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Evan Hoffman

Ms. Woelke

Pre-AP English 9A

10 December 2018

The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet Essay

In Shakespeare’s tragedy, The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, he expresses that

relationships can change the course of events in a story. The author first communicates this with

in text evidence; he then asserts the main idea with visual imagery of the characters and their

affairs; and to conclude, he expresses the thesis with future outcomes after the lovers die. His

purpose is to entertain in order to reveal how feuds can change people’s lives. He seems to have

a younger audience in mind because it seemed to be written toward a youth so that they do not

get into feuds that would change their lives. In Shakespeare’s famous on-stage play, The Tragedy

of Romeo and Juliet, Juliet and her nurse’s relationship changes the course of the story through

the use of future outcomes and in text evidence.

Juliet and her nurse change the play through future outcomes. The nurse informs Juliet

that she “made a simple choice” but she approves of the young lovers marriage so Juliet must

“hie you hence to Friar Lawrence’s cell; there stays a husband to make you a wife,”

(Shakespeare 2.5.40,73-74). The playwright includes this because he is expressing how the

future story will work out. It shows that they will be married, but they are rival families, so the

play may have a bad ending. The chorus foreshadows the lovers “fearful passage of their death-

marked love” which we see at the end of the play (Shakespeare Prologue.8). Shakespeare

accommodates this to show how the nurse and Juliet form their future knowing their rival

families would not go along with this. We know this because the nurse is the lovers messenger
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between each other aiding in this underage marriage. Shakespeare foreshadows the lovers ends

through the use of future events.

Through in text documentation, we find how the nurse and Juliet shape the events of The

Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet. When discussing plans for the future with Romeo, Juliet first and

foremost expresses happiness in a potential happy marriage hoping the nurse would “speak;

good, good nurse, speak.” The nurse just came a long distance wondering why she “can not stay

awhile? / Do you not see I am out of breath?” (Shakespeare 2.5.29-32). The reader can infer

how if this never happened, the lovers may have not died. This may be true because without the

nurse, she would have never gotten an answer and never would have killed herself in the end, but

because they have such a strong relationship, the nurse tells her and puts forth future events in

action. We know these Capulets have a strong relationship whenever Juliet “send[s] thy man

away” so the nurse says, “Peter, stay at the gate,” (Shakespeare 2.5.19-20). The author addresses

this because he wants to show how tight the nurse and Juliet’s bond is. This shows that all secrets

stay between them and these secrets, if gotten out, could have bought more attention to the young

lover’s relationship and could have stopped their suicidal ends. Comprehensively, the nurse and

Juliet’s tight bond and their secrets change the course of events in Romeo and Juliet.

Juliet and the nurse’s relationship change future events in The Tragedy of Romeo and

Juliet. Whenever Juliet sent the nurse to see Romeo, the nurse was delaying his response to

Juliet, and this annoyed Juliet to the point of wondering “what he says of our marriage? what of

that?” (Shakespeare 2.5.50). The reader can infer that this can change the future because if the

nurse did not tell her and just layed down, none of he future events would have happened. This

would mean no suicide or death of Tybalt. Shakespeare includes the nurse’s opinion with Juliet’s

husband choice when we know she says, “Well, you have made a simple choice; you know not /
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how to choose a man,” (Shakespeare 2.5.40-41). Reading this, I concluded that if Juliet listened

to the nurse and never wed Romeo, they would not have a future together. This would be good

because then less people die and less people are hurt emotionally and literally. Overall, the nurse

and Juliet shape the events of The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet.

All inclusively, Shakespeare’s famous play, The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, has a

bigger lesson behind an age old story. There are events of action, love, and loss. Although, the

entire storyline would be completely different if the nurse had never helped the star crossed

lovers. The play would have never had the lovers dying, Tybalt would not have been killed that

soon, and other events would be changed. Therefore, Romeo and Juliet would have been a

completely different drama if the nurse and Juliet’s relationship had changed and the nurse never

helped.