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2. You have been asked to recommend a play for students studying for the Junior Certificate. Would you recommend the play you have studied for this examination? Give reasons based on close reference to your chosen text.
1) The play I have studied is 'Romeo and Juliet' by William Shakespeare. The play entertains many different ideas and messages but the most prominent is the existence, battle and contrast between love and hate. The play begins in 17th century Verona where immediately hatred is apparent. The servants from two rival families begin provoking and taunting one and other before it descends into violence. We are already introduced to how deep-rooted and serious the Montagues’ and Capulet’s family feud is. A son to Montague, Romeo begins the play in a sombre state as he is lovesick due to his unrequited love for Rosaline. In an attempt to cheer Romeo up, his friends bring him to a party hosted by Capulet. At the party, Romeo first meets Juliet and they instantly fall in love. That very night they confess their feelings yet understand that their love will be severely jeopardised by their families’ hatred. The plot of the play highlights the main idea behind it. The contrast between the young lovers and their families’ old hatred is communicated through what happens to the characters. The plot is ridden with acts of hatred including murder on three occasions. To combat this Shakespeare gives two characters who are intensely in love. There is also a battle, not of blades, but of love and hate: Can Romeo and Juliet’s love defeat the Capulet and Montague feud? The answer at the end is yes, the families do end their fighting, but only after the death of the two people who caused the peace – Romeo and Juliet.
Shakespeare uses the characters
in the play to display the idea of the contrast between love and hate. Romeo is
very changeable. He switches in and out of love quickly but also endures periods
of deep sadness, particularly evident when he was lovesick at the start of the
play. These characteristics mirror the contrast between love and hate which is
the message in the play. To express these mood swings hyperbole is used to
demonstrate the intense emotions of that time (whether happiness or sadness).
The message is communicated through speech and the different techniques used by
Shakespeare. Oxymora are used which show contrast. Examples include “oh happy
dagger” (Juliet 5: iii: 182) and “sweet sorrow (Juliet 2: ii: 188). The act of
murder is the ultimate portrayal of hatred. Yet, in this play, it is carried
out by a lover in Romeo. Extreme feelings take control when Tybalt (Juliet’s
cousin) slayed Romeo’s friend Mercutio. Enraged, Romeo steps up to fight. Romeo taking on Tybalt is a melancholic matchup between Juliet’s beloved husband and
cousin. Another use of contrast was the fact that apart from their wedding day,
Romeo and Juliet always saw each other in darkness. Juliet in particular is
described with a recurrent light motif that is used throughout the play. The
idea that Romeo and Juliet’s love is the only light in their families’ dark
feud is shown evidently in this way. The prominent celestial motif supports
this image of brightness in a pitch black sky. The main idea in William
Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’ is love and hate.
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