The next scene has Capulet discussing his daughter, Juliet, with her proposed husband to be, Paris. In this scene Capulet expresses his fatherly love for Juliet; he call her the “hopeful lady of [his] earth”. This exemplifies his love for her in a parental manner. Capulet also says his daughter is “a stranger in the world”. This exposes his concern for the well being of Juliet. Later on in the play his attitude and love towards Juliet changes when she refuses to marry Paris. He calls Juliet a “disobedient wretch” and informs her that “you be mine, I’ll give you to my friend; And you be not, hang, beg, starve, die in the streets”. This quotation contradicts his concern for Juliet in previous scenes. These quotations show Capulet to have a split personality; he doesn’t know what to think of Juliet. This may be because he does not know her. The audiences’ response to Capulet at this point is they will not trust him or like him, as he is not showing his true self. The audience will not know which personality is his correct self.
Juliet's mother, Lady Capulet, does not know her daughter properly either. When she is in the room she tells the nurse to “give leave a while” then when she is alone with Juliet she realises she does not know Juliet and shouts for the nurse to “come back again”. This shows how parents at this time were not familiar with their children. If the audience explores Juliet's relationship with her nurse, they will see it is much stronger than that with her mother. Nurse calls Juliet the “prettiest babe that e’er [she] nursed”. This exemplifies the fact that nurse has raised Juliet from a baby and feels parental love towards Juliet as she is like her own child. A modern audience will react sympathetically towards Juliet knowing that she is not close to her parents. This is because in today’s society you normally raise your own children.
Another similar type of love that can be explored in ‘Romeo and Juliet’ is that between Friar Lawrence and Romeo. Their love for one another is almost like father and son. As Romeo is not close to his birth father he turns to Friar Lawrence for advice. When they speak they talk in rhyme together when Romeo tells him he has “been feasting with mine enemy, where on a sudden one hath wounded me”. This portrays the fact that Romeo feels like he can trust Friar Lawrence with his secrets. It also shows that they are so close they can talk in rhyme collectively.
Mercutio and Romeo love each other greatly on a friendship basis. This is best shown when Tybalt comes to fight Romeo. Romeo chooses not to fight Tybalt telling him the reason being he “loves thee better than thou canst devise”. This shows that by loving Juliet Romeo is accepting her family. This is dramatic irony, as only Romeo knows about the wedding. This angers Mercutio as Tybalt calls Romeo a “villain”. Romeo tries to protect his friend but Mercutio gets stabbed. This may not be showing love for Romeo, as often Mercutio is just angling for a fight. Benvolio wants to look after Mercutio knowing what he is like, he tells Mercutio they should leave or they may not “ scape a brawl”. This shows Benvolio is concerned and does not want Mercutio to get injured. Romeo shows his love for Mercutio by going after Tybalt ordering that either “thou or I, or both, must go with him”. This is showing that Romeo would die for Mercutio.
Throughout ‘Romeo and Juliet’ there is a very sexual view on love. This is shared mainly between the lower class servants but Mercutio is also quite crude. In the first scene two Capulet servants, Sampson and Gregory, are talking. Their conversation is extremely uncouth. They talk about sex in very aggressive, violent terms. They feel so much hatred towards the Montagues, they say they will “thrust [Montague’s] maids to the wall”. This means to rape the maids. This shows that they cannot feel love for even those who are acquaintances of the Montagues. From this quotation we can see the outrage that will be created by Romeo and Juliet's love for one another. In Act 2 Scene 1, Mercutio is talking to Benvolio about Romeo’s love for Rosaline, as he does not realise he is now in love with Juliet. Mercutio demonstrates a particularly vulgar approach to sex. He uses innuendo telling Benvolio that him discussing Rosaline sexually “cannot anger him”. It would just arouse him to hear him talking about Rosaline in this way. This is a different type of love to the rest that is in Shakespeare’s play.
Romeo and Juliet’s love is very much overindulgent and dreamy. Their love for one another is incredibly strong. They are also portrayed as “love-sick” teenagers, with adolescent passion for one another. Love is also often backed by the idea of someone left “wounded”. The love concerning them is so powerful that when Romeo discovers he s banished he says, “’banished’ is death mistermed”. This is showing that Romeo would rather die than be apart from Juliet. In their relationship they are equal and would both die for each other. When the lovers first meet at the Capulet’s party there speech is in the form of a sonnet. This shows that they are well matched, but it also shows that they are young as they are flirting with each other. They also refer to their religion, Roman Catholicism, a lot. Romeo refers to himself as a “pilgrim” and Juliet as a “saint”. Her Shakespeare uses religion to make their relationship seem sacred and holy. In fact it is just part of their culture and Shakespeare does not mention religion much elsewhere. We know that from the beginning of the couple’s love there is going to be disaster, Juliet knows her “only love sprung from [her] only hate”. Juliet uses extreme contrasts here; this shows us that this love is going to have a huge effect on everybody.
Shakespeare uses a great deal of different types of language to show the diverse types of love that are experienced in different relationships. Shakespeare uses oxymorons when his characters are in love. Romeo talks of “bright smoke” and “cold fire”. This could show the fact that he is confused by love and it makes him seem irrational. In Act 3 Scene 2 Juliet also uses oxymorons to describe Romeo: “beautiful tyrant” and “fiend angelical”. This is possibly for the same reason as Romeo; she is mystified by her love. The writer also uses a vast amount of poetry including sonnets. This is because sonnets are traditionally written about love. This gives ‘Romeo and Juliet’ the traditional atmosphere of a Shakespearean love story.
If we explore the different types of love in Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’ we can see that a catastrophe is going to be the outcome of all the love. In this play love destroys the lives of Romeo, Juliet, Mercutio and Tybalt; as a consequence of love they’re all now dead. In Verona the main emotion is the Capulets’ and Montagues’ hate towards each because of an “ancient grudge”. This is an exceedingly big contrast to the main love story line between the great enemies. In the end the ‘love’ eventually buries the hate.