Examine how the title Characters differ in the way they express their love

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Examine how the title Characters differ in the way they express their

Love in ‘Romeo and Juliet’

Romeo is an interesting character, the youngest child of two conflicting families, who has incidentally fallen in love with a woman who is unattainable. It is tragic tale of romance at first glance but after closer examination it would be more appropriate to describe Romeo’s feeling towards Rosaline as a ‘fashionable visage.’

        At that time it was seen that a man would be left heartbroken as an immediate effect of rejection from a woman they loved, this was so popular that it almost became an unofficial rite of passage between adolescence and adulthood. Romeo’s initial melancholic mood shows the shallowness of his performance, which is his love for Rosaline, especially to the audience who would be very much aware of the dramatic irony especially considering that the play is called ‘Romeo and Juliet.’ Romeo appears first in the play to be hypothetically trapped in a web of sullenness but surprisingly this expression of his brooding mentality occurs openly in a public place; which is contradictory to the purpose of a lugubrious state, grief is a way of expressing extreme sadness for someone and is intended to be done secretly or alone. When Romeo’s father sends Benvolio to console his younger cousin after his family discovers that he has been crestfallen for a while, it becomes apparent how contradictory Romeo sounds. Despite his extreme sadness he welcomes open conversation with his cousin Benvolio, which helps to expose Romeo’s facade to the cast as well to emphasise the asininity and childishness of his character.

        Benvolio attempts to awake Romeo from his depression by telling him, ‘examine other beauties,’ but Romeo feels almost surprised by his cousins lack of credulous; as he detects his cousin not believing him he feels the need to hyperbolise his situation. He begins to talk poetically, which subsequently gives the audience the impression this was pre-rehearsed and superficial, especially with his use of oxymorons such as ‘sick health’ and ‘cold fire.’ Romeo uses so many oxymorons in a small period which appears to be abstract and irrelevant to his situation, this also adds to the aura immaturity that Romeo gives off. Also it is not known whether Rosaline is aware of Romeo’s interest. It is obvious

Romeo is acting crudely to gain status amongst his kinsmen; if he was truly depressed he would not be so verbose when confronted by his cousin.

        Despite Romeo’s false advances and failed attempts at convincing his cousin when he uses oxymorons like ‘brawling love,’ and ‘loving hate;’ this suggests that he is rather emotional and considering the rift between the two families is entirely relevant this readiness to fall in love. This rigid mentality of how to fall in love is spurned by Juliet but indeed shows that Romeo may not be as shallow as first interpreted. Since Romeo uses an inundation of oxymorons and other effusive, elaborate imagery to hyperbolise his feelings it takes away from his seriousness. To Benvolio, it appears rather humorous which drives him to say, ‘I aimed so near, when I supposed u to love,’ this phrase is likely to be spoken sarcastically, that and the usage of the word supposed suggest that Benvolio does not believe Romeo’s act. Especially when you consider Romeo altering the words of Petrarch,  a famous romantic poet of the time, to make him able to talk in what was believed to be the way to talk when one was truly in love, to anyone listening to Romeo using Petrarch’s work as his own would be amused including both Benvolio and the audience.

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        The reaction of Romeo’s relatives and the audience is analogous to each other. Mercutio is not as subtle as Benvolio, instead he laughs directly at Romeo and says, ‘be rough with love,’ this crude attitude towards women is replicated across both families. Benvolio, views Romeo’s whimpering as pathetic, when he says, ‘dost thou not laugh, No coz id rather weep,’ he would say it in a sarcastic tone. Romeo himself is rather pompous and conversational considering his ‘griefs of mine own lie heavy in my breast,’ since he agrees to go to the party, it is obvious that his love ...

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