Explore how Shakespeare presents the contrast between love and conflict in Romeo and Juliet. Remember to support your answer with relevant textual details.

Mark scheme

Marking points from the official mark scheme. The mark or mark type is shown in brackets.

1. AO1: Respond to texts critically and imaginatively; select and synthesise relevant textual detail to support exploration and analysis.
2. AO2: Analyse the language, form and structure of texts, and explain how these are used to create meanings and effects.
3. AO4: Demonstrate understanding of the significance and influence of the contexts in which texts were written and received.
4. AO5: Communicate clearly and cogently in writing, using appropriate vocabulary and grammar and accurate spelling and punctuation.
5. Indicative Content (Examiners should reward any valid interpretations):
6. - Candidates should explore how Shakespeare presents the contrast between love and conflict in Romeo and Juliet.
7. - Responses may include exploration of: The omnipresent feud between the Montagues and Capulets and its violent manifestations; The passionate love between Romeo and Juliet, which transcends the familial conflict; The ways in which love and conflict are intertwined (e.g. their meeting at a Capulet feast, their secret marriage, their deaths); The language of love (petrarchan sonnets, light/dark imagery) juxtaposed with the language of violence and hatred; The characters who embody love (Romeo, Juliet, Friar Laurence) versus those who embody conflict (Tybalt, Mercutio); The tragic irony that love leads to further conflict and ultimately death; The idea that only through tragedy can the ancient feud be resolved.
8. - Candidates should also consider Shakespeare’s techniques in presenting the contrast between love and conflict.
9. - For example, candidates may refer to: Language: oxymorons, paradoxes, juxtaposition of imagery (e.g. 'O brawling love, O loving hate'), sonnet form for love, aggressive insults for conflict; Structure: rapid shifts between scenes of love and violence, dramatic irony, parallel events (e.g. initial brawl vs. final deaths); Form: tragedy, use of chorus to foreshadow, dramatic foils; Context: Elizabethan concepts of courtly love vs. passionate love, dangers of civil strife, the role of fate, contrasting Elizabethan theatre elements (romance vs. tragedy).