R&J_ESSAY PLANS

• Romeo


  1) a romantic [LOVE] - Petrarchan lover - having intense loving emotions for Juliet, "did my heart love till now?" / Frequently compares her to light, "it is the east and Juliet is the sun," "she doth teach the torches to burn bright." - plosive 'b' shows love is overpowering / When they first meet, they speak in rhymes showing they are completed.

  2) hot-headed and reckless [CONFLICT] - doesn't consider the consequences of his actions, "fire eyed fury be my conduct now".

  3) unable to accept responsibility [FATE] - frequently blames fate for his own mistakes, "I am fortune's fool."
• Juliet


  1) initially established as obedient child who is naïve and immature - "My child is yet a stranger in the world" / "too rash, too unadvised, too sudden." / "deny they father, refuse thy name." - imperatives shows she believes going against family honour is simple.

  2) she becomes reckless, cause of Romeo - "wilt thou be gone? It is not yet near day." "O bid me leap rather than marry Paris."

  3) intense loving emotions for Romeo, she's a victim of star-crossed lovers / "my bounty is as boundless as the sea, and my love as deep."
• Nurse


  1) very caring for Juliet - "faith, I can tell her age unto an hour."

  2) wants the best for Juliet, but in doing so loses her trust, shows that she really is just a servant and woman and cannot betray the master. - "I think you are happy in this second match, for his excels your first." / "Will you speak well of him that killed your cousin?"

  3) comedic relief, struggles to control what she says, sees love as a sexual matter - "happy nights to happy days"
• Mercutio


  1) misogynist, "when maids lie on their backs"

  2) antithesis of Romeo when it comes to thoughts on love, "If love be rough with you, be rough with love. Prick love for pricking and you beat love down."

  3) loyal to his friends and loving of Romeo. "Where the devil should this Romeo be?" / "nay, gentle Romeo, we must have you dance."

  4) gets caught up in the feud - he dies offstage because Shakespeare wants to a) preserve his dignity, and b) present him as a victim rather than a perpetrator. - contrast to Tybalt, who dies onstage.
• Friar


  1) acts as guidance to Romeo, steers Romeo away from suicide, is a representation of religion and how it would be a sin - criticism of religion as the Friar eventually fails to save them.

  2) wise, rational "young men's love then lie not truly in their hearts but in their eyes" and disapproves of how quickly Romeo moved on from Rosaline. Lust is a deadly sin.

  3) naïve, thinks he can change fate by helping Juliet [which juxtaposes Capulet], even though he is aware of fate's power "these violent delights have violent ends.", believes their marriage would unite the households, which, I guess, in the end it did - "So smile the heavens upon this holy act"
• Capulet


  1) overprotective, "my child is yet a stranger in this world."

  2) aggressive character "am i the master here or you?" to Tybalt.

  3) typical patriarchal man, who reacts with outrage when his control is challenged / "hang, beg starve, die in the streets" / "Hang, beg, starve, die in the streets" "My fingers itch"
• fate


  1) fate cannot be controlled by humans / "star-crossed lovers take their lives," - were destined to die / Fate is omnipotent when Juliet says, "O happy dagger" - oxymoron shows she has no control / Many references of death and curses throughout play - "a plague on both your houses" (reference to plague that stops letter getting to Romeo.)

  2) fate is a scapegoat for the character's own mistakes, eg Friar and Romeo / Romeo is a reckless character "fire-eyed fury be my conduct now" yet he blames his own actions on fate, "I am fortune's fool." he resents its control over his life, "I defy your stars."

  3) characters who try to overcome fate always fail / Juliet tries to deny fate, but in the end it is inevitable. Despite this, she often foreshadows the future, "my grave is like to be my wedding bed". / Friar Lawrence is also aware of fate's power "these violent delights have violent ends" yet tries to deny it, ultimately being the cause of the pair's deaths who he was trying to prevent.
• conflict


  1) conflict between households - [servants at start, "Do you bite your thumb at us, sir?", even the servants are involved in the conflict.]

  2) conflicts within the families - Capulet v Tybalt, Capulet v Juliet.

  3) inner conflict - Romeo and Juliet in betraying their family, links to family honour. Romeo as Petrarchan lover, Juliet as conflicted after Tybalt's death: "Beautiful tyrant, fiend angelical!"
• love


  1) viewed as something to be conquered by the male characters - Mercutio "prick love for pricking, and you beat love down."

  2) something fleeting, controlled by appearances." "She doth teach the torches to burn bright." "Did my heart love till now?" "Young mens' love then lies not truly in their hearts, but in their eyes." Romeo's quick recovery from the heartbreak of Rosaline - Petrarchan lover.

  3) it is passionate / courtly lover - love at first sight / Juliet - "my bounty is as boundless as the sea, and my love as deep." / Juliet is willing to do anything for Romeo, even denying the man her father wanted for her "Do not deny to him that you love me," "I will confess to you that I love him."
• gender


  1) toxic masculinity blatantly shown - "peace I hate the word as I hate hell", typical violent men of Elizabethan era, men don't back down from fight and those that do (Benvolio) are thought to be cowards / "Art thou a man?... thy tears are womanish."

  2) violent attitudes towards women (abuse of patriarchal power) - "naked weapon", "if love be rough, prick love for pricking and beat love down" - plosive words, show he is very aggressive towards women. / Capulet v Juliet, "my fingers itch."

  3) Juliet defies the gender norms by proposing marriage to Romeo and denying her marriage with Paris, she doesn't play 'hard to get' like the conventions of the courtly lover / "o bid me leap rather than marry Paris." / "Do not deny to him that you love me," "I will confess to you that I love him."
• death


  1 - death is merciful

  2 - death brings peace between the families. "for never was a story of more woe than this of Juliet and her Romeo."

  3 - death is foreshadowed through the play.
• Tybalt


  1) he is the antithesis of Romeo.

  2) he hates the Montagues.

  3) he causes fights between the families, and within his own. "Am I the master here or are you?" "Would you speak well of he who killed your cousin?"
• honour


  1) disastrous effects of defending honour / violence from feud, deaths of Tybalt and Mercutio, then deaths of Romeo, Juliet and Paris. They all lose their honour at the end as a result. "peace? I hate the word, as I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee." "A plague on both your houses."

  2) honour is very important - Capulet abusing his daughter when she threatens the family honour, "hang, beg, starve, die on the streets." / even the servants fight about the feud at the start.

  3) Romeo and Juliet think their love surpasses family honour. "deny thy father and refuse thy name."
• violence and love

  1)moment of meeting, love is tainted with violence - Montague party.

  2) love and violence have a symbiotic relationship.

  3) their deaths finalise that violence and love are inseparable. "O happy dagger."
• parents

  1)strained parental relations, Juliet refers to her mother as "madam" - this formal address shows lack of intimacy and relationship. / "nurse, give leave awhile.... nurse, come back again." - shows how they do not have a close relationship.

  2) contrast between Juliet's relationship with the nurse. "faith, I can tell her age unto an hour." - in those days, nurses knew the children better than the parents. / "lamb" "ladybird"

  3) development of parental relationships - love is shown to be conditional - "My child is yet a stranger in the world" to "Hang, beg, starve, die in the streets".