The Theme of Love in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet

The Theme of Love in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet

“Romeo and Juliet” is one of the most famous love stories ever. Love

is the important theme in this tale. There are many different types of

love inside the play and these all play a huge part in this tale.

Sexual Love, takes many forms, in this play it takes the form of lust.

We see this in Gregory and Sampson’s initial feuding. Here we see love

represented in crude, sexual innuendoes that portray it as a physical

thing, with no emotion. This is shown in the scene between the two

“Women being the weaker vessels are ever thrust to a wall.” What they

are implying subtle and show to us the sheer superiority that these

people showed towards women… “I will push Montague’s men from the wall

and thrust his maids to the wall.” That is Sampson showing both his

hatred and lack of respect for the Montague’s by implying that he will

rape all of their women.

There are also many crude references made in a humorous way, most of

these supplied by the nurse who sees no need for subtleties on the

issue “And yet, I warrant, it had upon it brow a bump as big as a

young cockerel’s stone.” These references are often recurring during

the course of the play and they represent a type of “bawdy” humour,

bawdy being the Elizabethan word for a “whore.” The nurse obviously

enjoys this and has a common partner in Mercutio: - “Mercutio: ‘tis no

less, I tell you; for the bawdy hand of the dial is not upon the prick

of noon.

Nurse: Out upon you! What a man you are!” She pretends to be

embarrassed but is clearly very amused by these comments.

We hear Mercutio’s crudities on many occasions e.g. ”This...

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...l kiss thy lips; haply some poison doth hang on them to make me die with a restorative.” Clearly her own thoughts equal that of the Romeo’s in the respect that she has no care for her own life now that she has lost Romeo.

In conclusion, the irony is that their love, and death, was able to do what their lives could not, to end the feuding between the Montague’s and the Capulet’s. It is with this thought that I shall examine “the thin line between love and hate” which is evidently shown on many occasions, such as when Romeo uses his love for Juliet to remove his hate for Tybalt “Tybalt, the reason that I have to love thee doth much excuse the appertaining rage” and also the play itself is evident of this, Romeo and Juliet’s love was so strong for each other, that they were able to overcome hate and also the hate that others possessed towards each other.