Explore the Ways Shakespeare and Dickens

Explore the ways Shakespeare and Dickens present human weakness in the texts you have studied.

In the play Romeo and Juliet Shakespeare presents human weakness through the characters. At the start of the play Shakespeare presents the theme of love, which is shown through the character Romeo. Romeo is portrayed as a confused boy yearning for Rosaline's love. His unrequited love clouds his mind and his judgment. However, later on, when Romeo becomes devoted to Juliet he becomes more of a man. This is shown through his wiliness to ignore Tybalt rude remarks. '... excuse the appertaining rage'.

At the beginning of act 1 Romeo also comes across as being melancholy; this emotion is presented through Shakespeare's use of oxymorons. 'Feather of lead, bright smoke'. This shows that love has taken control of his mind destroying all common sense within. Shakespeare shows the audience here that Romeo's love is full of confusion.

Shakespeare presents Romeo as an indecisive character. He swears his love for Rosaline and then Juliet in a short space of time therefore showing Romeo is a character whose weakness is beauty.

In act 1 scene 5 Shakespeare presents Romeo's love for Juliet in a religious way. 'This holy shine'. The conversation between these two characters is a collection of Christian metaphors written in the style of a sonnet. Furthermore the use of 'holy' shows that Romeo's and Juliet's love is pure and innocent.

Throughout the play the themes of love and hate are continually contrasted against each other. Shakespeare uses this technique as a way to send the audience on an emotional roller coaster. Through Tybalt we can see that Romeo's love for Juliet triggers Tybalt's weaknesses. This comes across; through the way Shakespeare uses Tybalt to portray feelings of hate, against Romeo's feelings of love.

Shakespeare also uses the language technique alliteration to present Tybalt's anger. 'Patience perforce' the sound of the word shows us how angry Tybalt is; It is like he is spitting out the words. This shows the audience that Tybalt is blinded by his love for hate. Also that he acts without thinking of the consequences, another of his weaknesses.

Tybalt is a very violent character, who has a passion for violence. He is also aggressive and hot tempted which, results in him acting before thinking. One of Tybalt's weaknesses. At the end of act 1, 'Fetch me my rapier.' Shakespeare shows that not thinking before you act can lead to bad consequences. Furthermore that violence leads to people getting hurt and death.

Tybalt comes across as a barrier between Romeo and Juliet. Shakespeare gives us this impression as every time they are together, Tybalt is also there. '... a villain is a guest.' Tybalt continually calls Romeo a villain, showing he is going to cause trouble. As a result it leads the audience to the inevitable ending, death. The word villain may also give the impression that Romeo is not trustful. As shown when he forgets Rosaline for a more beautiful girl, Juliet.

This is similar to Miss Havisham. As if she had not raised Estella, in such a way as she did, Estella would have been able to love Pip. In a way the weakness of both characters are enforced in some way by the contracting characters in the story. This is shown though the way Tybalt affects Romeo and Juliet's love.

Overall Tybalt's weaknesses are his in ability to think in a different way. He is a one-dimensional character that can only think of hate and nothing else. Similarly in the novel, Pip thinks of loving Estella and nothing else.

Dickens presents human weakness through a longer time period than Shakespeare. He shows how factors from one childhood can affect someone in the future. He also refers that if you can notice your weakness, you can be forgiven. 'I meant to save her from misery like my own.'

Dickens uses Pip to show love as a human weakness. 'You wait here. You boy'. Estella consistently treats him as a dog. For example; when she pushes him out the gate.