Different Aspects of Familial Love in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet

Different Aspects of Familial Love in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet

At the time Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet, familial love was very

different to what we know it as today. Parents did not have a close

relationship with their children. A nurse was often hired by the upper

classes to breast feed their children because it was not accepted in

polite society. Fathers often arranged marriages for their daughters,

who would usually only be about twelve or thirteen years old,

Marriages often lacked love. Children were used by upper classes to

make financial agreements etc. This is probably why children in the

upper classes were often closer to their nurses than their parents.

Family relations today are often very different from the family

relations in Romeo and Juliet. Parents are close to their children and

marriages are not often arranged within the Christian community by the

parents. I think Shakespeare chose two arguing families for the

tragedy because if something happens to one person, it affects the

whole family i.e. the actions of one person could drastically change

what happens to everyone else.

The prologue at the beginning of the play tells us that the familial

love of the Capulets and the Montagues would stop Romeo and Juliet

ever standing a chance. It also outlines the feud between the

Montagues and the Capulets, and this would deny Romeo and Juliet the

chance to have a proper marriage.

The play opens with a fight between the servants of the Montagues and

the Capulets. Romeo's cousin, Benvolio, and Juliet's cousin, Tybalt,

get involved in the fight. This starts the feud between the two

families again-

...

... middle of paper ...

...at it was just a reflex action to compete with each

other.

From this play, it seems that children from the time that it was based

had almost no relationship with their parents. Today we would find

this rather strange; children who live with their parents are usually

close to them. In addition, children were often used for financial

gain through arranged marriages. However, some aspects of familial

love are the same as they were in the play. Newly weds love each other

passionately, the way that Romeo and Juliet loved each other.

Shakespeare shows us many aspects of familial love, from that of a

husband and wife to a nephew and his uncle. I think Shakespeare wrote

this play to show that the right kind of familial love is important

for everyone to be happy, which is something that people can still

relate to today.