The Influence Of Love In Shakespeare's Romeo And Juliet

Romeo and Juliet is renowned as William Shakespeare’s most archetypal love story in English literature. The influence of love on the characters is exhibited both negatively and positively. It can be admired from the audience and the author itself that the bonds between Romeo and Juliet are so strong, despite their family’s rivalry. However, Shakespeare illustrates young love as ‘irrational’ and ‘inconsistent’. Love was also the unifying factor that aided the feud between the rivalling households. Though, Shakespeare writes Romeo and Juliet as a cautionary tale, demonstrating the consequences which arise and are provoked by love. These positive and negative factors regarding love have differing influences and outcomes on various characters

Various ramifications arise due to events surrounding love, which suggests that love produces extremities, both good and bad. Different forms of love depicted in Romeo and Juliet exhibit the complex misfortunes and dangers of love, such as love being as powerful as hate, it’s cause of making rash decisions, the power to deteriorate relationships with others, arises powerful forces such as destiny, pain and hatred; and is displayed as a force of nature, so strong that it transcends social conventions. One single emotion that has the ability and power to produce such frightening and potent forces unto the even the strongest of characters, exhibits to the audience that love is dangerous, and should be tended to wisely. As quoted by Friar Laurence, “Therefore, love moderately” instantly produces to the audience a sense of warning, as stepping over the boundaries of love arises repercussions permeated throughout the play. Hate, being one of the most prevalent outcomes of love, is exhibited mainly on Tybalt, as the audience first witnesses at the scene of the Capulet party, when he is told to swallow his prise and refrain from fighting Romeo; he replied “I will withdraw. But this intrusion shall, now seeming sweet, convert to bitterest gall.” This evidently exhibits the hubris embedded throughout the differing families, and shows how strongly love influences hate. In fact, love so much influences hate, that after Romeo defeats and kills Tybalt, Lady Capulet is so enraged by the defeat of someone from her household, she seeks vendetta by stating “Romeo slew Tybalt. Romeo must not live.” This extremity of the medieval retaliation of ‘an eye for an eye’ displays the constant need for power produced by the families’ excessive pride in each other. Friar Laurence of course foreshadows these events, as he states at the wedding scene “These violent