There is an equal amount of love and hate in the play but in some scenes love or hate is felt by the audience to be stronger than the other. For example love is shown clearly in Act 2 Scene 2 when Romeo and Juliet declare their love for each other and a lot of romantic language is used by Romeo to describe his feelings and Juliet’s beauty; ‘With love’s light wings did I o’erperch these walls, for stony limits cannot hold love out.’ Hate is shown clearly in Act 3 Scene 1 where Romeo kills Tybalt as Tybalt kills Mercutio, and Romeo says: ‘And fire-eyed fury be my conduct now!’ This shows his anger and pure hatred for Tybalt at that moment because he kills his best friend.
The events that are fuelled by love or hate amount to the deaths of the two main characters; Romeo and Juliet, the only children of the heads of the two rival families, fall in love after sighting each other at the Capulet ball. However, it is only until after they fall in love that they realise who the other is. They both have different reactions to this, as Juliet is more practical but Romeo is more forward and impulsive. Juliet says ‘My only love sprung from my only hate! Too early seen unknown, and known too late!’ She knows that danger faces both of them and loves Romeo as much as he loves her. Romeo says: ‘Is she a Capulet? O dear account! my life is my foe’s debt’. This shows that he would give her his life because he is so in love with her and is a very hasty thing to declare.
Love and hate is also shown when Tybalt kills Mercutio in Act 3 Scene 1. Romeo refuses to fight Tybalt out of love for him because he is the cousin of his wife Juliet. Mercutio is angered by Romeo’s refusal to fight and challenges Tybalt, but obtains a mortal wound which soon kills him. Before he dies, Mercutio says ‘ A plague a’both your houses!’ and this shows that he is angry that his life is going to end because of a row that started so long ago and no-one can remember why. He is one of the only main characters that does not die for someone he loves. Although Romeo tells Tybalt of his love for him and says ‘Good Capulet, which name I tender as dearly as mine own’, he is distraught by the death of Mercutio and seeks revenge. Romeo’s feelings for Tybalt change extremely quickly from hate to love; Tybalt kills Mercutio out of hate for the Capulets and Romeo kills Tybalt out of love for Mercutio. Mercutio and Romeo are close friends and they have a love for each other that is stronger than that of Romeo and Benvolio, for example.
After learning that her cousin is dead and has been killed by her husband and the love of her life, Juliet is torn as to what to think. When Nurse first tells her that a death has occurred, Juliet believes it is Romeo. She then says she wants to be beside him in death and ‘O break, my heart’. This shows how much she loves him and would even die to be with him. However, Nurse then says that Tybalt is dead and Juliet says ‘Is Romeo slaughtered? and is Tybalt dead? My dearest cousin, and my dearer lord?’ Juliet is confused but remarks that Romeo is ‘dearer’ to her than Tybalt. Nurse then tells Juliet that Romeo is the one who killed Tybalt and Juliet is upset and angry all at once. She describes Romeo as ‘beautiful tyrant, fiend angelical!’ because although she does not want to believe that Romeo could kill her cousin, she still loves him. When Nurse says ‘Shame come to Romeo!’, Juliet is incensed that she could say such a thing. She says ‘Shall I speak ill of him that is my husband?’ and this shows that no matter what Romeo does that hurts her, she will always stand by him because of their love for each other.
Romeo is a very loving person because he falls in love twice in a very short space of time. When we meet Romeo he is pining over Rosaline; he believes he is in love with her but she cannot love him for she is going to become a nun. He says ‘Out of her favour where I am in love’ which conveys how strongly he thinks he feels about her. However when Romeo first sees Juliet he forgets all about Rosaline and falls in love with Juliet. ‘Did my heart love till now?’ He now knows what true love feels like. The audience sees how much Romeo loves Juliet when he risks his life to be with her and see her on her balcony. Juliet is rational and says ‘If they do see thee, they will murder thee’ and while she is being mature about the consequences if he is found, Romeo does not seem to care. He uses romantic language and compares her to objects such as the Sun, stars and the moon, which also conveys his love for Juliet as he did not use any of these comparisons for Rosaline. ‘Juliet is the sun’, ‘The brightness of her cheek would shame those stars.’
The Capulets and Montagues both love their children, but a more relaxed approach is taken towards Romeo as he is a man. The Capulets are very protective of Juliet because she is a young lady and they are protecting her reputation as well as their own; Juliet is closely guarded and chaperoned everywhere so that she does not sleep with anyone before marriage. An example of parental love is Juliet and Old Capulet. When Paris seeks Juliet’s hands in marriage Old Capulet says that he does not want to marry so young and wants her to have a choice, ‘My will to her consent is but a part’. He may be protective of her because she is his only child ‘Earth hath swallowed all my hopes but she; She’s the hopeful lady of my Earth.’ This may mean that Juliet is his only surviving child, and he does not want her to marry early because he thinks that young brides are ‘marred’. However, when Tybalt dies he realises that life is short and forces her to marry County Paris. He is only doing what he thinks is right for her because he loves her, but his anger at her when she tries to refuse to get married makes it seem that he hates her; ‘Hang thee, young baggage, disobedient wretch!... We have a curse in having her.’ He insults Juliet and is furious at her refusal to marry Paris.
Another form of parental love is Romeo and Lady Montague. Although the audience does not see them telling him what to do or making sure they know his every move (unlike Juliet and her parents), Romeo’s mother dies of grief when she finds out he had been exiled from Verona. This shows her love for him because she was so upset over his banishment that it killed her. ‘My wife is dead tonight; Grief of my son’s exile hath stopped her breath’.
Nurse and Friar Lawrence are also parental figures for the two young lovers; Nurse has looked after Juliet since she was young and the audience assumes that Friar Lawrence has known Romeo and advised him for a long while. Nurse talks about Juliet as a baby – ‘Thou wast the prettiest babe that e’er I nursed’, and Friar Lawrence knows what Romeo’s personality is like – ‘I thought thy disposition better tempered.’ Juliet trusts Nurse and Romeo trusts Friar Lawrence with their marriage arrangements and this trust shows the love between the lovers and their ‘surrogate’ parents.
Some people could argue that there is more hate than love in the play. The hatred that runs through the whole play is very strong between such characters as Capulet and Montague; when a brawl breaks out in the streets of Verona both of the heads of the houses want to fight each other – ‘Give me my long sword, ho!’ The hate that is felt stops two lovers from being together although their love is strong as they are scared of the danger that faces them if they try to be together. Hate causes for most of the main characters to be killed, for example Tybalt is killed due to Romeo’s momentary hate and anger for killing his close friend. Hate is shown throughout the play through the feuds and fights that occur between the Montagues and Capulets. For example at the beginning of the play, even the servants from the two houses hate each other: ‘Draw, if you be men.’ The hatred between the two families is also the reason that Romeo and Juliet cannot be together as they are frightened of the consequences if their parents or relatives find out they are in love. However, Friar Lawrence marries them as he believes it will reconcile the Capulets and Montagues and thinks that maybe they will learn to love each other. Paris also hates the Montagues which is shown when he attacks Romeo for thinking that he is at the tomb of the Capulets to scorn the family. ‘Stop thy unhallowed toil, vile Montague! Can vengeance be pursued farther than death?’
One of the main characters that demonstrates his loathing for the Montagues is Tybalt, nephew of Old Capulet. Tybalt is described as ‘Fiery Tybalt’ and hates all Montagues, especially Romeo. ‘Romeo, the love I bear thee can afford no better term than this: thou art a villain.’ At the Capulet ball Tybalt spots Romeo and wants to fight him, but only repeat orders from Capulet restrain him from going after Romeo. ‘It fits when such a villain is a guest: I’ll not endure him.’ This could be because of his love for his family and wanting to defend their honour; ‘Now by the stock and honour of my kin, to strike him dead I hold it not a sin.’ Even members of his own family know he is a very hateful person, and even Capulet calls him a ‘saucy boy’.
I agree with the statement: ‘Here’s much to do with hate but more with love’, because love is the main theme of the play and although hatred for others is shown to be very strong in some scenes, love is the focus point of the play. The play ends with love as a theme because Romeo and Juliet die for each other and the remaining parents of the two lovers decide to raise statues in the memory of their children. ‘I will raise her statue in pure gold’. This sad ending brings peace to Verona as the two families are reconciled in the loss of their children, and Prince says ‘A glooming peace this morning with it brings.’ The love that Romeo and Juliet shared prevents any further fighting between the houses, and love stops the hatred from continuing.
