Theme of Love in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet

Theme of Love in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet

Shakespeare seldom created his own plots for the plays he wrote and

Romeo and Juliet was not an exception. It was not unusual to 'borrow'

plays written by others and edit them to their own creative styles.

The play "Romeo and Juliet" had been 'borrowed' several times before

Shakespeares version, and the original version was actually a poem,

written in Italian by Masuccio Salernitano in 1476. Shakespeares main

source of inspiration though, came from a long, English poem written

by Arthur Brooke written in 1562. This poem was yet another adaptation

from the original. Another source of Shakespeares inspiration was a

later prose version, written by William Painter and entitled "The

Goody History of the true and constant love between Rhomeo and

Julietta". Shakespeare edited the nine month time-scale in Brookes

version an reduced it to 5 days in his own play. This was to emphasize

the instant passion and love felt between Romeo and Juliet. Including

several different attitudes towards love attracted a larger audience

and helped "Romeo and Juliet" in succeeding to become the most famous

and popular love story of all time.

To have an unrequited love was a popular social pose in the

Elizabethan times that in which the play was set and written, and this

is how Romeo begins the play. He worships Rosaline although she is

obviously unobtainable and he sends her messages of love and poetry,

hoping that one day his feelings will become mutual and she will love

him in return.

Romeo is a poetic character and despite his melodramatic approach to

love, he is a romantic. This is the oppo...

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...ssion such as the one felt between Romeo and

Juliet.

If Shakespeare were to have included only one or maybe two different

attitudes towards love in his play, then it would have been very

one-sided and opinionated. Including a variety of characters all with

different view of love reflected the many different types of people

actually lived at the time in which the play is set. Shakespeare

thought to include both romantic and realistic, both physical and

emotional attitudes towards the theme of love would attract more of an

audience. He varied the attitudes and opinions to appeal to a wide

range of people in the audience who could then reflect upon the

actions of their respective characters. His varying vies of love

helped 'Romeo and Juliet' in succeeding to become one of the greatest

love stories of all time.