My thoughts on Juliet

I think that Juliet is an interesting character because of her relatioship with her parents. She feels obligated to please them but she also has her own wants. She feels like she has to please her parents and keep them happy. She is a people pleaser but to a much lesser degree, because she only does that with her parents. I think that her meeting Romeo will be good for her because it will help her stop feeling like she has to do what her parents say and she can't speak up for what she wants. She is obediant to her parents but she wants to do the complete opposite.

In the beginning of the play Juliet's dad and Paris have a conversation about Paris marrying Juliet and then her family has a conversation about it. While there is a conversation between the nurse Juliet and Juliet's mother Juliet is willing to marry Paris just because her mother and father might want her to. She doesn't tell them her feelings at all, she just listens and agrees with what her mother says.

Romeo is different than Juliet because he is willing to express his feelings and emotions about the things in his life. I think that he will teach Juliet to eventually speak up for herself and let known what she really wants.

Benvolio vs. Merchutio

In the play Romeo and Juliet the two people who are close to Romeo try and support him after he is rejected by Rosaline. But even though they both try and comfort Romeo they do it in two very different ways even though in effect they are both saying the same things. Benvolio is more tender and understanding he tries to reason with Romeo to get him to see the situation his point of view. Mercutio on the other hand is more mean and pushy about having Romeo see it his way. He is meaner to get Romeo to forget Rosaline.

In act 1 scene 1 lines 233, 235-236 Benvolio tries to get his point across to Romeo and tell him that he should examine other women and completely forget about Rosaline and even though Romeo protests Benvolio still remains calm and reasonable with Romeo. He doesn't get harsh with Romeo even though he insists in wallowing in his sorrow and not listening to Benvolio.

In act 1 scene 4 lines 27-32 Mercutio tells Romeo be rough with love and defeat it. He is more forceful and even though he also tells Romeo to examine other women he is harsh. I think that by telling romeo to be rough with love he isn't being sensitive to the way Romeo feels about love. Romeo thinks that love is important and he puts a lot of emphasis on it and it seems to be his life. He is more forceful with his want of making Romeo forget about Rosaline.

In conclusion I think that Benvolio and Mercutio are the same because they want to get the same message across to Romeo but they are also different because they express their feelings for that in different ways. Benvolio the reasoning compassionate one and Mercutio the aggressive harsh one. In the end I think Benvolio would have a better chance of getting Romeo to change if he didn't do it on his own because he would want to listen to Benvolio more than Mercutio and I don't blame him because I would too.     

Romeo and Juliet

Dear Joe,

I just started reading Romeo and Juliet and it has been really interesting. Romeo ran into the woods when his cousin Benolvio started trying to spy on him. Also in the beginning a fight starts between the montague's and the Capulet's and the prince has to break it up. Many of the people in the story use puns to make sexual references when it can also mean something else.

Romeo is so sick because his love Rosaline doesn't love him back and he feels so sad that he went to hide in the woods and his cousin tries to tell him to get up and look at other women. Romeo feels like he only loves Rosaline and he will never forget her no matter how hard he tries. Benolvio tries to keep the peace and even in the beginning when the two sides were fightinng he tried to make peace and calm everyone down.

From your cousin,

Erik