William Shakespeare's Themes of Love and Hate In Romeo and Juliet

This is shown by continually juxtaposing scenes of passion with scenes of hatred - even romantic scenes are littered with the constant foreshadowing of death. This is backed up when we read ‘Friar Lawrence’ warning Romeo and Juliet that “violent delights can lead to violent ends” and encourages them to “love moderately”. Through Friar Lawrence, William Shakespeare teaches us, perhaps because of a personal experience, that the line between love and hate is finer than what meets the eye. I think that Shakespeare is portraying that people love to hate each other. Shakespeare opens the play in such a fashion that suggests hate and violence will be more powerful than love.

Shakespeare has created a quintessential tragedy in which deepens the audience’s understanding of the universal themes of love, hate, conflict and death. The recurring focus on the tension between love and hate makes us reflect on how these themes govern upon human behavior. In the play Romeo and Juliet, the main characters for which Romeo and Juliet the denial of love and dominance of hate creates extreme loss, in this case, death. In progress, audiences have recognized that the death of two young people is entirely imprudent, creating a need for acceptance. Shakespeare relinquishes us a valuable insight into the power of hatred and reinforcing it with dramatic and literary techniques such as foreshadowing, embittering tone and comparison to elucidate that hate is contagious and destructive.

In those days it was very fashionable and Shakespeare wrote many plays such as Hamlet and Julius Caesar written using a similar concept of tragedy. However this play of “Romeo and Juliet” is unusual because both characters die which increases the sense of waste as two young lives have ended. Overall in this specific scene, Shakespeare has set out to achieve a dramatic emotional meeting between the lovers, and put it into the context of the family feud so that the tragedy is already foreshadowed. The themes and techniques which are characteristic of Romeo and Juliet are clearly illustrated in Act 1 Scene 1. The main themes in the play are love, family, conflict and death.

Another example of catharsis is exemplified when the two lovers, Romeo and Juliet, meet for the first time. As Juliet says, “My only love, sprung from my only hate!” (I, v, 137) the audience feels extreme pity due to the fact that they know that these two people, who love each other, cannot be together because they are enemies. Yet, the reader wants them to be together, but know that it is impossible because of the blistering hatred of these two families. Aristotle explains that “tragedy arouses the emotions of pity and fear in order to purge away their e... ... middle of paper ... ...does not follow through with her responsibilities. Lastly, Romeo is impetuous in many different senses throughout the play, such as his sense of love, pride, and actions.

My life is my foe’s debt’, ‘my only love sprung from my only hate’. This shows Romeo and Juliet have found out they are enemies. This creates drama because this also makes the audience wonder what will happen next and how the characters will react when they find out. In my opinion this is one of the most important scenes in the play because this is where Romeo and Juliet and begin a relationship together. I liked the end of the scene the most because this where Romeo and Juliet find out they are enemies.

Additionally, it will explore the opposing views regarding the love portrayed by examining both, Romeo and Juliet’s idea of love, in which Shakespeare effectively presented through his use of language and technique. Lastly, this essay will study the power of the forbidden love between the main characters and highlight its consequences. Shakespeare wrote the famous tragedy Romeo and Juliet sometime between the years 1594 and 1595, during the Renaissance Period (Mason, 7). The love evident in the play both challenged and fulfilled the social norms of it... ... middle of paper ... ...wever, ironically, it drives them further apart, consequently leading to their tragic deaths. Draper argues that the mishaps of the play were merely ‘by chance’ resulting in the unfortunate death of the heroes of the play (16).

Many opposites such as love and hate, life and death have been used repeatedly to emphasis the conflict, which is presented well by William Shakespeare on different levels and in many ways. The themes of love and hate are used effectively, by applying different language, and the emotions expressed by the use of soliloquies. A great deal of violence and tension is built up from the start, but contrasted with the right amount of romance, producing an even balance. Shakespeare's use of contrast is well established in his opening prose, wher... ... middle of paper ... ...gery to make the conflict into a major part of the play, which turns it from being a romance, into a tragedy and leads to the inevitable result of the deaths of Romeo and Juliet. Romance is found at the heart as well due to “Romeo and Juliet’s” love for each other; breaking all traditions and discreetly having a hidden relationship behind their families’ backs.

Themes of Love and Hate in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet Romeo and Juliet is a play about two young lovers, whose love was destined for destruction from the beginning because of the hatred between the two families, Montagues and Capulets. Therefore, the themes of love and hate are very important in the play as the plot is driven by these two themes. Shakespeare brings out the love between the two rivals through Romeo and Juliet and their relationships with the Friar and the Nurse. I want to argue that in the play, the themes of love and hate are closely linked. To show this, I have selected some of the most important scenes in the play, which illustrate the idea that love and hate are closely bound together.

They are very bitter towards each other and Shakespeare uses different techniques to show the hatred between the two families. The plot thickens as Shakespeare kills of more characters; the play then concludes with both of the families calling a truce, however only after both of the lovers die. This is why the play is known to be a tragic play as events take place which are out of reach of the characters. It is then these events which decide the lover's fate. Before Shakespeare started writing, there was a great playwright called Aristotle, who had his own definition of the tragic genre.

The Portrayal of Romeo and Juliet's Relationship in the Play In my opinion, the relationship between Romeo and Juliet is portrayed in lots of different ways. It is portrayed as tragic, united, shows signs of true and untrue love, and also shows signs that the couple are a victim of fate. In the prologue, we learn that the play will end in tragedy. 'The fearful passage of their death marked love' This quote is a good summary of their relationship; they are in love but this love leads to death at the end of the 'passage'. This is also an example of dramatic irony; the audience knows what is on the way, making the story even sadder for them.