Parental love is also presented in the play. This type of love is shown to be caring and protective, just after the first confrontation in the play. Lady Montague, Romeo’s Mother, after hearing about the fight, asks “O where is Romeo?” and “Saw you him today?” and says that she was “right glad I am he was not at this fray.” These phrases give an indication that the love from a parent to their child is caring and protective, His father says that “Black and portentous must this humour prove,” showing that he too is worried about Romeo’s behaviour. Shakespeare also expresses the fact that parental love involves wanting the best for your children. Lord Capulet, Juliet’s father has arranged for her to marry Paris. Following the death of Tybalt, and Juliet’s grief at this, and her distress at Romeo’s exile, the parents move the wedding forward in the hope of cheering up Juliet. Her mother tells her that Paris is “gallant, young and noble,” showing how good their choice of husband is. The parents really do believe, in my opinion, that this is the best option for her and will make her happy, saying that the news is “joyful tidings.” Despite Juliet already being married, I believe that the parents had the best of intentions in wanting them to marry.
The relationship between Juliet and Nurse, although they are not related, is parental because of the fact that Nurse raised Juliet. The Nurse feels that Juliet is her daughter emotionally, after the death of her own, Susan. Her love is shown to be humorous and jovial, swell as caring. She teases Juliet when she returns from a meeting with Romeo. She delays what she has to say to her, for example, “ I am weary, give me leave a while” and “ Do you not see that I am out of breath.” She cares about Juliet greatly because of her being her surrogate daughter, due to her vividly recalling her time looking after Juliet when she was a baby.
Friendship is another type of love in the play. Romeo has two main friends, Benvolio and Mercutio. The former is Romeo’s cousin, whilst the latter is kinsman to the Prince. During the first scene, Romeo’s two friends are seen trying to cheer Romeo up by trying to make him stop thinking about Rosaline. They say that “you saw her fair, none else being by” and “she shall scant show well that now seems best.” This indicates that Shakespeare was trying to put across the point that friendship involves doing the best for people. He also shows friendship in a different light. When Tybalt murders Mercutio, Romeo is so enraged that he kills Tybalt. This shows that friendship is also so close that you would kill. “Away to heaven respective lenity” and “fire-eyed fury be my conduct now” illustrate this. Friendship is also shown to have a limit. When Mercutio is stabbed by Tybalt, and knows he will die, he says “A plague upon both your houses”. This illustrates that Mercutio has had enough of the hate between the two families.
The main romantic relationship in the play is that of Romeo and Juliet. When they first meet at the party, they both speak to each other using elaborate language with the common theme of religion, “If I profane with my unworthiest this holy shrine” is one of the phrases said. This romantic love between the couple appears to be true love, due to the lifting of Romeo’s spirits to a point where he is happy after meeting Juliet. Friar Lawrence’s reaction to this is “Benedictite! What early tongue so saluteth me?” and “Thy wit is a very bitter sweeting, it is a most sharp sauce.” These show that this love is different to that for Rosaline, indicating true love.
Two other romantic relationships in the play are that of Lord and Lady Capulet and Montague. The ladies, during the first fight, stop them from fighting, out of love for their husbands. To discourage them from fighting, they say things like “A crutch, a crutch! Why call you for a sword?” and “Thou shalt not stir one foot to seek a foe.”
In conclusion, Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet contain many different forms of love, and each is presented by the writer to give a different feeling for each.
