Gottfried's Discourse In Romeo And Juliet

Gottfried’s discourse in love functions to both explain what he believes love is, and scold the audience for supposedly holding an incorrect view of love. He interrupts the story to announce to the reader that he has chosen to embark on this discourse, and suggests that we should be thankful he chose to give us a short discourse rather than a long one. This move feels sarcastic to me, like he is saying “oh dear reader, I could have given a LONG discourse here which would have probably bored your simple mind, but for your benefit I have condensed it so you can understand it”. From the very beginning he talks down to his audience, much like he does in the prologue. He then launches into a rant about how most people do not understand the true nature of love, and how he thinks of “the unending marvels that a man would find in love if he but knew where to seek them, and the joy there would be in love for those who would practise it sincerely” (202).

He also says earlier that he has “suffered the sweet torment” (202) little in his life, implying that he either recognizes the true nature of love or that he has not experienced much love at all. The former is more likely, as it emphasizes that he is somehow an expert on love because he has not felt great pain from it. He actually does very little to define how love should be practiced, which is both interesting and frustrating. He only says, although not directly, that two people often enter a relationship expecting it to be easy and all sunshine and roses (he uses an actual metaphor about roses to explain this), when it is actually hard work. To explain this point, he suggests that the couple expects to grow roses, when they actually grow “deadly nightshade” (202). Love is apparently not unlike poison, and Gottfried embraces this