I also think Paris has a similar form of love for Juliet, it just seems as if he wants to marry her for her beauty and the plain fact he wants to have a successful marriage. When he says ‘thy face is mine, and thou hast slandered it’ he partly proves my point. By saying this it makes him sound very possessive and is talking about her as an object not a real person. He is basically saying he owns her face, which may come across as chauvinistic and slightly creepy. Also when he kisses her it is portrayed to be very formal and stiff whereas Romeo’s kisses are very passionate.
Another type of love shown is the love that is shared by many of the characters; it is a bond of friendship. Romeo and the friar share it as do the friendships between Romeo, Benvolio and Mercutio. Even though they joke around and insult each other they still care for and defend each other. Mercutio dies for Romeo by defending him; this proves the love and bond they share.
On the other hand, the two families are warring with each other and that is one of the main plots. If the hate between the families hadn't existed then the whole story wouldn't be as it is. Their families' conflict constantly threatens to turn Romeo and Juliet's love into hate. So, the hatred between their two families kind of pushed them towards their tragic deaths.
William Shakespeare wrote this play over 400 years ago, not knowing it would be famous and being studied by lots of people now. In most of the plays he has written, or most of the best known ones at least, contain love and hate. For example, Antony and Cleopatra includes strong themes of love as does Othello which also contains themes of hatred.
A lot of the things that happen in the play are set to happen in that time. However, people nowadays can also relate to the things too like forbidden love, families feuding and death. In fact I think a lot of people go through at least one of these things in their life or even all of them, and I think this contributes to how the play has managed to stay alive throughout the years and become so popular and well loved.
Romeo and Juliet are known to be two of the greatest lovers in history, however I think it was more about lust than actual true love. They would die for each other because they apparently couldn't bear to live without each other but was that done through their love or their family's hatred?
Juliet is a 13 year old girl and she comes from the Capulet family. She is portrayed to be innocent and shy, as it mentions many times she is not 14 yet. For example, in act 1 scene III when Lady Capulet is talking to Nurse before telling Juliet she is going to marry Paris. Nurse says ‘I'll lay fourteen of my teeth, and yet, to my teen be it spoken, I have but four, she is not fourteen. How long is it now to Lammas-tide?’ However, when she meets Romeo she proves she isn’t as innocent or shy after all and kisses him. Juliet is very independent and demonstrates this by proposing marriage to him. She matures throughout the play, going from being a naïve young girl that depends on her family a lot to a woman who is willing to desert them for her true love.
Romeo comes from the Montague family who are feuding with the Capulet family. He is sad, lonely and also lovesick as his crush, Rosaline does not love him back at the beginning of the play but when he meets Juliet he devotes himself to her. Despite the fact they are forbidden to be with each other. He is mature in some ways, like when Tybalt offers him a fight he tries to be the bigger person by refusing to fight him by saying ‘I do protest, I never injured thee, but love thee better than thou canst devise, till thou shalt know the reason of my love, and so, good Capulet, which name I tender, as dearly as my own, be satisfied.’
Even though it damages his reputation and makes him seem cowardly being declining Tybalt’s invitation to fight, he still refuses. However Romeo doesn’t listen to reason and says things as if he doesn’t care about the consequences.
The nurse is more like a mother to Juliet than her biological mother is to her. She defends Juliet in a few cases and some of them are huge risks but nevertheless she stands by her. She advises Juliet to marry Paris which makes it seem like she doesn’t understand Juliet’s love but maybe this is just so Juliet doesn’t get into trouble with her father, Lord Capulet. Sometimes she makes fun of Juliet and teases her but deep down she just wants what is best for Juliet.
Lord Capulet has a split personality I personally think because he is willing to fight Montague in the streets at the start of the play but when Lord Capulet is inviting Paris to the ball we see another side. He acts very humble and even stops Tybalt and Romeo fighting at the ball. However when he arranges for Juliet to marry Paris and she refuses to commit, he goes back to being aggressive and is furious.
Lady Capulet isn’t very motherly towards Juliet and has a more formal relationship with her. There is no trust and comfort between them. Juliet has been raised by her Nurse, who not only breastfed Juliet, but also was the one Juliet could confide in. The proof of this is evident when Juliet seeks out the Nurse for assistance and assurance in securing Romeo.
Romeo and Juliet are made for each other but they come from families who hate each other. Their hatred for each other is not private, even the townspeople are involved because the hatred between the two families breaks out into a public fight in the streets of Verona. The hatred destroys the peace of Verona and everyone was warned that the consequences of another public fight may be death. While all this is going on Romeo, ones of the Montague’s fall in love with Juliet, a Capulet. However Lord and Lady Capulet want Juliet to marry a wealthy young man named Paris, but because Juliet falls in love with Romeo and secretly marries him she refuses. After many fights, deaths and feuds the play ends in the two lovers Romeo and Juliet dying for each other.
I have come to the conclusion that the prevailing emotion in the play is love. Romeo and Juliet both die for love and because of the tragic deaths of members of both the Capulet and Montague family, both families end the feud.
For never was a story of more woe,
Than this of Juliet and her Romeo.