Romeo Juliet is a play about love Essay Example

Romeo Juliet is a play about love Essay Romeo Juliet is a play about love, but this word means different things to different characters in the play, and for some, like Romeo, its meaning changes as the play progresses. Discuss the theme of love in Romeo Juliet and examine the different attitudes towards love that the characters have. Shakespeares play Romeo Juliet centres on many themes such as fate and death. But the theme of love takes centre stage as we see many different forms of love develop morph and blossom during the play. All the different characters have their own views and attitudes towards love and we see these ideas conflict, contrast and mature. Set in fair Verona where we see this exotic, romantic love flourish in which impetuous passion shown by all the characters leads to a swift and sharp pace throughout the play. Elizabethan audiences would have loved the bawdy and violent nature of this play and would have revelled in the poetic, stellar language used by these two star-crossed lovers during the play. In this play we see a variety of attitudes towards love such as Romeos poetic, romantic, melancholy view, which contrasts greatly with the attitudes of Mercutio and the nurse for example, who have an extremely physical and superficial view of love. We will write a custom essay sample on Romeo Juliet is a play about love specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Romeo Juliet is a play about love specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Romeo Juliet is a play about love specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Upon examining Romeos attitude towards love I have discovered a young, fiery, passionate and poetic man. From the very first time we meet him he believes he is in love with Rosaline and uses extremely poetic language to describe this, phrases such as love is a smoke made with the fire of sighs. I get two impressions from this quote. One is that he almost enjoys the melancholy involved with unrequited love, due to the use of sighs and the second is that this love is merely created to fix his need for melancholy. This gives him an outlet into which he likes to play intellectually with words and likes to test his own literary skills, often he uses oxy-morons to further these literary skills such as brawling love and loving hate. When asked whether he loves her by Benvolio, he begins to talk O she is rich in beauty this again gives us the impression of lust or infatuation rather than love and is merely a subject of his word fencing. Romeo seems to almost enjoy the intellectual challenge of being in this constant melancholy state. As at every opportunity possible he begins to talk poetically and plays with words as soon as love is mentioned, under loves heavy burden do I sink this constant mood of melancholy suggests hurt self-esteem, maybe the rejection by Rosaline was the cause of this, we do not know. His melancholy state continues right up until the moment he first sees Juliet in which we see his whole mood and state disappear. A new man appears he accepts his love for Rosaline was not real, For I neer saw true beauty till this night. The self-wallowing and pity seems to disappear, a fiery passionate man erupts from within. His poetic romantic nature still is extremely evident when he first talks to Juliet as he plays on words concerning pilgrims and saints this is shown when he says My lips two blushing pilgrims ready stand to smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss. Within the space of one night we see a young man whose doting love is unrequited placing him in a position of weak and lonely melancholy. He stops brooding and groaning for love, and actually goes out of his way to make sure this love works and that it is not unrequited, his friends notice the difference as Mercutio comments now art though sociable, now art though Romeo. It seems as if this new love has given him a purpose, as before he would wander the streets of fair Verona and would lock himself away in his room. This love is definite as we see his description of Rosaline was O she is rich in beauty, however his description of Juliet is O it is my love. We see that although her beauty stuns Romeo, he know knows love and not infatuation due to beauty. The rest of the city sees Romeo as a portly well governed and virtuous youth. What they dont mention is the most potent of his characteristics, his pure and undying passion. Passion lends them power this statement shows us how Romeos pure passion for Juliet portrays this powerful, fiery young man that we see develop from a sulky boy who would lock himself away. His attitude of love seems to only develop after he has met Juliet. Beforehand, his love for Rosaline did read by rote but could not spell which means that Romeo had learnt to love and did not understand his own love. But once he has fallen for Juliet, we see his attitude towards love. It is one of total devotion and that once you have fallen in love, that is it, that love should last you for eternity. This attitude is evident throughout the play, shown when he finds out Juliet is dead, he feels he cannot live without her and so kills himself. It is also shown when he tries to kill himself after being banished from Verona, if he cannot be with her, then there is no point in living. His attitudes towards family and friends love should also be commented on due to the fact that his passion is also shown in these forms of love. The most prominent evidence of this is when he killed Tybalt in retribution for his dear friend Mercutio. Romeo is a dreamer, he acts hastily and with pure passio n. When he goes to the apothecary is a perfect example of his haste and thinking with his heart rather than his head. Romeo can really be summed up by one word in my opinion, passion. He acts and thinks nothing else, everything revolves around his passion for something, be it Juliet or Mercutio for example. His passion is the factor that produces such beautiful, romantic, poetic language that we see throughout the play. So coupled with Romeos passion we see Juliets love which is the perfect contrast to Romeos, which in turn emphasises just how much these two star-crossed lovers were bound to join, it was fate. Juliet is differs to Romeo; she develops and grows during the play rather than Romeo who actually finds himself underneath the melancholy young boy. When we first meet Juliet she is an obedient child. But as the play progresses and especially once she is in love with Romeo, we see a very powerful woman with her own views. Ill look to like, if looking liking move, but no more shall I endart mine eye than your consent gives strength to make it fly, the first part of this quote emphasises the obedient child view we first receive, and the second part emphasises that she looks to her parents to tell her what to feel and do. But once she has met and fallen for Romeo then she begins to develop at alarming rate, all of a sudden we have an obedient child totally change. Once in love, she becomes resolute, self-assured, unflinching and extremely passionate. As for her passion, it is just as strong as Romeos is but she has a quality that Romeo lacks. She is passionate yet still can be practical. This is shown after Romeo and Juliet spent the night together. She tries to persuade Romeo to stay with her and when he agrees, it is not day, she then realises that he must go and that she cannot be selfish, she says it is its hie hence be gone away. Another extremely good example of this is when Romeo goes to Juliets balcony and she persistently asks him how he got over the walls, How camst thou hither, tell me, and wherefore? She is trying to protect him from himself as she realises he is a dreamer. Juliets love for Romeo is true and faithful. She defends him, this is shown when the nurse criticises Romeo, she replies to the nurses comments Blistered be thy tongue. She has a total love for him, she even says at one point that she would rather have her parents die than Romeo be killed. This is also partly due to the fact that she doesnt even know her parents as she was raised by the nurse therefore the only form of love we see her harbour for her parents is one of dutiful affection. Her attitude towards her love for Romeo is whatever it takes. Whatever she needs to do to be with Romeo she is willing to do, this is evident throughout the play. The main example of this is when Juliet has to fake her death by taking a potion that friar Lawrence had produced. She had many doubts about taking as shown when she says I have a faint fear thrills through my veins. But she knows that she has to do this to have a chance of being with Romeo and therefore does it, this just shows Juliets reso lute and stead fast character. Aswell as her passion for love she is very physically passionate with Romeo as she says she would give her body to him, take all myself, she calls. Juliets attitude towards love is a lot like Romeos. They both have the same undying unflinching love that is powered by the two characters impetuous passion that is so strong it leads to deaths throughout the play. But Juliets character means that her love is portrayed in a different way to all the other characters in the play. Her practicality means that she appears more self-assured and confident than Romeo. Also, she appears a lot more realistic but there are glimpses of her romantic feelings throughout the play and at times her language seems to be even more beautiful and poetic than Romeos is, for example My bounty is boundless as the sea, my love is as deep. In contrast to other characters, she shares none of the same values of her parents especially her father, as he wants to marry her into a marriage of convenience, just like him. The nurse brought up Juliet. She is a very important character in this play for many reasons. She has a very bawdy and coarse character that often makes sexual jokes. This is shown on a number of occasions, such as Thou wilt fall backward when thou hast more wit. This bawdy nature of the nurse is important because she creates comic relief throughout this tragedy, which would have been greatly appreciated especially in the Elizabethan period. Another reason of her importance is that she provides a friendship for Juliet and a character that Juliet confides in. But the nurses actual view of love is extremely different to Romeo and Juliet as she has an extremely materialistic view of love and also a very physical view that is similar to Mercutios perspective. This bawdy nature that I have continually mentioned is shown throughout the play such as No less, nay bigger; women grow by men. This is a play on words that means that women grow in stature once married but also grow in size due to pregnancy. Her view is that a wife makes a man complete and because of this view it shows that the nurse has no idea of the love Juliet has for Romeo. Due to this, the nurse severely underestimates Juliet. She seems to have no idea about marriage even though she had a husband. This is shown when she tries to persuade Juliet to marry Paris even though she knows Juliet is married to Romeo, this is clearly immoral but the nurse seems to think nothing of it. The nurse seems to always to do a dis-service to Juliet regarding Romeo as shown with the proposed marriage to Paris aswell as when Romeo kills Tybalt and the nurse begins to openly criticise him in front of Juliet in which Juliet loses her temper. But what makes this even more confusing is the fact that at first she helps Juliet with the marriage as she is constantly sending messages between the two lovers but then betrays her with the Paris situation that begins to appear. The nurse in general seems to have a view of physical love and a view that coincides with Juliets parents, as she seems to believe in the marriage of convenience proposed by them. This is maybe so due to the fact that we see her as a bit of a social climber as we see her trying to be popular with Mercutio and Benvolio. She tries to joke with them, I pray you sir, what saucy merchant was this that was so full of his ropery. So, really her betrayal of Juliet should have been more obvious as her views do not coincide with Juliets in the smallest amount it. The nurses view does coincide with another character however, and this character is Romeos dear friend Mercutio. Mercutio has the same bawdy nature as the nurse but his character is quite different all together. Mercutio is exuberant and lively and seems to have a lust for live. He likes to be the centre of attention as shown when he performs his extremely bawdy speech about Queen Mab; it starts O then I see Queen Mab hath been with you. But apart from Mercutios general attitude towards love and being centre of attention. He seems to have another side to him. His love for Romeo is very important as he obviously holds this friendship very highly, just as Romeo does. This friendship is extremely fiery and passionate. Mercutio loves Romeo and in effect dies for Romeo, as he cannot bear to see Romeo be portrayed as a coward and so fights for him. Mercutio doesnt seem to understand why love is so important to Romeo as the only reason for love in Mercutios view is for sex. He is constantly making sexual jokes such as if love is blind, love cannot hit the mark. In my opinion is used as a contrast to Romeo. If we were talking about modern culture then Mercutio would have been compared to lad culture, aswell as Benvolio. They like to have a good time, dont take anything to seriously and see love as an excuse for sex rather than the nature that Romeo sees it. But Romeo sees love as a poetic, beautiful all conquering aspect of life. Mercutio doesnt understand this and mocks him at every chance he can for this. This is shown when Mercutio says Romeo! Humours! Madman! Passion! Lover! but Romeo clearly touches on a point that is clear, he jests at scars that never felt a wound. This means that Mercutio is mocking Romeo for things that Mercutio doesnt understand and that he hasnt experienced. Although Mercutio is a dear friend of Romeo and they have a deep fiery passion and love for each other, Romeo cannot confide in him due to the fact that Mercutio doesnt understand Romeos woes and would end up mocking him. Therefore Romeo has to confide in someone else. He is not close with his parents and therefore friar Lawrence seems to take up a role that seems to cross over between father and friend. Throughout we see the influence of the friar and he seems to genuinely care for both Romeo and Juliet. Being a holy man also helps as it helps him understand the importance of Romeo and Juliets marriage. His view of love seems to be an extremely traditional Christian view of love. He clearly believes that marriage is the best part of life and so tries desperately to help the two lovers but seems quite foolish in his plans as they fail to work. The whole way through the play we see the friar advise Romeo and in general give extremely wise and good advice to Romeo. He also notices the difference between Romeos doting love for Rosaline and the love he harbours for Juliet. Aswell as helping to provide happiness for the two lovers, I believe that he also sees the good in uniting the two feuding houses. Among his advice there is one piece that maybe Romeo and Juliet didnt follow which was loving moderately. He also knows about science, as he was able to produce the potion that made Juliet appear as if she was dead. This is important with regards to the audience as it emphasises his intellect and therefore validates his advice that bit more, as the audience would have been uneducated and un-travelled. In general friar Lawrence has an extremely Christian view of love and believes in the traditional values which means he has no trouble in marrying the two lovers even though they are from families that absolutely hate each other. He also has a fatherly love for both Romeo and Juliet but provides a vast amount of advice for Romeo and seems to be his spiritual father. Juliets father however, seems to care quite a lot less about his daughters spiritual well being as he seems to totally disregard her feelings although at first he comes across as a loving father. At first when Paris approaches Capulet for Juliets hand in marriage he tells Paris not only to let two more summers whither in their pride but also My will to her consent is but a part. This gives us the impression that Capulet genuinely cares for her. The main reason for these comments is the fact that I believe Capulet done exactly what Paris is trying to do, and he has seen how marrying to early has marred his own wife. We also get the impression that he dearly loves as her as there is mention that Juliet is his only child and that the others have died. He says the earth hath swallowed all my hopes but she, this gives the impression that his other children have died. But then in a sudden change of heart, he betrays Juliet and agrees to this marriage of convenience and gives her no say whe ther she shall marry Paris and is prepared to cast her out of the house if she dis obeys him. This is not the same loving father we see defending his only childs childhood earlier on in the play. Lady Capulet however, doesnt show any care or love towards Juliet full stop and totally leaves the bringing up of Juliet to the nurse. She finds it impossible to talk to her daughter alone and needs the nurse to be present to have any interaction with Juliet whatsoever. This is shown when Lady Capulet tells Juliet of the proposed marriage to Paris the first time, before she has met Romeo. She is a huge contrast to Juliet who is full of passion, resolute, and totally emotionally driven. After studying all the most influential characters, we can see that Shakespeare has included a wide variety of views and aspects of love in this play that creates the atmosphere in our exotic setting, for the most fabled love story of all time. Aswell as romantic and sexual love we witness love shown between family and friends, we see a holy, Christian love that is portrayed by friar Lawrence, this again inter links with the Elizabethan period as religion was an extremely important part of life during that time. So as we can clearly see, the characters harbour different perspectives and ideas of love. The characters grow and develop during the play and so the theme of love becomes extremely diverse and complex as the contrasting perspectives set a passionate, fiery, swift, sharp atmosphere. During the hot days and moonlit nights our characters seem to learn their ideas of love, using passion, instinct and loyalty as their textbook. This play has been adapted over time into books, the atre, films and even ballets. This is due to the fact that this play captures the essence of human beings. It includes every main aspect of our lives, their lives and the lives of people to come. The main themes; death, fate, hate, friendship, family, happiness and love combine for a mixture that will touch the hearts of every reader or member of an audience. This play has many themes but love takes centre stage, and we get to witness the most beautiful form of love; the love of Romeo and Juliet. They make the greatest sacrifice for each other and that is the greatest proof of their love.