How does Shakespeare present the themes of love and hate in his play Romeo and Juliet?

Authors Avatar

Annabel Walley 10S

How does Shakespeare present the themes of love and hate in his play Romeo and Juliet?

        In Romeo and Juliet there is an ancient feud between Romeo’s family, the Montagues and Juliet’s family, the Capulets. The play begins with a fight which is broken up by the Prince and he says that if they fight again they will be killed. Then Romeo carries on about how he loves Rosalyne and how he sad as she doesn’t love him. Juliet is told that Paris seeks her to marry and they go to the party that is for the Capulets. Romeo also goes to the party even though he’s not invited, sees Juliet and falls in love with her. Tybalt sees Romeo and wants to kill him but is prevented by Capulet. Romeo and Juliet meet and kiss and then Juliet finds out he is a Montague after he leaves. There’s the balcony scene where Romeo and Juliet speak of their love for each other and decide to get married. Romeo asks Friar Lawrence to marry them and he agrees. The Nurse goes to find Romeo to see if he will marry Juliet. She returns to Juliet and tells her to go to Friar Lawrence’s cell to be married. They are married. Tybalt wants to fight Romeo but Romeo will not fight him as they are now cousins. Tybalt doesn’t know this. Mercutio steps in and fights Tybalt instead. Romeo tries to stop the fight and Mercutio is killed under his arm. Romeo then kills Tybalt in revenge and is banished to Mantua. It is decided Juliet will marry Paris even though Juliet says she would rather my Romeo, who they know she hates, than marry Paris. Juliet goes to see the Friar and they concoct a plan. Juliet will take some sleeping drugs and they will pretend she is dead. Romeo will be told and will arrive as she awakes. She takes it and everyone thinks she’s dead. Balthasar tells Romeo and Romeo goes to an apothecary to get some drugs to kill himself with. Friar Lawrence finds that Friar John could not Friar Lawrence’s letter to Romeo because there was a plague in Mantua. Paris arrives at the graveyard and hides to watch for anyone as does his servant. Then Romeo and Balthasar arrive. Romeo tells Balthasar to leave but Balthasar is suspicious and hides to watch what happens. Paris sees Romeo and says he will kill him. The fight and Paris is killed. Romeo goes into the tomb and makes a speech about his sadness and love for Juliet. Then he drinks the poison and dies. The Friar comes in and Juliet awakes. She refuses to leave with the Friar and sends him away. She kills herself with Romeo’s dagger. Lady Montague has died of shock of her son’s exile. The Friar tells the two families and the Prince the truth of what happened. The families are united in their grief.

        Romeo is one of the characters in the play who represents mainly love. The first time we see him he is showing love. This comes after the battle that isn’t that much to do with the plot but is there to avoid a boring start. During this scene there is a conversation between three servants, Gregory, Sampson and Abraham about swearing “biting their thumbs,” then there is a fight. Then we see Romeo. Having this contrast between the scenes is juxtaposition. It intensifies the two emotions of love and hate because they are placed next to each other. When we first see him he speaks of his grief because things aren’t working out between him and Rosalyne. He doesn’t understand what’s going on and to show his confusion Shakespeare uses oxymorons. “O loving hate,.. O heavy lightness, serious vanity, misshapen chaos of well seeming forms, feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick health, still-waking sleep” This shows that Romeo doesn’t know how to react to the situation. Romeo then speaks of love. He describes it as, “A madness most discreet, a choking gall and a preserving sweet.” His view of love changes dramatically from his distress in his love for Rosalyne to his passionate and impulsive yet pure love for Juliet. He thinks he will never see a woman more beautiful than Rosalyne, “One fairer than my love?” Then he says love is “Too rude, too boisterous and it pricks like a thorn.” However, when he arrives at the party and sees Juliet he is reformed. He says “O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright! It seems she hangs upon the ear of night as a rich jewel in an Ethiop’s ear.” This is a simile used to help you imagine what Romeo is seeing and feeling. “A rich jewel in an Ethiop’s ear” is saying that she stands out beautifully from everyone else. In the same speech he cancels out everything he was saying about Rosalyne thus showing his impulsive most immature behavior. “Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight! For I ne’er saw true beauty till this night.” When Romeo first meets Juliet he is very clever with his words. He uses religious imagery basically to get her to kiss him and this conversation is a sonnet, spoken in rhyme. This shows their love even more because it makes their conversation flow and shows them to be in tune with each other. Romeo says that his hand is unworthy but if his hand dirties his hand he will get rid of it by kissing it with his pilgrim’s lips. Juliet says he is being unfair to his hand and that it is doing no wrong. She says “Saint’s have hands that pilgrims’ hands do touch, and palm to palm is holy palmers’ kiss.” Juliet’s view of love is entwined with religion and she compares Romeo’s actions to a Saint’s. It also shows her high opinion of love. Romeo says, “Let lips do what hands do!” Here, Romeo is saying why can people not pray with their lips? So Juliet allows him to kiss her. The kiss is talked of between them as a “sin” to match with the idea of praying and confession of their sins. Juliet has high rules set in her head about courtship which shows how strong her love must have been for her to break them. An Elizabethan audience watching this scene in Romeo and Juliet would have looked upon it as inappropriate and scandalous as they are alone, have not met before and Juliet does not have an escort. However, a modern day audience would look upon this as normal, perhaps even too slow with all the talking before they actually kiss.

Join now!

        When Romeo has left Juliet says to the Nurse, “Go ask his name. - If he be married, my grave is like to be my wedding bed.” This is dramatic irony. Shakespeare uses a prologue at the beginning of Romeo and Juliet that tells the audience that Romeo and Juliet will be lovers and that they will take their lives. “A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life” As Juliet says “My grave is like to be my wedding bed,” we, as the audience, know that that will, in effect, be the truth. Dramatic irony draws an audience in and ...

This is a preview of the whole essay