“Then moves not, while my prayers’ effect I take.”
These fourteen lines are in fact a sonnet.
The theme of Love is again being linked to religion, as immediately the couple want to make their vows and make their love official in the eyes of both God and the law, however there are doubts as to whether or not Romeo is truly in love with Juliet and in fact is simply in love with the idea of love itself. Before Romeo met Juliet he was infatuated with his passion for Rosaline; he worshipped her as a Goddess. Once Romeo met Juliet those feelings are quickly transferred. There doesn’t seem to be much difference between this love for Juliet and the emotions he pretended to feel for Rosaline, as again in this relationship with Juliet, Romeo worships Juliet as an angel, something that is universally held sacred and lovely, much like a goddess.
“O, speak again bright angel, for thou art as glorious to this night, being o’er my head as is a winged messenger of heaven.”
Shakespeare tries throughout the play to ruin the innocence of the love by his inclusion of violence. He uses violence as a diversion from the fate that is beheld for the lovers but also he does it as an incentive to show violent ends.
The violence is portrayed through the play as a form of overwhelming passion. This passion of love and the passion in the family’s hatred for each other closely link love and death together. A good example of this would be the death of couple themselves. The love between Romeo and Juliet is so intense, equally so to that of the family’s hatred for one another and their loyalties , that even life itself seems to bear no attraction without them being together. It is this passion that eventually kills the lovers.
These images of death recur throughout the play. This helps to link the theme of love with the extremes. The images of death portray the love and hate scenario which runs through the play. It is Romeo’s love for Juliet that prevents him to rise to Tybalts challenge and the same love that the other characters on the scene read as cowardliness. This theme of love and hate helps to show that nothing is black and white and that the love between Romeo and Juliet isn’t as pure and white as they both think.
“My only love sprung from my only hate!”
The idea of black and white links in with the theme of light and darkness, which runs alongside with the theme of love. Images of darkness in the play stand for death, violence, sadness and secrecy. At the start of the play Romeo seeks out darkness because he is sad and depressed. Later on he and Juliet welcome the night because then they can safely be alone in secret. At the end of the play the darkness of the tomb and the dark night outside emphasise the sadness and tragedy of the lover’s death. Images of light, whiteness and paleness often appear in connection with the ideas of love, life and hope. Romeo describes Juliet as being like the sun, brighter than the light of the stars. Similarly Juliet talks about Romeo’s love as pure. Even in the darkness of the tomb at the end of the play Romeo says the Juliet’s beauty makes the darkness light. This continueious use of opposites helps to create confusion and a sense of disorder in the play.
“O! She doth teach the torches to burn bright.
It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night
Like a rich jewel in a Ethiop’s ear;
Beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear.”
Romeo and Juliet’s attitudes towards love aren’t shared by all of the characters.
Mercutio and the nurse talk about love from a very physical, bawdy point of view. At the other extreme Lord and Lady Capulet see love merely as a financial transaction to do with securing and retaining wealth.
“No less, nay bigger women grow by men.”
“The slip sir, the slip, can you not conceive.”
The comedy used in the pay by both Mercutio and the nurse ruin the innocence of the love.
The theme of love is present throughout in this play and is constantly having obstacles thrown at it, almost as a way of testing it. Love is strongly used with the opposites. It is both destructive yet constructive, because despite that love is responsible for bringing Romeo and Juliet to their deaths it was also responsible for the reconciliation between the two feuding families. Romeo and Juliet stay true to their love throughout and they aim to be together at any cost, be that together on Earth or in heaven. Love is the dominant theme from start to finish despite Shakespeare’s inclusion of murder and violence. These factors only make the love stronger. The love portrayed in and between Romeo and Juliet is deep and passionate and is more powerful than hatred and even death.
