The next type of love is paternal love. This is Lord Capulets love for Juliet. Lord Capulet does not show much affection towards Juliet. For an aristocratic Elizabethan family this was not an unusual thing. Children were to be seen and not heard. The head of the family was the father-whatever he said had to be obeyed the term for this was patriarchy.
When County Paris first asks to court Juliet Lord Capulet tells him that he should wait two years: “She hath not seen the change of fourteen years, / let two more summers wither in their pride /…to be a bride” (Act 1 scene 2). Here Lord Capulet is being kind and generous for a father in Elizabethan times. It was common for a child to be married at ten and engaged at eight. Her own mother was married and had had a baby by fourteen. After Tybalt’s death Juliet cries for many days Her family think that she is crying for Tybalt although her real grief was the fact that Romeo had killed him. Lord Capulet then tries to help Juliet by arranging a quick marriage between her and Paris. Juliet refuses to marry Paris because she is already married. Lord Capulet thinks she is disobediant and is outraged: “Hang thee young baggage, a disobedient wretch, / I tell thee what, get thee to church a’ Thursday” (Act 3 scene 5) and “I’ll give you to my friend, / and you be not, hang, beg, starve, die in the streets” (Act 3 scene 5). Lord Capulet is saying that he will throw her out on the street, make her an outcast and will not give her any money. She will not be his daughter any longer if she does not marry Paris. Lord Capulet’s behaviour seems very harsh and cruel to modern audiences but to Shakespeare’s audience it would not be surprising.
This is similar to the Paston letters. This is a real life story about the Paston family who lived in 15th century Norfolk. Agnes Paston’s daughter refuses to marry the man her mother has chosen her. Elizabeth Clere, a relative describes the harsh punishment the mother gives the daughter: “She hath sin eastern the most part be beaten once in the / week’ or twice on o day, and her head broken in two or three places”. Perhaps surprisingly, Margaret Paston gave much the same treatment to her own daughter because she secretly married Richard Calle, a family servant. Margaret did not approve. Agnes Paston’s treatment of her own daughter mirrors Lord Capulet’s rejection of Juliet and Margarie Paston’s secret marriage is the same as Juliet’s secret marriage to Romeo.
Friar Laurence was the Catholic priest for both the Capulet’s and Montague families in Verona. It is already obvious that the Friar is already like a father to Romeo as he arranges the marriage between Romeo and Juliet in an idealistic hope of bringing the two families together: “For this alliance may so happy prove, / to turn your households rancour to pure love” (Act 2 scene 1).
He also tries to help Romeo to be moral and not go wrong spiritually because he is concerned that Romeo and Juliet: “Shall not stay alone, / Till holy church incorporate two in one” (Act 2 scene 6). After Romeo has killed Tybalt he seeks refuge in Friar Laurence’s cell, as he knows he is safe and he will not be betrayed and it’s Friar Laurence who brings the news that he is to be banished. The Friar tries to console him by saying banishment is better than the death penalty: “This is dear mercy and thou seize it not” (Act 3 scene 3). It’s friar Laurence who advises Romeo not to stab himself because he still has: “A pack of blessings light upon thy back” (Act 3 scene 1) but really he does not understand women because as he is a friar he should not have any experience of love and particularly physical love. The Friar has good intentions of helping them both but he is too trustworthy of the human nature. This is shown when Romeo does not receive his letter of explanation of how Juliet is locked in a tomb. Friar Laurence says: “The letter was nice not nice but full of charge, / of dear import, and neglecting it, / may do much danger” (Act 5 scene 2). At the end of the play it is Friar Laurence who explains exactly what happened to Romeo and Juliet to the Capulet’s and Montague’s and the prince of Verona. He tries to justify what he has done: “Miscarried by my old fault, / let my old life/ be sacrific’d some hour before this time, / unto the rigour of severest law.” (Act 5 scene 3). Even though his plans for them went horribly wrong he always wanted the best for them.
The relationship between Lady Capulet and Juliet is a very formal one. This is in keeping with the aristocratic society when mothers did not have much to do with their children’s upbringing. Juliet addresses her mother formally and is obedient to her. Juliet says to her: “Madam I am here what is your will?” (Act 1 scene 3). Keeping with the time the Capulet’s kept to the custom of hiring a ‘wet nurse’ to feed and look after Juliet when she was a baby. Lady Capulet was not even in Verona when Juliet was young. Their relationship is so distant they are extremely formal with one another: “Tell me daughter Juliet / how stands your disposition to be married?” (Act 1 scene 3). The only time she reveals her own true feelings is when she thinks Juliet is grieving for Tybalt by saying: “We will have vengeance for it, fear thou not” (Act 3 scene 5). She is so ruthless she says: “I’ll send to one in Mantua…shall give him such an unaccustom’d dram, / That he shall soon keep Tybalt company” (Act 3 scene 5) This could not only because of Juliet’s grief over the loss of Tybalt but his own grief as she possibly secretly loved him.
This sort of relationship would be normal to the Elizabethans. Considering Lady Capulet would only be about twenty eight a modern audience would expect her and Juliet to be like sisters. Lord Capulet sounds very old and so their was a great age difference between him and Lady Capulet. He appears to be unhappy about his marriage. When he talks to Paris he says that Brides who have children early are: “To soon marr’d” (Act 1 scene 3). He then goes on to say that only Juliet can bring him any pleasure: “The earth hath swallowed all my hopes but she” (Act 1 scene 3). What-ever the relationship between the two she always follows his will. Such as when Juliet refuses to marry Paris. Lady Capulet in keeping with her formal role is the one who breaks the news to Juliet that she is married. Lord Capulet says that he will throw her out if he does not and Lady Capulet goes along with it and when Juliet pleads for help over the matter Lady Capulet ignores her: “Talk not to me, for I’ll not speak a / word / , do as thou wilt, for I have done with thee” (Act 3 scene 5). This may seem cold and unfeeling to a modern day audience but Lady Capulet was living in a strict patriarchal – the man ruled the house and expected to be obeyed.
Whereas Lady Capulet is quite cold and formal, the Nurse is very warm and affectionate towards Juliet. Whenever Juliet needs help she turns to the Nurse.
Most aristocratic girls in Shakespeare’s time would have a Nurse to raise them from birth. In Shakespeare’s time there was a high rate of infant death. Wealthy women would hire bereaved mothers to breast - feed and raise their own babies. The nurse’s own daughter, Susan, died when she was very young. The Nurse seems to act like a surrogate mother to Juliet – she breast-fed her when a baby, and she brought Juliet up throughout her childhood.
The Nurse has very vivid memories of Juliet. She can remember Juliet trying to walk and banging her head: “She could have / run and waddled all about…a bump as big as a young cockerel’s / stone: a perilous knock, and it cried bitterly” (Act 1 scene 3). Later on in the play it is evident that the Nurse is always ready to support Juliet. In act 2 scene 4 the Nurse visits Romeo and tells him that he had not better not be toying with her affections: “If ye should lead her in fool’s paradise, as they say…it were an ill thing” (Act 2 scene 4). The nurse does this to protect Juliet. Once Romeo an Juliet and are married it is the Nurse who arranges secret meetings between the two by dropping a rope ladder down from Juliet’s window: “To fetch a ladder by the which your love / must climb a birds nest soon when it is dark” (Act 2 scene 5). This is a very brave thing for the Nurse to do. She is a slave of the Capulet’s and she would be sacked if she was caught helping this secret marriage. After Romeo has killed Tybalt and is hiding in Friar Laurence’s cell she again arranges secret meetings for the pair because Juliet is in such grief: “I’ll find Romeo / to comfort you, I wot well where he is…I’ll to him, he is hid at Laurence’s cell” (Act 3 scene 2). The Nurse again is being very brave because she is helping a fugitive (Romeo) and would be severely punished if she was caught. The terrible thing is that at the end of the play the Nurse lets Juliet down. The Nurse advises Juliet to forget about Romeo and marry Paris: “I think you are happy in this second match, / for it exels your first,…your first is dead, or twere as good he were” (Act 3 scene 5). This forces Juliet to drink the potion and hide in the tomb where things all go horribly wrong. Lady Capulet and the Nurse both show genuine grief and are both overcome when they see Juliet asleep or dead as they see it. Lady Capulet says: “O me O me, my child, my only life. / Revive, look up, or I will die with thee” (Act 4 scene 5). The Nurse says: “help, help, my lady’s dead. / O well – a day that ever I was born” (Act 4 scene 5). Lady Capulet and the Nurse both failed when Juliet needed them most.
The next type of love is love at first sight/spontaneous love. The idea that people met and fell immediately in love was a popular theme in Elizabethan love poetry.
It is at the capulet party in act 1 scene 5 that Romeo and Juliet meet for the first time. Romeo notices Juliet across the other side of the hall where she is dancing with someone else. He is immediately rooted to the spot because her beauty transfixes him. This is similar to the theme of love striking you in Bacchus and Ariadne. Romeo exclaims aloud to himself how beautiful she is: “As a rich jewel in Ethiop’s ear:/Beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear:” (Act 1 scene 5). Romeo also describes her beauty by using metaphors. He describes her as jewels or being like a dove: “So shows a snowy dove” (Act 1 scene 5). Romeo says: “And touching hers, make blessed my rude hand” (Act 1 scene 5). Romeo uses the word ‘blessed’. This makes her sound holy and saintly as if she were holy. After Juliet has stopped dancing with her partner Romeo crosses the room to speak to her. With all the people dancing around them and the loud music playing they still manage to have an intimate conversation and Romeo eventually kisses her. The conversation is very sexual and they talk about touching and kissing. Romeo says: “My lips two plushing pilgrims ready stand, / To smooth the rough touch with a gentle kiss” (Act 1 scene 5). Romeo and Juliet seem to be overwhelmed by each other; there seems to be instant, intense passion between them. Romeo again picks up the fact that Juliet is holy and like a saint: “Have not saints lips and holy palmers too?” (Act 1 scene 5). Juliet then carries on to say: “Ay pilgrim, lips that they must use in prayer” (Act 1 scene 5). If an image is mentioned and then developed in a piece of literature it is called a motif. The saints and the pilgrims are the topics being developed. Romeo reaches out to touch Juliet’s hand and describes himself as a sinner: “If I profane with my unworthiest hand, / This holy shrine, the gentle sin is this” (Act 1 scene 5). This makes Juliet sound like she has the power to cleanse and bless him through the power of touch. In the middle ages, people believed the king’s touch could cure evil and that touching saints hands would cure illnesses. Romeo then uses another metaphor to describe Juliet: “This holy shrine” (Act 1 scene 5). Juliet’s immediate response in this conversation is for her to try and keep him at a distance. The situation is obviously overwhelming for her. She picks up the religious language used by Romeo to reply to him: “Saints do not move, though grant for prayers’ sake” (Act 1 scene 5). Although it is evident that Romeo has got perfect manners and she likes what is being said he should go to church properly: “Good pilgrim you do wrong your hand too much / which mannerly devotion shows in this” (Act 1 scene 5). Romeo then brings it back to the physical by saying that he is ready to kiss. She again tells him he should use his lips to say prayers: “Lips that they must use in prayer” (Act 1 scene 5). Romeo again tells her that he is ready to kiss. She again tells him that he should use his lips to for prayers. Romeo then says that he will say a prayer and that if it is not granted he will be in despair: “They pray, grant thou; lest faith him to despair” (Act 1 scene 5). Juliet replies that saints do not move but reply to prayers. She says that she is a human and does not move about. Romeo says do not move about stand very still while I kiss you: “Then move not while my prayers effect I take, / thus from my lips” (Act 1 scene 5). He then says: “My sin is purg’d” (Act 1 scene 5). Juliet then states that by kissing her he has passed a sin from his lips to her lips: “Then have my lips the sin that they have took” (Act 1 scene 5). Romeo replies that he would have his sin back and kisses her again: “Give me my sin again” (Act 1 scene 5). To bring the speech to a close Juliet says: “you kiss by th’ book” Act 1 scene 5). The speech draws on a religious background that the audience would be very familiar with. People from this age would be very used to going to a shrine or kissing a saint to ask for forgiveness.
The speech between Romeo and Juliet was fourteen lines of poetry. This is called a sonnet – a love sonnet. In Shakespeare’s society a poet’s role was very important. A poet entertained as only a small proportion of the public could read and poets could make good money from adding music and performing the poems as songs. In 1304 – 1374 a poet called Petrach wrote a series of love poems in the fourteen line style to a lady he loved called Laura. Other Italian poets caught on to this idea and they began to write their own sonnets. Poets would experiment with the different rhyme schemes but always stayed within the fourteen line boundary. Eventually English writers used this pattern. It also became very popular for the poet to write a book of sonnets to the lady he loved. A famous English sonneteer was a man called Sir Thomas Wyatt (1503 – 42). He wrote a number of sonnets to Anne Boleyn, which was a dangerous thing to do, as Henry V11 was attracted to her at the time. Another famous sonneteer was Henry Howard, the Earl of Surrey (1517-47). He wrote slightly before Shakespeare’s lifetime. The most famous contempary sonneteer was Sir Phillip Sydney. He published a collection of sonnets in 1551 called ‘Astrophil and Stella’. The sonnets represented his love for a lady. Shakespeare’s own collection of one hundred and fifty four sonnets was published in 1609. Shakespeare used sonnets within his plays as here in Romeo and Juliet and they were a ‘crowd pleaser’ as they were a particularly popular form of poetry.
Everlasting and true love is the main theme in the play. Everyone associates romantic love with Romeo and Juliet.
As soon as Romeo sees Juliet across the hall when they first meet in Act 1 scene 5 he knows he loves her. He realizes his previous infatuation with Rosaline was nothing compared to this: “Did my heart love till now, forswear it sight / For I ne’er saw true beauty till this night” (Act 1 scene 5). We know this is the same for Juliet because she says: “go ask his name, if he be married, / My grave is like to be my wedding bed” (Act 1 scene 5). She is acknowledging that he will be the only person she loves.
After they have parted Romeo hides out in the orchard of the Capulet’s to speak again to Juliet. Juliet comes out on to the balcony and Romeo quietly describes her beauty, which is so dazzling he describes her as: “The sun” (Act 2 Scene 1). He describes her eyes as being: “Two of the fairest stars in the heaven, / Having some business do intreat her eyes” (Act 2 scene 1). Romeo says that her cheeks are so bright they are daylight and her hand was resting on her cheek so he wishes he was a glove so he could touch her cheek: “Her cheek would shame those stars / As daylight doth a lamp…O that I were a glove upon her hand, / That I might touch that cheek”(Act 2 scene2). This is quite passionate and erotic. He describes her eyes, cheeks and then her hand going downwards it leaves audience wondering what he will describe next. This is popular in poetry and is called a blazon. A poet takes his mistresses physical features one by one and compares their beauty to nature – a popular form the audience would enjoy. The pair use bird images to describe each other. Romeo calls Juliet a Niesse. A Niesse is a young Hawk, which has not left the nest. Juliet continues the theme of bird imagery in Act 3 scene 2 when she speaks of Romeo as lying: “Whiter than new snow on a raven’s back” (Act 3 scene 2). Juliet uses flower imagery to describe his beauty: “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose, / By any other name would smell as sweet” (Act 2 scene 2). This is another form of flirtation. At the end of this scene, when they have only just met Juliet is talking of marriage: “If that thy bent of love be honourable, / Thy purpose marriage, send me word to-morrow” (Act 2 scene 2). In Act 3 scene 5 Romeo and Juliet have just spent their first night together and now Romeo is leaving. Juliet tries to persuade Romeo not to leave: “It was the nightingale, and not the Lark” (Act 3 scene 5). Although Romeo disagrees he eventually gives in to her: “I am content, so thou wilt have it so” (Act 3 scene 5) and then Juliet becomes panic-stricken and says: “It is the Lark that sings so out of tune” (Act 3 scene 5). Although there love has happened so fast they are already thinking of a future full of problems. Romeo says: “And trust me love, in my eye so do you: / dry sorrow drinks our blood” (Act 3 scene 5). In fact this is the last time they see each other alive. Juliet so desperately says: “O think’st thou we shall ever meet again?” (Act 3 scene 5).
It is apparent that Juliet will do anything for Romeo. She drinks the potion from Friar Laurence knowing it will make her appear dead. She conjures up thoughts of what might happen to her when she is locked in the family vault: “The horrible conceit of death and night, / together with the terror of the place” (Act 4 scene 4). When Romeo sees Juliet lying in the tomb and thinks she’s dead he shows the extent of his love by realizing he cannot live without her and kills himself. Juliet then wakes sees Romeo dead and kills herself. She dies kissing him. In the last scene the Montague family decide they will put up a statue of Juliet as a symbol of her everlasting love: “That while Verona by that name is known, / There shall be no figure at such rate be set / As that of true and faithful Juliet” (Act 5 scene 3).
Another type of love is secret or forbidden love. This is the love between Romeo and Juliet. The couples love is forbidden because they are both from different families who have been feuding for generations – Romeo from the Montague family and Juliet from the Capulet’s. In the prologue it says: “Two households both alike in dignity, / from ancient grudge, break to new mutiny”.
Romeo and Juliet have to take various steps to keep their love a secret. Firstly, they have to enlist Friar Laurence and the Nurse to help them with their love. Friar Laurence agrees to marry the pair as he thinks it is more moral for them to be married than just be lovers and he thinks it will bring the two families together: “In one respect I’ll thy assistant be: / For this alliance may so happy prove, / to turn your households rancour to pure love” (Act 2 scene 3). The nurse carries messages from Juliet to Romeo and to Friar Lawrence and makes sure that Romeo and Juliet are together on their wedding night: “I am the drudge, and toil in your delight, / But you shall bear the burthen soon at night” (Act 2 scene 6).
If Romeo and Juliet had not kept their love a secret things would have been a lot better. If Juliet had told her Father that she could not marry Paris because she was already married Juliet’s life would have been saved.
The younger family members like Tybalt and Mercutio continued the feud between the two families rather than the older members, as it was a chance to show how strong and brave they were. When Tybalt spots Romeo at the Capulet party Lord Capulet tells him to not worry about it: “Content thee gentle coz, let him alone” (Act 1 scene 5)
Another type of love is physical love / lust / sexual love. It is Juliet who first talks about this when she is waiting for Romeo to come to her on their wedding night. During the day they were secretly married by Friar Laurence in his cell. They then parted and Juliet is unaware that Romeo has killed Tybalt and he has been banished from Verona. In lines one to three Juliet refers to the Greek sun god Phoebus. She uses the imagery of Phaeton the: “waggoner” (Act 3 scene 2) who drives the sun gods chariot across the sky to bring the night. Juliet is telling him to hurry up and bring nighttime so she can meet with Romeo: “Spread thy close curtain, love – performing night (Act 3 scene 2). This has a double meaning (Pun) of the clouds hiding the sun and the curtains around the bed giving privacy to the two lovers. Juliet says that Romeo must: “be untalked of and unseen” (Act 3 scene 2). There are two reasons for her saying this although Juliet only knows one of these (If a Capulet family member spots him he will be killed) the other which Juliet does not know about is the fact that Romeo has been banished because he killed Tybalt and if he is caught the person that catches him has the right to kill him. On line two in Act 3 scene 1 Juliet describes night as: “Thou sober – suited matron all in black” (Act 3 scene 2). She is describing night as a person. She calls night the matron because she is thinking of her nurse – the nurse is her friend and night is her friend. This is called personification. On line 12 in Act 3 scene 2 Juliet says: “Learn me how to lose a winning match”. Juliet is making a pun on the word match. Juliet is talking of the match striking. The other meaning of the word match could be a game – a love game which two can play. It is a very different game because they can both be winners although they will both lose something – their virginity. Juliet is going to “lose” a “winning match” because she is going to lose her virginity in a winning match. This is the match between her and Romeo. In lines fourteen to fifteen of Act 3 scene 2 Juliet compares herself to an untrained Hawk. She is picking up a reference of when Romeo called her a Niesse (A baby Hawk). Juliet is asking Romeo to train her in love making. Juliet uses star imagery to describe Romeo in line twenty-two. This links to the star imagery used by Romeo to describe Juliet in Act 2 scene 2, when he compares her to the sun and the stars. Starlight is contrasted with the idea of death in lines twenty one to twenty two when Juliet says: “Take him and cut him out in little stars, / And he will make the face of heaven so fine” (Act 3 scene 2). Juliet is saying that if you cut his face out and put them on stars people would be more in love with the nighttime than the daytime. On line twenty-one Juliet makes an Elizabethan pun on the word die. Die in Elizabethan can also mean to have an orgasm as well as dying and going to heaven: “Give me my Romeo, and when I’ll shall die” (Act 3 scene 2). On line twenty six Juliet says: “I have bought the mansion of love” (act 3 scene 2). Juliet is describing Romeo’s body as a beautiful house. Although Juliet has bought the mansion she has not yet moved in. In lines twenty eight to thirty one Juliet makes a comparison about her wedding day and night: “So tedious is this day / As is the night before some festival / To an impatient child that hath new robes / And may not wear them” (Act 3 scene 2). Juliet is saying that waiting for Romeo at that present time and the wedding day were so boring because all she wants to do is be with Romeo alone. Juliet’s speech in Act 3 scene 2 is a soliquiy. This is when a person stands on stage alone and speaks their thoughts. This speech is also an epithalamium - a poem or song written to celebrate a marriage.
The next type of love is tragic / hopeless love. This is county Paris’s love for Juliet. His love for her seems doomed from the beginning.
In Act 1 scene 2 Paris asks Lord Capulet’s permission for Juliet’s hand in marriage: “What say you to my suit?” (Act 1 scene 2). Lord Capulet does not agree as he thinks Juliet is to young and she has to have a say in who she marries: “my child is yet a stranger in the world, / She hath not seen the change of fourteen years…My will to her consent, is but a part” (Act 1 scene 2). This is very generous for a father in Elizabethan times to let their daughter have a say in who they married.
Lord Capulet arranges a party for the pair to meet although it is Romeo who catches her eye before Paris even has a chance to make his move. From then on fate takes control of everything. The tragedy is Paris has no control over the events that ruin his chances with Juliet. Romeo and Juliet’s secret wedding was the first event that ruined his chances. He has no idea that Juliet is already married so he carries on trying to court her, unaware. The second is the death of Tybalt. Juliet is in mourning so Paris has to stop courting her: “These times of woe afford no times to woo” (Act 3 scene 4). It is very inappropriate to visit a young lady when the family is in mourning. Lord Capulet then arranges the wedding for the following Thursday as he thinks it will cheer Juliet up. Just when Paris thinks he has got his ultimate prize Juliet refuses to marry him: “I will not marry yet, and when I do, I swear / it shall be Romeo, whom you know I hate, / rather than Paris” (Act 3 scene 5). On the morning of the wedding Juliet is found dead (she is really in a coma) Paris is there and is overcome with grief: “By cruel, cruel thee, quite overthrown: / o love, o life, not life, but love in death” (Act 4 scene 5).
Paris then takes flowers to the tomb and receives his final piece of bad luck that he does not deserve at all. While Paris is there Romeo arrives with Balthasar with a torch, matlock and a crow of iron and starts trying to leaver Juliet’s tomb. Paris thinks that Romeo is going to desecrate or steal from Juliet’s tomb: “And here is come to do some villainous shame / to the dead bodies” (Act 5 scene 3). Romeo has also been banished so Paris tries to make a citizens arrest: “Obey and go with me, for thou must die” (Act 5 scene 3). A fight then breaks out between them and Romeo kills Paris. Before he dies he says: “O I am slain, if thou merciful, / open the tomb, lay me with Juliet” (Act 5 scene 3).
This is a sad subplot Paris does not deserve any of the disappointment or grief he receives but it is the way that fate has led from problem to problem.
The final type of love is love for family honour. This love is probably the most tragic of all the loves because it causes the most trouble.
The feud between the Capulet and Montague families was quite blatantly, pointless. No one can remember how the feud began but neither side wants to lose face and so the quarrel results in many deaths from both sides and it’s the death of Romeo and Juliet that results in bringing the two families together. In act 1 scene 1 Tybalt is fighting for the Capulet’s in the street: “I hate hell, all Montague and thee” (Act 1 scene1). In Act 2 scene 1 Tybalt kills Romeo’s friend, mercutio because he, Benvolio and Romeo attended the Capulet family party in Act 1 scene 5. Mercutio is not even a member of the Montague family but is happy to fight for their honour. In a revenge attack Romeo kills Tybalt. Benvolio says: “There lies that Tybalt” (Act 3 scene 1).
It is all because of pride that these tragic events occur and the majority of the young people die because of their love for family honour either directly like Mercutio or Tybalt or indirectly like Romeo and Juliet.
There are many different forms of love presented in the play, and in the ways he represents the types of love, Shakespeare is drawing on the social culture of the time in which he lived, and the ideas and themes of popular art, poetry and literature in Medieval and Elizabethan England.
