Foils In Romeo And Juliet Essay

William Shakespeare’s, Romeo and Juliet, provides great foils for the main character, Romeo. Shakespeare includes many foils throughout his stories to make his character’s emotions, attitude, and characteristics more apparent. Romeo’s character traits, lovestruck, cowardness, and emotional are highlighted through his foils, best friend Mercutio, and enemy, Tybalt. Romeo’s foils help to make his character’s personality stronger and clear.

Some say that opposites attract; in some cases they do and in some they do not. A foil is a character who is opposite of another character in order to highlight certain characteristics in both characters. An example of foils in a play that Shakespeare wrote, Romeo and Juliet, including rambunctious Tybalt and the tranquil Benvolio. Another example is the obnoxious funny Mercutio and the lovey dovey Romeo. Romeo and Juliet was a Shakespearean play written 1595 by William Shakespeare. This story of two star crossed lovers takes place in Italy featuring two rival families who cannot stand each other. These two characters are total opposite of each other and bring out the worst and best of each other.

Good Mercutio!” (3.1, 55-57). Although Romeo’s intentions may have been good, he obviously didn't think about the

Mercutio is one of the most intelligent characters is this play. In this quote Mercutio is telling Romeo that he shouldn't let a dream he had keep him from doing what he wants. "True I talk of dreams which are children of an idle brain. Begot from nothing but vain fantasy; Which is thin of substance as the air, and more inconsistent than the air. Who woos even now the frozen bosom of the north and being angered puffs away from thence turning his face to the dew dropping south.

Mercutios relationship with Romeo is a foil because their beliefs are extremely controversial with each other's. Fates, dreams and love are few of the thoughts where they disagree, and there opinions on each matter were shown a myriad throughout the play , this is shown to be true when Romeo states, "In bed asleep, while they do dreams come true" (1.4, lns 52). This quote supports my answer because Romeo is stating that your dream are prophecies where Mercutio, "...nothing but fantasy" (1.4, lns 98) believes that they mean nothing and are just childish thought. Another quote from the text that supports my answer is between Romeo and Mercutio, "And, to sink in it, should you burden love- too great oppression for a tender thing" (1.4, lns 23-24)

In William Shakespeare’s timeless play Romeo and Juliet, two star crossed lovers are faced with great adversity as they hide their romance from their feuding families. As author James Lane Allen once said, “Adversity does not build character, it reveals it”. Romeo, a Montague, struggles to hide his love for the Capulet daughter, Juliet, from his family and friends. The challenge of lying to his closest companions, and going against his family’s ways to secretly marry Juliet causes Romeo to act erratically and carelessly. Throughout Act 3 Scene One, Shakespeare exposes the lovestruck Romeo’s mercurial nature and impulsivity through his thoughtless actions.

He explains that love is opposite things, implying the internal conflict between his unreturned affection for the young Capulet woman and his depression. As they talk further of his problems, Romeo expresses, “Love is a smoke made with the fume of sighs; being purged, a fire sparkling in lovers’ eyes; being vexed, a sea nourished with loving tears. What is it else? A madness most discreet, a choking gall, and a preserving sweet” [1,1,197-201]. The young man tells Benvolio that love is melancholic and emotional, showing his romantic and sensitive personality after he told his cousin of his unrequited love.

Throughout the whole play both Romeo and Mercutio were there for each other when in need of a friend or even just some comforting words. Mercutio always seems to say the right things to put Romeo back on track and in focus. While Romeo was relentlessly weeping over his unrequited love for Rosaline, Mercutio, with his wise and caring words said, “‘Why is not this not better than groaning for love? Now art thou sociable.

Thou wilt quarrel with a man for cracking nuts, having no other reason but because thou hast hazel eyes.” (Act 3 Scene 1) Since, Romeo is a lover not a fighter he didn’t like that they were goofing off with sword fighting. He rushed in to stop the fight. He didn 't though, he pulled Mercutio on

Throughout William Shakespeare’s famous tragedy, Romeo and Juliet, Romeo has a difficult time controlling his actions because of his emotions. Characters Romeo cares about, such as Mercutio, Tybalt, and Juliet, are affected by his behavior and actions. The choices Romeo makes are very impulsive and cause many characters throughout the story to be victimized. The first victim who suffers from an irrational decision of Romeo is Mercutio.

”(3.1, L68) This is ironic as injuries can also be caused by fighting. Evaluating Tybalt ’s quote, the irrational problems caused from the two families is well displayed, and near the end, the prince who in this whole novel was trying to find peace, states “Where be these enemies? Capulet!

Tara Jahns Ms. Zita Szigeti Language and Literature Advanced 9 9th of March 2015 English Essay Summative Assessment of Romeo and Juliet Romeo and Juliet is such an interesting play because even now, five hundred years later we are still talking and learning about this play. It is so relatable till date because people fall in love now as Romeo and Juliet did, families fight, as the Montagues and Capulets did. We can relate to each character in some. Which is what makes this play so compelling and lets it live, five hundred years later. Romeo and Juliet is a tragic tale of two lovers, separated by an epic feud of their two houses (Romeo a Montague and Juliet a Capulet.)

Without a doubt, Romeo was obsessed with this idea of love, he is always claiming to be in love with a woman, yet he does not know the sweet tenderness of love nor has he experienced the genuine feeling. Romeo believes that he, himself knows love and has experienced it on more than one occasion. Due to the fact that Romeo moved on from Rosaline to Juliet shows that he is not capable of allegiance to a woman. “You are a lover. Borrow Cupid’s wings and soar with them above a common bound” (Act 1, Scenes 4, Lines 17-18) When Mercutio says this, it shows that even Romeo's friends know that Romeo often insists he love’s in multiple cases.

In William Shakespeare's play The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, the use of multiple literary devices makes the play interesting. Dramatic irony, which is when the audience knows more than the characters, occurs numerous times throughout the play and grabs the attention of the audience. Soliloquies, which are lengthy speeches by a character to project their thoughts and emotions to the audience, this allows the audience to be more attentive. Allusions are references by characters to well-known places, events from myths or other literature that cause the audience to be absorbed into the play. After reading this marvelous play, it is obvious that Shakespeare uses dramatic irony, allusions, and soliloquies all written in blank verse to grasp the undivided attention of the audience.

Throughout the history of Shakespearen literature, Shakespeare tends to develop the characters in to a way that complements the story. For an example, in Macbeth, he shows the digression of the main character by an internal conflict residing from a mental condition, if he did not explain every detail of his thought process then the story would be bland and not a literature masterpiece. Another key example is the story of Romeo and Juliet, even though it is a romantic piece, he still assigns different personality traits to each character. Which makes them a key asset to how the story concludes and the theme the reader is left to discover. One of the biggest colliding character interactions is Benvolio and Tybalt.