Is“Romeo & Juliet” a story about love or hate?

The first 200 words of this essay...

Is "Romeo & Juliet" a story about love or hate?

In order to form a view on whether or not Romeo and Juliet is a story about love or hate, I decided to examine the various aspects of love and hate within the play, and the way that Shakespeare has presented them to his readers.

The Chorus is the first part of the play found in the prologue, which is used to explain and comment on the action. I found that the chorus emphasised hate rather than love in this case with words of violence rather than peace throughout the passage,

"...From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,

Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean..."

The prologue is full of violent and negative language such as "ancient grudge", "civil blood", "fatal lions", "death- mark'd", and "rage" that gives Romeo and Juliet a hate theme before you even begin to read Act One Scene One. By this time, Shakespeare has already created an atmosphere of tension where it will only take one muttered gesture to provoke an outrage of violence. There are other ways of looking at they way Shakespeare uses his chorus