There is only really one main example of this during the play, in act 1 scene 1. Romeo speaks in a melancholy way because he thinks he is in love with a Rosaline who does not love him. Because of this Romeo juggles with words and expresses how love is bewildering him, turning order into chaos. His artificial language suggests his love is false. The main way Shakespeare shows us this is by the extensive use of oxymorons in this scene. ‘Loving hate’ ‘bright smoke’ ‘sick health’ and ‘misshapen chaos well seeing forms’ show this. All these show to us the severe state of mind Romeo was in, and how love has cursed him.
This section when compared with the rest of the pay can maybe teach us that Shakespeare was implying hidden meanings. The play is focused on love, for instance in this scene Romeo is confused and overtaken by love. It is almost as if love is a curse; manipulating, depressing and bemusing. However upon instantly seeing Juliet Romeo is in love with her. This shows us that love is a very fragile object that can change sporadically. It also shows us that through love madness is juxtaposed to complete contempt.
Through the language we can also make many different interpretations. We as the audience find it hard to believe this love is true. Through the way Shakespeare presents this love we can only see it as false or unrequited love. For instance we never actually see Rosaline, we only see her discussed, this emphasises the fact that their love is at a distance and is not real. The extensive use of oxymoron’s and rhyming couplets suggests false love.
‘Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight!
For I ne’er saw true beauty till this night’
Although the rhyming couplet adds a sense of certainty Romeo is only going on looks not her as a person, this is the same for Rosaline.
The next type of love I will cover is Conventional. This love is where the man is very polite and courtly to the lady. He will ask her parents for her hand in marriage and will be very formal when showing love, a kiss on the cheek. This type of love is mainly shown between Paris and Juliet.
In Act 1 Scene 2 Paris asks Capulet if he can have Juliet’s hand in marriage; it is obvious to him that they are a perfect match, she is very high status. He is also high status as he is related to the prince and wealthy. Even though this seems as if Paris is a respectable man it underlies the fact that society was deeply patriarchal. The man asks the women’s father for her hand in marriage even though they have not met, and it is her father’s choice not hers. This also emphasizes the fact that women had very little power.
The audience might percept that this love is almost perfect, because it is very formal and the parents are very pleased. In Romeo ‘s love for Juliet, Juliet does not even tell her father about their love for each other because he would be so disgusted by it, however the Capulet’s are very fond of Paris, perhaps because of his links with the prince. Lady Capulet shows this when she praises him in an elaborate style in Act 1 Scene 3 she talks as if in a Sonnet, traditionally used for expression of love, ‘Verona’s summer hath not such a flower’ This shows she thinks he is a very attractive man. She also compares him to a book,
‘This precious book of love, this unbound lover,
To beautify him, only lacks a cover.
The fish lives in the sea ....the fair within to hide’
This extended metaphor shows lady Capulet see’s Paris as a man by the book, the perfect man. The last line of the quote could imply that just as fishes are at home in the sea, so are books in covers, thus handsome men deserve beautiful wives.
This type of love continues to portray Paris as the perfect man towards the end of the play. By the end of the book it seems as he genuinely does like Juliet and he goes to her grave to mourn her,
‘The obsequies that I for thee will keep
Nightly shall be to strew thy grave and weep’
This shows that he does care for her in the end of the play and this is reinforced when he fights Romeo to stop him from desecrating her tomb, when he is killed by Romeo his final request is that he be laid with Juliet, which shows he just longs to be with her ‘open the tomb, lay me with Juliet’
Throughout the expression of this type of conventional feelings it can be said that Paris is portrayed as the perfect man or he is ‘by the book’, therefore I believe that society believed that a conventionally love, approved by the parents was morally best.
Throughout the play there are many strong bonds between different family members. In this play one of the closest bonds is not between family but surrogate relationships.
The first relationship I will discuss is that between lady Capulet and Juliet, we are aware from an early stage that the relationship between them is not very strong. Juliet usually confides in the nurse rather than her and Lady Capulet understands this; this is shown when lady Capulet asks the nurse to be by her side when she talks to Juliet about Paris asking to marry her. This shows us that she understands and accepts that the nurse is a more motherly figure for Juliet.
However there is no dispute that for the most part Juliet is a very obedient daughter. Of course in the Elizabethan times this would have been expected. She always tells her parents she will do exactly what they want her to do. This is shown when she say’s
‘I’ll look to like if looking liking move
But no more deep will i endart mine eye
Than your consent gives leave to let it fly’
It is a very large shock to both her parents and the audience when Juliet refuses to marry Paris. This is clearly a very unnatural act in those times and this can be shown when lady Capulet practically disowns her.
‘Talk not to me for I’ll not speak a word.
Do as thou wilt, for I have done with thee.’
This in the time of the play would have shocked an audience because children were always expected to obey their elders. But although lady Capulet is very disgruntled with Juliet there is still evidence that she after all does care about her; this can be shown when lady Capulet hears that Juliet is dead;
‘O me o me! My child, my only life,
Revive, look up or I will die with thee’
The caesura after ‘o me’ emphasises her shock and distress.
There is a very interesting relationship between Capulet and Juliet; it is obvious to us that Capulet cares about Juliet and is very sympathetic of her. This is shown when he asks Paris to wait two years before marrying her and says that she has to agree to it. He also is very aware of what might happen if she gets married too early; this is shown when he and Paris converse,
Paris: younger than she are happy mother’s made
Capulet: and too soon marred are those early made
This shows to us that he is a good father and is looking out for his daughter and does not want her to make mistakes in life, showing us his care and love for her.
The fact that even though parents were in control yet he says he will only let Juliet get married if he has her consent shows that he trusts her and respects her, ‘my will to her consent is but a part’. However this changes when he thinks that marrying Paris will help her get over the death of Tybalt. He thinks he is acting in her best interests and so is very frustrated that she says no. This again would have shocked the audience because of Elizabethan traditions. He is also annoyed with her because he has already given his word to Paris and he would reap the benefits with Paris’s link to the prince.
His anger can be shown when he say’s ‘I’ll not be forsworn’, although we can understand his anger, there is a lot of dramatic irony in this passage. This is because we know why Juliet cannot marry Paris; she is already married.
Throughout the play we are given the impression that the only person Juliet feels truly comfortable with is the nurse. She treats her like a mother and vice versa. It was not unusual for a wealthy family to employ a wet nurse at that time. When Juliet was a baby the nurse breast fed her so it is clear there is a maternal bond there, this is also apparent when Juliet confides in the nurse rather than her mother; this shows that the nurse acts like a surrogate parent to her. This is backed up when Juliet talks to the nurse about the marriage with Romeo; we can note that Juliet feels completely comfortable with the nurse because it is a discussion that unlike most children, she knows she cannot talk to her mother about it; however the nurse is very understanding and helps her in the situation.
There is a very interesting relationship between Romeo and his parents; it is obvious that they are worried about him; this can be shown in Act 1 Scene 1 when lady Montague says ‘right glad I am here was not at this fray’ this shows she was worried that he was in the fight with the Capulets. Another example is when Montague says ‘but to himself so secret and so close.....could we learn from whence his sorrows grow’ this shows that Montague recognizes that Romeo is upset, and that he is keeping to himself.
We are aware that Romeo’s parents are upset by the fact he does not have a good relationship with them; this upsets them because after all they are his parents and they love him, this can be seen when we find out that Lady Montague died with grief when she found out Romeo had been banished.
Like with Juliet and the nurse, Romeo’s relationship with Friar Lawrence is like a father son relationship, friar Lawrence acts as Romeos surrogate father and like Juliet and the nurse, he finds it easy to confide in him, for instance Friar Lawrence knows about Rosaline and it is he who allows the marriage between Romeo and Juliet to take place.
It could be said that the fact both Romeo and Juliet do not treat their parents as proper parents explains why they fell in love with opposite sides of the two families. Neither of them feels comfortable with their own family and both confide in people from outside. This shows that maybe they were destined to love people from opposite sides.
The last family love I will talk about is between Lord and Lady Capulet. It can be seen that there is tension in this marriage; he has cheated on her before and she shows this when she say’s ‘you have been a mouse hunt in your time but i will watch u from such watching now’ He responds to this by calling her a ‘jealous hood’ this shows that there is a lack of fidelity and trust. We also never see them together happy which further proves this. it is clear that the age difference does not help, lady Capulet is in her late twenties whilst Capulet is in his early fifties; this age barrier adds extra tension.
It is clear to see that there is a lot of family instability in this play, Neither Juliet nor Romeo feels they can trust their parents and have to go to their surrogate parents for help and advice; there are also bad relationships between the parents. This shows us that although this play is about the brilliance of love there is a lot of underlying features showing how it can be a negative.
The strong bonds between the families can be best described as tribal love. The children are told how to think and how to behave, they are told to love their own, and not to associate with the opposite groups, just like with Montague’s and Capulet’s, this can be seen in modern times. Buddhists and Jews, and even though it was written in the 1500s people are killed because of their gangs. The parents controlled the kids, for example Capulet indoctrinated his kinsman to follow and adhere to their own prejudices.
Love for friends is a deep factor in this play; the friendship between Romeo, Benvolio and Mercutio has outcomes which severely affect the plot of the play. The three are very close to each other and this is emphasized by their playful language to each other. There is a lot of banter between them, mainly between Mercutio and Romeo, an example of this is when he teases Romeo about Rosaline, saying no other women can compare;
‘Laura to his lady was a kitchen wench...Dido a dowdy, Cleopatra a gipsy, Helen and hero hildings and harlots’
This just seems like friendly banter however there have been speculations that Mercutio was in fact in love with Romeo, which would explain why he teases Romeo about his women, possibly a sign of jealousy. However there is no question that Mercutio and Romeo love each other as friends. This can be seen in Act 3 Scene 1 in which Tybalt wishes to duel Romeo, however Romeo who has been matured by love possibly decides he does not want to. There is dramatic irony here because we know he does not want to fight because he is now related to tybalt.
However Mercutio fights in his place and is killed. Romeo then, overcomes by his anger, kills Tybalt. This shows that he is even prepared to kill his own family to save Mercutio. Even though Romeo realises he has done wrong, ‘o I am fortunes fool’ this scene still shows the loving bond between Romeo and Mercutio.
The main type of love and main focus of this play is romantic love. It sets the scene, makes the play what it is and is the reason Romeo and Juliet is possibly the most famous play ever to exist. The main romance in this play is directly featured between Romeo and Juliet; however there is some between him and Rosaline.
The night they first see each other at the party it is clear that Romeo is in love with her, even before they have properly met. He is shocked and stunned by her beauty. However there is the implication here that this love is not true because he felt the same about Rosaline.
‘O she doth teach the torches to burn bright!
He has not met her but he talks as if he is infatuated by her. Romeo talks about her in rhyming couplets, this emphasises his love and flowery talking about her. He is entranced by her;
‘As a rich jewel in an Ethipo’s ear’ this shows he compared her to a wealthy jewel, a precious item. It is also apparent that Romeo see’s her as a light in darkness; this further proves how she is almost like an angel to him and a source of life.
This can also be reinforced when they first meet. Romeo and Juliet talk in the form of a sonnet; this form is typically used as a love poem. In this sonnet Romeo continues to refer to religious imagery, for example ‘holy shrine, prayer’ this makes us believe their love is pure and innocent, that it is spiritual as well as physical and cancels out the possibility of it being similar to Rosaline’s. It also reinforces the idea that he believes she is almost angelic.
The fact that they are both distraught when they realise they are from opposite families further shows they are in love is clearly apparent. Romeo says ‘is she Capulet, O dear account! My life is my foe’s debt’ this shows that he cannot believe his one love is his one hate, this shows how love can be very confusing. When Juliet say’s ‘my grave is like to be my wedding bed’ this shows she pictures death as her bridegroom and underlies a lot of the opposites in this play, love and hate, love and loathed and early and late.
The balcony scene it was quite possibly the most famous in all of world drama and to some people it defines a good romance scene. In the first part romeo says ‘he jests at scars that never felt a wound’ this is a reference to Mercutio, just as someone who hasn’t been wounded can talk about scars as if they are nothing, Mercutio talks about how bad love is when he has never been in it. Although this shows bitterness towards Mercutio it also shows that he is adamant he is in love now. In this scene there are no flowery comments ‘it is my lady, o , it is my love!
O that she knew she were’
This direct speech with a broken rhythm shows his strong emotions and true love for her. Juliet is very direct in her speech and this shows how sincere she is and how true she is, emphasizing the purity of their love for each other.
Even though there love is very pure and believable many people are not so sure, friar Lawrence does not like how fast things are going and to an extent neither is Juliet. However Friar Lawrence agrees to marry them because he believes that it could break the feud. This could possibly show that friar Lawrence is very intelligent because although he knows there will be a bad outcome, in the long run it will be good.
It is important to note that their marriage is not shown, this is very important in itself because it shows that the most important thing to them and to this play is their love. we need only see the scenes of love and death because they show to us all we need to know about the care for each other.
In Juliet’s soliloquy in Act 3 scene 2 she not only shows her maturity but also that she has an unconditional love for Romeo; she looks forward to physical love and accepts is as part of the relationship. She also compares Romeo to a star in the night sky which reinstalls the light imagery used between them.
When Juliet finds out that Romeo has killed Tybalt it really proves to the audience that she is truly in love with him and has shown her maturity, ‘Shall i speak ill of him that is my husband?’ This shows that even though he has killed her cousin, she loves him too much to be angry at him. The use of oxymorons such as ‘fiend angelical’ emphasise the fact that she is confused in the situation and doesn’t know whether to see him in a good or bad way.
In act 3 scene 5 there are many implications of their unconditional love for one another. Romeo knows that if he stays he will die, ‘i must be gone and live, or stay and die’. He decides to stay which shows he would rather die than be parted with her. In this scene there is dramatic irony because we know she is upset because of Romeo’s departure but lady Capulet thinks it is because of the loss of tybalt.
It can be perceived that the love between Romeo and Juliet is a love of the heart, a passionate uncontrollable love, a love people will die for. However the love between parents and children is a love of the head. An enforced type of love with no choice, it is expected of children.
In Elizabethan times disobeying parents was a very rare and abnormal thing, by Juliet refusing to marry Paris; this would shock the audience and show that no-one else is as important to her as Romeo is. When the nurse, who acts as a mother to Juliet, tells her she should marry Paris we are further shocked by Juliet’s resilience when she tells the nurse to leave.
Another scene in which we see Juliet’s love for Romeo is Act 4 Scene 3, where she is prepared to kill herself rather than be with another man, ‘Romeo, Romeo, Romeo! Here’s drink-I drink to thee.’ By repeating the words Romeo we can see the last thing on her mind before she drinks the poison is Romeo.
In Act 5 Scene 3 Romeo goes to Juliet’s tomb, he says ‘A grave, O no, a lantern, and slaughtered youth’ this shows that even in death she is his light in darkness. He then shows that he cannot live without Juliet and kills himself. This is another example of when love is juxtaposed with hate.
In conclusion it is clear to see that Shakespeare has portrayed the different types of love in many ways and i have described the ways he has done so, this book shows that love and fate are closely linked, that love by itself is the most powerful emotion known to man, it can drive a person crazy, break a legendary family bond, and cause death. Shakespeare shows that love cannot exist without death, and love is such an extreme emotion that it causes many others with it; hate, fear, anger, euphoria. These are just a few examples
Shakespeare uses language in a number of ways to help emphasize these different loves, whether it is oxymorons such as ‘love hate,’ which show how love can cause utter confusion. To romantic in which love causes two people to kill themselves because they cannot bear to be apart and force a peace between two hostile groups. It is clear from the way that Shakespeare uses language that love is an emotion that cannot be controlled, tamed and even through all aspects of greatness, causes utter catastrophe!
Ashley Bryant
Word Count: 4583
