Parental Love In Romeo And Juliet

Love is present throughout life and experienced in many different ways. To most people, love is something felt from the heart. Sometimes people fall in love with someone because of something that person can give them. Being in love with someone for the things they can get you is not real love. Sometimes someone loves another, but the other doesn’t love them back. Love comes in all different forms. People can show love for others by small acts of kindness or be a friend. William Shakespeare presents many different forms of love in his play Romeo and Juliet. Between the love Romeo and Juliet have for each other, the love Paris has for Juliet, and the love their parents have for the two lovers, there are three different types of love in Romeo

An example of parental love in this play would be the love the Montagues have for Romeo and the Capulets have for Juliet. The Montagues and the Capulets have two different types of parenting and both treat their children different. However, they both want the best for their children. Montague, who is Romeo’s father, realizes towards the end of the play the love Romeo and Juliet have for each other. He realizes that their love is more important than the feud. According to Hacht, "He [Lord Montague] is the head of the Montague household. He reconciles with Capulet after Romeo's and Juliet's deaths and promises to erect a statue in the young girl's name." (772) While Lady Montague was very involved in Romeo’s life and died as a result of Romeo’s death, Lady Capulet was not as involved in Juliet’s life. Lady Capulet loves Juliet no less than Lady Montague loves Romeo, but she doesn’t know the littlest things going on in Juliet’s life. Hacht states, "She is not a warm-hearted mother and is raising her daughter without much affection. She favors Juliet's marriage to Paris and, with her husband, rebukes her daughter when Juliet protests the match. She also demonstrates that she knows far less about her daughter than Nurse does." (770) The prologue says, “Doth with their death bury their parents’ strife.” (Shakespeare Prologue 8) This is saying nothing but their children’s death could end the feud between the families. Their

Love can come from the heart or can be based on pleasing others. Love does not have to be real romantic love. Some love is one sided or even fake at times. Love is something felt from the heart, and in this case, Romeo and Juliet’s love is real. Romeo and Juliet may have fallen in love at first sight and kept their love a secret, but they are true to one another and do not want to live without one another. Their love for each other stays true throughout the play and even teaches others what it is like to love. Because of their love, their parents learn how to forgive each other and move on. Romeo and Juliet’s love for each other, the love Paris has for Juliet, and the love shown to the lovers from their parents are all forms of love shown throughout the