William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is perhaps one of the most well-recognized love stories of all time. However, it is more than just a classic love story, it is a tale of desperation and obsession. While developing these themes, Shakespeare contrasts Romeo and Juliet’s obsession with the concept of real love; he also demonstrates the danger of obsession-Romeo and Juliet do not heed Friar Laurence’s ominously omniscient warning “[t]hese violent delights have violent ends/ and in their triumph die, like fire and powder,/ which, as they kiss, consume”(II vi 9-11), and obsession with honor is likewise dangerous. He probes the theme of despair; the suicidal impulses that become reality for Romeo and Juliet are grounded in the dynamic and …show more content…
Friar Laurence astutely states, “Thy love did read by rote, that could not spell./ But come, young waverer”(II iii 88-89), and he perhaps comes closest to the reality of the lovebirds’ affinity for each other: Romeo is a flighty young man falling in love with whoever pays him attention, and Juliet is an isolated, sheltered girl desperate for a change. Shakespeare uses the chorus to reinforce that Romeo and Juliet lust for one-another, rather than truly love their fiancee. The chorus states, “Now old desire doth in his deathbed lie,/And young affection gapes to be his heir…/ Now Romeo is beloved and loves again,/Alike bewitchèd by the charm of looks”(II prologue 1-6). This is vividly contrasted by the actual love that is apparent between Lord and Lady Montague, and even more acutely towards their son, as evidenced by their worry for him following the brawl in Act I, scene i, and their grief following his banishment, culminating in Lady Montague grieving herself to death. Romeo and Juliet’s passionate lust, rather than love, and obsession are more than simply strong emotions-they lead to dangerous …show more content…
Like Friar Laurence’s hypothetical kiss between fire and powder, Romeo and Juliet have one night together, then the situation implodes, with Romeo banished for slaying Tybalt and Juliet betrothed to Paris. The obsession that the ill-fated lovers have for one-another is, in the very extremity that pulls them together, deadly. Romeo’s obsession with Juliet and his honor, and, as a result, mortality, leads to the death of numerous characters, both innocent men and pugnacious brawler. Romeo’s obsession with seeing Juliet and dying next to her leads to Paris’s death outside Juliet’s tomb. Likewise, the obsession with honor leads Romeo to slay Tybalt, his cousin of one hour following Romeo and Juliet’s marriage. At the crossroads of his joint obsessions with Juliet and honor, Romeo poignantly states, “My reputation stained/With Tybalt’s slander.—Tybalt, that an hour/Hath been my kinsman!” (III i 73-75). The theme of obsession is a powerful undercurrent in Romeo and Juliet and Shakespeare does not waste a chance to accentuate its importance. When Romeo goes to Friar Laurence to requisition a marriage with Juliet, the friar chidingly says, “For doting, not for loving, pupil mine.”(II iii 82). Here, Shakespeare hints that the attraction that the lovers feel for one-another is obsessive, and reinforces the difference between obsession and true love. Also, he uses frequent, deadly duels to underline
... off.”(“Love’s Bond”, Robert Nozick) If that is true when loving someone, Romeo evidently made the wrong decision to kill Tybalt. By fulfilling this revenge, Romeo not only caused Juliet to be upset, but he also placed a burden on himself: an imprudent decision. After analyzing Romeo’s careless approach to risking to lose Juliet’s love, it becomes clear that Romeo’s love for Juliet is not a real romantic love, but it is a hormone-driven, passionate, hasty love that is portrayed as ruinous and preposterous by Shakespeare through Romeo’s actions.
Who would be willing to die for their loved ones? Romeo and Juliet would and did. Romeo and Juliet’s love and death brought two families together who could not even remember the origin of their hate. When the parents saw what their children's love for each other, they realized that their fighting had only led to suffering and insoluble conflict. Romeo and Juliet loved each other to an extent that they killed themselves rather than live apart. They did it with no hiatus. Juliet says before she kills herself, “O happy dagger, This is thy sheath. There rust and let me die.”( 5, 3, 182-183) demonstrating how she would rather die than not be with him.
Romeo, son of Montague and Lady Montague, is introduced into the story as a depressed, upset young man, moping over a girl who will never love him back. As he says to Benvolio, “She’ll not be hit with Cupid’s arrow. She hath Dian’s wit, and, in strong proof of chastity well-armed, from Love’s weak childish bow she lives uncharmed” (Romeo and Juliet I i 203-206). Romeo states that his true love will not love him as he thinks of her, as she intends to stay chaste and turn into a nun, thus upsetting Romeo and putting him in a depressed state of mind. He is a very extreme person, and in a way, that contributes to the hastiness of the whole play, as Romeo is always at either of his two extremes; his mood either quite happy or relatively dismal. He shows that in his thoughts, as he is at first convinced he should never love another woman, but then he meets Juliet only days afterward and forgets about his previous love. His encounter with Juliet is hasty, but he claims he “never saw true beauty till this night” (Rom I v 52). Romeo reveals his personality, and how quickly he is able to get over someone whom he thought he was in love with. However, after encountering Juliet and falling in love once more, Romeo develops an obsession of sorts w...
Love is dependent upon the slightest change, but it can cause the utmost drastic consequences. This is the truth of two lovers in William Shakespeare’s furthermost celebrated play, The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet. In the case of Romeo and Juliet, love is inimical. Romeo comes from the family of Montague while Juliet comes from the family of Capulet. For reasons unknown, these two families are sworn enemies. However, Romeo and Juliet are not. In fact, they are in a secret relationship that only two others know about. The only two that Romeo and Juliet trust, the Nurse and the Friar. While the Nurse, Friar, and Juliet’s father, Lord Capulet, all have good intentions, they are all responsible for the suicides of Romeo and Juliet in the
Lust or Love: An Essay Analyzing the Relationship of Romeo and Juliet in Romeo and Juliet
“O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy father and refuse thy name;” (Shakespeare, 536). In the book, ‘Romeo and Juliet”, by William Shakespeare there is a deeper meaning that Shakespeare is trying to portray other than parents cannot control their children’s hearts. He is trying to portray that a name is only a name and it doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things and that even with a different name that person will still be the same person they have always been. Shakespeare is using the characters: Juliet, Romeo, Lord Capulet, Friar Lawrence, and the Nurse to get this message across to the reader or the viewer.
“From forth the fatal loins of these two foes a pair of star crossed lovers take their life” (I prologue 5-6). Romeo and Juliet is known by many as a love story, but what if it’s not a love story but a story of obsession and desperation. Romeo is from the Montague family, and Juliet is from the Capulet family. The two families have been feuding for many, many years. In this story, Romeo and Juliet become obsessed with the feeling of being in love. They will go to extremes to be together, such extremes as death.
The lover’s immediate connection is established at the Capulet feast, “Did my heart love till now? Forswear it sight / For I ne’er saw true beauty till this night.” Through doing this, it shows that Romeo is reckless and continues even though he recognizes that they come from different families, “o dear, my life is my foe’s debt”. Throughout the play, it establishes that Juliet allows herself to behave impulsively and be persuaded by Romeo into a impetuous and thoughtless marriage, “The exchange of thy love’s faithful vowel for mine” Juliet expresses her concern that it is too soon to promise to love Romeo when they have only just met, “It is too rash, too unadvised, too sudden / Too like the lightning” This simile is used to convey Juliet’s thought on their sudden love. Although Juliet has recognized how spontaneous they are acting, it does not prevent her from continuing her relationship with Romeo, proving that Juliet is just as impulsive as Romeo. Thus, Shakespeare has skillfully utilized the lovers to demonstrate that their own reckless actions is a reason for their untimely
Despite what many people think, Romeo and Juliet is not a love story; rather a story of desperation and obsession. People have been reading Shakespeare for hundreds of years and several people have mistaken it for a love story, due to the fact that Romeo loves Juliet so much he is willing to kill himself when he finds her supposedly dead; she does the same when she wakes up to find him dead. But in fact, Romeo is more taken aback by her beauty than he is in love with her. Juliet is intrigued by the fact someone could love her because her parents are very unsupportive of her. When the two find each other, they immediately become obsessed, mistaking this for love at first sight.
“Don’t waste your love on someone who doesn’t value it.” In the play Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare exposes the life of two young lovers in the Renaissance period fighting for something they cannot live without; each other. Although fate takes its toll, the everlasting feud between two families, conditional love by parents, and the irresponsibility’s of father and mother like figure are the main causes in the death of Romeo and Juliet. The idea of love is something that is valued in this play from many different aspects of characters, lines, and scenes. Shakespeare leaves the minds of readers soaring over not why it happened, but who was at fault.
Love is a wonderful curse that forces us to do unexplainable things. Romeo and Juliet is a famous play written by William Shakespeare, who does an exceptional job in showing the readers what hate, mercy, death, courage, and most importantly what love looks like. This play is about two star-crossed lovers who are both willing to sacrifice their lives just to be with one another. Unfortunately tragedy falls upon the unconditional love Romeo and Juliet have for each other, but along the way they experience immeasurable forgiveness and extraordinary braveness just to be with one another. Sadly enough, love is a cause of violence in the end. Even though the pair spends less time together, it is enough for them to fall in love. It is clearly true
Reckless actions lead to untimely deaths. In Shakespeare’s tragedy “Romeo and Juliet”, both protagonists fight for their hopeless love. Bloodshed and chaos appear inevitable in fair Verona; Romeo and Juliet come from enemy households, the Montegues and the Capulets, who have sworn to defeat one another. The young and handsome Romeo weeps over his unrequited love for Rosaline, until he lays his eyes on Juliet. Strong and independent, Juliet seeks to escape her family’s will to marry her off to Paris, a kinsman of the Prince. Fate ties these adolescents’ lives together binding them to witness the ill-fortunes of Romeo and Juliet’s love. Romeo and Juliet prove themselves woefully impulsive through their words and actions, which ultimately lead them along a series of unfortunate mishaps.
In the play “Romeo and Juliet”, Shakespeare shows that love has power to control one’s actions, feelings, and the relationship itself through the bond between a destined couple. The passion between the pair grew strong enough to have the capability to do these mighty things. The predestined newlyweds are brought down a rocky road of obstacles learning love’s strength and the meaning of love.
Have you ever been in love before? Many would say that love is hard to come by, and even harder to maintain, while some would say the opposite. In Shakespeare’s play, The Tragedy of Romeo & Juliet, he explores similar concepts related to love and infatuation. Although the reader never directly hears from Shakespeare, one could infer that his own thoughts are similarly mirrored in his characters, with the play serving as a warning tale of sorts, and the various roles echoing different dangers when it comes to love, which there are many. More specifically, Romeo Montague and his actions in the play are very intentional, as they help explain Shakespeare’s intentions and his own personal thoughts on the topic of love and its hazards, as well as its ups, too, which there are many.
The tragedy Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare validates the struggle behind Romeo and Juliet's love. Through dialogue and plot Shakespeare addresses the birth of love with the families’ violence that threatens to taint love’s existence. The contradicting terms violence and love contrasts the blooming emotions from Romeo and Juliet and the families’ feud. Their death becomes an oxymoron as their feelings turn to happiness instead of sorrow. Shakespeare’s use of oxymoron contrasts the Montague-Capulet feud against the passion of Romeo and Juliet’s love.