Analysis of Willaim Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet

Analysis of Willaim Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, and Macbeth. The work is to be 14 pages with three to five sources, with in-text citations and a reference page. We can also look for contemporaneous meaning as some have sought to look at homoerotic meanings is plays where male actors dress as women characters pretending to be men. At the same time, we can look at the beauty of the plots and the way the storyline takes shape in plays such as Othello and the Merchant of Venice. In essence, as with other forms of art, the meaning derived from the plays is a reflection of what a reader may feel within. The plays are for us and the words were written by Shakespeare appeal to us even if we do not know the history and the connected story around the play. Of course, we could enjoy plays such as Julius Caesar or Macbeth more if we are familiar with their histories but even if a viewer is not, it does not take much away from the value inherent in the play itself.

Romeo and Juliet are one of the most famous and most performed plays of Shakespeare. To examine this play in depth would be quite difficult therefore we can look at one scene i.e. Act 1 Scene 5 which is one of the most important scenes in the play since it lays the foundations of love between the star crossed lovers. Before this scene, the foundations of the play have been laid out since we know that the house of Capulet and the house of Montague are at war.

This gives the play inherent meaning since knowing how Italian families were at war with each other for centuries could be important as historic background but Shakespeare lays down the foundations of this meaning without pushing us towards making the conclusion on our own (Holderness et. al., 1988). We also know that Romeo and Juliet are both somewhat restless souls looking for love. Finally, as the scenes up till Act 1 Scene 5 have shown the viewers, the hatred between the houses runs deep and the tension of the play is building.
As a part of the meaning of the play, Romeo seems to fall truly in love as soon as he lays his eyes on Juliet and declares that he “never saw true beauty till this night”.