Until Death Do Us Part

924 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: shakespeare's ideas of love

Until Death Do Us Part…In a Few Days

Prior to the 19th century, love and marriage were often considered to be separate concepts. Marriage was strictly business management whereas love was a pursuit outside of marriage. During the renaissance, “ideal” love was a purifying and noble experience. There were two outcomes necessary for the love to be deemed ideal: there could only be a union of the hearts, minds and soul, not the bodies; and the unrequited desire had to lead to ennobling of the lover. The play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare can be read as a satire of courtly love as opposed to a tragic love story celebrating it. This is because Shakespeare mocks “ideal” beauty conventions, suggest that courtly love is not actually love, and uses irony to exaggerate its effects.

In Act 1 scene 5, sixteen-year-old Romeo Montague is at the Capulet house when he first lays eyes on thirteen-year-old Juliet Capulet. He asks, “Did my heart love till now? Foreswear it, sight, for I ne’er saw true beauty till this sight”(1.5.50-51). Romeo has completely forgotten about his former crush Rosaline, and has fallen in love with Juliet. This scene can be seen as Petrarchan because like in Petcharch’s sonnets to his beloved Laura, Romeo idealizes Juliet through metaphors and similes. Romeo describes Juliette as “a snowy dove trooping with crows/ As younder lady o’er her fellows shows”(1.5. 45-6), meaning she outshines the other women like a white dove in the middle of a flock of crows. In Sonnet 130, another one of Shakespeare’s works, he ridicules these Petrarchan clichés that idealize women beyond compare. In his sonnet, he declares: “I think my love as rare/As any she belied with false compare” (13-14). He is essentially saying that he ...

... middle of paper ...

...onclusion, Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet has proven to be a satire of courtly love conventions as opposed to a romantic tragedy that celebrates courtly love. It is no surprise that Shakespeare’s mockery of courtly love within sonnet 130 was also present within this play. Romeo’s Petrarchan words that idealize Juliet ultimately make Juliet realize how irrational Romeo is being. By following the book (following courtly love conventions), Romeo emphasizes how courtly loves is merely the love for the idea of being in love rather than actual love. The courtly love within this play is never seen as a purifying and noble experience because ironically, this adolescent fling resulted in a death count higher than the number of days Romeo and Juliet were together for.

Bibliography

Shakespeare, William. Romeo and Juliet. 57-119.

Shakespeare, William. Sonnet 130. 11.

Show More
Related

  • Obsession and Infatuation in Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

    552 Words  | 2 Pages

    Romeo and Juliet is one of the most famous love tales, but what if the play is not actually a tale of love, but of total obsession and infatuation. Romeo has an immature concept of love and is rather obsessive. Romeo is not the only person in the play who is obsessed though. Many people throughout the play notice his immaturities about love. Very rarely was true love actually shown in the play. attention. Romeo childishly cries to his friend, Benvolio because Rosaline will not love him back and says " She hath forsworn to love, and in that vow/ Do I live dead that live to tell it now" (I i 219-220). Romeo is stating that he's ready to die for loving Rosaline. This is exactly the same attitude Romeo had towards Juliet a little later in the play. During Scene I, Act ii, Romeo's friend, Benvolio tries to get him to go to the Capulet's party to help him get over Rosaline and meet other women Romeo gets very angry and emotional when he suggests this. “Now Romeo is beloved and loves again, / Alike bewitched by the charm of looks” (II 5-6). The chorus expresses Romeo’s juvenile way...

    Read More

  • Ambiguity of Juliet's Character in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet

    1513 Words  | 4 Pages

    Marrying an accomplished and wealthy man would make life a lot better for the daughter. The subject of love in plays previous to Romeo and Juliet had nearly always been based around comedy. Never before had this subject of love been seen as serious or tragic. Therefore, the creating of this new way to look at love’s emotions was a dramatic device in its... ... middle of paper ... ...

    Read More

  • Romeo And Juliet Oxymoret Analysis

    841 Words  | 2 Pages

    When the play first introduces Romeo, Benvolio tries to find the root of his companion’s persistent grief. Instead, Romeo answers with a series of ambiguous riddles and contradicting phrases. Merging the potential joys of love with his current suffering of unrequited love, he expresses the complexity and bittersweetness of romance, exclaiming, “O brawling love, O loving hate” (Shakespeare 1.1.181), and later suggesting that it is both “A choking gall, and a preserving sweet” (1.1.201). Despite his hapless attempts with Rosaline, Romeo holds on to simply the concept of love and his idealistic impressions of romance. Paired with the extremity of his thoughts and emotions, these oxymorons demonstrate his immaturity and inexperience with entirely devoting himself to another individual. Though initially recognized as a character who considers the world with notable maturity, Juliet reacts similarly when faced with a crisis in her relationship with Romeo. After hearing her beloved husband kills her cousin, she becomes irate: “Beautiful tyrant, fiend angelical! / Dove-feathered raven, wolvish-ravening lamb! / Despised substance of divinest show!” (3.2.81-83) The first four oxymorons reveal

    Read More

  • 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

  • Lust In Romeo And Juliet

    1062 Words  | 3 Pages

    Lust or Love: An Essay Analyzing the Relationship of Romeo and Juliet in Romeo and Juliet

    Read More

  • The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare

    972 Words  | 2 Pages

    So we can see that the whole process of love and marriage starts off in quite a different way to how would today. There is also the financial aspect to consider. This played an enormous part in choosing a partner. Shakespeare makes it clear that young men in his time were not so concerned with finding love, but instead were looking for wealth. "I come to wive it wealthily in Padua; If wealthily, then happily in Padua."

    Read More

  • Romeo And Juliet Who Is At Fault Essay

    704 Words  | 2 Pages

    “Don’t waste your love on someone who doesn’t value it.” In the play Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare exposes the life of two young lovers in the Renaissance period fighting for something they cannot live without; each other. Although fate takes its toll, the everlasting feud between two families, conditional love by parents, and the irresponsibility’s of father and mother like figure are the main causes in the death of Romeo and Juliet. The idea of love is something that is valued in this play from many different aspects of characters, lines, and scenes. Shakespeare leaves the minds of readers soaring over not why it happened, but who was at fault.

    Read More

  • A Comparison of Today's Attitudes About Love and Marriage to those in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet

    1557 Words  | 4 Pages

    A Comparison of Today's Attitudes About Love and Marriage to those in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet

    Read More

  • Romeo And Juliet Obsession Analysis

    987 Words  | 2 Pages

    William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is perhaps one of the most well-recognized love stories of all time. However, it is more than just a classic love story, it is a tale of desperation and obsession. While developing these themes, Shakespeare contrasts Romeo and Juliet’s obsession with the concept of real love; he also demonstrates the danger of obsession-Romeo and Juliet do not heed Friar Laurence’s ominously omniscient warning “[t]hese violent delights have violent ends/ and in their triumph die, like fire and powder,/ which, as they kiss, consume”(II vi 9-11), and obsession with honor is likewise dangerous. He probes the theme of despair; the suicidal impulses that become reality for Romeo and Juliet are grounded in the dynamic and

    Read More

  • Romeo as a Typical Courtly Lover in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet

    1509 Words  | 4 Pages

    Romeo as a Typical Courtly Lover in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet In Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, Romeo is portrayed as a typical courtly lover. In my essay I will be examining the first act of the play and exploring Romeo as a courtly lover and his transition from loving Rosaline to loving Juliet. In traditional medieval literature there were often fictional characters who were known as courtly lovers. At the start of the play Shakespeare has portrayed Romeo as a traditional courtly lover because he follows the rules of courtly love.

    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

  • Similarities Between As You Like It And Twelfth Night

    1373 Words  | 3 Pages

    It is well known that Shakespeare’s comedies contain many marriages, some arranged, some spontaneous. During Queen Elizabeth's time, it was considered foolish to marry for love. However, in Shakespeare’s plays, people often marry for love. With a closer look into two of his most famous plays As You Like It and Twelfth Night or What You Will, I found that while marriages are defined and approached differently in these two plays, Shakespeare’s attitudes toward love in both plays share similarities. The marriages in As You Like It’s conform to social expectation, while the marriages are more rebellious in Twelfth Night. Love, in both plays, was defined as

    Read More

  • Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare

    1138 Words  | 3 Pages

    Also love today includes sex unlike courtly love. If a man kept pursuing a woman today to marry him and she continued to refuse the man would most probably give up on her, dissimilar to the courtly lover that would keep on trying. Shakespeare mocks the idea of courtly love in his play in his use of language, the characters and how they go in and out of their roles of courtly love. I aim to look at the plays moral, philosophical and social significance. Also I will analyse Shakespeare's stagecraft and appeal to the audience and to look at the patterns and details of words.

    Read More

  • The Definition of Love

    1038 Words  | 3 Pages

    Love has been expressed since the beginning of time; since Adam and Eve. Each culture expresses its love in its own special way. Though out history, though, it’s aspect has always been the same. Love has been a major characteristic of literature also. One of the most famous works in literary history is, Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. This story deals with the love of a man and a woman who’s families have been sworn enemies. There love surpassed the hatred in which the families endured for generations. In the end they both ended up killing their selves, for one could not live without the other. This story is a perfect example of true love.

    Read More

More about Until Death Do Us Part

Open Document