The Importance of the Sonnet in William Shakespeares Romeo and Juliet

Although Shakespeares Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy of two young l everywheres caught in the whirlpool of their own new-fashioned passion, it is also a tragedy of two young people at the mercy of a feud non of their making and of fateful events over which they have no control. Regardless of our individual response to this play, we have a common response of deep sadness over the senseless deaths of the two young cognizers. Regardless of the ca occasion of the tragic events, we are on their side. thither are several ways to think about Romeo and Juliet, but new discussions of the play look at the form and language of love that Shakespeare uses and how his use of one particular form, the sonnet, enhances our sense of the play. By directing our attention to the sonnet qualities in Romeo and Juliet, we are able to discern a growing matureness in these two characters, one which, especially in the case of Juliet, belies their unsalted youth. This article will examine how the sonnet conventions found in Romeo and Juliet glitter the plays stance on young love as well as how Juliets resistance to the sonnet reveals a character that allows her to endure the desertion of or so everyone around her. The sonnet is a fourteen-line love poem. Perfected by the Italian Petrarch in the fifteenth century, the form followed certain conventions. The subject matter was that of nonreciprocal love. The sonneteer would write a cycle of sonnets dedicated to a woman, his sonnet lady, whom he knew only from afar, who was unavailable, whose very presence changed ones earthly existence into heaven. The fourteen-line sequence was lots marked by a reversal, a turn between the beginning(a) eight and the last six lines. Frequently, the turn would move from the ph... ...m to abandon Juliet in the tomb of her dead ancestors with the body of Romeo. Throughout the chaos that occurs when the tragedy in the tomb is discovered by the outside world, Juliet remains firm and resolute, a star k contrast to the confusion that even spills into the streets of Verona For I will not away (5.3.160). Preferring death to the hostile world around her, she stabs herself with Romeos dagger. Although we see the chastened adults call for their greatest punishment, the deaths of their children, it seems far too great a price to gift for the settling of a feud. Our hearts remain with Romeo and Juliet, who found passion in love rather than in hatred and who matured far beyond their adult role models. This thou perceivst, which makes thy love more strong To love that well, which thou must leave ere long. -- Sonnet 73