Throughout the play 'Romeo and Juliet', Shakespeare presents and contrasts love and hate in a number of different ways.

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How does Shakespeare present Love and Hate in Act 1 scene 1 and Act 1 scene 5?

Throughout the play ‘Romeo and Juliet’, Shakespeare presents and contrasts love and hate in a number of different ways. This begins in the Prologue with the two themes being strongly enthesised. We are told of the basic storyline between the lovers without being told any details, this was to attract the attention of Shakespeare’s audiences and also to keep the interest of al the social classes by telling them that some of the scenes will appeal to their interests. The Prologue is written in the form of a sonnet and also uses iambic pentameter, these structures imply the theme of love as traditionally sonnets are about love – this Prologue was influenced by the Italian poet Petrarch (who was popular within the Elizabethan courts). However the love is also juxtaposed against hate and with oxymoron’s such as ‘death marked love’, and ‘star-crossed lovers’, the two themes are fused together. The juxtaposing themes of the Prologue are continued in Act 1 scene 1.

        At the beginning of Act 1 scene 1 the only kind of love mentioned is of a physical and sexual kind and there is no romance. Hate is by far the most active theme. After the cheerful start an argument and a fight quickly follow between the two clashing families. The tone is a lot more serious and there is lots of tension amongst the chaos created by having so many characters in one scene. This solemn tone is created with the use of short, fast paced lines, negative phrases, ‘I will bite my thumb’, and ‘heartless hinds’, used to show the anger, bitterness and how serious the hate between the families is. The fast paced fight shows no sign of stopping until the Prince comes and threatens them with their lives if the fight in public again. Both the families respect and acknowledge what the Prince has to say; his use of language and the sudden use of iambic pentameter show his importance.

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        Once the Prince has slowed the pace of the scene the amount of tension doesn’t decrease, instead the mood changes from anger to being impatient and agitated. After line 105 in this scene the love is all very superficial – Romeo lives with his eyes and not his heart, compared to in Act 2 scene 6 when Romeo is talking to Friar Lawrence. His love is then from the heart; he speaks of Juliet as an intelligent person and an equal to him, as opposed to the way he sees Rosaline as a sexual object of beauty. The iambic pentameter ...

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