Grief of my son’s exile hath stopp’d her breath.’
The audience are first shown the interactions and behaviour of Juliet’s family towards her in Scene three Act 1 where Juliet seems to be quite open to her mothers suggestions and obedient towards her mothers wishes, showing that she is quite happy and content with her family, quote Lady Capulet,
‘Speak briefly, can you like of Paris’ love?’
Quote Juliet,
‘I’ll look to like, if looking liking move;
But no more deep will I endart mine eye
Than your consent gives strength to make it fly.’
Then, as Juliet’s love for Romeo grows stronger, the bond between her parents and herself seems to slowly deteriorate, as she knows for her to be with Romeo she will have to deceive her family and lie, therefore she becomes unwilling and disobedient to her parents wishes, displeasing her father and mother and also losing the trust of her one closest friend, the Nurse. By the end of the play she is feeling lonely and disowned and only when her parents realise what they have done, it is too late for them to change what has happened.
Another theme of love expressed through the play is sexual love. This is mainly shown during the balcony scene (Act 2 Scene 2) when Romeo is waiting for Juliet, quote Romeo,
‘See how she leans her cheek upon her hand!
O that I were a glove upon that hand,
That I might touch that cheek!’
This is showing that Romeo wants to be able to touch Juliet and be near her. Romeo also expresses his longing to be intimate and near to her when he says, quote Romeo,
‘O wilt thou leave me so unsatisfied?’
Juliet’s behaviour and reaction does not seem to show that she is in exactly the same state of mind as Romeo, even though she has just proposed marriage, quote Juliet,
‘What satisfaction canst thou have tonight?’
This shows that maybe Juliet doesn’t want to be as intimate, and isn’t as eager as Romeo is about getting close and she’s maybe feeling a bit insecure about her feelings and expressing them to Romeo so openly. Her commitments through marriage, though, mean she traditionally has to spend the night with Romeo, as it’s her wedding night. Although the audience don’t get any information on the wedding night, they can tell by the next morning that Romeo and Juliet are a lot closer, that their bond between each other has grown and their true love for each other is stronger.
True love is the main theme of love conveyed throughout the whole play, based around the main characters Romeo and Juliet. In the beginning of the play Romeo is madly in love with Rosaline, or so he thinks. He’s actually experiencing fanciful love with Rosaline or what we would call ‘lustful love’. Then when he first meets Juliet many would call it ‘love at first sight’ for Romeo, for as soon as he meets Juliet, he falls, truly, in love and sees a different prospectus of love. When they find out that they are actually enemies, they both despair, quote Romeo,
‘Is she a Capulet?
O dear account! my life is my foe’s debt.
Also when Juliet hears he is a Montague, quote Juliet,
‘My only love sprung from my only hate!’
This shows that their love for each other is true and that they truly love each other, and it is at this point that they start to realise they will have to lie to many people e.g. their families to be together. So truly in love they are, Juliet immediately proposes marriage in the Balcony scene, as she is positive Romeo is who she wants. She has pledged herself to Romeo, and in doing so, she has proved that her love for Romeo is indeed true love. Nearing the end of the play, when Romeo hears of the ‘death’ of his love Juliet, he breaks down, and would rather take his own life than live in a world without her. This shows the ways in which humans make sacrifices as their emotions overpower them and, in Romeos case, leading to things as severe as taking his own life. Juliet also when she wakes from her death sleep, has the same overpowering emotions and, in the same way as Romeo, led her to suicide. This all shows the strong effects emotions can have on people and it also shows that Romeo and Juliet’s emotions were indeed true ones and ones that, tragically, led them to extremity.
The final theme of love that this essay will examine is dutiful love. Dutiful love is shown in the play when Juliet is unwillingly betrothed to Paris. Her parents see Paris as a man of dignity and wealth, and see him as perfect for their daughter. In her marring Paris would also, to her parents, keep up the family name and their dignity as to having such a perfect family. This is not Juliet marring for love, but for economic reasons. She is faced to be the wife and mother to his children even though she does not love him. To defy her parents would be an outrage, but this is exactly what she does as she knows she loves Romeo too much to leave him. In doing so, she loses the love from her father and mother but also the trust of the Nurse, who sides with Juliet’s parents. To win her family back she does agree to marry Paris, but this is only to please her family and not to please herself. Of course, this marriage never happens as she dies before anything take place. Paris really did love Juliet as he displays at the end when he finds out Juliet has ‘died’, quote Paris,
‘Beguil’d, divorced, wronged, spited, slain!
Most detestable Death, by thee beguil’d,
By cruel, cruel thee quite overthrown!
O love! O life! not life, but love in death!’
This essay has described some of the different variations of love shown throughout the whole play of Romeo and Juliet, proving that there is a difference between the love’s that can be experienced and felt.