Love is the forceful attraction between two people blossomed from desire and intimacy. Lust is physical manifestation of what many would call love, but in reality this feeling can bend the will of any man and woman alike. Lust is power, it is passion, and it can motivate. One thing love and lust has in common: they have the ability to kill. Thus tragedy strikes a wary, yet inevitable, sentiment every person experiences at least once in their lifetime.
Love in William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet
Everybody knows Romeo and Juliet are supposedly in love; many think otherwise. For example, this love story is a romance, a love on a path with death. Ever heard of Bonnie and Clyde, Cleopatra and Marc Antony, or the couple from titanic? If so observe how romance generally turns out terrible. Usually it ends in death but it also has alternatives, such as: tragic loss, separation, or heart break. Three things about love that are covered in the play Romeo and Juliet are romance, fairytales, and sacrifice.
Romance is a seed waiting to blossom in the presence of extreme feelings for another. Hazlitt thinks Romeo and Juliet is a portrayal of how love in generations changes and goes threw an evolution and it cannot be defined (Hazlitt). Schlegel thinks Love in a romance is an ethereal authority looking over “Romeo and Juliet” and their private marital affairs, and it also a sign of a wretched end (Schlegel). “Prodigious birth of love it is to me, that I must love a loathed enemy” (Shakespeare). Baker thinks Shakespeare tapped into his serious side of literature making Romeo and Juliet the “Perfect Tragedy” (Baker).
A fairytale is a story in which the unexpected outcomes take place and leads to a happy ending. Copeland thinks Shakespeare’s “Ro...
... middle of paper ...
... Web. 10
Panagopoulos, Nic. "Victory and Romeo and Juliet: Eros and Thanatos." Conradiana 39.2 (2007): 135+. Literature Resources from Gale. Web. 10
Radel, Nicholas F. "The Ethiop's Ear: Race, Sexuality, and Baz Luhrmann's William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet." The Upstart Crow 28 (2009): 17+. Literature Resources from Gale. Web. 10 Jan. 2014.
Schlegel, August Wilhelm. "Criticisms on Shakespeare’s Tragedies." Trans. John Black. A Course of Lectures on Dramatic Art and Literature. August Wilhelm Schlegel. Ed. A J. W. Morrison. 1846. Rpt. in Shakespearean Criticism. Ed. Mark W. Scott. Vol. 5. Detroit: Gale Research, 1987. Literature Resources from Gale. Web.
Shakespeare, William. Romeo and Juliet. http://shakespeare.mit.edu.
Wright, Laurence. "Hill of Fools: a South African Romeo and Juliet?" English in Africa 31.2 (2004): 73+. Literature Resources from Gale. Web. 10
Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is a play commonly viewed and known as a true love story; however, after analyzing several hints portrayed by the protagonists, it is evident that Shakespeare did not intend to make Romeo and Juliet seem like a true love story but a criticism of how superficial society’s view on love is.
Romeo and Juliet are madly in love with each other and will go to any lengths to be together.
Aubrey, Bryan. “Critical Essay on ‘Romeo and Juliet’.” Drama for Students. Ed. Anne Marie Hacht. Vol. 21. Detriot: Gale, 2005. Literature Resource Center. Web. 4 Dec. 2013.
Shakespeare, William. Romeo and Juliet. McDougal Littell Literature. Ed. Allen, Janet, et. al. Evanston, IL: McDougal Littell, 2008. 940-1049.
Lust or Love: An Essay Analyzing the Relationship of Romeo and Juliet in Romeo and Juliet
Kernan, Alvin. “Othello: and Introduction.” Shakespeare: The Tragedies. Ed. Alfred Harbage. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall Inc., 1964.
Bradley, A.C.. Shakespearean Tragedy: Lectures on Hamlet, Othello, King Lear and Macbeth. New York: Penguin Books, 1991.
...elm. Criticism on Shakespeare s Tragedies . A Course of Lectures on Dramatic Art and Literature. London: AMS Press, Inc., 1965.
Despite what many people think, Romeo and Juliet is not a love story; rather a story of desperation and obsession. People have been reading Shakespeare for hundreds of years and several people have mistaken it for a love story, due to the fact that Romeo loves Juliet so much he is willing to kill himself when he finds her supposedly dead; she does the same when she wakes up to find him dead. But in fact, Romeo is more taken aback by her beauty than he is in love with her. Juliet is intrigued by the fact someone could love her because her parents are very unsupportive of her. When the two find each other, they immediately become obsessed, mistaking this for love at first sight.
Romeo and Juliet is arguably the most famous story about love in literature. This is in part because of the tension caused by the look the different characters have towards what love means and its role in life. These views were very important for the progression of the story. Their different views collided and caused much grief and sorrow for the characters throughout play. Many important events that propelled the story forward would not have happened without the various feelings towards love the characters have and how they felt of and reacted to the other characters’ view on love.
< http://callisto.gsu.edu:4000/CGI:html> (5 May 1997). Rozen, Leah. "William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet."
Love is a wonderful curse that forces us to do unexplainable things. Romeo and Juliet is a famous play written by William Shakespeare, who does an exceptional job in showing the readers what hate, mercy, death, courage, and most importantly, what love looks like. This play is about two star-crossed lovers who are both willing to sacrifice their lives just to be with one another. Unfortunately tragedy falls upon the unconditional love Romeo and Juliet have for each other, but along the way they experience immeasurable forgiveness and extraordinary bravery just to be with one another. Sadly enough, love is a cause of violence in the end.
Love is ironic. It can take you anywhere in the world unexpectedly, and turn you into a person that you never were. However, love is also two-faced, having both a negative and positive view. It is what drives you to the point where you do not know who you are anymore. In Shakespeare's story, The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare perceives love with the personalities and actions of the characters, Romeo and Juliet. Both Romeo and Juliet are characterized as immature and irrational due to their "love." In addition, both characters fail to realize the reality of life and go towards the path of adolescence. Even though Romeo and Juliet are doomed at the end of the journey of "love," their demise was caused by their rash and silly decisions because their belief of everlasting love blinds them from reality and shapes their lives into an unstoppable time bomb.
Love is like a king who has the ruling power to controls how one acts, feels and even goes as far as controlling the relationship. As the fondness between newlyweds like Romeo and Juliet grows, the passion gains more power to control. This is because you fall so in love, the love makes you do some wild things. Ultimately, love can either be barbarous or sweet and will also bring a lover on a rollercoaster ride through the ups and downs.
Scott, Mark W. Shakespearean Criticism: Volume 8, Excerpts from the Criticism of William Shakespeare's Plays and Poetry, from the First Published Appraisals to Current Evaluations. Detroit, MI: Gale Research, 1987. Print.