The key themes of Romeo and Juliet Essay Example for Free

The key themes of Romeo and Juliet Essay Romeo and Juliet is the tragic tale of forbidden love, fate and destiny. The prologue is important as it introduces these key themes and creates dramatic irony. It is introduced by a chorus to give us a commentary and summary of the action. The dramatic irony whets the audiences appetite for the play, and the prologue helps the lower class audience understand the storyline easier. Act 1 Scene 1 grabs the attention of both the higher and lower classes of audience with the use of poetry for the higher classes and the comical influences would draw the lower classes into the play. Modern film adaptations of Romeo and Juliet such as Baz Luhrmanns version appeal to modern audiences because of special effects, lighting and sound. Shakespeare on the other hand used only the language he wrote down and the space on the stage in front of him to create dramatic tension and hold the audiences interest. Shakespeares Romeo and Juliet originated from an English poem, The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet by Arthur Brooke. It was published in 1562 and was written in the popular style of the sonnet. Shakespeares main change to the poem was the duration of the events that took place. Instead of taking three months, the proceedings took a mere five days. This increased dramatic tension in the story by speeding up the pace, showing us that the nature of young love is passionate and impulsive. The audience would have already been familiar with the story as they would have known the original version. The prologue introduces what you are about to see, and brings up the key themes of the play such as fate and death. These are explained with phrases such as star crossd lovers which gives the implication of fate romance and death, as there is a mythology that the stars are symbols of a dead person (in the heavens), and they are romantic symbols. The prologue creates dramatic tension because the audience is told exactly what will happen, and this illustrates that the future is set in stone and cannot be changed. The form of the prologue is a sonnet a love poem about suffering and pain. This again highlights the key themes and creates dramatic irony and suspense, as the story of Romeo and Juliet is about the suffering and pain of young love. The episodic structure of Act 1 Scene 1 creates a fast and exciting pace, involving the audience; never letting them get bored. The fight scene is very quick and exhilarating in pace, and heightens the suspense of the scene. Whereas this is very swift and tense part of the Act, it largely contrasts with Romeos lament. He is very calm and deep talking about his vast emotions of love for Rosaline. The juxtaposition of the characters and events create a lot of dramatic tension as we know that Romeo will eventually be involved in one of these feuds because of his love. The contrast between the sombre and melancholy tone of the prologue and the humorous, vulgar beginning of scene1 is to involve both the lower and upper classes of the audience. The lower and less mentally involved classes of the audience would relate to the humour of the first scene, We will not carry coalsno for then we should be colliers, whilst the higher more intellectual classes of audience would appreciate the more meaningful structure of the prologue, where civil blood makes civil hands unclean. The use of the props such as the swords they are carrying and the gesture of biting the thumb I do bite my thumb, sir holds the suspense of the audience and increases dramatic tension with the suggestion of potential death and violence. The biting of the thumb increases the dramatic tension even more because it was used to trigger violence. Humour is used in this banter to appeal to the lower classes, and the light-hearted conversation and joking about the violence between the Montagues and the Capulets suggests that the feud has been going on for so long that it isnt taken seriously any more. The pun collar choler introduces the theme of anger leading to death right from the beginning of the play as collar means the hangmans noose, and choler means anger. Also the pun on the heads of the maidens or their maidenheads shows the attitude towards women in that time was that they were just objects to be used. The male servants joke about how they will rape the women servants and take their virginity. The attitude back then was that women were not valued if they didnt have their virginity.  This again shows the women to be animals or things to be used and discarded. The patriarchal system of the day shows this as Juliet was forced to marry Paris against her will. This also shows the different attitudes of Romeo towards women. He has respect for women and shows this by idealising them. This links in to the key theme of love. Dramatic tension is built through the fight scene and Princes speech through the juxtaposition of characters of different classes, who use language for different purposes. The Princes speech is written in verse, rather than prose and he uses complex sentence structures, showing his higher social status, If ever you disturb our streets again, your lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace! and also once again appealing to higher-class members of the audience. The language used during the fight scene contrasts to this as it is prose, and quite comical, Do you quarrel sir? Quarrel sir! No sir. As the Prince appears the tone of the scene sobers and his ideas as well as his language contrasts to that of the servants, as he speaks in verse. His threat to the families on pain of death increases dramatic tension as we already know that two people will die as a result of the information given to us from the prologue. In the Romeo and Benvolio scene, Lady Montagues comment about Romeo right glad I am he was not at this fray proves ironic because we as the audience know he is going to die anyway. When the characters start talking about Romeo, the mood changes from dramatic to calm and the key theme of love becomes predominant. The oxymorons used by Romeo here (loving hate, feather of lead) express his confusion and the inner conflict he has between his family and love. Loving hate shows how he feels about love in that love is also like hate. The metaphors Romeo uses for love increase and create dramatic tension because he describes love as a choking gall. This means poison and we know that he dies from drinking poison. I would describe the language he uses as poetic and meaningful. This shows his tender attitudes towards love, but at the same time there is a darker side to it. He shows that he craves and relies on love. He is in love with the idea of love, rather than love itself, alas that love, whose view is muffled still, should without eyes see pathways to his will! Act 1 scene 1 introduces the audience to the characters and their relationships to portray the situation and inform us of their personalities early on in the play. In the Baz Luhrmann version, lighting sound and special effects are used to greater highlight the key themes and also create dramatic tension. In the fight scene, tension is built by the use of dramatic sound and the characters raising their voices. The louder the music the louder the voices become. The tone and the speed of the action create tension as well. Fire was used to symbolise violence and anger. It shows destruction and therefore creates more dramatic tension. There are clear advantages and disadvantages to filming rather than staging it. Many takes can be shot to get the perfect atmosphere and film can be altered to create a mood whereas on a stage mistakes can be made, and theres the risk that the atmosphere may be lost. In the end, the prologue rings true and Romeo and Juliet die the tragic deaths foretold before. I think it is the most inspiring and beautiful love story ever old and there will never be another one like it; For there never was a story of more woe, than this of Juliet and her Romeo.

Free Essays - Immorality and Corruption in the Great Gatsby :: Grapes Wrath essays

Immorality and Corruption in the Great Gatsby In the novel, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald many of the characters could not be classified as a truly moral, a person who exhibits goodness or correctness in their character and behavior. Nick Carraway is not moral by any means; he is responsible for an affair between two major characters, Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan. Jay Gatsby does show some moral qualities when he attempts to go back and rescue Myrtle after she had been hit by Daisy. Overall Gatsby is unquestionably an immoral person. Nick Carraway and Gatsby share many immoral characteristics, but a big choice separates the two. Daisy Buchanan is an extremely immoral person; she even went to the lengths of taking someone's life. Jay and Daisy are similar but Daisy is borderline corrupt. The entire story is told through Nick Carraway's point of view and by his carelessness it is obvious the narrator possesses poor values. Throughout the entire novel it is clearly portrayed that Nick Carraway is not a moral character by any stretch of the imagination. Nick Carraway may seem to have some good values, but he is in fact immoral for many reasons. First, Nick uses Jordan Baker; he never actually became interested in a serious relationship with the golf star. Miss Baker is basically just a fling to him. Secondly, Nick Carraway always seems to be the middleman in all the trouble that is going on in the novel. The narrator knows about all the lying, deceiving, two-faced things that are going on throughout the story, and he is completely ok with it. Also Nick defends Gatsby even though he very well knows of all Gatsby's criminal activity and liquor smuggling. Finally, Nick is the character who sets up two of the main characters, Daisy Buchanan and Jay Gatsby, to have an affair. It never crosses Nick's mind that it is an immoral thing to set up an affair. During the novel there is a discussion betwee n Gatsby and Nick about when to set up the secret meeting with Daisy. During this exchange Nick actually says, "I'm going to call up Daisy tomorrow and invite her over here to tea.

Sri Lanka Tourism

Tourists Return to Paradise Isle a Year After War’s End By Amantha Perera COLOMBO, May 17, 2010 (IPS) – A year since Sri Lanka’s bloody civil war ended on May 18 last year, tourists are returning in huge numbers to a popular beach destination located over 300 kilometres from where the last battles were fought. Nowhere is the relief at the end of fighting more tangible than on the beautiful beaches of Hikkaduwa, south of the capital Colombo.The war against the secessionist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, fighting for a separate state for the minority Tamils, cost over 70,000 lives in over two and half decades and sent over 280,000 fleeing for their lives in its final phase. Hikkaduwa, famous for its coral reef, sandy beaches and swanky hotels, is on the rebound. Visitors who abandoned the sun and the beach when bombs started going off have begun to return. The best days may be still ahead of this famous tourist destination south of the capital Colombo. Already, it is bracing itself for huge arrivals during the next European winter season.Arrivals grew by an impressive 50 percent or an increase to 160,000 from 106,000 in the first quarter of 2010, compared to 2009, according to the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority, the government agency that monitors tourist arrivals. This year, the island known for its scenic beauty expects over half a million tourist arrivals, making 2010 one of the best seasons in the last half a decade. â€Å"We saw very good arrival rates this season (between November 2009 and April 2010),† Siri Goonewardene, president of the Hikkaduwa Hoteliers’ Association, told IPS. With the war no more, travellers feel safer visiting here and there were no unexpected security-related incidents that would have driven them away. † The general manager of Coral Sands, a 75-room luxury hotel on the Hikkaduwa beach, expects better results later this year when the next winter season starts. â€Å"The bookings h ave been good. If the trend continues the next season will be definitely better than this one,† says Goonewardene.He adds that operators expect about a 50 percent growth in arrivals next season. The upbeat assessment is shared by operators who run smaller hotels and restaurants and others who depend on the tourist trade. This season was good. We had a high number of visitors,† says Dhammika Silva, who runs a small hotel at Mirissa, a cove-like beach south of Hikkaduwa. He depends on individual tourists who visit the Mirissa area as his business is too small to tie up with tour operators. â€Å"I needed more people on the beach having a good time to make ends meet. This time it happened. † The same is true of Nimal, who sells traditional woodcarvings from a small shop near the beach. â€Å"We had a very good season. I made some good sales,† adds Nimal, who simply identified himself by his first name.These hopes for a bumper tourist season are a far cry from the beach operators’ downcast mood less than 18 months back. With the war raging in the north, by the time the winter season began in November 2008, arrivals were sliding. With earnings going down, in 2008, tourism fell to number six in the country’s top foreign revenue earners from the fourth slot, accounting only for 2. 8 percent of the gross national product. The industry supports a large workforce, much of it informal. According to a labour survey conducted by the Sri Lanka Census and Statistics Department in 2007, over 100,000 were employed in the trade, 56 percent of whom were nformal employees. It was the informal employees that felt the pinch when arrivals kept going down without the security of at least a small wage packet. In early 2009, business operators like Nimal were complaining that they could not keep their shops open and at least pay the utilities.Some decided to close shop. The downturn in arrivals due to the war attracted low spenders to the island. Silva says that many tourists from Eastern Europe and Russia began arriving in Sri Lanka when the big spenders from Western Europe stayed away. I have nothing against them. But these were budget travellers who travel through the region. They don’t spend much,† he told IPS. Nimal concurs. â€Å"They are not the type who buy souvenirs, let alone expensive carvings, they will show up in the number of arrivals, but have no money. † Goonewardene from Coral Sands warned that the high numbers should not be an indication that the industry has fully recovered. â€Å"When the numbers are analysed, we will see that there will not be a 50 percent increase in earnings corresponding to the increase in arrivals. â€Å"He says the government should launch an aggressive public relations campaign to attract high-end spenders and give incentives like tax breaks to the industry. The new government that took office last month has brought tourism under the purview of the Economic D evelopment Ministry, which has been tasked with accelerating development. It is an indication that tourism is to be a vital component in the new economic plans. â€Å"It is good that the government is showing signs of making tourism part of the bigger national plans. Whoever invests in tourism now will be making a lot of money come next season if we make the right decisions,† Silva

The Battle Of The Second World War - 1018 Words

Historically speaking, the Second World War is predominantly known, as the most devastating war mankind has ever to witness. World War II is responsible for an estimated sixty million deaths (military and civilian) and mass destruction on a global scale (Weinberg 894). Currently, there are several novels, articles, documentaries, and even video games that narrate the war experiences of certain World War II servicemen and women. All of which depict and explain the gruesome horrors of this particular war. Additionally, there are many novels that document the battle tactics of a particular political faction. Marc Bloch’s, Strange Defeat, and Catherine Merridale’s, Ivan’s War, exemplify both incidences. Furthermore, the two separately document†¦show more content†¦During the Second World War, Bloch was assigned an administrative position and given a fairly high staff level rank. However, he loathed his assigned rank and its entailed duties, which concerned t he management of fuel depots. Soon after the Nazis occupied France, Bloch became a member of the French Resistance to further protect his homeland. His primary intent with joining the resistance was due to the Nazis targeting him because of his Jewish background. Unfortunately, the Nazis captured and executed Bloch in 1944. Throughout Strange Defeat, Bloch broaches several key facets pertaining to the French defeat. He predominantly emphasizes on the incompetence of the French High Command. Although the majority of the French military’s superiors were World War I veterans. The other factors that contributed towards the fall of France concerned the French Government and populace, along with Great Britain’s inability to reasonably support the French war effort. All of the aforementioned infuriated Bloch on countless occasions. III. Background – Ivan’s War In Ivan’s War, Catherine Merridale (also a historian) pronounces the occurrences of the Soviet Union’s war effort through the eyes of legitimate Soviet soldiers during World War II. She detours away from the Communist state’s outrageous propaganda that blinded many Soviet soldiers from the truth by extracting the personal account of actual soldiers. Throughout the book, Merridale attempts to uncover the