Respuesta :
1. One of the major characters in Romeo and Juliet is only alive for half of the play. Describe the character of Mercutio and the role he plays in this work. Why is he an audience favorite, and why is his death so important to the plot?
Mercutio is one of the famous characters of Shakespeare's. His speeches and actions are full of puns and tease which brings a relief in the romantic scene and tragic fate in the play. Mercutio is introduced as a clever and witty friend of Romeo who mocks Romeo the way no one does. The other characters in the play blame their fate for their tragic end and death, while Mercutio blames the Montagues and the Capulets for his early death. He not beliefs about the external forces to be responsible for his death.
2. Friar Laurence is quite involved in the events of this play. However, Friar Laurence’s actions are sometimes questionable in terms of their honesty and morality. Is Friar Laurence ultimately a sympathetic or unsympathetic character in this play? Why is he sympathetic? Why is he unsympathetic?
Friar Laurence is the figure of religion in the play who helps Romeo and Juliet attain their love. He plays an active role in the play to unite the lovers. He thinks that through this marriage the rivalry between the two families would resolve. He is the one who performed the marriage of the couple and gives them good advice to attain their love.
When Juliet expresses her unwillingness to marry Paris, Friar Laurence helps her out with his plans. She says that instead of marrying him she would opt death to come to her. Friar Laurence plans a way through which Juliet and Romeo can be united and no death or destruction to anyone would incur. He gives her a sleeping potion and asks her to drink it the night before her wedding day with Paris. When everyone would consider her dead, Romeo would arrive at the place where she would be kept and after she would retrieve they would live happily thereafter. She agrees to this plan of Friar Laurence’s.
Friar Laurence’s character is at times sympathetic because under as he is responsible for bringing fate to the couple. Though he always tries to help the couple but was unable to stop their tragic end.
3. Compare and contrast Friar Laurence and the Nurse. Discuss their personalities and the role that each plays in this story.
Friar Laurence’s role in the play is to bridge plans on which the love of the couple can move on smoothly. He is the religious figure who wants to dissolve the fight of the two families by the marriage of the couple. He was kind and generous to both Romeo and Juliet and helped them in attaining their love. On the other hand, the Nurse was the one who had looked after Juliet since her birth. She was a person with whom Juliet would share all her affairs with. She was the one who wanted Juliet to get a man who would provide her with all the worldly happiness. Though she wants Juliet to get a husband of her choice but is afraid of the sacrifices that the love will bring to her.
4. From the very start of the play, readers are told that Romeo and Juliet are “star-crossed lovers.” How does the concept of fate/destiny manifest itself in the events of the play? In what ways are Romeo and Juliet victims of misunderstandings, miscommunications, and plain bad luck? How do these things relate to the way readers and audience members are affected by the tragedy of their story?
The fate of Romeo and Juliet had a tragic ending because of the rivalry among the families. They became the victim of the rivalry which they have never been a part of. Misunderstandings, miscommunications and bad luck bring a tragic feel to the play. The audience feels pity for the couple who sacrificed their lives for true love.
The scene in which both the lovers take their lives is the most tragic scene of the play. After knowing that Juliet had died Romeo wanted to enter the tomb in which Juliet laid dead desperately. When he discovers Paris he asks him to get away from the tomb, but he didn't leave the tomb. Paris and Romeo indulge themselves in a fight in which Paris is killed by Romeo. He takes Paris into Juliet's tomb and then drinks the poison. When Juliet awakes, she finds Romeo dead after which she too stabs herself with a dagger. This event was an example of Dramatic irony as the audience knew very well that Juliet is feigning her death but Romeo finds it to be the reality.
In the very first fight between the Montagues and Capulets, Prince Escalus wanted to convey his message to them that they will have to pay for the fight by giving up their lives. In the end, when the Prince comes to know about the secret marriage and death of Romeo and Juliet, he feels disgusted about it. He feels guilty that he had turned blind eyes to the rivals of the two families which has led to the death of many. Hatred, and bitterness effects both the parties and result in great loss to both.
