How Does Shakespeare Show Love in Romeo and Juliet?

981 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Romantic and unrequited love in romeo and juliet essay

How does Shakespeare show love in Romeo and Juliet

Love is a powerful human emotion which can manipulate you to do would or could regret in life. In ‘Romeo and Juliet’ , Shakespeare talks about all types of love; aggressive, friendship, unrequited and romantic love. Shakespeare shows different emotions to each type of love. By doing this it makes each type of love unique and different and also exciting as every love differs.

In the play the first type of love that is shown by Shakespeare is aggressive love. In the beginning Sampson and Gregory have a conversation about their foes and how they see women, “ Women, being the weaker vessels”. This gives out a negative attitudes through the characters to the audience as they use strong and offensive language to show that women are more defenceless and more vulnerable than men. This makes Sampson and Gregory very misogynistic but by doing this it creates a really strong dynamic in the audience as some of the audience will not agree that women are weaker and some will. By Shakespeare showing this through the characters it makes him very clever as it makes the beginning of the play very rousing. Another way that Sampson and Gregory show that women are weaker than men is by using very intense language to revel that men have more authority upon women, “ push Montagues men to the wall, and thrust his maids to the wall”. Although what Sampson and Gregory have been talking about was quite an offence towards women, they only used such aggressive words to show the love they had for their family and so will say and do anything to defend their own, “ draw thy tool: here comes…the Montagues”. This exemplifies the risks that the Capulets will take, to battle for their closest and de...

... middle of paper ...

... lovers also because in the real world perfect love does not exist and so it makes the audience more interested because they can relate to it . Shakespeare shows this type of love in a very interesting and confusing way as the characters were from the opposite side and so it made this type of love very unique and different.

Shakespeare represents each type of love in a different way and by making each play distinctive and fascinating in its own way. My favourite type of love is unrequited love because I can link it to my life and also because I find it funny that you can like someone so much and not get it back. The message that Shakespeare is trying to give out is that all types of love has its miserable and joyful points and that love is never perfect. Shakespeare uses different story lines to make each type of love dramatic and amusing way.

Show More
Related

  • Romeo and Juliet is Not a Love Story

    1002 Words  | 3 Pages

    William Shakespeare (1564-1616) was a Renaissance poet and playwright who wrote and published the original versions of 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and several other poems. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language, and often called England’s national poet. Several of his works became extremely well known, thoroughly studied, and enjoyed all over the world. One of Shakespeare’s most prominent plays is titled The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet. In this tragedy, the concept that is discussed and portrayed through the characters is love, as they are recognized as being “in love”. The general umbrella of love encompasses various kinds of love such as romantic love, the love of a parent for a child, love of one’s country, and several others. What is common to all love is this: Your own well-being is tied up with that of someone (or something) you love… When love is not present, changes in other people’s well being do not, in general, change your own… Being ‘in love’ infatuation is an intense state that displays similar features: … and finding everyone charming and nice, and thinking they all must sense one’s happiness. At first glance it seems as though Shakespeare advocates the hasty, hormone-driven passion portrayed by the protagonists, Romeo and Juliet; however, when viewed from a more modern, North-American perspective, it seems as though Shakespeare was not in fact endorsing it, but mocking the public’s superficial perception of love. Shakespeare’s criticism of the teens’ young and hasty love is portrayed in various instances of the play, including Romeo’s shallow, flip-flop love for Rosaline then Juliet, and his fights with Juliet’s family. Also, the conseque...

    Read More

  • Forbidden Love In Romeo And Juliet

    929 Words  | 2 Pages

    Playwright, William Shakespeare, conveys the different forms of love between the characters in his drama, Romeo and Juliet. In the small town of Verona, the different types of love are highlighted, through character actions and speech. Unrequited love is seen in Romeo and Juliet through Romeo's 'love'for Rosaline in Act one, while the forbidden love at first sight, also known as romantic love is seen between Romeo and Juliet. Furthermore, the motherly love/ familial love, Juliet and the Nurse share is also explored. William Shakespeare shows the forbidden love at first sight between two characters, Romeo and Juliet.

    Read More

  • Romeo and Juliet Essay

    814 Words  | 2 Pages

    In our society, love can be portrayed in thousands of ways. With simple things such as giving someone a hug or something more elaborate such as marriage. These things show are affection and love towards others, but it does not just end there. In Romeo and Juliet, as well as our society, we portray many different styles of love. These styles of love that I thought were portrayed well in Romeo and Juliet were physical love, emotional love, and paternal love.

    Read More

  • Romeo And Juliet Sacrifice Analysis

    1176 Words  | 3 Pages

    Through this tragic play, Shakespeare illustrates that love requires people to sacrifice many precious things, which can include family, friends, even life. Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet depicts the nuances of human experience of love. Romeo and Juliet’s story is the greatest declaration of romantic love.

    Read More

  • Why Romeo and Juliet's Love is Real and Not an Infatuation

    535 Words  | 2 Pages

    True love is one of the most genuine, not to mention precious feelings in the world. In Shakespeare's play, Romeo and Juliet, a pair of lovers denotes the strength of true love and it's ability to overcome nearly all obstacles. However, this kind of love is a rarity due to it's pureness but somehow many cheap imitations are still mistaken for real love. Romeo and Juliet's love is authentic and by no means an infatuation seeing as first of all, they both risk their lives to see each other and would rather die than be separated. Juliet also has an unusual level of loyalty towards her partner for her age which supports the idea of true love. In addition, throughout the play, Romeo's demeanour started to change and he began to mature in a considerably short period of time. Young love is a petty sentiment nonetheless when it develops into a fully-fledged unconditional love, both partners will begin to evolve and will do nearly anything for the other.

    Read More

  • Major Theme in Act I of Romeo and Juliet

    893 Words  | 2 Pages

    In Act I of Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare demonstrates different forms of love that characters face. From the beginning, Romeo struggles to find true love and what love really is. As for Juliet, she also struggles on what love is, but also finding her own voice. And when finally finding true love they discover that they have fallen in love their own enemy. They both realize that the idea of love can be amazing, but also a painful experience. Shakespeare demonstrates love versus evil and the forms love takes that is acknowledged as an universal issue that connects different types of audiences. Audiences are captured by relating on love and the emotions that are displayed. From Romeo and Rosaline’s unrequited love, Paris and Juliet’s false love, and Romeo and Juliet’s ill-fated love, create the forms of love that establishes love as a leading theme in Act I.

    Read More

  • A Comparison Of Love In Othello And King Lear

    1513 Words  | 4 Pages

    What is love? Love is the pinnacle of all emotions, it is the epicenter for life, what is the point of living if there is no love, ironically love is the cause of many a down fall. William Shakespeare has single handedly captured and embraced this necessary feeling and has allowed us to view in on it through the characters in his two masterpieces, Othello and King Lear. Three different kinds of loves explored in both Othello and King Lear, sharing both similarities and differences are a love for a significant other, the love a father holds to his children, and the love a daughter holds for her father. By looking at the outcomes of these loves one may draw a sense of loves negative and positive effects, and how the different traits of loves play into the outcomes in the fate of Shakespeare's characters. Through the analysis of love in these two plays one will become a more knowledgeable student of literature.

    Read More

  • Love in Romeo and Juliet

    2127 Words  | 5 Pages

    Romeo and Juliet is set during the Elizabethan period when women had to acquiesce to men. This was known as a patriatical society. It was the time when fathers decided whom their daughters should marry. In the Elizabethan period events such as marriage were more traditional and were taken very seriously as well as the fact that men were more powerful than women. The Elizabethan period was a period of internal peace between the English Reformation and the battles between Protestants and Catholics as well the battles between the Parliament and the Monarchy that repulsed the seventeenth century which relates to the Period that Shakespeare wrote the play because it creates this contrast that people were fighting over reputation for example, Capulet wanting to give his daughter Juliet to a rich and respectable man like Paris rather than someone like Romeo who does not have a reputation in the society. However, In the Elizabethan society men were the ''head of the household'' so the women of the Elizabethan society had no say in anything or anyone as well as not being able to know what the men had been up to because the men were seen as the dominant sex but on the other hand, in the twenty first century the women are mostly controlling the men such as a wife of a footballer. Men that were married were able to masquerade (sleep with another women or cheat) on their own wife's and even if the wife of the husband found out about the situation, she could not have done anything about it. She would either accept the situation or leave the husband but rarely women of the Elizabethan period did that because most of the men in the Elizabethan society were rich. As soon as the play starts, Shakespeare wants the audience to know that there is goin...

    Read More

  • Essay About Love in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet

    783 Words  | 2 Pages

    Throughout the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare, various types of love are portrayed. According to some of the students of Shakespeare, Shakespeare himself had accumulated wisdom beyond his years in matters pertaining to love (Bloom 89). Undoubtedly, he draws upon this wealth of experience in allowing the audience to see various types of love personified.  Shakespeare argues that there are several different types of love, the interchangeable love, the painful love and the love based on appearances, but only true love is worth having.

    Read More

  • Power of Love in Shakespeare´s Romeo and Juliet

    747 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Romeo And Juliet Themes

    742 Words  | 2 Pages

    No matter what race, religion, sexual orientation, age, or gender people will always fall in love. One of the reasons “Romeo and Juliet” has become the ultimate love story, is that everyone can relate to true love. Shakespeare knew that everyone falls in love so he wrote about what people could truly understand. Shakespeare was able to create a love story that is exciting and heartbreaking but still believable. He made it easy for someone reading the story to put themselves in the characters shoes. A love story written

    Read More

  • The Movie Shakespeare in Love

    964 Words  | 2 Pages

    The movie “Shakespeare in Love” shows the business process of theater, along with Shakespeare’s struggles in his career and love life. Shakespeare in Love is a fictional account of the life that inspired the play Romeo and Juliet. Throughout the movie there are scenes, which you can relate to modern times comical irony devious behavior manipulation and how everything does not matter in the case of love. The story is perfect and ties together all the parts of the actual play and what may have really happened to the life of Shakespeare. The writers produced an imaginative romantic comedy in the style of Shakespeare that is very believable. They bring the viewer along for a fictitious account of what may have motivated Shakespeare to write one of the greatest plays of all times. This film captures the coarseness and bawdiness of the period as well as its soaring poetry. It places Shakespeare’s world in a modern context and makes it accessible, without diminishing the impact of his words.

    Read More

  • Love in Romeo and Juliet and Much Ado about Nothing

    829 Words  | 2 Pages

    Many of Shakespeare's plays show a strong theme of love. Romeo and Juliet and Much Ado About Nothing deal primarily with the issue of true and false love. Romeo and Juliet, tragic play, is about two lovers who struggle, sacrifice, and defy their families and society for the sake of love that changes them completely. Although the end of Romeo and Juliet's story is death both of the lovers, their love turns to be immortal. Much Ado About Nothing, comedy play, is about two lovers who their relationship starts as child like and develops to be true love that motives the lovers to sacrifice in order to keep their love. The two plays deal also with the idea of false love. Romeo, the hero of Romeo and Juliet, thinks that he loves Rosaline, but when he meets Juliet, the heroin of Romeo and Juliet, he falls in love with her, forgetting his love to Rosaline. In Much Ado About Nothing, the relationship between Claudio and Hero's, main characters in the play, is based on wealth and appearance attraction. Conventional love is another kind of that is shown in Romeo and Juliet, where it develops in social situations without any consideration to emotions.

    Read More

  • Love And Infatuation In William Shakespeare's Romeo And Juliet

    1014 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • The Power of Love in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night

    580 Words  | 2 Pages

    Emotions are among the most potent forces humanity has ever faced, and, as William Shakespeare emphasizes, love is one of the most influential emotions an individual can experience. Throughout Twelfth Night, Shakespeare focuses on one main characteristic about love that helps to solidify the strength of this emotion on the characters. He wants to reader to understand that love is one of the few forces that can instantaneously incapacitate and cripple human beings, yet it simultaneously wields the capacity to bestow the highest level of satisfaction within an individual.

    Read More

More about How Does Shakespeare Show Love in Romeo and Juliet?

Open Document