Perspectives

Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare can be put into perspective in different ways. On the following pages, we relate the play to its historical context, its literary period, and to similar texts as well as films.

Here you can read an extract from our study guide:

Austen’s 1813 novel Pride and Prejudice deals with the themes of love and the conflict between the individual and society. Here, society mainly equals family. The novel depicts Elizabeth Bennet and her four sisters who need to marry wealthy men to secure themselves and their parents financially.

In different ways, Elizabeth and her sisters Jane and Lydia decide to follow their hearts rather than their heads, which at times involves falling for someone unsuitable. This brings the lovers into conflict with the rules of society.

Characters such as the sisters’ mother, Mrs Bennet, or the strict Lady Catherine represent the established order and the expectations which parents have for their children. This mirrors the demands which Juliet’s parent figures make on her in Romeo and Juliet; her parents as well as Prince Escalus want her to marry Paris.

Unlike in the play, there are no deaths or tragic outcomes in Pride and Prejudice which ends in harmony. Some of the girls successfully manage to unite love and the expectations of society in their choice of a partner.