The prologue also talks about love, ‘a pair of star-crossed lovers,’ which hints, or suggests to us that there will be a strong ‘destiny’ throughout the play.
Love plays a pretty important role in Romeo and Juliet, and there are numerous forms of love shown throughout the play.
The first type of love shown in the play is rather crude in the way that it is directed at sex and outer appearances, ‘thrust his maids to the wall,’ this quote is suggesting rape towards the maids. ‘Thrust,’ which will not be at the maids own will, and into the wall, which could also mean the maids getting hurt. This is first shown in the conversation between Sampson and Gregory.
Another type of love shown in the play is unrequited love. This is the love Romeo has for Rosaline at the start of the play. Romeo has feelings for Rosaline, ‘and she’s fair, I love,’ but she does not have the same feelings for Romeo, ‘from loves weak childish bow she lives uncharmed.’ This quote is telling us that Rosaline is not in love with Romeo, ‘uncharmed,’ but at the same time, Romeo is not trying as hard as he maybe could to woo her. Describing his efforts as, ‘weak and childish,’ this obsession is the kind of thing expected from a young teenager. This could mean Romeo is very immature when it comes to love.
The next type of love is that of Juliet and Paris. This is an arranged marriage, which did not come through, decided by Juliet’s parents against her will, which is definitely not how Paris felt. ‘Younger than she are happy mothers made.’ This quote is telling us that Paris thinks Juliet is old enough to be getting married and shows he may also be wanting children, or, maybe just the sex. Saying that there are younger mothers that are happy means that he thinks she is the right age for him.
We know Juliet is not interested in Paris through quotes such as, ‘it is an honour that I dream not of.’ This is her response to her mother asking Juliet’s feelings on the proposed marriage.
Now, the main form of love, and the strongest in the play, the ‘true love between Romeo and Juliet.
The love between these two upon meeting was literally, love at first sight. This is easier to see in the film adaptation around the fish tank scene where they are constantly looking and making faces at each over whatever obstacles were in the way.
I would say that the love between these two characters changes them both. Romeo becomes a lot more outgoing towards his love and more eager to make a good impression, ‘my lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand to smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss.’ Here Romeo is showing great confidence as he is asking for a kiss upon their first meeting. Juliet says, ‘lips that they must use in prayer.’ This quote symbolises their lips meeting, as hands would during prayer. This is also showing Juliet’s new found confidence. Before this she didn’t dare voice her opinion about her and Paris’ arranged marriage. The quote, ‘it is an honour that I dream not of’, is the only time prior to this that she has voiced her opinion.
Her nerves towards her parents are more easily seen in the film as we can see her upset, yet angry face, which we cannot see in the book.
The fact that love can have such a strong influence on people’s actions makes me believe that it is the strongest of all the emotions, even more so than hate
The obvious main hatred in the play is between the two families: the Montagues; and the Capulets. In the book this hatred is shown throughout, starting in Act 1 with the fight between Tybalt and Abram, and Sampson and Gregory. ‘Draw, if you be men’, and, ‘I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee. Have at thee coward.’ Both the quotes are from different families which shows us that no single family cause all the trouble.
This is different in the film as the Capulets are the ones that begin to fight the seemingly more cowardly Montagues.
You could say that the families hatred is what kills Romeo and Juliet, but I believe love to be the bigger factor as both of them commit suicide thinking that the other one is dead. They must have loved each over an extreme amount to take there own lives at the thought of living without each over.
Although I have said this, love alone did not cause the deaths as hatred was what built up to that point, without the hatred, Romeo and Juliet could have married peacefully and gotten on with the rest of their lives. There was no reason for the families to hate each over, it was just because of a pointless, ‘ancient feud’.
