Duality Of Love In Romeo And Juliet

In literature, characters are used to portray the existence of duality. Romeo, from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, is a prime example of a character who ponders the duality between love and hate. He feels as if his “love” for Rosaline (a nun in training) is physically harming him, saying, “Is love a tender thing? It is too rough, too rude, too boisterous, and it pricks like thorn.”

n literature duality is anything that has two sides mostly dealing with good and evil. In many different books, duality plays an important role in showing who the characters are and how the story occurs. Books such as Dr. Jekyll and Mrs.Hyde, Romeo and Juliet, and the Bible are books that duality plays a huge role in.

Hate is one very important idea examined in Romeo and Juliet and is explored by Juliet when she states ‘Here's much to do with hate, but more with love’ (1.1.166). William Shakespeare conveys the consequences of hate in his play through the ancient feud between the Capulet’s and the Montague’s, the irrational decisions made and the deaths that resulted. It is the ancient feud between the two families that lead to the irrational decisions made by Romeo and Juliet as well as their demise. It is questionable as to whether Romeo and Juliet’s lives would be spared if their families were not feuding.

Romeo and Juliet, one of William’s Shakespeare most famous classic works, is a heart-wrenching tale which is composed of passionate love and anger. It is a timeless piece of literature that has lasted to this century. The beautiful story is set in the remote town of Verona. This play recounts a tale of two star-crossed lovers, forbidden to pursue their inescapable love due to the long history of a violent family feud. Passion is strongly represented in Romeo and Juliet’s undying romance. As the story continues, passionate and uncontrolled anger is clearly expressed, fuelled by the noxious hatred of the family’s feud, intensifying as the plot progresses.

Romeo and Juliet is a play that shows how intense relationships between two young people can be, this is shown in the love that Romeo and Juliet have for each other. Then how Reckless Romeo and Juliet are stating they would kill each other if anything were to happen to the other. Finally the grief they have when they learn that the other is dead causes them to kill themselves shows the final intensity of their love. Shakespeare is trying to caution quick love or love that is created in an instant and has no thought or reason behind it.

Songs of Innocence & Songs of Experience, by Blake, and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, by Stevenson, are two stories, which present a case of duality. At the beginning of each of these novels, the author presents two different extremes: Blake presents innocence and experience and Stevenson presents good and evil. In both of these novels, as the story progresses, their two extremes struggle to coexist and one ultimately dominates over the other. Both Songs of Innocence & Songs of Experience and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde understand duality as the struggle of two things to coexist, however, one ultimately ends up dominating over the other.

An example of a character having duality is when Tessie had “won” the lottery, everyone had followed what they were supposed to do blindly without questioning it. This scene shows that everyone was ready to kill someone when needed without second thought. Also before this, when people were drawing cards they were joking around and talking to each other. However this isn’t the only example of people having duality. Another example of a character of having duality is when Tessie comes to the lottery all cheerful but when she is chosen, she starts to act as if it’s unfair. She tries to convince the crowd that it was unfair and that they should start over.

In the play Romeo & Juliet, William Shakespeare utilizes opposites in both the thoughts and actions of the characters in Romeo and Juliet. Outlined are contrasts of crime and violence versus peace and law, love versus hate, and young versus old.

Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel, Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, explores the duality of human nature. He writes this novel to show us that humans have split personalities, and that there are two sides to human’s personality: good and evil. In the late-Victorian literature, duality appears to be a common theme; serving as a way for modern readers to analyze late-Victorian literature and culture. Stevenson weaves throughout the novel a theme of duality + which appears in the characters of both Jekyll and Hyde as well as in Stevenson’s characterization of London itself.

Shakespeare uses juxtaposition in Romeo and Juliet to show the love of their complex characterization. Shakespeare uses juxtaposition to

Imagine two basic, preppy girls fighting because one of them says hateful things behind the other’s back but is nice to her face. In the wild land of high school one may call this being “Two faced,” but no this is just that girl exercising the dual nature of her DNA. Duality is a literary term used to express the relationship between two polar opposites that depend on one another to have perfect balance. Some examples of great literature that portrays the theme of duality is Romeo and Juliet and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Although they illustrate different versions of duality they show that everything has two sides.

The theme of duality in found in the world’s most famous works of literature. Duality is described as the relationships between good and evil, love and hate, and life and death, etcetera. It is ultimately the relation between two opposites that is shown and expressed throughout something. One can find duality in everything they come into contact with, for anything could be used to cause two different outcomes. It is found not only in works of the past, but it is very common in today’s works as well. The Novel The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde exhibits examples of duality such as Dr. Jekyll battling his other self, Mr. Hyde. Romeo and Juliet and To Kill a Mockingbird are two other examples of great works of literature that explore duality.

As Robert Grudin said in _______, “there is an almost tragic duality between outer and inner worlds, between the rush of experience and the immobility of awareness”. Robert Louis Stevenson’s 1886 novel, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, brilliantly exemplifies the philosophical phenomenon that is the duality of human nature through the 2 main characters that coexist interdependently together, Henry Jekyll and Edward Hyde. According to Webster’s dictionary, the duplicity of human beings is based on the contradictory doubleness of thought, speech, or action; the quality or state of being twofold. Stevenson’s novel touches upon a variety of factors and concerns, one of which being the duplicity of man. The subject is articulated through the exploration of comparing and contrasting opposites; Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’s physical attributes, their mentalities/personalities, and finally, the manner by which their environmental surroundings aid in contrasting their characterizations.

“The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” by Robert Louis Stevenson and “Macbeth” by Shakespeare are novels that involve the theme of duality through good and evil aspects. Duality refers to having two parts, often with opposite meanings, like the duality of good and evil. In both the novels, the theme of duality is portrayed through setting, sleep, human nature and appearance. This literary technique is used to show the extremes of good and evil, and by using these elements, authors are able to cover an entire spectrum of good and evil through the several themes.

Once love is found, any obstacle presented will neither diminish nor terminate that love, even when tragedy strikes with the loss of a loved one. Tybalt, the cousin of Juliet is one of the Capulet’s that despises the Montague’s and he will do anything in his power to kill them all, and once he confronted Romeo, he met his fate and died by Romeo’s sword. The Prince arrived to the scene and said “Romeo slew him, he slew Mercutio” (III.i.181), him referring to Tybalt, and once realized, he banished Romeo out of the city. Once Juliet discovered the truth about Tybalt’s death and Romeo’s banishment she said in grief “Romeo is banished- to speak that word is father, mother, Tybalt, Romeo, Juliet, all slain, all dead- Romeo is banished” (III.ii.122-124). Her heartache for Romeo’s banishment more than her cousin Tybalt’s death shows that he is her life, her world, and her breath, and without him she would be nothing and life as she knows is would end, even through tragedy and anguish.