Causes Of Tradgedy Flashcards
violent men and toxic masculinity are shown to play a role in the tragic outcome of the play.
Structurally, Act Three, Scene One is the point in the play that the tone changes and the plot begins to move towards tragedy. For the majority of this scene, there are no female characters present which indicates that men take the most responsibility for this shift.
tybalt - nouns such as “villain” and “boy” which are intended to emasculate Romeo and question his honour as a man. This would have been considered extremely insulting in the Elizabethan era.
desperate he is to fight Romeo and how obsessed he is with violence even though Romeo is not interested at this point.
Mercutio “O calm, dishonourable, vile submission!” .
Mercutio finds it shameful or degrading for a man to avoid a challenge.Mercutio is physically repulsed by the sight of a man who won’t fight.
Shakespeare may be criticising the patriarchal expectations of his era by showing how the pressure on men to be violent will ultimately
lead to death and suffering.
Shakespeare also suggests that fragile male egos are party to blame for the tragic outcome of the play
Tybalt states, “this shall not excuse the injuries thou has done me!” physically hurt Tybalt in some way.
However, the audience knows that Romeo has never even spoken to Tybalt so the pain he feels cannot be physical.
The reference to “injuries” perhaps symbolises Tybalt’s hurt pride at the fact Romeo was not afraid to attend the Capulet party. As a young man Tybalt prides himself on his reputation as a fearsome fighter who defends his territory like a “Prince of Cats”.
this seems petty and immature and Shakespeare may trying to show how male insecurity can lead to tragedy by forcing them to behave in violent ways.
Romeo is shown to also be partly responsible for the tragedy.
His inability to control his emotions is his hamartia and this leads him to make rash and reckless decisions that result in tragedy.
“with loves light wings did I o’erperch these walls.” - extremely romantic as it implies that Romeo is so in love with Juliet, it elevated him. is carefree and unafraid to break down social barriers to be withj. However, upon second reading it shows how out of touch he is with reality. easily Romeo can be overwhelmed by emotion and make dangerous decisions that risk his own life.
“thy beauty hath made me effemate” - irrisponsible
Typically, it was women who were expected to be weak and hysterical. Shakespeare shows that this stereotype is false and that men who cannot control their powerful emotions
can cause tragedy.
fued
Romeo and Juliet are forced into an impossible situation because of their families’ hatred.
“civil hands make civil blood unclean”
“ancient grudge”. Firstly, the adjective “ancient” has connotations of something that is extremely old. This perhaps implies that the reasons for the feud have been long forgotten and that the families have simply inherited it from the previous generation. There are perhaps no relevant reasons for it to continue.
Similarly, the abstract noun “grudge” implies that the feud is somewhat minor and petty and could easily be forgotten but the families cling on to it almost like it is part of their identity.
This might relate to the fact that in the Elizabethan era, there was a great deal of sectarian conflict between Protestants and Catholics which divided Britain and caused war with Spain. Shakespeare may be criticising this conflict as futile and warning his audience that it will only lead to tragedy with Romeo and Juliet.
older gen
Throughout the play, Shakespeare shows how distant the relationships between the old and the young were in this era.
This is perhaps because wealthy Elizabethan children were most likely to have been raised by nurses rather than their own parents. felt comfortable enough to speak to their parents about their relationship, they perhaps would have not needed to take their own lives.
The distant relationships are evident “madam”.
extremely cold and informal and perhaps symbolises the lack of real love or connection between them.
Similarly, Lady Capulet refers to Juliet as “my daughter” which is also very cold and impersonal. The use of the possessive
pronoun “my” perhaps indicates that she sees her child as a possession rather than a human being in her own right.
“My heavy son.” Here the adjective “heavy” highlights Montague’s lack of empathy towards Romeo’s feelings of depression. He seems to view his son as a burden or a nuisance because he does not behave in a stereotypically masculine way. This noun also shows his confusion and lack of understanding of his son’s feelings.
warns that the younger generation may resort to drastic actions with tragic consequences if the older generation do not take responsibility for them or try to understand them on a personal level.
suggests that fate plays a part in creating the tragedy.
“star cross’d lovers”. This celestial imagery suggests that it is fate or perhaps God who has brought Romeo and Juliet together.
very romantic idea upon first reading, it perhaps also suggests that they are being sacrificed in order to bring peace to Verona.
“death mark’d”. metaphor perhaps symbolises the idea were destined to die from the start and there was no way of avoiding the tragedy at the end.
It implies that their love was permanently tainted by death and there was nothing they could do to escape this.
Shakespeare’s message here might have been to suggest that conflict and violence are against God’s will as he seems to be willing to sacrifice the lives of two innocent young people in order to “remove” the feud from
Verona’s society.
