Romeo Is a Boy, Juliet Is a Woman

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Shakespeare Coursework Essay ‘Romeo is a boy, Juliet is a woman’ How far would you agree with this statement? Throughout the play Romeo and Juliet both show different levels of maturity, Romeo is a boy of 16 years of age and Juliet is nearly 14 years old. The question is asking about the levels of maturity of these two main characters and how well that they cope with different situations that arise and not just as a matter-of-fact, because Juliet is infact the younger of the two, however members of the audience may perceive that she is actually the more sensible and grown up of the duo. I am going to analyse different sections of the play and try to evaluate whether or not the statement ‘Romeo is a boy, Juliet is a woman’ is correct. At the beginning of the play, Romeo appears to be infatuated with a girl called Rosaline; he is moping around and feeling sorry for himself however because she is unobtainable, ‘Ay me, sad hours seem long.’ She has taken a vow of chastity and thus will never love a man, and consequently Romeo seems to be heartbroken. However it is obvious to the audience that Romeo is more in love with the idea of being in love rather than Rosaline. It is his first crush on a girl and he acts quite immaturely about it all, The love struck Romeo is particularly well versed in the use of the oxymoron when he is talking to Benvolio ‘O brawling love, O loving hate’ ‘Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick health’ this tells us that he is very confused and feeling rather depressed about it all. His language is much exaggerated and he is simply playing the part of a lover. He also comes across to the audience as rather comical, as well as immature, so much so that his friend’s end up making fun of him. Another thing that tells the audience how Romeo is quite immature is by looking at the kind of company he keeps, his friends act rather

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