Comparing Shakespeare s Romeo And Juliet And His Comedy...

Compare how love is presented in Shakespeare’s tragedy Romeo and Juliet and his comedy Twelfth Night INTRODUCTION Shakespeare uses similar techniques in his contrasting plays ‘Twelfth Night’ and ‘Romeo and Juliet’ to explore societal conventions of love and courtship, while also considering different types of love – such as fraternal love or the idea of infatuation; and, despite the fact that each play lies at opposite ends of the genre spectrum, he still manages to clearly convey the idea to both contemporary and modern audiences that love is overcomplicated by our society – for example, the practice of courtly love in the 1600’s, which was in essence men allowing women for once to feel in power as they wallowed in self-pity – often lead to an almost excessive amount of confusion – a notion he uses at the core of the comedy ‘Twelfth Night’ – or that all the unwritten restrictions and connotations of love can lead to dark, bittersweet endings – something he uses to his advantage in the tragedy ‘Romeo an d Juliet’. COURTLY LOVE Shakespeare uses courtly love to introduce his first title character, Romeo, in ‘Romeo and Juliet’. We first hear of Romeo from Benvolio and his worried father; â€Å"Away from light steals home my heavy son,† The lexis â€Å"steals† implies that Romeo’s actions are surreptitious and secretive, something that we can assume is out of character due to his father’s concerned tone when asking after him. Romeo’s introduction allows Shakespeare to quickly establishShow MoreRelatedThe Elizabethan Er An Important Form Of Entertainment And Occupation For The Elizabethans2132 Words   |  9 PagesINTRODUCTION Elizabethan Era was the time when drama became an important form of entertainment and occupation for the Elizabethans. Shakespeare stands as a colossus in the English literary arena and his plays are considered as the greatest writings. These plays are rich and are suggested works for pursuing women’s studies and gender ideologies. His plays depicted the social status and responsibilities of women in the society. He seemed to support the English renaissance stereotypes of men and women