other in death because of something as trivial as miscommunication. Readers also empathized with the lead characters’ struggle to find a balance between their individual relationships with their respective families and with each other. Through the play’s main characters, more specifically Juliet, Shakespeare showed how intense a person’s love for another individual is capable of changing a person, making her change loyalties and behave contradictory to what is expected of her. Madam, I am here. What is your will? (Shakespeare) In Act I of the play, Juliet is depicted to be an obedient daughter. She uses the words “Madam” and “your will” when responding to her mother. She is presented as a young and impressionable teenager of fourteen. Although society requires that she show respect to her parents and obey them, her succeeding lines reveal that she does not agree with their decision of marrying her off with Paris. Nevertheless, she heeds her mother’s suggestion and promises her mother that she will assess Paris at a party they were going to have. Interestingly, it is also during this conversation that Juliet shows she is not a total pushover. Although she gives in to her parent’s request about Paris, she also tells them that this does not guarantee she would fall in love with Paris. ‘Tis but they name that is my enemy. Though art thyself, though not a Montague. What’s a Montague? It is not hand or foot, Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part Belonging to a man. O, be some other name! What’s in a name? That which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet. Oh, give away that ‘Romeo,’ and for that name, Which is no part of thee, take all myself. (Shakespeare) As the play progresses, Juliet becomes more involved with Romeo and her lines show that although she knows he is the enemy, she is willing to continue their relationship. The piece above is from Act II and manifests a defiant Juliet. As she falls in love with Romeo, she behaves contrary to what her family would want to see. She decides to meet the young man from the Montague family, her family’s arch enemy, out on her balcony at night time. In the society she belonged to this behavior was looked down on and not practiced by proper ladies. Juliet also agrees to marry Romeo, a man she had just met at a party that same night. She sneaks away from her family to meet Romeo and get married. When Juliet finds out that Romeo has killed her cousin, her loyalty is put to the test. Her love for Romeo prevails however and she decides to stay with her husband. At this point, Shakespeare shows a more independent and mature Juliet. She stays at her family’s home, yet allows Romeo into her bedroom to consummate their marriage. She also makes an ally of her nurse, talking the lady into assisting her and covering for her. Further into the play, the audience will see another transformation in Juliet. In Act III, the friar advises Romeo to flee rather than serve his punishment for killing Tybalt. Juliet becomes cunning and deceives her parents who, because they are in the dark about her marital status, pursue her marriage to Paris. They think she is upset over her cousin’s death when she is really upset about Romeo leaving. She decides to enlist the help of the same friar who married her to Romeo. Willingly, Juliet takes the sleeping potion he gives her. This will make her appear dead to everyone on the day of her wedding to Paris. At this part, it is clear that her strong love for Romeo has influenced Juliet’s rational thinking. She could have just told everyone the truth and face the music. As will happen at the end, this plan of Juliet’s backfires and causes her too much heartache. On the other hand, this act of putting herself at risk only proves her deep love for Romeo. She did not know if the sleeping potion was effective. She only trusted that Romeo would find her and rescue her from her situation with Paris. She put her full trust on her love for Romeo and believed everything will be right in the end. In the Final Act, Shakespeare reveals how the love story of Romeo and Juliet ends. The friar’s message about Juliet never reaches Romeo. Instead, he hears about his wife’s supposed death from another person. Stricken with grief, he buys some poison and heads to the Capulets family vault with the intention of killing himself as well. Paris is there but gets killed by Romeo. When Juliet wakes up from her sleep, Romeo is already dead and lying beside her. She realizes what happened tries to poison herself by kissing her husband’s lips. Because of her love, she becomes desperate to be with her dead husband. The kiss does not work so Juliet takes Romeo’s dagger and stabs herself, falling on Romeo. The bodies are found and the families reconcile after the friar tells them the tale of Romeo and Juliet. The love story of Romeo and Juliet is one of the most beloved narratives of all times. People anywhere in the world understand this kind of love because ninety out of a hundred people have probably felt the same intensity of love as Romeo and Juliet. With this narrative, Shakespeare seemed to say that indeed love IS a very powerful thing. In fact, it is so strong that it was able to make an obedient and naïve girl like Juliet change into a love struck, determined and strong-willed teenager. References: Elze, Karl. Essays on Shakespeare. New York: Macmillan and Co. 1874. Print. Kohn, Alfie. “When a Parent’s ‘I Love You’ Means ‘Do as I Say’.” The New York Times HEALTH. 14 September 2009. Web. 8 July 2014. Peele, Stanton. “Shakespeare in Love.” Addiction in Society. Regan, Pamela. “General Theories of Love.” Sage Publications, 2002. PDF file. 7 December 2009. Web. 7 July 2014. Shakespeare, William. “The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet.” 1958. PDF file. Read More