Kaitlyn Johnson

3/22/19

Reflection Essay On Romeo And Juliet

For my groups presentation on March 5th, 2019, we discussed the play ​Romeo and Juliet.
For my section of the presentation I decided to discuss a selection of themes that I believe are
relevant in the play. Although this play is considered a tragedy, I see the aspect of romance
playing a very significant role on the fact that the play ended up being a tragedy. The themes that
I discussed for the presentation are ‘love’ , ‘demanding love’, and ‘violence/love being a cause
of violence’. In this reflection essay, I will be discussing the themes present in the play and
textual evidence used to present these themes. I will also be discussing the structure of the play
as well as the ​Romeo and Giulietta ​play that I experienced in rome and use that to further discuss
the themes.

My first theme was ‘love’ which when you think about ​Romeo and Juliet l​ ove is one of
the first theme or aspects that you think about. What I have witnessed with this play is that even
though love and romance is a key theme, there are significant barriers that keep them from being
able to fully love each other. From the beginning of the play it is made clear that there is a
political tension and barrier between the ‘Montagues’ and ‘Capulets’ which is the family of
Romeo and Juliet. Therefore, when they first met each other and fall in ‘love at first sight’ they
realize that they belong to families that resent each other and that becomes the barrier that keeps
them from effortlessly loving each other. This can be seen in Act 1 scene 5 when Romeo and
Juliet first meet, and Romeo finds out that she is a capulet.

Romeo
Is she a Capulet?
O dear account! My life is my foe’s debt. 1.1.118-119

This theme can be seen when Juliet is at the balcony in Act 2.2.33-36, she is calling out to
Romeo asking why does he have to be Romeo, asking for him to forget his father and change is
name so they can be together or she will do so. She is not able to fully love him and express it
because of the family tension.

Juliet
O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo?
Deny thy father and refuse thy name.
Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,
 And I’ll no longer be a Capulet. 2.2.33-36

Furthermore, the next theme that I observed in the play was demanding love. For this
theme, I saw the desperation that Romeo and Juliet endured just to be able to love each other.
They continued to fight the barriers that they were faced so they could love each other, they were
that desperate for each other. As a part of their desperate love, R​omeo and Juliet do not care
about the consequences of their love and the fact that their love is unpractical. The circumstances
of this causes them to rush and demand to have love and be together regardless of what happens
later, even if that includes death. This can be seen after Romeo and Mercutio ‘the Montagues’
and Tybalt ‘the Capulets’ fought. Once Tybalt murders Mercutio, Romeo’s anger results in his
killing of Tybalt. Due to that incident, Romeo was banned from Verona which means he would
no longer be able to be with or near Juliet.

Romeo
There is no world without Verona walls
But purgatory, torture, hell itself.
Hence “banishèd” is banished from the world,
And world’s exile is death. Then “banishèd,” Is death mistermed.
Calling death “banishment,”
Thou cutt’st my head off with a golden ax
And smiles upon the stroke that murders me. 3.3.17-23

Here he is stating that he would rather be dead than to be banned from Verona because being
banned from Verona would mean he could not be able to be with Juliet, which to him is much
worse than death. Again, so desperate to love each other they will even risk their lives. This
theme can be seen again when Juliet realized that Romeo was banished from Verona because of
killing Tybalt. She is so distraught and angry that she tells the blackfriar that no matter what
horrendous things one could tell her to do she would do them just so she could be with Romeo.

Juliet
O, bid me leap, rather than marry Paris,
From off the battlements of yonder tower;
Or walk in thievish ways; or bid me lurk
Where serpents are; chain me with roaring bears;
Or shut me nightly in a charnel house,
O'er Covered quite with dead men’s rattling bones,
With reeky shanks and yellow chapless skulls;
Or bid me go into a new-made grave
And hide me with a dead man in his shroud—
Things that, to hear them told, have made me tremble— And I will do it without fear or
doubt,
To live an unstained wife to my sweet love. 4.1.77-88
Desperation and demanding to be together no matter what.

The last theme that I discussed was violence/ love being a cause of violence. Not only is
there physical violence and tension between the Montagues and the Capulets that causes Romeo
and Juliet to not be able to be together, Romeo and Juliet commit crimes that involve self harm
and suicide for their love. From the moment that they met each other at the feast, love seems to
push them closer and closer to love and to violence (Sparknotes 2007). In this quote, Romeo is
speaking to the blackfriar after he is banded stating that the banishment that has been put upon
him is like death. He then asks the blackfriars if there is any poison, a sharp knife, or some
weapon that could kill him quickly; anything besides being banished. This shows his desire to
cause violence and harm to himself because of the inability to be with Juliet.

Romeo
Flies may do this, but I from this must fly.
They are free men, but I am banishèd.
And sayst thou yet that exile is not death?
Hadst thou no poison mixed, no sharp-ground knife,
But “banishèd” to kill me?—“Banishèd”! 3.3.40-46

Also, at the end of the play when Romeo believes that Juliet is dead he consumes the poison that
he got to kill himself and once Juliet realizes that he killed himself she does the same by stabbing
herself. That is yet another use of violence that was driven by their inability to love each other.
I believe that even though love and the different ways that love is shown and expressed in this
play is very obvious and prominent, because their love is unpractical and not excepted it drew
them to commit suicide and that is why this story is a tragedy. I also personally believe that this
story becomes a tragedy because their suicides could have been prevented.

The structure of this play goes along with Jeremy Lopez’s, ​The Arden Introduction to
Reading Shakespeare​, belief of the structure of Shakespeare's plays. The first act establishes the
setting, brings in main characters, and introduces main conflicts or a dramatic problems between
characters. In Romeo and Juliet, the first act establishes the conflict between the Montagues and
the Capulets.

Tybalt
What drawn, and talk of peace? I hate the word
As i hate hell, all montagues, and thee.
Have at thee, coward! 1.1.70-72.
As well as the problem that Romeo and Juliet have being that they can not be together due to
their families hate. Act two brings in a secondary problem. Act three brings those conflicts
together, or shows a shift/ turn in the action. In the act 3 of the play, the altercation between
Mercutio and Romeo (the Montagues) and Tybalt (The Capulet) breaks out which results in
Tybalt killing Mercutio and Romeo killing Tybalt, this is a shift in the conflict. More
specifically, this shift in the conflict really affects the outcome of the rest of the story.

Romeo
Alive in triumph—and Mercutio slain!
Away to heaven, respective lenity,
And fire-eyed fury be my conduct now.
Now, Tybalt, take the “villain” back again
That late thou gavest me, for Mercutio’s soul
Is but a little way above our heads,
Staying for thine to keep him company
Either thou or I, or both, must go with him. 3.1.121-128

Act four shows the consequences of the conflict. Finally, act five provides a resolution and in
this play it is when the tragedy happens and they choose to commit suicide.

In addition, the ​Romeo and Giulietta ​play that I experienced in Rome did a beautiful and
creative job at bringing out some of the themes that I discussed as in love and desperate love in
their interpretation of the play. They used the aspect of birds in this play and the birds were
trapped in a cage, not able to be free. This correlates with Romeo and Juliet because they were
never able to freely love each other; they were trapped because of their family feud. Therefore,
once they killed themselves and were no longer trapped, they were able to love each other. The
cage was lifted and they were ‘free’. The tragedy ended up being the best thing for them so they
could finally love each other in another life.

In conclusion, Romeo and Juliet is my favorite shakespeare play that we have read thus
far. It is both a romantic play in how it shows ones desperation to love, as well as a tragedy in
that their love was their ultimate downfall. I believe that the themes I choose to discuss really
bring out the two main aspects of this play; romance and tragedy. I enjoyed working with others
dissecting this play and learning about different textual languages, themes, and political and
social aspects that Shakespeare used in this play. I hope that my presentation allows for readers
to see how the themes of love and violence and how the play is structured with the conflicts in
the story lead it to be a tragedy.
 Works Cited

Lopez, Jeremy. ​The Arden Introduction to Reading Shakespeare​. Bloomsbury Publishing Plc,
2019.

Shakespeare, Williams. ​Romeo and Juliet​. David Bevington. Pearson, 2007.

SparkNotes Editors. “SparkNotes on Romeo & Juliet.” Sparknotes.com ​SparkNotes LLC. ​2007.