Romantic love, an idea that can be described as the quintessence of human pleasure, causes more pain than it does happiness. This concept of love, as portrayed by countless works, is simply unrealistic. The word “love” can be used to describe relationships where there is a mutual caring; for example, the relationships between family members or friends. This is far different from the idea of romantic love that is oftentimes portrayed as lust. In “The Raven,” by Edgar Allen Poe, pain caused by love drives the main character to the point of insanity. In “Romeo and Juliet,” by William Shakespeare, love is broken due to circumstances out of the characters’ control. Contrarily, in Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 116,” love is portrayed as everlasting, contradicting …show more content…
In Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet,” fate is a common theme. There are countless instances where fate negatively affects Romeo and Juliet’s relationship. For example, the letter informing Romeo that Juliet is not dead is withheld by the mail service. “I could not send / it—here it is again— / Nor get a messenger to bring it thee,/ So fearful were they of infection” (Shakespeare 5.1, 14-16). This eventually leads to the deaths of both characters, proving that love can be beyond your control. In certain circumstances it can be extreme enough to cause death. If love was as it is portrayed in common media, this would not be the case. Another example of love being out of one’s control is when the Prince banishes Romeo. Romeo was faced with a situation where he was to either die or fight; he chose to defend himself. “A gentler judgment vanished from his lips: / Not body’s death, but body’s banishment” (Shakspeare 3.3, 10). This banishment caused endless suffering for both characters. Romeo was simply defending himself, yet they both face great amounts of pain because of this event that could not be controlled. This further proves that romantic love is not a positive force. When it is out of one’s control, it causes pain. In summary, romantic love cannot be controlled and as a result it causes …show more content…
In sonnet 116, Shakespeare talks about love as something that lasts to death, and cannot be broken. Contrarily, in Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare describes Romeo as going from “loving” Rosaline to “loving” Juliet in one day. “That fair for which love groaned for and would die / With tender Juliet matched, is now not fair” (Shakespeare 2, 3-4). This shows that Shakespeare acknowledges that love is not everlasting. Writing about both everlasting love and love that was found in a day, he contradicts himself, thus proving that romantic love is not everlasting. The underlying theme is that romantic love is not something that lasts until death. Love can last a long time, but the unrealistic idea of romantic love does not last until
Love is a wonderful curse that forces us to do unexplainable things. Romeo and Juliet is a famous play written by William Shakespeare, who does an exceptional job in showing the readers what hate, mercy, death, courage, and most importantly what love looks like. This play is about two star-crossed lovers who are both willing to sacrifice their lives just to be with one another. Unfortunately tragedy falls upon the unconditional love Romeo and Juliet have for each other, but along the way they experience immeasurable forgiveness and extraordinary braveness just to be with one another. Sadly enough, love is a cause of violence in the end. Even though the pair spends less time together, it is enough for them to fall in love. It is clearly true
William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is perhaps one of the most well-recognized love stories of all time. However, it is more than just a classic love story, it is a tale of desperation and obsession. While developing these themes, Shakespeare contrasts Romeo and Juliet’s obsession with the concept of real love; he also demonstrates the danger of obsession-Romeo and Juliet do not heed Friar Laurence’s ominously omniscient warning “[t]hese violent delights have violent ends/ and in their triumph die, like fire and powder,/ which, as they kiss, consume”(II vi 9-11), and obsession with honor is likewise dangerous. He probes the theme of despair; the suicidal impulses that become reality for Romeo and Juliet are grounded in the dynamic and
Most People tend to misconstrue the true meaning of love. They have a generalized ideology that love is all about having a romantic affair with the opposite gender. A scripture from the Holy Bible states that “ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs” (1 Corinthians 13: 4-5).
Edgar Allan Poe proves that subconscious fears and guilt may lead to insanity shown through the irrational behaviors of the narrator in “The Raven,” and “The Tell-tale Heart”. Both have contributed to the fear and ghostly motivators for his characters, as well as variation of diction, and suspense.
Love is portrayed as effortless, and is a natural, rewarding, and mutual ... ... middle of paper ... ... uld not have been so profoundly shaken by Mary's relationship with James. John was so upset by their relationship that selfishness consumed him: he did not consider his family when murdering and committing suicide. His own needs became his priority.
This passage marks the first of several types of love, and gives us an intuitive
In the tragic play, Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet”, Kausse states that “two star-crossed teenagers find one another, fall madly in love and despite their well-thought-out plans, are destroyed by their parents hate as well as other forces beyond their control.” Kausse believes that the “parents hate” is the reason for the teens demise, but it’s actually because of love. Romeo and Juliet never thought through their plans, they were spontaneous. After reading “Romeo and Juliet, any meticulous reader can come to the conclusion that Romeo and Juliet can’t control their emotions. Situations arose and got the best of them.
While these personifications are still true, it would be appropriate to acknowledge Love simply is a weapon. Love, when placed in the hands of a responsible person, can actually prove to be harmless. However, when abused, love can be far more damaging than a gun. Love can do things such as reunite a bickering family, help someone find their happy ending, or simply brighten someone’s day. The examples included in this analysis are examples of how love is used impurely, but rest assured, they should not be used as a definition of what love is.
There are exceptions to every rule however, when it comes to the idea that teenagers are incapable of true love, Romeo and Juliet are not amongst them. In his play, “The Most Excellent and Lamentable Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, “ William Shakespeare writes on the subject, via a tragedy involving two teens who believe they are truly in love. Despite their apparent passion and devotion though, articles such as Dezma Gainer’s “Getting a grasp on teenage ‘love’ can be complicated” bring forth several valid arguments that promote comprehension of what true love really is. Using her logic, it is evident that Shakespeare’s portrayal of young love is unreliable, as it depends heavily on stress and other outside forces, while true love should depend
From reading Romeo and Juliet, I developed the theme - love and hate are passionate emotions that can overtake logic/reason and cause people to act irrationally. In the play, hate between the Montagues and the Capulets led to the deaths of their kinsmen Mercutio and Tybalt. The despise between the two men solely rested on the fact that one was a Montague and the other a Capulet. This is illustrated by Tybalt in this line- ‘Peace? I hate the word as I hate hell and all Montagues.’” Tybalt doesn’t know every single Montague, yet his strong hate overshadows any logic and compels him to act with hate toward each and every Montague. The hate that he has for the Montague’s pushes him to act rashly and led him to combat Mercutio even though logically, their fight started for no real reason alone except that the two were in the streets at the same time.
Conclusively, one of Edgar Allan Poe's considerable masterpieces was the ability to create awry characters. Besides the unreliable narrators in many of Poe’s stories, Poe had an inclination for adding psychological or physical conditions and disorders to many of his stories. A mental disorder in characters is so typical in Poe’s work that readers familiar with enough of his stories tend to question the sanity of the characters automatically.
The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare introduces an immense amount of diverse characters, the Nurse and Friar Lawrence being two of many. Both these characters react to Romeo and Juliet’s situation out of the goodness of their hearts. For the Nurse, helping Romeo and Juliet meant that “her child” (in a sense since she raised Juliet since birth) would be happy and that’s all she could ever want. However, for Friar Lawrence, helping Romeo and Juliet with their marriage meant that he could help end the feud between both the Montague and Capulet families. Although, they both had good intentions, these goals could not be accomplished without the suffering of consequences. Furthermore, much controversy is seen throughout the play. Friar Lawrence and the Nurse both begin to contradict their original feelings towards helping Romeo and Juliet as they find themselves in difficult predicaments. Therefore, Friar Lawrence and the Nurse did not do the right thing as issues came about: the Nurse tells Juliet to marry Paris after hooking her and Romeo up, Friar marries Romeo and Juliet, and Friar leaves Juliet’s tomb when he hears trouble.
Without love, one would be completely miserable, but with love, instead, one is utterly and completely powerful with someone by their side. Romeo and Juliet, a famous tragedy written by William Shakespeare, brilliantly and realistically creates a love story between a forbidden couple. In this ill-fated story, the offspring of two quarreling families, the Capulets and Montagues, in Verona fall in love. Young Romeo, a Montague, and fair Juliet, a rivaling Capulet, fall in love at first sight. Despite the rivalry between their parents, Romeo and Juliet decide to marry the next day. However, after a dilemma involving Romeo sparks between their families, the two are left in a mortality as the aftermath between their feuding parents. Although these lovers chose a dark fate, their tragedy lives on forever. Comparing the modern society of today to the medieval settings of Romeo and Juliet, people continue to recognize love as a powerful concept that involves fate. Throughout the world of literature and life, love acts as a natural force that nurtures and cares for a creature or item. Similar to popular themes today, Shakespeare connects to the modern world by focusing on family love, lust for a companion, and the relationship of these two types of love from the 16th century to the 21st century. Shakespeare takes the concept of love into consideration by displaying a way to maintain both
In William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, love is exemplified more ways that we can imagine, from the undying love of two people to parental love. Love celebrated by the protagonists with playful sonnets to express their endearment and love for one another. Love that transcends from such powerful gazes and translates into an undying love. Society’s encroachment to a very innate and fundamental aspect of our being is met with violence and death. We must not forget that the very essence of love is that you cannot control love. It is innate, a reflex if you will, and for everyone the Holy Grail of life.
Love has a very complex upbringing. According to the Historical Dictionary of American Slang, by J.E Lighter, love started out being defined as “affection; friendliness; the love of God.” Originally, love had no relation to feelings towards other