Romeo and Juliet - William Shakespeare > Reviews > Shakespeare weaves his magic

Author's product rating:   

Would you read it again?	Absolutely
Story	Outstanding
Characters	Outstanding
Readability	Fairly tough

Advantages:	A beautiful play, showing that Shakespeare was before his time
Disadvantages:	None

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Romeo and Juliet is a touching yet tragic tale which Shakespeare weaves beautifully using his tremendous language skills.

PLOT SYNOPSIS.
Set in Verona, Italy, the story is about two feuding families, the Capulets and the Montagues. These two families are very rich and influential and when the feud erupts on to the streets in a street brawl, they are informed that anyone who is caught fighting will be sentenced to death.

The Capulets have a daughter called Juliet, her mother is trying to persuade her to marry Count Paris, a wealthy and eligible bachelor.

Romeo is the son of the Montagues, and he and his friends sneak into a masked ball at the Capulets. Here he meets Juliet for the first time and is besotted with her, however he does not yet realise that she is a Capulet.

When he discovers that she is a Capulet, he realises that nobody must find out about their relationship. Juliet is also now engaged to marry Count Paris, but really wants to be with Romeo.

However, Romeo gets into a fight with the Capulets and kills Juliets cousin. He has to escape from Verona otherwise he will be killed. He and Juliet get married secretly and spend the night together, Romeo then leaves Verona. Juliet is supposed to be marrying Count Paris but her parents do not know she is already married. She goes to see the friar who married them, and he gives her a potion to drink which makes her appear dead but really sends her into a deep sleep for three days. Her family will bury her in the family tomb but she will awake and Romeo will meet her. The friar arranges to send the message to Romeo and Juliet takes the potion. She is buried in the Capulet tomb and is asleep, waiting for Romeo.

However, the message never gets to Romeo and he hears that Juliet is dead, he buys some poison and goes to the tomb where he believes she is dead. Juliet is lying there and looks dead, Romeo commits suicide to be with her and takes the poison. Moments later Juliet awakes to find Romeo dead beside her, she is distraught and stabs herself. Both die so that they can be together.

USE OF LANGUAGE.
The clever use of language and linguistic techniques makes reading the play interesting. For example, in the first scene, Romeo is lamenting over Rosaline (who we never meet) - there is a sycamore tree in the scene. This is very clever, Romeo is portrayed as always in and out of love, his love for Rosaline isn't real. It is artificial, the use of the sycamore is significant because it sounds like 'sick amore' - ie. sick love. This is in great contrast to the happy, positive imagery that is used when Romeo meets Juliet, his true love.

References to fate are made throughout the play. Romeo and Juliet are described as "star crossed lovers" in the prologue, it is almost like their love was meant to be (written in the stars?) Further references to "tombs" and "death" are made - indicating that the end of the play will not be a happy one.

The use of alliteration, similies, metaphors and oxymorons all add to the genius of the play and make it a pleasure to read. The underlying themes and ideas are so clever - and there are many different "layers" to the play.

CONCLUSION.
This is probably Shakespeare's best known play. It is touching and beautiful and yet characters such as the Nurse can be funny. One of the most powerful scenes in the play is the death of Romeo's best friend - Mercutio. Shakespeare writes an emotional and strong scene with excellent dialogue. If you don't want to read the play you can always rent the video. There is a modern adaptation starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Clare Danes, which was directed by Baz Luhrman and there is also a more traditional version directed in the 1970s by Zeferrelli. Either way, this is a beautiful play that is worth seeing or reading.