The theme love dominates Romeo and Juliet, and the subject commitment underlies this principal theme of love. Shakespeare presents commitment within the love relationship in Romeo and Juliet through out the play. In the Prologue, Shakespeare introduces Romeo and Juliet to us for the first time as the “star-crossed lovers” who “take their life” and immediately we are aware that this is a play about the most powerful kind of love and commitment. Romeo, a Montague, and Juliet, a Capulet, fall in love against the backdrop of their feuding families. The Prologue is written in the form of a sonnet (a traditional love poem) and this is because Shakespeare wants to show from the outset that Romeo and Juliet is fundamentally a play about love. The …show more content…
This scene (Act 2, scene 2) is one of the most famous in all of Shakespeare’s play. It follows the meeting of Romeo and Juliet in the masquerade party at Juliet’s home. When Romeo sees Juliet walking onto the balcony he says “But soft! What light through yonder window breaks? It is the east and Juliet is the sun”. This metaphor shows that when Romeo sees Juliet he feels hope as if the sun is rising He has instantly forgotten his previous love …show more content…
Juliet wrestles with the possibility of loving the son of her family’s sworn enemy and admits that she is willing to marry him regardless. Juliet says the name Montague is simply a name just as a rose would still “smell as sweet “if it were something else. Romeo reciprocates this commitment by swearing to take Juliet at her word and be called something other than Montague. “Call me but love and I’ll be new baptised. Henceforth I never will be Romeo”. The most significant demonstration of commitment is at the end of the play when both Romeo & Juliet take their lives in Act 5 Scene 3. It is clear by now that the lovers would rather be together in death than without each other in life. Romeo drinks the poison and says in his farewell lines to Juliet: “Here’s to my love … and with a kiss I die”. Romeo is besoted with Juliet even when he thinks she is dead. He kisses her, drinks the poison and dies at her side. A moment later the Friar arrives and discovers the dead bodies of Romeo and Paris (who had been killed moments earlier by Romeo). When Juliet wakes from her death-like sleep she demands: “Where is my Romeo?” The pair are inseparable and committed in life and death. Juliet can no longer live without Romeo. She grabs the dagger and says: “Oh happy dagger. This is thy sheath. There rust and let me die.” The prince sums up their commitment to each other at the end of the play when he says:
Romeo and Juliet, though termed as tragedy, love is the dominating and most vital theme of this play, the whole play is intertwined on the romantic love between Romeo and Juliet at their first sight, though the love can be considered infatuation love. In this play, the lovers deny the family and the entire world and proceed with their marriage "Or if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, I” “And I'll no longer be a Capulet" Romeo abandons his close friends, Mercutio and Benvolio and even risks his life and returns to Verona for the sake of his lady love even after being sent in exile. Love becomes a force for every incident narrated in the play. The lovers take impulsive decisions; by this, they go against the norms of this world. Juliet has no words to explain her immense love "But my true love is grown to such excess / I cannot sum up some of half my wealth"
‘Romeo and Juliet’ is a tragic play about two star crossed lovers written by Shakespeare in 1595. The play is a timeless teenage tradgedy. “The play champions the 16th Century belief that true love always strikes at first sight,” (Lamb 1993: Introduction) and even in modern times an audience still want to believe in such a thing as love at first sight. Act II Scene II the balcony scene displays that romantic notion perfectly.
Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare is a tragic love story. The story concerns the love between two young people, Romeo and Juliet. This is set against a feud between their two families: the Montagues and the Capulets. This feud develops the themes of conflict, deception and dignity in the play. The play includes a lot of themes, love, family, hate, deception and revenge.
entirely in this scene as he stops thinking of love in a bad way as he
How does Shakespeare present aspects of love in this passage? Examine the view that, in this passage and elsewhere in the play, Desdemona is presented as “a typically naive young woman whose love is little more than hero-worship.” In this extract, Shakespeare presents love in contrasting and comparative ways. One prominent portrayal of love is the love demonstrated by Desdemona over her fawning of Othello and her father.
Romeo Montague is the mysterious boy who no one really seems to understand and when he meets Juliet everything he knows goes down the toilet. She loves him and they have this “connection” that makes them immediately gravitate toward each other during the Capulet party. He would do anything for his Juliet, including sneaking into the garden of his sworn enemy and committing suicide when he discovers that his Juliet is “dead”. When Romeo kills himself he isn’t thinking about
Throughout William Shakespeare's play, Romeo and Juliet, the characters represent opposing views on love. Shakespeare did this in order to allow each person in the play to have someone they could relate to and show that not everybody feels love the same way.
Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet discusses the many challenges the ‘star crossed lovers’ face. It is their own deceptive actions that ultimately lead them to their untimely end. However Romeo and Juliet are forced to be deceptive due to their fate and misfortune, the ongoing feud in Verona, and the misleading guidance they receive from others; which also contribute to their deaths. Romeo and Juliet focuses on the theme of love and hate, this theme is interweaved throughout the play.
In the tragedy 'Romeo and Juliet', Shakespeare presents the inner struggles of Romeo and Juliet, the two protagonists as one of the main themes. This is clearly shown at the end of Act 3 Scene 2 when Juliet receives the news that Romeo has been banished and Tybalt has been killed. Juliet is distraught at the conflict of her loyalties. Should she express love for her family or should she express love for Romeo? By using many different language features, such as oxymorons, paradox, antithesis and dramatic irony, Shakespeare effectively displays Juliet's conflicting emotions. Later in the play, Shakespeare uses the betrayal by adults to again show the inner struggles of Romeo and Juliet.
Shakespeare manifests the final scene of Romeo and Juliet to illustrate how love triumphs over the terror of death and depicts how the Capulet and Montague parents’ mutual love for their children dismisses the ancient feud. The protagonists, Romeo and Juliet’s preference of being killed rather than “death be prorogued, wanting thy love” (Page 91; Act 2, Scene 2), indicates they would rather die than death be delayed without the fulfilment of each other’s love. Romeo commits suicide as he is unaware that Juliet’s death is fiction, which results in Juliet finding his corpse when she awakens and stabs herself as they both do not wish to live with the absence of each other’s love. Again, Shakespeare portrays that love conquers the most feared prospect of life:
Romeo and Juliet showed the theme of how love and fate go hand in hand. “So smile the heavens upon this holy act That after-hours with sorrow chide us not (II.6.1). Friar Lawrence saw how the promise of marriage was romantic and endearing, but also saw the future of marriage. Arguing, conflict and sadness. Because of this he warned Romeo and Juliet that even in the future something can wrong despite the fact that they love each other. “ Let me have
In 'Romeo and Juliet', Shakespeare portrays different aspects and types of love in many ways. The obvious love is the fateful love between Romeo and Juliet although the play also displays platonic love, maternal love and aspects of adolescent love.
Romeo and Juliet’s hope is realized, with the two families coming together, though the price was high. After Romeo hears news of Juliet’s death, Romeo goes to her tomb late at night and kills himself with a poison obtained from the apothecary. Romeo says before entering the tomb, “Give me the light” referring to the torch his companion was holding
As it is said in Act V, Scene iii, line 170, “This is thy sheath: there rust, and let me die.” These are the final words of Juliet after she discovers that her Romeo is dead. It shows that instead of living and moving on, she decides her life would be better spent dead. That shows dedication, loyalty, discipline and love. Truly, love is a positive message that is often misinterpreted as bad because of the consequences but is ultimately good.
The play, Romeo and Juliet, can be considered to be part of the romance genre because of the plot line of two teenagers falling in love, and the choices they make because of their desire to be with one another. The balcony scene, one of the most famous examples of the raw emotions between two lovers, shows the romantic perspective of Romeo and Juliet. When Romeo sneaks into the Capulet’s house to meet Juliet, she warns him that coming to see her puts him at great risk. Moreover, if her kinsmen find Romeo, they may even murder him. However, Romeo is so in love with Juliet that he declares to her, “And, but thou love me, let them find me here. My life were better ended by their hate than death proroguèd, wanting of thy love.” (Act II