Eng 111
Mark Schueler
Eileen Joy
Critical Essay #1
Some Things Are Not Just Black And White
I believe the theme of Shakespeare’s play, Romeo and Juliet, to be about people who are too close-minded. Almost every character in the play sees things as black or white; good or evil. The play’s events unfold as a result of so many characters having this obtuse flaw.
I believe the biggest and easiest to spot example of the one track minded characters is the ongoing feud between the two families. The Capulet hate the Montague, and the Montague hate the Capulet. That really is all there is too it. They hate each other for the simple fact that they where born under a certain name.
Furthermore, it is only when one finds out that the other is a Capulet/Montague that the real conflict begins. The conflict between Romeo and Juliet first appears when each find out they possess a name that they are suppose to hate:
Nurse. Madam, your mother craves a word with you.
ROMEO. What is her mother?
Nurse. …Her mother is the lady of the house…
ROMEO. Is she a Capulet? O dear account! My life is my foe's debt. (Act 1, Scene 5)
Just as Romeo finds out she is a Capulet, I got the feeling that his love flickered just a bit. I felt that he was hurt almost to the point that he, for a second, rethought if there was any way to not love her.
I think that Juliet also had this same feeling when the nurse told her who Romeo was. “My only love sprung from my only hate” (Act 1, Scene 5), is Juliet’s feelings, which I feel flickers her love for Romeo just a bit. But I believe the greatest point of all is that they don’t care about that family hate as much as they care about their love for each other. They have such one-track minds that all they really care about is their love. After Juliet fakes her death, I think that Romeo is so close-minded to other possibilities that he foolishly kills himself. If her were to examine his options, he would realize that he is young and will have many more chances for love in the future.
There is however one moment where Romeo does shift his one-track mind of love and realizes other things are going on. Right after Mercutio is slain Romeo says, “O sweet Juliet, thy beauty hath made me effeminate and in my temper soften'd valour's steel” (Act 3, Scene 1)! I think that at this moment Romeo is shocked by is best friend’s death. He sees now how unconditional focused on love he has been. But still not looking at both things at once, he shifts his entire focus to revenge on Mercutio’s slayer, Tybalt. After Romeo slays Tybalt, he says, “O, I am fortune's fool” (Act 3, Scene 1)! I think that Romeo realizes he just messed up again. He was now so focused on revenge that he blocked out how much he is suppose to love the Capulets.
But other than the one-tracked minds of the lovers, I believe that Romeo and Juliet’s parents are close-minded as well. If it were just the children that were feuding, I think that the lovers would be more likely to tell their parents that they love a Capulet/Montague. But as the story goes, Romeo and Juliet know that the parents wouldn’t be able to listen long enough to hear what they have to say. Juliet’s father shows exceptional close-mindedness when Juliet pleads with her father not to marry her to Paris:
CAPULET. …Doth she not give us thanks? Is she not proud? Doth she not count her blest, unworthy as she is, that we have wrought so worthy a gentleman to be her bridegroom?
JULIET. Not proud, you have; but thankful, that you have: Proud can I never be of what I hate; but thankful even for hate, that is meant love.
CAPULET. How now, how now, chop-logic! What is this? 'Proud,' and 'I thank you,' and 'I thank you not… fettle your fine joints 'gainst Thursday next, to go with Paris to Saint Peter's Church, or I will drag thee on a hurdle thither. (Act 3, Scene 5)
Juliet is telling her father that she is thankful for all that he has done for her. Even though she hates what her father has done, she knows he meant it with love and her happiness in mind. But lord Capulet is not even trying to understand what she is saying. He is kind of saying “Umm yea whatever, just get your ass to the church Thursday, or you can find someone else to mooch off of.” I believe this pig-headedness is due to the fact that he has his mind set on marring his daughter to Paris, and nothing, short of her death, is going to change that.
Shakespeare reinforces this notion that lord Capulet will not hear Juliet’s concerns when Juliet flat out says, “Good father, I beseech you on my knees, hear me with patience but to speak a word” (Act 3, Scene 5). All Juliet wants is to be heard and for her father to consider what she wants. But being close-minded, lord Capulet replies with, “…I tell thee what: get thee to church o' Thursday, or never after look me in the face: speak not, reply not, do not answer me…” (Act 3, Scene 5). As if that wasn’t enough, Juliet seeks possible open-mindedness from her mother and is rejected by her as well:
JULIET. Is there no pity sitting in the clouds, that sees into the bottom of my grief? O, sweet my mother, cast me not away! Delay this marriage for a month, a week; or, if you do not, make the bridal bed in that dim monument where Tybalt lies.
LADY CAPULET. Talk not to me, for I'll not speak a word: Do as thou wilt, for I have done with thee. (Act 3, Scene 5)
Here Juliet is pleading to her mother to not ignore her as her father just did. She begs her mother to postpone the wedding so she can grieve the loss of her cousin. Even as Juliet swears to take her own life, her mother blows her off and just kind of says, “Do whatever you want, I really don’t care about you anymore.” That line, “Do as thou wilt, for I have done with thee” (Act 3, Scene 5), really had an impression on me. This is Juliet’s own mother, who in all respects should love her no matter what she does, is saying she is done with her. This makes me wonder what lady Capulet has her mind so set on, that she does not even love her own child. Perhaps (this is just what I gathered from watching the film) lady Capulet is infatuated with Paris and wants to see him around a bit more.
I think that Shakespeare’s development of each character with his or her own one-track mind helped the play to progress in an interesting way. Some may look at this play as just a tragedy of two lovers. However I seem to think that Shakespeare wanted us to see the real tragedy. The stubborn minds’ of each character and how each of them loses on a certain level.
Works Cited
Shakespeare, William. Romeo and Juliet. <http://thetech.mit.edu/Shakespeare/romeo_juliet/>.