In ‘Romeo and Juliet’ we can see that Romeo has fallen into love with Juliet. This love is not the fashionable love that we saw with Rosaline, but true love. We know that this love for Juliet is also deeply spiritual because of the heavy emphasis on the fact that they were fated to be together.
At the very first time of meeting, it is evident that the love Romeo has for Juliet is true love, not superficial like the love he had for Rosaline. It is clear that Romeo believes that he can distinguish between the fashionable love for Rosaline, and the true love he has for Juliet; “Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight/ For I ne’er saw true beauty till this night.” Romeo is questioning himself because he cannot believe that he was in love with Rosaline. Also, this signifies romantic love because he is saying that Juliet is the most beautiful woman he has ever seen. We can see that when Romeo and Juliet first speak, they speak in sonnets full of religious imagery; “profane, “holy shrine”, pilgrims”, that shows the sincerity and purity of Romeo and Juliet’s love.
Romeo uses celestial and heavenly imagery when he is talking to Juliet; “O speak again bright angel”. Romeo refers to Juliet as being an angel, which shows that he is relating her to the heavens. Furthermore, Romeo’s use of religious imagery shows us that he is considering love in a more spiritual way, and moving away from the overdramatic descriptions of his love for Rosaline. Moreover, we can see another use of celestial imagery form the prologue; “A pair of star-crossed lovers”. This emphasises the fact that the two are fated to be together. This statement also gives the impression that the two were brought together by God. In Shakespeare’s time, everyone would have believed in astrology, and in the signs of the zodiac, which meant that the use of celestial and heavenly imagery would have been of great significance to the audience.
We learn that whenever there is a mention of body parts, it is always related to god; “My lips, two blushing pilgrims”. This further emphasises the fact that
Romeo uses heavenly imagery when talking to Juliet. Also, the very fact that Romeo describes his lips as, “pilgrims”, show that he has been on a long journey, and has finally found what he has been looking for, in the shape of his true and spiritual love that he has for Juliet.
Furthermore, we can see that Juliet stops Romeo from swearing his love by the moon; “O swear not by the moon, th’ inconstant moon”. Juliet does this because she knows that the moon is not there forever, it goes away in the day and comes at night. Therefore, Juliet does not want Romeo’s love to be half-hearted. However, soon after we see that when Romeo tries to swear by something else, Juliet interrupts him, “Well, do not swear”. This shows that Juliet stops Romeo from using elaborate language when talking to her and expressing his emotions. Juliet wants Romeo to be genuine, and to invest himself in a more spiritual concept of love.
In act 2, scene 2, we learn that Juliet introduces the idea of marriage to Romeo:
If that thy bent of love be honourable,
Thy purpose marriage
From this we learn that the two have fallen in love instantaneously and irretrievably. We can also see that Juliet has made practical arrangements for sending a messenger to Romeo the next day; “send me word tomorrow/ By one that I’ll procure to thee”. Both of them realise that their families have a major
grudge, but they know that they cannot do anything about it as they have fallen in love spiritually and they are helpless to change their feelings. This love is in a
small contrast to the love expressed by Juliet, which is practical love. This is because Romeo acts with his heart, which is in contrast to Juliet, who acts with her head.
Apart from displaying true love for Romeo, we can also see that Juliet has a very practical approach to love. We can see this because when Romeo talks to her, she asks him to speak normally, not with flowery language:
Do not swear at all;
Or, if thou wilt, swear by thy gracious self
From this we can learn that Juliet wants Romeo to stop talking in sonnets, and to stop using fancy language. This is another indication of her practical view of love as she does not want Romeo to hide his feelings behind a mask of elaborate words. Furthermore, we can see that Juliet has a practical side by the fact that she arranges a time for Romeo to send word if they are to be married; “send me word tomorrow/ By one that I’ll procure to come to thee”. This shows that Juliet views love with a lot of thought and thinks things through thoroughly to avoid complications. This is in contrast to Romeo, who just follows his heart without thinking about the consequences.
She also shows her practical side when she realises the dangers of their relationship; “If they do see thee, they will murder thee”. Juliet has realised the
dangers involved when the two are from different houses. She tries to warn Romeo that the relationship will not succeed. However, their love is so strong
that they are helpless to change it. Moreover, Juliet knows that it will be tough, because of the feud between the two families, and even suggests that Romeo changes his name; “Deny thy father and refuse thy name”, again showing Juliet’s practical side. This type love is extremely similar to the love expressed by the Friar as both Juliet and the Friar think before they act.
The Friar’s view of love is very similar to the type of love expressed by Juliet, which is Practical love. We can see this as he believes that by marrying Romeo and Juliet, it will bring the two feuding houses together; “For this alliance may so happy prove/ To turn your household’s rancour to pure love”. This shows the Friar thinks that it may be beneficial if he were to marry the two and shows his practical side. This emphasises the Friar’s Moderate view on love, which is that you should think before you act, and not to take things so quickly. Furthermore, the Friar gives some advice to Romeo just before he leaves; “Wisely and slow; they stumble that run fast”. We can see that the Friar cautions Romeo by saying that if you rush into the relationship, it will end in disaster. This is yet another example of the Friar’s moderate view of love.
We can also see that the Friar believes that Romeo is rushing into his relationship with Juliet; “Is Rosaline, that thou didst love so dear,/ So soon forsaken?” The Friar reminds Romeo that it was only yesterday that he was grieving over Rosaline:
Lo, here upon thy cheek the stain doth sit
Of an old tear that is not washed off yet
From this we learn, through the imagery used, that Romeo has been grieving over Rosaline so much that the Friar can still see a tear on his cheek. The imagery used here is effective because it shows Romeo’s love for Rosaline was so recent. This leads the Friar to question Romeo whether he has true love for Juliet. This is because the speed at which Romeo has transferred his love from Rosaline to Juliet creates concern for the Friar.
Another example of the Friar’s moderate love is in Act 2, scene 6; “Therefore love moderately: long love doth so”. This shows that the Friar thinks that Romeo and Juliet’s love is too passionate, and will therefore not last forever. We can see from the statement that he believes if you love moderately, then your love will last forever, or at least longer. This type of love expressed by the Friar is in sharp contrast to the type of love expressed by the Nurse and Mercutio, which is purely on physical appearance.
The Nurse believes that love is all about the physical aspects. We can see that the Nurse, whilst toying with Juliet, talks of Romeo’s physical attributes as though they are the most important factor in a relationship; “Though his face be/better than any man’s, yet his leg excels all men’s”. This shows that the Nurse sees Romeo as a sexual object because of his looks.
The Nurse also believes that it is a woman’s duty to serve men; “But you shall bear the burden soon at night”. This shows that the Nurse believes that it is a burden for women to have sex and shows that her view of love is only physical. The fact that the Nurse believes that love is only about sex, shows that true love,
which is the love expressed by Romeo and Juliet, does not exist in her view of love.
Another character that displays a bawdy view of love is Mercutio. We can see that Mercutio has a demeaning view of women; "A bawd, a bawd, a bawd! So ho!" Mercutio refers to the Nurse as a prostitute as soon as she is seen to be taking Romeo away. This shows that Mercutio thinks that any woman that is seen alone with a man must be a prostitute. A reason why Mercutio is like this could be because he is insecure. He has to treat love and sex in crude terms which suggests he does not have any love in his own life.
When Paris and Capulet have their discussion about the arranged marriage of Juliet to Paris, they discuss it in a very business like manner:
Monday! Ha ha! Well, Wednesday is too soon.
A Thursday let it be, a Thursday, tell her
From this we can see that Capulet is arranging the marriage as if it were a business meeting, showing they have a somewhat cold-hearted view of love. We can also see that Capulet also decides not to have a big reception at the wedding because of, “Tybalt being slain so late”. This shows that Capulet believes that
people may think that they did not care about Tybalt if they have a large party so soon to the death of Tybalt. However, this is ironic because he is only delaying the wedding by a couple of days which does not really make a difference. Also, the fact that he has set back the date, shows that he thinks he has power and control over everyone.
We can see from, “Thursday, tell her” that Capulet is speaking in the imperative and ordering Lady Capulet to go and tell Juliet that she is going to get married. This shows that he even feels that he has authority and control over his own wife, who is more or less equal to him in power. However, we see that Lady Capulet agrees with whatever Capulet says; “I will and know her mind early tomorrow”. This shows that Lady Capulet is both harsh and cold, as she does not recognise that her daughter may not want to get married, and it also shows that she does not want to get involved as she is obedient to her husband.
We can also see that Capulet exerts authority over his family:
Doth she not give us thanks?
Is she not proud? Doth she not count her blest?
From this we can not only see that Capulet feels that he has a great authority, but we can also see that he outraged by the fact someone would challenge him. Capulet displays extreme hostility, and is very ignorant to Juliet’s feelings. Capulet is displaying a very cold form of love that is in extreme contrast to the
type of love displayed by all of the other characters and shows that Capulet, in a sense does not really believe in love.
In conclusion, in ‘Romeo and Juliet’, throughout the play, there is a very powerful view of love. The view of the power of love is expressed in its strongest form at the very end of the play when the two main characters, Romeo and Juliet die for each other. This shows that not only that love surpasses death, but love overcomes death. Furthermore, probably the most significant quality that love does is the fact that it ends the ‘ancient’ rivalry between the two families, as they must join together because of the love of Romeo and Juliet. We can also see that all of the other types of love, bawdy love, moderate love etc. are in contrast to the main type of love that is true love.
