Love in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet

Love in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet William Shakespeare examines the concepts of love in the tragic play

Romeo and Juliet; this is show by the way Romeo's character develops

throughout various scenes in the play. Set in Verona 'Romeo and

Juliet' conveys a tragic tale about true love and its difficult

circumstances, with the themes of love, hatred and fate to evoke a

feeling of empathy for Romeo and Juliet, at their time of need. I will

be examining the presentation of Romeo throughout key scenes in the

play and analysing the impact of certain events.

The initial brawl between the Montagues and Capulets in Act1 Scene1

introduces the two families in the play as being vindictive and

resentful. Tybalt, Juliet's cousin, obviously hates the Montagues and

stands out as being malicious and spiteful. While Romeo, who was not

present at the initial brawl, seems distanced from his family and

their hatred toward the Capulets. Shakespeare does this to allow the

audience to see Romeo as a loving and peaceful person.

When the audience first begin to see Benvolio questioning his cousin

Romeo about why he has been 'so secret and so close', he seems to be

thoughtful and unaware of time from his remark 'Is the day so young?'

This tells the audience that Romeo is distraught about losing Rosaline

and seems detached from reality. Romeo continues to say 'Ay me! Sad

hours seem long', this underlines Romeo depression since he sees time

getting longer and longer because he is low-spirited. As Romeo

questions his cousin Benvolio 'what fray ...

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...e as he

is mentally and physically tierd and his knowledge that fate was

against the unity of the Capulet and Montague families'. The audience,

realising the tragic irony of Romeo death, now see love as an

overwhelming and cruel emotion. They also begin to acknowledge that

the dramatic purpose of Romeo's last soliloquy was to evoke sympathy

for Romeo and illustrate how a feud can never solve any situation.

Through Shakespeare's presentation of Romeo we have acquired the

knowledge of how can love influence and manipulate someone without

them fully knowing. I myself have learnt that love can be

intoxicating, as you cannot control how you feel towards someone else.

Furthermore I have leant of how fate can never be changed or

manipulated by love, even though Romeo and Juliet went to any extent

to be with one another.