Different Types of Love in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet

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Different Types of Love in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet

In Romeo and Juliet, love is an integral theme and there is many

representations of love; family love, courtly love, sexual love, and

most importantly; the love between Romeo and Juliet. By comparing

their love to others, we can see just how committed the star-crossed

lovers are.

We first see examples of sexual love when Sampson and Gregory are

talking at the very beginning of the play. They are coarse and vulgar,

making jokes about the male sexual organs and raping women. They way

the speak portrays the general view about women and sex in those days.

Sex seems to be the main topic of conversation for Shakespearians as

we see further on in the play with Mercutio and his friends.

When Sampson speaks of “thrusting his maids to the wall” he is

suggesting that women are weaker and can be used for the sexual

pleasures of men. They see women as objects for sex, and not as

people. They even speak about sex when they see two Montague servants,

and Gregory says “draw thy tool”. This is a sexual innuendo, implying

that Sampson should prepare for sex because the Montague servants are

homosexual.

This is very different to the way Romeo and Juliet view sex. For them

it was part of love, not something to be taken lightly. They used sex

to consummate their marriage.

Courtly love is an idealised version of love, it is an admiration of

someone and building that admiration into something it isn’t. It is

the ‘love’ Romeo feels for Rosaline, and the ‘love’ Paris feels for

Juliet. Romeo never meets Rosaline, yet he believes to be in love with

her. He carves her name into t...

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...tancing himself from his family Romeo is

promising to stand by Juliet, no matter what. When Romeo speaks of his

“life were better ended by their hate” he is declaring his love for

Juliet, and saying that he would rather be dead than living without

Juliet’s love. Unwittingly, Romeo is anticipating the outcome of the

play, just like the chorus prophesises that the ending will not be a

happy one.

The different types of love help us understand the relationship

between Romeo and Juliet by showing us the background they came from,

and what they were expected to be doing and talking about. By

understanding this we can better relate to why they preferred to die

for their love than deny it. We now understand better what they were

up against and why it was so difficult for them to admit to the world

that they were in love.

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