Romeo and Juliet character analysis revision issues

1. Romeo and Juliet character analysis revision issues AKA stuff your teacher wants you to FIX BEFORE you turn in your final draft. 

2. USE A FORMAL TONEDon’t Do not use contractions!!!!! Establish your credibility by using academic English for analytical writing. Instead of… Say… Romeo does not care of the guards catch him or not; he just wants to be with Juliet. • This pretty much means Romeo doesn’t care if the guards catch him or not, he just wants to be there.

3. DO NOT USE 1ST OR 2ND PERSON IN YOUR ANALYSISUse an objective tone by using 3rd person (she/he/it) instead. Instead of… Say… Juliet demonstrates her cautious nature at the beginning of the play. Or… As Romeo tells Benvolio of his feelings toward his lost love, it becomes obvious that he is not thinking logically. • The first trait that I think Juliet shows is being cautious. Or… • As Romeo tells Benvolio of his feelings toward his lost love, you can begin to label him as illogical.

4. CALL A PIECE OF LITERATURE BY ITS APPROPRIATE GENREA story is a short fictional work that can be read in a single setting. A novel is a longer fictional work written in narrative form. A play is a fictional work written in dialogue form and intended to be performed. A poem is written in verse. A book is a bound collection of paper in which various literary forms are printed. Instead of… Say… Romeo seems emotional in the play because his reactions often ignore logic. Or… The play focuses on two major characters who overcome their parents’ longstanding feud to find love. • Romeo seems emotional in the story because of the ways he reacts when certain events happen. Or… • In this novel there are two major characters.

5. HAVE TEXT-BASED SUPPORT FOR YOUR CLAIMSWriters must prove that the text says what they say it does. The only way to do that is to use the text itself as evidence. Instead of… Say… Because Lord Capulet wants to protect “the hopeful lady of [his] earth,” he plans to delay her marriage by two years, keeping her more sheltered than her peers, many of whom are already “happy mothers made” (1.2.12-5). • Lord Capulet spoiled Juliet, because he thought it was the right thing to do for her, but he could not give her many relationships.

6. USE QUOTES THAT RELATE DIRECTLY TO YOUR POINTThe quotes are the proof that your claim is reasonable. They should be the best examples of whatever you are trying to establish about your analysis. Instead of… Say… Romeo’s emotions were out of control when he first sees Juliet. Forgetting his broken heart for Rosaline, Romeo sees Juliet and wonders, “Did my heart love till now? Foreswear it, sight! / For I ne’er saw true beauty till this night” (I.5.50-1). • Romeo’s emotions were out of control when he first sees Juliet. … The quote “By heaven, I love thee better than myself, for I come hither armed against myself” (5.3.64-68) describes Romeo’s love for Juliet. • The quote is actually from when Romeo is talking to Paris outside Juliet’s grave.

7. USE A LOGICAL SEGMENT OF THE QUOTEPay attention to phrasing in the original quote and how it flows grammatically with what you have written. Only include what you need to make your point. Instead of… Say… When Romeo says: “Mercutio’s soul / is but a little above our heads, / Staying for thine to keep him company. / Either thou or I, or both, must go with him” he is determined to either kill Tybalt or die trying (3.1.723-6). • An example of this is when Romeo says: “That late thou gavest me; for Mercutio’s soul / is but a little about our heads, / Staying for thine to keep him company. / Either thou or I, or both, must go with him.” (3.1.123-6)

8. SET UP QUOTES EFFECTIVELYYour reader will recognize a brief description of the scene you plan to discuss more clearly than a reference by act, scene, chapter, or line. Remember, you should assume that your reader has also read the piece you are analyzing, but not that they have a copy of it in front of them. Instead of… Say… For example, Romeo impulsively kills Tybalt in retaliation for Tybalt killing Mercutio, forgetting the Prince’s proclamation that the next person who kills someone will be put to death as punishment. • For example in Act 3 Scene 1 he kills Tybalt for killing his good friend Mercutio when the Prince said that next person who kills someone will be put to death them self.

9. AVOID CALLING A QUOTE A QUOTEIt is only a quote because you quoted it in your paper. Outside of the paper, it is a line in a play that has significance as a piece of evidence for your analysis. Discuss it organically in terms of its function in the play. Instead of… Say… Romeo’s reaction here foreshadows later scenes, where his emotional reactions will cause him a great deal of trouble just as his impulsiveness has. • This quote also greatly foreshadows that sometime later in the story, Romeo’s emotional reactions will cause him a great deal of trouble just as him impulsiveness did.

10. CITE YOUR QUOTES CORRECTLYOnly use the numbers in your citation. Act goes first, then scene, then line numbers. Remember to use / to show a line break if you are quoting verse. Periods go after the citation if it is at the end of a sentence. Instead of… Say… “Let them find me here. / My life were better ended by their hate” (2.2.76-77). • “Let them find me here. My life were better ended by their hate.” (Act:2, Scene:2, Lines:76-77)

11. AVOID PLOT SUMMARYAssume your reader has already read the play. You do not need to include detailed descriptions of what HAPPENED; instead, focus on how the action reveals the character’s traits and how the traits are significant in creating the play’s theme. Instead of… Say… Romeo becomes so distraught at the idea of being separated from Juliet that he threatens to kill himself, prompting Friar Laurence to refer to him as a “fond mad man,” a reference to his inability to control himself (3.3.52) . • He says that he would rather kill himself than have to be away from Juliet, his new wife. He goes to Friar Laurence’s cell to see advice. When Romeo tells him of his idea to kill himself, Friar stops him and tells him to slow down. “Thou fond mad man, hear me a little speak” (3.3.52).

12. Avoid speculation> You can not know what would have happened in the book under different circumstances. > Writers often create double negatives by speculating. Instead of… Say… Romeo’s tendency to act impulsively leads to his hasty marriage, unnecessary death, and heartache for many citizens of Verona. • If Romeo weren’t so impulsive, no one would have to die, they would not have gotten married so soon, and life would be much easier for him and everyone else.

13. Example intro #2: The love story of Romeo and Juliet is arguably William Shakespeare’s most iconic tragedy, alluded to time and time again in modern works as a tale of romance, danger, and sorrow. The play follows Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet, two teenagers who fall in love but struggle in their relationship due to the fact that they are from rivalling families. This leads to secrecy, miscommunication, and a variety of obstacles facing them until their ultimate demise. Many know this storyline, but few seem to discuss how the character traits of Romeo and Juliet, rather than fate, affect the tragic ending. Although there are many characters in the play who drive the plot forward, Romeo’s character traits in particular determine his fate, because his impulsiveness causes events to occur too quickly and bad decisions to be made, creating conflict; his drama causes his emotions to take precedence over logic; his protectiveness causes him to put himself in dangerous situations for anyone he decides that he cares deeply about. This all comes together to develop Shakespeare’s theme that acting rashly….

14. Example intro #2: How to Dig Your Own Grave O, Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou so young and conflicted? Romeo and Juliet from Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet are a pair of star-crossed lovers who take their own lives, but the stars do not control everything in this tragic tale. In fact, Romeo and Juliet leap immediately and impulsively into a serious relationship and try to maintain that relationship in spite of their feuding families. Eventually, it is their tragic deaths that reconcile the Capulets and the Montagues, the cost of peace being the lovers’ very lives. Their ruin looms from the very beginning and Romeo has a hand in advancing the plot toward his own demise. Romeo’s outcome is determined by a combination of fate and free will because although he cannot control the family he was born into, he also does not think things through and lets his emotions control him. This characterization of Romeo develops the theme that….

15. Additional hook examples: No one is perfect. In fact, it’s the minor flaws that make each person unique. Today, you could have eaten cake for breakfast. Most likely you didn’t, and that was probably something you thought was your decision. The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet is often looked at as the ideal or perfect love story, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. This famous Shakespearean play is set in Verona, Italy, where the teenage son and daughter of feuding families fall in love. Their hidden love ultimately ends with six people dead, including themselves.

16. Example body paragraph Romeo first demonstrates his impulsive personality when he meets Juliet. Shortly after the Capulet party, Romeo decides to sneak back onto the property to see Juliet. She discovers him under her window and he begins proclaiming his love and declaring that he is not afraid of her relatives. On the very night that they meet, Romeo shows his rash nature, proclaiming to Juliet, “Let them find me here/ my life were better ended by their hate/ than death prorogued wanting of thy love” (2.2.87-8). Romeo is showing here that he is more concerned about a girl he just met than his own safety, displaying the impulsive personality that leads to his death by the story’s end. In fact, Romeo goes so far as to invoke, for the first time but certainly not the last, the idea of dying for love… This is a direct step toward his death because…. and develops the theme that….

17. Example conclusion #1: Romeo’s drama is the cause of six deaths in under four days, yet he is still viewed as one half of the ideal couple. Romeo’s dramatic tendencies provoke every instance of tragedy in this play. First, he overreacts about Rosaline’s lost love. This causes him to meet Juliet, allowing the other events in the play to occur. Next, he gets Mercutio killed and kills Tybalt. This makes the prince banish him which causes the death of Romeo’s mother. Next, Juliet fakes her death because Romeo’s banishment leaves her at the mercy of her father’s dictate to marry Paris. Finally, Romeo decides to kill himself because of Juliet’s “death,” killing Count Paris on his way, and causing Juliet to take her own life. So what can be learned from this? Yes, this story is exaggerated and is unlikely to occur in real life, but the theme is still timely and relevant. Shakespeare’s theme that . . .

18. Example conclusion #2: Overall, Romeo as a character becomes involved in many dramatic and tragic situations over the course of the plot due to the character traits he shows. His rash, emotional, dramatic, and defensive nature leads to a forbidden relationship with Juliet, his banishment, his death, and Juliet’s death as well. This ultimately contributes to the play’s theme that haste often leads to poor decisions and potentially dangerous situations because, if one is to make wise choices, time is required to think things through. Although perhaps these iconic lovers are not entirely to blame for their eventual demise, they are certainly more complex and three-dimensional characters than the simple star-crossed lovers alluded to in modern songs and works of fiction. The terrible “consequence hanging in the stars” for Romeo and his love is as much a result of character traits as it is of fate, but no less tragic for their own responsibility.