Death

Death

1. life seems to be held cheaply

   • the young men in Verona are swift to draw their swords and blood shed insues
     • Act 1, Scene 1- Sampson and Gregory. Sampson: granted with strength. Gregory: watchful and vigilant
       • Tybalt's hate for the Montagues is passionate- 'as I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee'. Sampson and Gregory react hastily to this and 'they fight'. These stage directions are very vague which means to the scene can be as dramatic as a director likes.
     • the play is set against young lives cut short and we witness the loss of Tybalt , Mercutio, Paris, Romeo and Juliet. It is the older characters that are more philosophical about death, 'we were born to die' that are left to consider what they have learnt at the end of the play
       • Act 3, Scene 1- climax of the play. Mercutio and Tybalt die. Veronese society seems so divided. Petty power struggles, challenges, insults and duels lead to violence and fighting. The defence of honour seems to be more important than life itself.
         • For example, Mercutio sees Romeo's rejction of Tybalt's challenge as desperatey cowardly, 'O calm, dishonourable, vile submission'. Mercutio always speaks in prose which shows his unpredictable nature- he contrasts Benvolio who speaks in blank verse showing his order and control. This scene is a contrast to the previous love scene of Romeo and Juliet's love. Here, Mercutio uses such negative adjectives which shows is unpredicatble nature as a friend to Romeo. He is quick to feel betrayed and change his opinion on somebody. This shows hoe they young men in this play have a hubris where they cannot shy away from death.
         • the audience are dissapointed when Romeo shys away from death- 'put thy rapier up' and the most satisfying moment is the death of Tybalt and Mercutio 'under Romeo's arm' . Romeo cannot escape death- he is surrounded by it and it will soon engulf him.
         • Death never seems far away in the actions, and both of the young lovers threaten suicide before the outlandish plan of the Friar misfires. Romeo 'threatens to kill himself'. Life seems short and violent foe the younger generation of Verona the Friar predicts, 'These violent delights have violent ends in Act 2, Scene 6.
         • Constant references to death as it is commonplace- 'worms meat' 'mortal hurt' 'fatal brawl' and even Mercutio's pun 'you shall find me a grave man' immediately tells us he's dying.
       • In Shakespeare's time people generally died much younger than they do now. The subject of death was familiar to everyone. Nowadays, we often shy away from talking about it - but it's a major topic of Romeo and Juliet.
   • Shakespeare personifies death to give it a supernatural tone, for example when Juliet is taking the drug, Capulet exclaims 'Death is my son-in-law, Death is my heir', which makes a chilling prophecy to the later findings in the vault

2. both lovers have imitations of coming death

   • before Romeo arrives at the party he sees the 'vile forfeit of untimely death'- Act 1, Scene 4
   • Juliet when she sees Romeo climbing from her window on his way to exile in Mantua. "Oh god, I have an ill-divining soul," she calls down to him. "Methinks I see thee, now thou art so low, / as one dead in the bottom of a tomb" - Act 3, Scene 5
   • in the most literal possible way, Juliet's drug-induced deathlike state foreshadows her own death. And the apothecary from whom Romeo buys the poison is described as looking like death—thin, starving, with hollow eyes. Romeo buys his suicide weapon from a man that symbolises death.

3. Violence and conflict

   • internal conflict
     • Juliet has to decide whether she will mourn for Tybalt's death, or be happy that her newfound husband is still alive and well. She loves them both, but has to choose in order to be able to move on with her life. Juliet also doubts the poison the Friar has given her. Juliet in the orchard she sesitates about whether Romeo loves her back and if she should give eher heart so readily.
       • Juliet has internal conflict in Act 1 Scene 5 when she discovers the identity of Romeo. She is shocked she loves someone she is supposed to hate. 'My only love sprung from my only hate' 'that i must live my loathed enemy'.Juliet uses juxtapositon of 'love' and 'hate' highlighting her inner turmoil and also 'must' indicates that she has no other choice- she loves Romeo and cannot change the fact. This presents a conflict for Juliet, as she cannot change what she feels- despite knowing that she should because of the 'ancient grudge'
       • She has hesitation in the orchard saying ' I am too quickly won' and 'is it too rash, too unadvised, too sudden'. She realises this intense love hold danger. He acknowledges that he has fallen is love quickly and alludes to Aristotle and the tragic hero. The triple and repetition on 'too' reminds us of her inexperience and danger she faces.
       • He is brave, loyal and mature to Romeo when he kills Tybalt. The love that was so powerful in Act 2 is tested in the worst of circumstances. She critices him but then regains control of herself when the Nurse begins to malign Romeo's name. Juxtaposition shows the internal conflict Juliet is facing- 'oh serpent heart hid with a flowering face'. 'serpent' and 'flowering'- something innocent and something sly. 'beautiful tyrant'- oxymoron shows her inner and emotional conflict. But she ultimately defend Romeo saying she was a beast for not defending Romeo and says he should be honoured- 'oh, what a beast was I to chide at him!'
     • The Prince has inner conflict between Law and Mercy. He attempts to be disciplined but he is too extreme- 'your lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace'. He shouts that they are 'enemies to peace' and 'rebellious subjects'. But he shows mercy to Romeo: 'immediately we do exile him' and his language demonstrates this by juxtaposition 'punished and 'pardoned'
   • fate vs free will
     • Romeo and Juliet allude to this idea that they think fate is controlling them, and in this play fate is cruel. There are obvious moments where fate work against the lovers and more subtle moments. For example, Friar John and the letter
       • Fate and violence work against the lovers, In Act 1 Scene 5 Tybalt sees Romeo at the feast saying 'fetch me my rapier'- imperative. Uses the insult 'slave' and says he is defending Capulet's 'honour'. This is ironic as Romeo has come to the party due to his love for Rosaline which contrasts the idea of conflict. His intention is to kill Romeo showing his one dimensional character
         • foreshadowing works with dramatic irony here as we know the prologue. Tybalt foreshadows up and coming fight in Act 3 while interweaving it with fate, violence and conflict- we can't have one without the other. 'convert to bitterest gall' - 'bitterest' reflects Tybalt
     • Romeo tries to stop the fight of Mercutio and Tybalt to he makes it worse when he steps in between the men. Tybalt kills Mercutio under Romeo's arm. Shakespeare warns us that Romeo can't avoid conflict as this is his fate.
     • Romeo vs Society/ fate. In Act 4 Scene1 the letter doesn't reach Romeo and on hearing that Juliet is dead he says 'defy you stars'- he is going to rebel against the stars, against fate. Heavy irony as we know from the prologue that fate has already been destined that the lover were going to kill themselves
   • Juliet vs her father
     • Patriarchal society- men are dominant and rule, a father had complete control over the women in his family. Women had no voice in society, domestic, no jobs, opportunities and had to obey their fathers and husbands
     • Juliet defies her father but in acton she learns the limit of her power. Capulet is furious when she refuses saying 'I will drag thee on a hurdle thither'. This is a huge religious image and idea of a traitor. Strong as she might be she is a women in a male-dominated world and we know her father has the right to do with her as he wishes. 'young baggage' 'my fingers itch' 'speak not. Reply not.' 'die in the streets'
   • Physical
     • Accidents lead to death - The start of the feud between the two families was seen by the Prince as a very minor matter. But it had led to deaths in the past, and there are a number of other accidents which cause death in the play.
       • In the Prince's speech he flashbacks to 'three civil brawls, led of airy words'. He is uninterested in battles and sees no validity in them, he says that weapons that are 'cankered with peace' because they haven't need to have been used since real battles and war have 'cankered hate' amongst feuding families. He speaks in simple language which means that everybody can understand his serious message about how to prevent death.
         • It is so day-to-day that Lady Montague gives a bizzare response to Benvolio's honest recount- she ignore everything he has said and arks 'where is Romeo?'
     • Prologue: 'ancient grudge' 'civil blood makes civil hands unclean' 'lovers take their life'. All suggest physical conflict and violence. As the prologue is a form of dramatic irony, the audience are forewarned about the rest of the play, and therefore get an idea that conflict is an essential theme. The adjective 'ancient' shows that the conflict has lasted years and had almost become a tradition for the families. It is so embedded within the families that even the servants fights each other. 'a plague on both your houses'- there was an outbreak in Elizabethan society so people will have known its severity. It shows how the hatred spreads so quickly and deeply that even the servants are involved.
     • In Act 1, Scene One Shakespeare immediately shows us physical conflict- structure. Servants quarrel because Sampson says 'I bite my thumb sr' which is an ancient Italian insult. As the 2 families already despise each other, a minor insult starts the fight. Sampson says 'draw if you be men' and t and then a brawl breaks out. 'They fight' shows the speed of which the fighting started shows the audience that arow can break out anywhere at anytime
       • Sampson has no reason to insult Montagues. He is just trying to cause trouble. The irony here is that Sampson is too much of a coward to own up to his immature gesture because the law will blame him for starting the brawl. Shakespeare's point here is that the feud and fighting is childish and ultimately pointless. The fact that it runs so deep even the servants fight shows the severity of the 'grudge'
       • Tybalt enjoys conflict and appears to be a vehicle carrying the violence on through the play- he is the antagonist. Act 1 Scene 1. Act 1 Scene 5. Act 3 Scene 1. His first words foreshadow his one dimensional character status- 'What, art thou drawn among these heartless hinds?'- insulting a person's masculinity in Elizabethan times was huge so here, he is setting up a fight. and 'turn thee, Benvolio. Look upon thy death'- he has one intention to kill.
         • Tybalt's name is from a folk tale where there is a cat called Tybalt that is argumentative and sly. 'What, drawn, and talk of peace? I hate the word, as i hate hell, all Montagues, and thee' - repetition of hate, he carries on conflict. Sets him up at a personiification of violence. 'have at thee, coward'