Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

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Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

How does Shakespeare present the themes of love and hate in Act 1

(focusing on Scene Five) of Romeo and Juliet?

The presentations of both love and hate reach their first climaxes in

Act 1, in the meeting of Romeo and Juliet, and in the hatred that

Romeo stirs in Tybalt during that meeting. The characters playing

major roles in this scene, Romeo, Juliet and Tybalt, are each seen to

experience both ends of the emotional spectrum, and the way

Shakespeare orders events highlights this contrast, and also helps

build dramatic irony.

Shakespeare's presentation of love and hate is defined in the

Prologue, where the Chorus recites a sonnet that informs the audience

of the conclusion of the entire drama, where “A pair of star-cross’d

lovers take their life”. It is here that Shakespeare destroys the

notion of free will inside his play, and the underlying theme of fate

in association with love and hate is announced. Also, with the

audience forewarned of the outcome, all that takes place is seen in a

new light, as now the audience care less about what happens, but how.

Romeo and Juliet’s sonnet later in the play contains echoes of the

opening one, further enhancing the idea that we are watching two

people being carried inexorably toward their destiny, an image that

epitomises the whole tragedy.

A different type of love is seen prior to Scene Five. It is the more

orthodox Petrarchan love, and Romeo seems to be trapped in the role of

stereotypical lover, talking in clichés and inert metaphors, and it

seems that Romeo is almost in love with the idea of being in love

rather than with the elusive Ro...

... middle of paper ...

... by the Nurse, a reminder to the audience that

the romance will end in tragedy. The couple are forcibly broken from

their trance, and the one perfect moment of the romance is broken, as

Romeo and Juliet are parted, and their respective lineages discovered.

Never again is the romance so perfect; the theme of untainted love has

reached it's apex.

In conclusion, Shakespeare presents true love, as between Romeo and

Juliet, as an overwhelming, bewildering and thoroughly compulsive

experience, as opposed to the confined and orthodox role-play acted

out by Romeo and Rosaline. Hatred is portrayed as Love's eternal

nemesis: it is always hate in some form that disrupts the romance in

this scene, violence that follows the lovers wherever they go, and

hate that triggers the chain of events that concludes with double

suicide.

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