The typical perception of Romeo and Juliet is that it is solely about love. However, upon reading the play, the reader discovers the volume of violent themes running throughout. For example, the play is littered with death and violent imagery. However, I believe that throughout, it is made clear that there is a fine line between such powerful emotions. This is shown by continually juxtaposing scenes of passion with scenes of hatred - even romantic scenes are littered with the constant foreshadowing of death. This is backed up when we read ‘Friar Lawrence’ warning Romeo and Juliet that “violent delights can lead to violent ends” and encourages them to “love moderately”. Through Friar Lawrence, William Shakespeare teaches us, perhaps because of a personal experience, that the line between love and hate is finer than what meets the eye. I think that Shakespeare is portraying that people love to hate each other.
Shakespeare opens the play in such a fashion that suggests hate and violence will be more powerful than love. Shakespeare opens his first act with a scene that displays the misogynistic world where love would have to be extremely powerful to survive. This is portrayed with two Capulet servants conversing with vulgar language. For example, Sampson talks about women when he says they are the “weaker vessel” who “are ever thrust to the wall”. This paints the picture of women as cargo ships – which are meant to be filled with cargo. Shakespeare is trying to show how Sampson believes he is compatible with any “vessel” he chooses. Perhaps this could also imply that he has a large ego and is so strong that he could “thrust” a whole boat. It’s possible that Shakespeare is using Sampson to symbolise men as products of their society an...
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...that wherever love is, there too is violence. He is trying to show the power of such emotions and how when they collide, mortality’s chances rise, in that violence is imminent. Shakespeare uses beautiful and religious imagery to show the purity of love but also how it can lead to death under extreme circumstances. I think that, in Elizabethan times, the audience would be used to the violence, hate and misogyny as the people were products of their society and its views; they would have focussed on the romantic element of the play. Perhaps this is why it is commonly regarded as a romantic play. However, 21st century audiences/readers acknowledge the violent misogynistic aspect as the themes are not as common today. In my opinion, Shakespeare was trying to convey the power of such extreme emotions and in the words of his character Friar Lawrence, to “love moderately”.
The play also highlights the position of women in Elizabethan times. At the beginning of Act One we are introduced to Sampson and Gregory who are servants of the Capulet's and they are in the market place of Verona. They are messing around joking to each other and in the process puns are used such as collier, choler and collar. In the time this play was shown, this would have being considered very funny to the audience.
...ut Nothing is an extremely fast paced and witty play, Shakespeare very much has love as his central theme. There are two very different, yet equally compelling relationships that are explored in depth. They run through the play concurrently, allowing the reader to compare and contrast the different facets and complexities between the two. The playwright’s rich understanding of relationships, and particularly his understanding of the fact that love is not always as formulaic as many a writer would have us believe, makes for a fascinating read. In fact, by directly comparing a realistic couple, full of real world self doubt and a fear of rejection with a very stereotypical love-at-first-sight type of relationship, Shakespeare is possibly making the point that love and relationships have more depth than is often given credit.
Throughout Romeo and Juliet love and hate are combined. However even though they are combined love still remains the principal theme in the play. Although in the play the theme of hatred can be just as important and sometimes it intensifies the theme of love. For example Romeo and Juliet’s love wouldn’t have been so extreme and powerful unless there was the hatred between the Montague’s and Capulet’s.
Ever heard that too much hate is a bad thing? Well in Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare shows how the hate we have can lead to unintentional consequences. In Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, Shakespeare illustrates how hate affects the way someone says or does something. From the very beginning of the story, Shakespeare tells us how much hate the two families have for each other. In the opening scene in Verona, the two servants of different families, the Montagues and Capulets, start a fight between each other.
This theme is not only represented in “Romeo and Juliet”, or other playwrights and stories that people read about online, but in their everyday life. Although Shakespeare makes the theme of love and hate dramatic and over the top in Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare delivers the message of how love and hate can overpower and consume us, and if we aren’t careful, it can easily blow up and destroy everything. As Kurt Tucholsky once said, “Those who hate most fervently must have once loved deeply; those who want to deny the world must have once embraced what they now set on fire.” The coexistence of love and hate was not something Romeo and Juliet could choose to embrace or avoid, it was simply
Themes of Love and Hate in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Romeo and Juliet is a play about two young lovers, whose love was destined for destruction from the beginning because of hatred. between the two families, Montagues and Capulets. Therefore, Themes of love and hate are very important in the play as the plot is driven by these two themes. Shakespeare brings out the love between the two rivals through Romeo and Juliet and their relationships with the Friar and the Nurse.
The beginning of Act one opens with a brawl in the street between the servants of the Capulets and the Montagues. The origin of the fight introduces the important theme of masculine honor. Sampson, one of Capulets servants, shows this masculinity by saying, “Draw, if you be men.” (I.i.64). Later on in the play in Act II, scene i. the display of honor and masculinity comes up again during the fight between Mercutio and Tybault. As Mercutio lay slain Romeo says to him, “Courage, man. The hurt cannot be much.” (III.i.96). Even as his friend is dying the two men try and act masculine because they did not want to show their fears. But on the other side of this masculinity is love. For Elizabethan society believed that a man who loved too much lost his masculinity. Romeo clearly subscribes to that belief when he states that his love for Juliet made him “effeminate.”
A young girl, like Juliet can be mesmerized by the idea of love and have the thought in her head that love is all that matters. The intensity of love in both of these texts becomes a dangerous and violent thing. Juliet goes through physical pain stabbing herself so she could be with Romeo after his death. Juliet looks at death as a positive thing because it allows her to be with Romeo again. Before she kills herself she says, “O, happy dagger, this is thy sheath. There rust, and let me die” (Shakespeare V.iii.174-175). In most romantic tales, violence is the last thing you would think of when it comes to love, but it would be different in this play. In both of these texts we see love destroy people mentally and physically; instead of bring happiness to their lives. When Juliet notices that Romeo drank poison and had killed himself, she was not only upset about his death but also seemed more upset that he “left no friendly drop to help me after! I will kiss thy lips. Haply some poison yet doth hang on them” (Shakespeare V.iii.168-170). This bond that seems to be unbreakable between them causes more harm than it would have if they were not together like society would want them to be. During this time period in the 16th century, the parents usually arranged marriages, so this goes completely against societal
Romeo and Juliet had such a strong love that they would die for each other. This is what Shakespeare is trying to show us what love is all about and this is why he chose to write this story, not to show hate, but to show love.
Imagine being a woman in sixteenth century Europe. Females were raised to believe that they were subservient and that men knew better on any subject. Basically, women had no rights. They were considered property, first “owned” by their fathers and then control was “transferred” to the husband chosen for them. Marriage was not about love, but in most cases, it was a business deal that was mutually beneficial to both families – an interesting fact is that like young women, most young men had no choice in the selection of their future betrothed. These traditions and the gender roles assumed by men and women at that time had an impact on Shakespeare’s writing and performances and a great example of this is evident in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
.... As the feuding relationship only makes the love between Romeo and Juliet more desirable but the hate more violent. First off, Romeo attending the Capulet ball is the first part of the play where we experience hate between the two families. As Juliet and Romeo first see each other, it becomes love at first sight and eventually impacts both families both good and bad. Just as important is when Tybalt sees Romeo at the ball, which unleashes a burning hate and leads to the duel between Mercutio and Tybalt. Lastly, Capulet marrying Juliet off to Paris and moving the wedding day ahead ruins Friars plan and leads to the death of two beloved ones but creates a new kinship between the two families. At the end of the play it is clear that although it came at a deep cost to everyone, love infact played a major role in causing the hate between two families to end for good.
Created in 1595, Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is about two star-crossed lovers from opposing families who hold an ancient grudge. The theme is about love and hate throughout the play.
Ultimately`, William Shakespeare shows in many different ways throughout the play, ‘Romeo and Juliet’, that love is the more powerful force than hate. The readers see how the characters continuously forgive one another, even when the conditions are tough. The friendships between specific characters display a loving bond that cannot be broken with hate. Shakespeare demonstrates that Romeo and Juliet’s love can overpower the hate of many events in the play. He shows that their love can even overpower the death of one of their own family members. Romeo and Juliet’s love brings friendship between their feuding families. This story is a true example of how love can conquer all.
Romeo and Juliet is a romantic love story about a young lad named Romeo who has fallen in love with Lady Juliet, but is unable to marry her because of a long-lasting family feud. The play ends in the death of both these characters and the reunion of the friendship between the families. Romeo is in love with Juliet, and this is a true, passionate love (unlike the love Paris has for her or the love Romeo had for Rosaline) that nothing can overcome, not even the hatred between their two families that is the reason for the death of their two children. Throughout the play, Shakespeare thoroughly explores the themes of both true love and false love and hatred. Without either of these themes, the play would loose its romantic touch and probably would not be as famous as it is today.
In the first scene of Act one there is the servants Sampson and Gregory talking about sexual love. As they both talk about taking girls virginity. They both sound arrogant as they talk as if it is through experience. To them the thoughts of taking a girl’s virginity seems a joking matter.