The various percertions of love in Romeo and Juliet.

William Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet. It was written in about 1595. William Shakespeare was baptized in Stratford-Upon-Avon, Warwickshire, on April 26, 1564. April 23, 1564 is the day that most believe to be his birthday, but there are no records that state what day he was born. His father, John Shakespeare, was a whittawer by profession and held several important town offices. His mother, Mary Arden, was from a fairly wealthy family. The Shakespeare’s had eight children, and William was their first son. Shakespeare did not have an extensive education. He attended Stratford grammar school, it’s not known how long Shakespeare attended, but it is assumed that this is the only education he received. On November 28, 1582 Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway, a farmer's daughter. Anne was twenty six years old when they married, and William was only eighteen. Anne and William's first daughter, Susanna, was baptized on May 26, 1582. A set of twins, Hamnet and Judith, were born two years later. In 1596 Hamnet died at the age of eleven. Between 1585 and 1592 no records of Shakespeare were found, and that period of his life is usually referred to as "The Lost Years". Some have speculated that he became a school teacher, became a butcher's apprentice, or was running from the law during this time. The first evidence of Shakespeare after 1592 was in London. Here he had established himself as a playwright and actor and had found a sponsor, Henry Wriothsley. However, Shakespeare's work in the theaters came to a halt in January of 1593 when the theaters closed because of the plague. The company that Shakespeare worked for was called "Lord Chamberlain's Men" and changed their name to "The King's Men" after King James I took over in 1603. Because Shakespeare worked and performed for them, this company became the biggest and most famous acting company. Shakespeare became very wealthy as a director, writer, actor, and stockholder in "The King's Men". In 1611 Shakespeare retired and left London. He made a will on March 25, 1616, and died on April 23, 1616. He was fifty two years old. The cause of Shakespeare's death is not known. Shakespeare also wrote his own epitaph because during his time, when the graveyard was full, people would dig up someone's corpse and burn it so that another could be buried in that person's place. This disgusted Shakespeare, and he didn't want this type of disrespect after his death. The age of Shakespeare was a great time in English history. The reign of Elizabeth (1558 - 1603) saw England emerge as the leading naval and commercial power of the Western world. Elizabeth I's England consolidated its position with the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588, and firmly established the Church of England (begun by her father, Henry VIII, after a dispute with the Pope). Sir Humphrey Gilbert and Sir Walter Raleigh sent colonists eastward in search of profit. In trade, might, and art, England established an envious preeminence. At this time, London was the heart of England, reflecting all the vibrant qualities of the Elizabethan Age. It was in this atmosphere that London became a leading center of culture as well as commerce. Its dramatists and poets were among the leading literary artists of the day this is the environment in which Shakespeare lived and wrote. London in the 16th century underwent a transformation. Its population grew 400% from 1500 to 1600, swelling to nearly two hundred thousand people in the city proper and outlying region by the time an immigrant from Stratford came to town. A rising merchant middle class was carving out a productive livelihood, and the economy was booming. In the 1580's, the writings of the University Wits (Marlowe, Greene, Lyly, Kyd, and Peele) defined the London theatre. Though grounded in medieval/Jacobean roots, these men produced new dramas and comedies using Marlowe's styling of blank verse. Shakespeare outdid them all; he combined the best traits of Elizabethan drama with classical sources, enriching the admixture with his imagination and wit. At this time people saw women how Sampson and Gregory did in the play, Women were viewed as the less important sex, they were owned by their father or husband as Juliet was. Also they were not seen as good rulers or as important people. This play is a tragedy with a great amount of love and passion but different characters have different perceptions of love. This is what will be analysed.

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There is an ancient feud between the Montague’s and Capulet’s when they meet in the street it breaks into a sword fight but it‘s broken up by the Prince who says he will kill the next person who starts a fight. Then Benvolio asks Romeo what is wrong and so Romeo tells Benvolio about Rosaline, this is what is making Romeo depressed. Romeo and Benvolio see the guest list to a Capulet party and see Rosaline's name on it. Benvolio suggests Romeo should go, they go to the party but Romeo forgets all about Rosaline as he meets Juliet and is now in love with her. But they find out that they are supposed to be enemies but Romeo has to leave before they can talk about it. Romeo stays after the party and sneaks into the Capulet's orchard, hoping to speak to Juliet; he sees her and listens to her. Then he speaks to her and prepossess, she accepts and they are to be married the next day. Friar Lawrence anxiously agrees to marry Romeo and Juliet, hoping that this will end the feud between the two families. Juliet sends her nurse to find Romeo, he tells the nurse to tell Juliet to meet her in Friar Lawrence's cell where they get married. Tybalt and Mercutio fight in the street, Tybalt kills him and then Romeo kills Tybalt. But Romeo is punished by being banished from Verona. Juliet is upset. Friar Lawrence gives Juliet a potion to put her in a coma for three days until Romeo can come because she is suppose to be marrying Paris. Juliet's family finds her and thinks she's dead, Romeo thinks she is dead as he doesn't know about the potion, so he buys poison and goes to Juliet’s tomb and drinks it. Just after he does, Juliet wakes up and stabs herself with Romeo’s dagger. Then the prince sums up what has happen and the families solve their differences. The main characters are Romeo Montague, a 15 year old boy, who is firstly in love with Rosaline but then falls in love with Juliet. Juliet Capulet, a girl whose age we do not know, she falls in love with Romeo. Friar Laurence is the priest who marries them and helps them throughout the play but lets them down in the end. Mercutio is a quick witted joker, who is one of Romeos best friend. Lastly there’s Juliet’s nurse who cares deeply for Juliet’s interest and in many ways is a surrogate mother to her but also lets them down in the end. There are many difficulties in there relationship the main one is that they can not tell there families about there undying love for one another as there is an ancient family feud between the Capulet’s and the Montague’s. There love does not manage to overcome the hatred surrounding them because if they want to be open about there relationship they have to kill themselves. This play may be said to represent true love because they are willing to die to be together. Romeo does change because at first he loves Rosaline but we all think that he just has a crush on her but when he falls in love with Juliet he talks about her seriously because he uses religious images to compare her and religion is a serious thing.

The first reference of love in this play is in the prologue. In act 1, scene 1, we meet Sampson and Gregory, who are both vulgar and crude. They show us this when Sampson said “ay the heads of maids, or there maidenheads”. This is a pun, which means this sentence has two meanings; they are that he is going to chop the Montague’s maid’s heads off, but what he means is that he’s going to rape them. This shows us that they view love as nothing, its all about sex and they think that they can have sex with anyone and everyone that is female. They perceive woman as nobody’s, they do not care about how the women feel or what they think. Also they believe men are the important sex and can control the women. As they are talking like this I feel that they have never experienced real love. However Romeo is a very different case as he does not even talk about having sex with Juliet, he talks about her as if she is the light that brightens up his day and he acts as if it’s a privilege to even touch her. Mercutio also uses bawdy humour when talking about love, as do Sampson and Gregory. He said” now will he sit under a medlar tree”, this is also a pun, it could mean to sit under a tree but he means that he is talking about a women’s sexual organs, he also said “an open-arse, thou a pop’rin pear!

Romeo’s parents are concerned about him in act 1, scene 1 because he is behaving in an unusual manner by locking himself in his room and not talking to anyone. Montague tells us this by saying “and private in his chamber pens himself, shuts up his windows, lock fair daylight out”. Romeo seems to be in an unfit metal state because all he is thinking about is Rosaline and why she does not love him as he thinks he loves her. When Romeo is talking about Rosaline, he uses this elaborate way of speaking, his emotions are ‘artificial’, not coming from the heart. He is behaving like a love sick puppy but I do not think he is actually in love with Rosaline he is just pining for her; he is infatuated because he can not have her and it is even more of a challenge. When Romeo meets Juliet, he changes because he talks about Juliet in a completely different way to how he talked about Rosaline, he talks about Juliet using religious imagery; he said “this holy shrine”. Romeo also compares Juliet to the light e.g. in act 1, scene 5, he said “o she doth teach the torches to burn bright!”, also “as a rich jewel in an ethiop’s ear”. Romeo’s feelings sound more genuine this time. He just wants to be with Juliet all the time, and he is continually comparing her to a saint and the light that can brighten up anything. The love between Romeo and Juliet is not like any other in this play because this is the love between two young people who have not been forced into it. Most of the love in this play is family, parental and friendship love. Romeo and Juliet flirt with each other using religious imagery. They use words like holy shrine, pilgrims, devotion, profane and faith. This shows us that they are serious about each other because religion is serious. In act 1, scene 5, Juliet said “ my only love sprung from my only hate!” by this she means because she loves Romeo but she is suppose to hate all Montague’s, they are suppose to be her enemies. There are two kinds of love in conflict here; they are family love and romantic love.

This play is also about parental and family love. The audience does not learn much about Romeo parents. Juliet’s parents fail her because they are willing to push her into marriage with someone who she does not love, and do not listen to her. In act 1, scene 3, lady Capulet talks to Juliet about marriage she introduces it bluntly, she said “marry, that marry is the very theme I came to talk of”, and then goes on to talk about her experience of marriage, she said “I was your mother much upon these years”. The mother-daughter relationship between lady Capulet and Juliet does not really exist. Her dad Capulet has her best interests at heart but will not listen to what she really wants and he tells her what to do. Juliet’s parents try to force her into a loveless marriage because they feel Paris can provide and look after their daughter. The nurse acts as a surrogate mother for Juliet, she helps her through it all because she listens to Juliet and gives her the support she needs. Friar Lawrence acts as a surrogate father for both Romeo and Juliet. They both want to bring the two lovers together because they think it will bring the two feuding families together and stop the fighting. They both fail the lovers towards the end because Friar Lawrence does not get the message to Romeo, in act 3, scene 5 and the nurse advises Juliet to marry Paris because he’s a nice gentleman. Juliet views love seriously, as the most important part in a relationship and nothing else matters.

This play is overflowing with love and passion. Paris is a young bachelor who arranges to marry Juliet with her father not her which was how it was done back then. Paris does not propose to Juliet he tells hers that they will be married. Paris said “happily met, my lady and my wife!” as they have never probably met before. Friar Lawrence and Paris arrange the wedding before Paris and Juliet have even probably met; also they arrange the wedding within a few minutes of speaking. Paris thinks that Juliet is upset because she is mourning for Tybalt whereas we, the audience know that she is upset due to Romeo being banished from Verona. Paris thinks that getting married will take Juliet’s mind off Tybalt’s death, so he thinks he is making her happy. Paris’s grief when Juliet dies is quite genuine showing that he does really love her. But his love for her is very different to Romeos love for her as he is just looking for a wife so he can have a family he can pick anyone, whereas Romeo loves her as soon as he sees her (love at first sight) and is not just marrying her because he wants a family.

Several characters are driven by great passion and love; there are Romeo, Juliet and Mercutio. As he demonstrates an extreme loyalty to Romeo by fighting Tybalt for him and due to this fight he dies. Mercutio laughs at Romeo and the idea of romantic love. In act 1, scene 4 his tongue runs away with him whilst he is making this long speech about Queen Mab, he said “that presses them and learns them first to bear, making them women of good carriage. This is she-”. Mercutio is a man who does not believe in true love, he gives all his love in friendship. He is a joker and uses puns to express himself e.g. “now will he sit under a medlar tree”. He’s also very passionate about his friendship to Romeo. Mercutio is quite similar to Tybalt, as Tybalt is also a passionate man. Tybalt is passionate about his family as he ends up dying also because of this feud between the families because he killed Mercutio, Romeo killed him.

When there is a scene between Romeo and Juliet, there is a very lovely, dovey, mood whereas in most of the other scenes there is violence, death and unhappiness. In act 2, scene 2 they both say how their love is more important than the ancient grudge between the two families. Romeo says how he will overcome anything to be with Juliet. He said “for stoney limits cannot hold love out” and “therefore thy kinsmen are no stop to me”. There love differs from all other forms of love demonstrated because most of it is family and friendship love, or its love which they have been married and had to learn to love one another, the love between Romeo and Juliet is true love (love at first sight).

At the end of the play, we see that Romeo and Juliet have matured a lot because they have realised as long as their families hate each other, they can not be together in Verona alive. They have been made to mature because of the amount of hatred around them that they have tried to overcome. I think that the love between Romeo and Juliet is true even though they are young they both make such big sacrifices for each other because they die for each other, also Romeo’s dying words are “thus with a kiss I die”. This means he is thinking about Juliet as he is dying not himself. There love stands out above all other forms and Shakespeare shows this to the audience because they make a sacrifice to each other, one does not just make a sacrifice to the other so this shows they love each other just as much as one another. Also this sacrifice is there life; this is the biggest thing they could give up for one another. Romeo and Juliet is such an immense tragedy because there are so many people that could have stop it from happening. Also the way the ending happens, Romeo is dying just as Juliet is waking up, you think if only she had woken up a few minutes early or if only this had happen or if only that had happen.

By Stacey Owen