Love in Romeo and Juliet.
Shakespear's Romeo and Juliet is the most famous love story in English literature. The play focuses on romantic love, specifically the intense passion that springs up at first sight between Romeo and Juliet. In Romeo and Juliet, love is a violent, ecstatic, overpowering force that overcomes values, loyalties, and emotions.
Love between two people is often effected by outside issues such as violence, rules, parents, law and eventually death. I think that s why this play is so popular because the issues in it are still very relavent.
Is it possible to have love without hate? I don't think it is possible, after all think of that wise old saying: its thin line between love and hate. In this story whenever something loving or happy happens almost instantly something awful happens to balance it out. I also believe that to this day not much has changed and that no relationship in unaffected by outside issues and every relationship be with a lover or a friend is without its ups and downs. The love of Romeo and Juliet is threatened by a society full of hate. In this play love is never without its troubles and just when the young lovers think they're going to get a break something else catastrophic happens to shatter their dreams. Love in Romeo a Juliet is not seen as a precious little dainty thing, it is a huge overwhelming passion and can blind a person almost as powerfully and completely as hate can. But this extreme passion also shows itself to be a beautiful thing that few people would be able to resist.
The theme of love and hate is introduced before the play is even starts, in the prologue. The prologue sets out the whole story, in this quote, 'A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life' we get the idea of love vs. death. But Shakespeare also says 'life' I don't believe this is an accident I think its meant to show that they were so close that they had almost become the same person and were living the same life. 'From forth the fatal loins of these two foes' also tells us that death and the ancient grudge get in the way of love and happiness.
The opening scene is all about violence and it's all fuelled by the ancient grudge. Although the fight only turns into a brawl when Tybalt arrives. (Tybalt; a name which suggests the word tyrant, meaning a cruel and oppressive ruler who seizes absolute power without legal right) But we also see love in this scene as Romeo pines for his lost love Roselyne and between Romeo and his parents, as we see them concerned for his safety and well being. There is also family love as they two families stick together and defend each other without thinking about ...
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The opening scene is all about violence and it's all fuelled by the ancient grudge. Although the fight only turns into a brawl when Tybalt arrives. (Tybalt; a name which suggests the word tyrant, meaning a cruel and oppressive ruler who seizes absolute power without legal right) But we also see love in this scene as Romeo pines for his lost love Roselyne and between Romeo and his parents, as we see them concerned for his safety and well being. There is also family love as they two families stick together and defend each other without thinking about themselves. Over the years this scene has been staged in many ways for example in Baz Luhrmann's film it shot in a petrol station and there is a fire. Fire suggests emotions such as rage, passion and fear. In this scene Romeo uses a lot of oxymoron's to show the contradictions in this play and in love. In Act 1 Scene 1 between lines 167 - 72 he has all these oxymoron's: loving/hate, heavy/lightness, serious/vanity, misshapen chaos/well-seeming forms, feather/lead, bright/smoke, cold/fire, sick/health and still-waking/sleep. When she first meets Romeo Juliet comes across and beautiful teasing in control and in love! Whereas Romeo comes across as loving, cheeky, over emotional and desperate.
The next scene is where Romeo and Juliet first meet and set eyes on each other, it's almost cosmic they are instantly drawn to each other. When they meet there are two sonnets one after the other to emphasise the importance of this moment in the play; it also described in terms of religion. Love is described in many forms such as magic or by Juliet who refuses to describe her love for Romeo. The use of poetry in this play signifies high character status and shows them to be in tune with each other's emotions and thought process from the moment they met. But in this same scene we also see Tybalt's violent reaction when he discovers that the Montagues are at the party and he swears vengeance against the Montagues. When he bring this fact to the attention of Lord Capulet he is scolded for wanting to pick a fight and cause a scene. There is also a disaster for the young loves just minutes after they first meet, they discover that they are sworn enemies. Both characters are in complete dismay. Quotes such as 'My only love sprung from my only hate!' and 'That I must love a loathed enemy.' Show us how the characters react when they hear the news. In this scene lines 137 -140 contains examples of many oppositions, which run throughout the play: love/hate, early/late, unknown/known, and love/loathed. Closely following this is the famous balcony scene where Romeo uses hyperbole and very exaggerated language to express his love for Juliet, which makes him come across as very fickle in love and quite shallow. Whereas Juliet is very sensible, organised and mature, even though she is only thirteen.
Next is the wedding, this is the most obvious love scene in the play here Friar Lawrence marries the two of them in secret. We see Juliet talk here of her true love and how love doesn't need words as is so rich it cannot be measured. This is shown between lines 30-34 (Act 2 Scene 6). On the other hand Romeo gives ornate descriptions of his love for Juliet, such as 'To blazon it, then sweeten with thy breath'. This shows that Juliet is loving, kind, gentle, and cautious and that her love is true, whereas Romeo is fickle, eager and exaggerated. Religion plays a fair part in this play and Friar Lawrence is shown to be wise and trustworthy but should he have married Romeo and Juliet? We are meant to trust his decision, as he is noble and honest. I believe that his motivations for marring the two were that it might finally bring peace between the two feuding families. However I don't think he goes about doing this very well as it is rarely the case where lies and deceit correct the situation. He is also the most scheming character in this play as he secretly marries the young lovers; he also devises the plan for Romeo and Juliet to be reunited these two things serve and main mechanisms for the fatal tragedy of the play to occur.
The wedding is unfortunately closely followed by the death of Tybalt. This death also comes straight from love as Romeo goes to see him to resolve their differences and it turns into a brawl, where another innocent is killed: Mercutio. (A name suggesting mercurial: hot or quick tempered) Before Mercutio dies he says 'A plague a'both your houses!' this shows that he no longer wants anything to do with the feud and that it is pointless and has just wasted another young mans life. Just after Tybalt's death Romeo says 'O, I am fortune's fool' having realised what he's just done and what the consequences of his actions could be. As a result of Tybalts murder Romeo is banished from Verona, another event to get in the way of happiness for the lovers.
The next obstacle in the way of the two lovers is Juliet's arranged marriage to Paris. At first Lord Capulet was very protective of Juliet saying Paris must wait until she is older and that she is his one and only treasured daughter. Then he instructs Lady Capulet to break the news to Juliet, she absolutely refuses to marry Paris, Lord Capulet then comes into her chamber and mistake her tears for Romeo as tears of grief for Tybalt and he offers her fatherly support. Lord Capulet says 'My fingers itch' suggesting that h wants to hit her, a fathers love for his daughter instantly turning into burning hate. When she continues to argue with him he threatens to throw her out, she begs her mother for help and support but receives nothing showing the love less relationship between herself and her mother. So Juliet then turns to the one parental figure she truly loves; Nurse but when she urges her to marry Paris she feels utterly betrayed and so goes to seek the advise of Friar Lawrence.
My final point is the violent end to this play, but every cloud has a silver lining, due to the tragic event and that both the families are in the same boat having lost a member they have a opportunity to right all the wrongs and make a fresh start. In some ways their future ends so societies can begin.
So in conclusion I don't believe that you can have love without hate or hate without love, as they counter balance each other, so that you can really appreciate the good times.