His young heart eagerly seeks love, but is so easily distracted and changed. At the beginning of the play, Romeo is deeply in love with Rosaline. Romeo describes to his friends of how lovesick he is, and of the beauty of Rosaline. Romeo describes Rosaline as the “all-seeing sun/ne’er saw her match since first the world begun” and is tormented by his unappreciated love for Rosaline. Benvolio then suggests Romeo to attend a Capulet gathering where Rosaline will be outmatched by other beautiful girls but Romeo says that his affection for Rosaline will not change.
Much Ado about Nothing was written by William Shakespeare as a comedy, but it could have very well been turned into a tragedy comparable to Othello. In Othello, Desdemona becomes a leading part of Iago’s plot to take down Othello for not giving Iago the job that he wanted. At first Iago insinuates and makes innuendos to Othello that Desdemona is having an affair with Cassio, and Othello doesn’t believe Iago. Othello says “Villain, be sure thou prove my love a whore, Be sure of it; give me the ocular proof; or, by the worth of mine eternal soul, thou hadst been better have been born a dog than answer my wak’d wrath”(3.3.360-364). Desdemona accidentally drops a handkerchief that Othello had given her.
Compare ways in which Shakespeare presents a character changing in Much Ado About Nothing and Macbeth. Shakespearean romantic comedies such as ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ feature one prominent aspect, complex love relationships amongst different pairs of characters, whereby the audience expects two or more characters to inevitably fall in love. Contrastingly, Shakespearean tragedies, like ‘Macbeth’, indulge in a noble and respected character changing into a tragic Hero, eventually resulting in his death. Similarly, one of the mutual features is the change in characters caused by external influences, whereby Leonato, Don Pedro and Claudio influence Benedick to love Beatrice, whilst the witches and Lady Macbeth influence Macbeth to kill the king; as other characters pursue this change, these changes are inevitable. However, Shakespeare presents Benedick’s change in a more positive and light-hearted manner, whilst Macbeth’s change revolves around negativity and wrong-doing as the approach to each individual genre is different, where comedies are humorous and happy, whilst tragedies are gloomy and grief-stricken.
Friar Lawrence: Unnoticed Importance In the play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, many secondary characters play an essential role in the play. Friar Lawrence is one of the most important secondary characters in the play. He marries Romeo and Juliet, helps Romeo and Juliet grow in their love for one another, and eventually helps end the feud between the Capulets and the Montagues. He helps the characters in the play grow in a way they would not have on their own. Friar Lawrence affects the action of Romeo and Juliet by marrying Romeo and Juliet, helping Romeo escape Verona safely, and helping them reunite by giving Juliet a sleeping potion to fake her death.
Two of Shakespeare’s most well known plays; ‘Romeo and Juliet’, and ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ are both based on multiple themes of love. Both contain the elements of; love at first sight and love being shallow. Shakespeare’s classic tragedy ‘Romeo and Juliet’ features two young lovers from feuding families who fall in love and are willing to sacrifice almost anything for their love. Whereas the comedy ‘Much Ado about Nothing’, is about two couples; Benedick and Beatrice, and Claudio and Hero, these couple’s love follow the trend of a love is declared, then challenged, and then is finally reasserted in the harmony of marriage. Claudio and Hero fall in love, break apart, and then fall in love again, while at the same time, Beatrice and Benedick are being tricked into loving each other.
Analysis: Juliet loves Romeo. She is sad that Romeo has to be a Montague, the rival of her family, the Capulets. Juliet is very daring and caring. Juliet mirrors some girls in today’s society because some girls might disobey their father’s or parents’ wishes to get what they want. A theme in the story is “Overcoming Society, Family and Judgment” because everybody in Verona knows about the feud and Juliet still loves Romeo.
The seriousness of their love results from the lovers’ disrepudance (?) of artificial language of ‘love’ and superficial code they had tired by at the beginning of the play. This is seen through the development of language form beginning with rhyme (Levin- “Comedy set the pattern of courtship embodied in dance (rhyme)) heavily used in the first act to its replacement of Blank verse which representative of a for more logical and realistic tone. This also reflects a common Shakespearean comment on Appearance versus Reality which is often a deeper theme discussed in tragedy. Tragedy is said to be further represented in Shakespeare’s use of opposites or antithesis.
One was his quick transition of love from Rosaline to Juliet. After Rosaline rejects Romeo, soon afterwards, at the Capulet’s party, Romeo meets only Juliet briefly yet, immediately declares himself in love with her* If Romeo did not have the flaw of falling in love too quickly and deeply, it would have perhaps, prevented the chaos that would have ensured later on in the story when Juliet and got involved with each other. *“Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight! For I ne’er saw true beauty till the night.” ( Act 1 scene 5, lines 52 – 53) Another flaw in Romeo’s character was his unpremeditated thinking.
He approaches Juliet and after reciting a few lines comparing her to a saint her proceeds to kiss her. His aching heart for Rosaline seems to have recovered as soon as he found a new target, and the innocent Juliet takes every word to heart. Juliet falls trap to his charm and attention within a single meeting while Romeo was driven to the party because of his love for another woman. When a new opportunity for him to get a girl to sleep with presents itself, he takes it and seduces the first beautiful girl he sees. Not only is the love displayed in “Romeo and Juliet” extremely unrealistic, the romanticism is completely full of Romeo’s ulterior motives to forget Rosaline.
Shakespeare echoes key thematic topics by the production of a series of lies that form intro deception at crucial moments. When Hero and Ursula exit and leave Beatrice alone, Beatrice declares, “…Benedick, love on; I will requite thee, taming my wild heart to thy loving hand” (III. i. 117-118). Beatrice expresses her acceptance of Benedick’s love but does not realize the love inside Beatrice exists artificially.