Comparing Fool For Love And Sam Shepard

Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet – popularly considered by many to be the quintessential love story of all time – is a play that we are all familiar with in one way or another. Whether it be through the plethora of portrayals, adaptations and performances that exist or through your own reading of the play, chances are you have been acquainted with this tale of “tragic love” at some point in your life. Through this universal familiarity an odd occurrence can be noted, one of almost canonical reverence for the themes commonly believed to be central to the plot. The most widely believed theme of Romeo and Juliet is that of the ideal love unable to exist under the harsh social and political strains of this world. Out of this idea emerge two

Most of the major characters in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night experience some form of love or marriage. Whether it’s unrequited like with Antonio and Malvolio, or it is something seemingly unattainable like with Duke Orsino. Regardless, it is clear that love is prevalent as one of the central themes Shakespeare seems to emphasize in Twelfth Night. With that, we see him communicate different interpretations and feelings regarding the subject. He does this with the medium of melodramatic characters. In this essay, I will elaborate on the opinions of love that Shakespeare communicates through one of the leading characters:

Romeo and Juliet for example the oppression of their love leads them to kill themselves or in other words there demise. Or in Macbeth the main character Lady Macbeth suffers none of her husband’s uncertainty. She desires the kingship for him and wants him to murder Duncan in order to obtain it. If there would have been love in their relationship she would not of had the desire to kill her beloved husband. This central theme seen throughout suggests that Shakespeare himself wasn't receiving love and didn't live a completely fulfilled life. By writing around love in almost everyone of plays many have drawn the conclusion that Shakespeare himself was gay. Because he was unable to love he did not allow any no one else too.

Matthew Shepard was a young man who was accepting and optimistic. He put his friends and family first and had a knack for relating to almost everyone. He was a person that you could always approach and loved challenges. Matthew loved equality and stood up for the differences in everyone. He became active in his community theater on and off stage because of his love for acting. “Matthew went to various colleges and universities but ended up at the University of Wyoming in Laramie studying foreign languages and relations, as well as, political science.” (matts story)

In my opinion it seems Shakespeare was trying to send a message to his audiences that marriage was

Another aspect of the play that can easily relate to modern audiences is, William Shakespeare’s use of mistaken identities and true-life experiences especially mourning for the loss of family and love obsessions, are among the main focuses of the play. Many people in the audience of today would most likely be able to relate to Olivia’s intense mourning of her brother, since people’s feelings and actions at the time of loss don’t change just the periods of times that they occur do. Love is commonly used in many forms of works of entertainment because it is an unsolved mystery that everyone usual enjoys watching or reading. The infatuation that the Duke has for Olivia is comical throughout the play and forces the Duke to say

One of love’s most prominent characteristics is its ability to engulf the human mind in floods of pure emotion. In the short term, love is often associated with phrases such as hearts “skipping a beat” or “butterflies” in one’s stomach. As an act of intuition and instinct, love can have immediate physiological and psychological effects. As a result, love’s psychosomatic manifestations often lead their bewitched to direct as many efforts as possible toward winning another’s heart. With regard to this motif of physical and emotional infatuation, Shakespeare argues, being in love causes us to become inconsistent and to allow ourselves to be buffeted by the wild waves of our ever-changing desires. In the play,

Shakespeare illustrates how love can become impure through the love of allies. Through their relationships with the young lovers, both the

Finally, marriage in Shakespeare’s time was not a symbol of love, it was seen to be advantageous to the man as it was a way to make money. It was a business arrangement and the men were content with this as it meant that they had all of the power, whilst the women had none. For all the reasons stated above, values and attitudes have changed since Shakespeare’s time so therefore, this play would be viewed differently by a modern audience. In both points that we’re made above, you can see that men’s rights were above women’s, which I think is absolutely

In the volume Shakespeare and Tragedy John Bayley explains the love and self-love in the play:

Shakespeare has an unfavorable opinion of love because he emphasizes that one continuously gets hurt by it, it causes fights within a family, and it brings about madness. Romeo perpetually gets hurt by the hands of love. “This love feel I, that feel no love in this” (I.i.178). Romeo had fallen head over

This makes it seem like she could care less about the other half of the relationship: spending time with each other, having personal conversations, and motivation one another. But that all she cares about is the physical rather than emotional side of the relationship. Which again suggests Shakespeare is trying to show lust rather than

There are many different types of love in this world, thus there are many different ways of expressing love. What revolves around that love, and the many different circumstances, trials, and tribulations that a love might face can greatly influence the outcomes of that love. These trials and tribulations can also be seen as different literary elements when used in plays. When looking at Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, he used many different themes and elements to provide complexity to the love story. Shakespeare cleverly takes the main theme of the play, love, and ties in other elements such as time, stage imagery, and language to pull the whole play together in a way that makes one think about the play on other levels.

The couple's feeling is stated to the audience by Shakespeare as of pure love, whereas who knew him best, such as the friar, stated otherwise, "For doting, not for loving, pupil mine"

The beauty of love is what this passage focuses on, it shows us the love that two young lovers have towards each other. Even though they both know that their love is forbidden, they still love each other deeply. Shakespeare’s writing skills helps the audience connect with the characters with