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Shakespeare” among his best know plays are “Hamlet”, “MacBeth” and Benevolent, his cousin, and Mercuric, a relative of the prince. Both friends have radically different temperaments. Both are linked by their loyalty to Romeo, but meet very different ends, Benevolent is a stolid, relatively unimaginative but thoroughly decent man who is contrasted with the impish, brilliantly whimsical Mercuric and the passionate Romeo. Mercuric is killed midway through the play, and with his death, the lightness, joy and fun of the first half go out with him. The catastrophe that will also claim the lives of Table, Paris,
Romeo and Juliet has been set into motion. Benevolent, the witness and ineffectual peacemaker survives. Benevolent tries to help Romeo with his problems. He listens to him talk about the first girl he loves, Rosalie and gives him advice about it. Romeo does not tell either of his friends about his love for Juliet as he knows it will cause problems due to the feud between his family, the Montague and Gullet’s family, the Capsules. Benevolent: “Be ruled by me, forget to think of her” Romeo: “Teach me how I should forget to think’ Benevolent: “By giving liberty to thin eyes, examine other beauties”
Here Benevolent is trying to get Romeo to forget about the girl he loves and stop thinking about her. Romeo however, is unsure whether or not he can forget and move on, or even if he knows how to. Benevolent could be getting slightly annoyed with Romeo for constantly talking about who he loves and the fact that they don’t love him. But he is probably more concerned for Romeo and doesn’t want to see him to unhappy. Benevolent wants Romeo to stop obsessing over Rosalie for his won good.
This advice could be seen to be partially responsible for the events that follow, including he party and meeting Juliet, therefore partially responsible for Romeo and Gullet’s deaths. Mercuric on the other hand, does not see things as seriously as Benevolent or Romeo. His personality is very different and sometimes changed rapidly. Shakespeare has been quite clever when choosing the name Mercuric as the word it derives from, Mercurial, means changeable. This reflects his personality effectively due to his rather manic side. He sometimes talks in a crazy manner and gets very agitated.
This can be seen in his famous “Queen MBA” speech. Mercuric tries to help Romeo in a simpler way, by cheering him up. Nay, gentle Romeo, we must have you dance. ” He tries to distract him from his worries with something he thinks Romeo will enjoy. Although it was Benevolent that suggested going to the Caplet ball, Mercuric, may be hoping Romeo will find someone else to help him find someone else to help him forget about Rosalie and encourages him to go. Unlike Benevolent, Mercuric is becoming irritated by Romeos increasing interest in girls as Romeo no longer spends much time with his friends.
Romeos interest in girls is also part of the reason for him not wanting to fight Table. Mercuric then steps in, ashamed that Romeo does not want to fight, yet still wanting to protect Romeo and Prove himself a better fighter than Table. One of Romeos other closest friends is Friar Lawrence. Friar Lawrence was in a way a sort of father figure in that he guided and advised Romeo in the events in his life. Thus is how friar Lawrence became involved in Romeo and Gullet’s romance, Romeo asked his advise in what do ado and also asked for him to marry them. He agrees, as he believes it will solve to feud between the two families.
Similarly, Juliet also has and older friend, her nurse, she too comes involved in the romance due to being a parental figure to Juliet. She becomes a messenger between the two young lovers. The next theme I am going to discuss is love. Throughout the tragedy of “Romeo and Juliet” various types of love are displayed. At the beginning, Juliet does not even have a definition of love as she didn’t expect romance, only an arranged marriage. At the Caplet ball, she acts very innocent and refers to the things that happen in a very religious way saying that by toughing hands they are praying together.
Paris and Lady Caplet’s benefiting of love is appearances, they believe that it is about they way you look or behave or your social standing and money. One of the other types of love that Shakespeare explores is infatuation. Romeo thinks that he is in love with Rosalie, this feeling is heightened as he realizes she doesn’t feel the same. How many people can relate to that? Much of teenage love is simply in the head – you think you have found the ‘only one’, when all you have really found is an obsession. The fact that the two young lovers die shows that Shakespeare believes that such wild passion can’t sat – it is doomed from the start.
When Romeo meets Juliet, he knows that she is different. O she doth teach the torches to burn bright! It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night. As a rich jewel in an Ethiopia ear” here Romeo compares Juliet to several things. Each of these expresses how much she seems to stand out Romeo. He seems completely mesmerism by her beauty. Although Romeos love for Juliet is seen as true love, I believe it to be simply infatuation. Romeo see his love for Juliet as the real things more than his love for Rosalie as Juliet returns his feelings.
Juliet is too young to understand love, especially when her parents have already decided who she is to marry. Feel that these themes still have relevance in today’s society because no matter how much time passes, people will still fall in love and have friendships and it intrigues the reader because they can relate to what is happening at some level. Shakespeare had a skill for writing about exactly what people wanted to watch and because of his insight into human nature, his work has stayed relevant to the lives of his readers for over four hundred years and will continue to do so for many more.