Examine the themes of love and hate in Act 1, scene 5 of Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet"

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Examine the themes of love and hate in Act 1, scene 5 of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet”

William’s Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” is considered to be one of the most famous tragedies in English Literature. The storyline of “Romeo and Juliet” was based Arthur Brook’s poem “Romeus and Juliet” an adaptation of works from centuries before. In order to truly understand the play’s impact and meaning, it is important to consider that the play was written in Elizabethan England and for an Elizabethan audience. During the Elizabethan Era, the majority of the population had arranged marriages, so the story of “Romeo and Juliet” would have caused an emotional impact because the idea of a couple falling in love and hiding it from their families would cause interest. Love is a brutal, powerful emotion that has the ability and strength to capture individuals, similarly hate is also capable of blinding and overwhelming a person as powerfully as love can. These two extreme opposites are naturally the play’s most predominant themes. The two interwoven together had the effect of creating a dramatic and exciting atmosphere.

Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet are the protagonists of the play. Romeo is the heir of an aristocratic family; the play opens with him in despair because he realises that he has feelings for a woman who completely overlooks him. Romeo’s original intention of attending the Capulet’s ball was only to see Rosaline. But he forgets her entirely once he catches a glimpse of Juliet. “Did my heart love till now?” Romeo wondered if he had ever truly been in love before he laid his eyes on Juliet. This gives us the impression that Romeo is someone who falls in and out of love easily. As Romeo claimed that he was infatuated with Rosaline at the beginning of the play. “Bid a sick man in sadness makes his will? A word ill-urged to one that is so ill. In sadness, cousin, I do love a woman.” Shakespeare made use of repetition, simply by repeating words related to sickness in Romeo’s speech, “sick”, “ill-urged”, and “ill” to emphasis Romeo’s painful misery. Three words to do with sickness are used in two lines of his dialogue, the word “sadness” is also used twice in the three lines of his speech. This emphasises Romeo’s pain as a result of desiring Rosaline. If so, how can he forget her so easily? Once again, Shakespeare gives us every reason to question Romeo’s love for Rosaline and how genuine his love truly is.

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On the other hand, we must not forget that Romeo’s love for Rosaline was nothing but a painful experience. This can be seen through the oxymoron used in his speech. “O brawling love, O loving hate, O anything of nothing first create! O heavy lightness, serious vanity”.

This suggests to the audience that Romeo was puzzled and confused at that particular moment because he knew that his love for Rosaline was not returned. His misery was shown in the language he used to describe his deepest thoughts and feelings. The makes the audience believe that Romeo is truly in love ...

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