By Bartholomew Griffin. Published 1596
From the above comparison, it is shown how Shakespeare laughs at the so-called romantic love people emphasize on. People tend to think romantic love should involve beauty and perfection, which Shakespeare seems to find it ridiculous, and therefore wrote something completely different. Romantic love is often portrays in fairy tales, like Cinderella, Snow White and Sleeping Beauty. These stories have one thing in common: the characters are handsome people. This is also the case in Romeo and Juliet. Romeo refers to Juliet as the sun, “arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon”. He also said something about her cheeks just like the sonnet, “her beauty hangs upon the cheek of night”. In a flash, Romeo is in love with Juliet, because of her “true beauty”. Romeo sees Juliet just like how typical poems were portrayed in Elizabethan times. For this, the Friar condemns Romeo when Romeo told him about the news. “Young men’s love, then, lies not truly in their hearts, but in their eyes”. Shakespeare uses the Friar to give his opinion on people judging from people’s appearance.
“For doting, not loving, pupil mine” is what the Friar observes. Shakespeare is cynical towards romantic love, through the Friar’s mouth; he spells out his views on romantic love. In both the sonnet and Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare disagrees with the idea of loving someone for the beautiful face. In his opinion, it is not love, but “doting”. From this example, it is clearly shown that both in the sonnet and the play, Shakespeare is cynical towards romantic love, therefore, I do not agree with the statement.
Similar techniques are also used in the play and in this sonnet; both of them are rather comical and tease the worldly view of romantic love. The sonnet portrays a ugly lady who processes negatives things. It serves as a great contrast with the poems written at that time. It seems to be laughing out loud at other poems. In Romeo and Juliet, their death is not at all romantic, it is rather comical too. There are skeleton everywhere, Tybalt is rotting right next to Juliet, and the atmosphere is even spooky. Shakespeare makes it really hard for readers to connect romantic with dead bodies and serves his purpose of mocking these teenage lovers.
Similar ideas can be found in sonnet 137. Love blinds and fools, “that they behold, and see not what they see?” It also mentions that eyes are “corrupt by over-partial looks”. Shakespeare questions whether we should “put fair truth upon so foul a face”. Romantic love may not show the truth, only looking at the uttermost layer cannot lead us to the truth. There is a Chinese saying “don’t judge a person by his appearance”.
The next example is Sonnet 147; love is portrayed as fever in this sonnet. Romantic love is like fever in many ways- love makes you can’t think before you act; love makes you want to fall in love even though it’s painful; love is incurable; love makes you mad… Shakespeare may be in a woeful state himself, hurting because of love, but refusing to fall out of love. On the other hand, this sonnet may suggest how Shakespeare sees romantic love; it is like a fever that makes people mad and could not think critically. It makes lose their senses and do thing that is maybe against their own beliefs.
This sonnet is in many ways similar to Romeo and Juliet’s romantic love. It actually describes Romeo and Juliet’s situation. The two falls for each other the first time they set their eyes on each other. They hurry into marriage right after the day they meet. Romeo kills Tybalt and Juliet doesn’t even blame Romeo for it, instead they “comfort” each other by having sex. When Romeo is banished and Juliet is forced to re-marry Paris, the two kill themselves by mistake.
The whole play moves in haste, they meet, they fall in love, they marry, they have sex, and they die. There is not much thinking because it is moving too quickly. Just as the sonnet puts it, “desire is death”. Desire leads to death, like Romeo and Juliet, the desire to fall in love, the desire for each other, leads to their death. Their love is like a disease, it is a harmful thing that pushes their morals out of their mind. From the play, it is clearly seen that Romeo and Juliet are both religious. They marry in church and they both seek advice form the Friar. However, religious they are, they choose to kill themselves in the tomb without thinking. After saying 6 lines, Juliet kills herself, after discovery Romeo’s death. She doesn’t allow herself to think. Maybe if she did think, she wouldn’t choose to stab herself. Maybe if she thought twice, she wouldn’t even die for Romeo, a man she rarely knows and only known for a few days. However, the sonnet explain this, romantic love is just like a fever, it doesn’t let you choose what you do.
A scene worth noting is that when Romeo is banished and Juliet gets the news from the nurse, Juliet defends Romeo, “he was not born to shame” and “shall I speak ill of him that is my husband”. She even wishes her parents death instead of separation by the banishment. “Romeo is banished, to speak that word, is father, mother, Tybalt, Romeo, Juliet, all slain, all dead”. She is an angel to her parents in the beginning of the play. Her first lines are “what is your will, Madame?” such an obedient and well-mannered girl. After falling in love, she turned against her parents, disobeying them and even wishes them dead. Juliet in this sense is like the “dark lady” in the sonnet. “Who art as black as hell, as dark as night”. Similar ideas can be found in sonnet 142, “love is my sin”. Romantic love makes people turn away from cure, from religion and from ones very own parents. Of course, parents are not always right and the marriage between Paris is not lawful. However, throughout the play, we can see how Juliet changes, you may call it “growing up”, or it’s just one of the symptoms of falling into romantic love.
Similar ideas can be found in sonnet 138, the first two line, “When my love swears that she is made of truth, do believe her, though I know she lies.” This also shows how love can blind us from the truth. This is what people call romantic love: no matter what she says or do, I love her still. This is also the case of Romeo and Juliet; they love each other even though they are born enemies.
Some people may even think that romantic love means dying for the love one or dying for love’s sake. This is why they view Romeo and Juliet as a classic romantic play. Quite the opposite, Shakespeare clearly intended to destroy the dreams of many people. The couple’s death is scary more than touching: Romeo kills Paris in front of the “dead” Juliet. He also brings a sharp thing to break into the tomb, while Paris at least brings some flowers.
To conclude, Shakespeare had put much effort in putting his cynical view of romantic love forward. The play definitely concurs with the ideas from the sonnets. Although not every sonnet is about love, some of them are not written for that purpose. However, we can see from above that the play and the sonnets are equally cynical.
