Throughout the whole of the play they remain loyal to one another. When Romeo has been banished he is determined to be with Juliet no matter what or he will kill himself. At first he wants to die but then he treats it as another obstacle they have to defeat.
Juliet doesn’t take the easy way out when her father is trying to force her to marry Paris. Lord Capulet shouts at her a threatens her "Hang thee, young baggage, disobedient wretch!" "And you be not, hang, beg, starve, die in the streets…" Juliet does not have any support from her Mother or the nurse she has to fight Lord Capulet alone. Even when they think he has gone too far and do try to stop him, they back down instantly. However Juliet's love for Romeo urges her not to back down, she stands up for herself against her father and argues back. " I will not marry yet, and when I do, I swear / it will be Romeo whom you know I hate, / Rather than Paris."
Romeo and Juliet are both willing to sacrifice their lives for each other. Moments before she heard of Romeo's banishment, Juliet was talking about how she couldn’t wait for her wedding night "Come, Night, come, Romeo, come, thou day in night…" When she hears about what really happened, she is devastated. Juliet realises that she may never see Romeo again, because he has been banished, she threatens to kill herself unless she can see him again "And death, not Romeo, take my maidenhead!" Romeo tries to kill himself when he hears how upset Juliet is about his banishment but is stopped by the nurse. It is very romantic because of how passionate Juliet is about seeing Romeo for their wedding night and then how she is so desperate to see Romeo even though he has been banished.
By the end they have both grown up tremendously and when they think each other is dead they both actually do kill themselves. Romeo is so determined to kill himself that he kills Paris in order to do this, he doesn’t really want to but this is the most important thing to him. There is no more threatening from Juliet this time, she doesn’t try to seek attention or make a long speech she immediately acts "Then I'll be brief. O happy dagger."
Fate is a very important aspect of this play, however it is against Romeo and Juliet being together. The whole way through the play fate does its best to stop Romeo and Juliet being happy but this does not stop them trying, they are so determined to be together. The first thing to do with fate is the fact that the families do not get on. Romeo's family and Juliet's family are in competition with each other to be the most popular family. It has been going on for generations and Romeo and Juliet have inherited this argument but don’t want to carry it on. They would rather change their names than be stuck in the battle "And ill no longer be a Capulet." Just one hour after they got married in secret Tybalt is killed which leads to Romeo's banishment. Romeo is not allowed back to Verona but he manages to sneak back a few times to see Juliet, it is very romantic the way that Romeo does his best to be with Juliet as much as possible.
Although there are ways in which it is romantic, it is understandable that some of the audience wouldn’t find it romantic. There are many other themes to the play as well as romance and it can distract us from the romantic theme.
Death is a very important theme in the play as almost all of the main characters die, and most importantly of all Romeo and Juliet themselves die. It is very overpowering and you could easily forget about all the love and the romance.
Another theme that distracts us for the romance is all the joking of Mercutio. Mercutio isn't very stable when it comes to women. He acts as though he knows everything and makes fun of anyone who has trouble with women for instance when Rosaline didn’t love Romeo. He is trying to cover up, he does this by always making jokes, especially sexual ones.
However I feel these themes are a contrast to the romantic theme, I can see how the death can distract us from the romance but the love is so strong. Also the joking lightens up the play from the death and the intense love it brings laughter into the play but it doesn’t take away the prospect of love. The joking is taken out of the play at an appropriate time because it would have been inappropriate to have joking in the death scene at the end.
I think the main evidence that this is an extremely romantic play is the loyalty they show for each other, the language they use about each other and the fact that they are willing to die for each other. Their language is so beautiful and vivid you can picture what they are saying.
Romeo and Juliet was written four hundred years ago and it is still a very well known play world wide, they are regarded as some of the most famous lovers of all time. The Baz Luhman film was released recently which was extremely successful. If you ask most people they will have heard the names Romeo and Juliet if not read the play. It is very well known and it has been around for a very long time.
Some people may not be able to look past the tragedy, but when you consider all of these things doesn’t their love for each other overrule every thing? Their love is genuine, they aren't trying to play a game or prove anything to anyone. It is pure and innocent, they just care about each other and I think that is what makes it so romantic.
