Romeo and Juliet began as an ancient ritualistic tale. It was chanted or spoken in unison by a stage full of monks. When Shakespeare was alive and writing his plays, the church was openly opposed to theatre. Sometimes, it could manage to have theatres shut down merely because they believed it was wrong.
The church also disallowed female participation in the theatre. So, in Shakespeare’s time, Juliet would have been played by a young boy. Shakespeare used astrological terms in many of his plays. A good example of a astrological term in Romeo and Juliet Is in the Prologue: “star-crossed lovers”.
The two main characters, Romeo and Juliet both came from different families. That would normally be okay, but not in Shakespeare’s play. The two families don’t exactly get along. Romeo, of the Montagues fell in love with Juliet, from the Capulet family despite the feud that they knew would never end. The Montagues and the Capulets were both royal families but both acted very immaturely.
Friar Lawrence and Nurse were both different from each other in many different ways. Friar Lawrence was more of a “neutral”. Nurse was dedicated to the Capulets, but tried to keep Juliet happy with Romeo. Nurse was not true to Juliet to the end like Friar Lawrence was to Romeo.
Friar Lawrence helped the two out when Nurse could do nothing. Nurse and Friar Lawrence were also alike in many ways. For instance, both help Romeo and Juliet a lot. Friar Lawrence and Nurse both know about the wedding. Nurse agrees with Juliet in the beginning.
Friar Lawrence is eventually convinced to agree with Romeo. The most important similarity is that both care about and care for Romeo and Juliet very much. Friar Lawrence and Nurse both affected the outcome greatly. Nurse relayed messages from Juliet to Romeo.
These messages that Nurse carried helped set up one of Friar Lawrence’s most important parts in the play: the marriage. If the two teenagers hadn’t been married, most likely, the ending would have been different. The marriage between Romeo and Juliet was what caused Juliet’s emotional anguish after Romeo killed Tybalt. That is the reason Juliet went to such extremes to get to Romeo.
Finally, that is what caused the suicides. Nurse and Friar Lawrence had a great influence on the outcome of Shakespeare’s famous play, Romeo and Juliet.Shakespeare Essays
