Incetuous Relationship : Incestuous Relationships In Shakespeare's Time

In Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, impetuosity between Romeo and Juliet will ultimately be the cause of their deaths. The passion between the two caused them to rush into foolish adolescent events. Romeo's and Juliet's burning love is to blame for their fast yet fatal marriage. Shortly after the unpublished wedding it all goes down hill, Romeo kills Juliet's faithful cousin, Tybalt, in a brutal sword fight. With Romeo's action his punishment is exile from Verona, and to leave his unseen faithful wife.

Hamlet has many problems dealing with the fact that his mother married his uncle less than two months after the death of his father. Hamlet sees his mother's remarriage as disgusting and sees murdering Claudius as a way of freeing his mother of an incestuous marriage as well as avenging his father. Hamlet and his mother's relationship is also shown as more sexual than the traditional mother son relationship because of Hamlet's long and private conversation with his mother, as well as his rivalry toward Claudius for his mother's attentions. Hamlet makes numerous sexually allusions. The "closet scene" in Act 3 Scene 4, proves to be essential in understanding Hamlet's and Gertrude's relationship because the

Within the play there are two main families that are focused on; the ‘new’ royal family of Claudius, Gertrude and Hamlet, and Polonius’s family consisting of himself, his son Laertes and daughter Ophelia. This second family clearly shows that they love and support each other, seen when Polonius is giving his blessing to his children. When addressing Laertes, he gives a long winded speech on how he ought to conduct himself to live a good life, giving ‘...thy thoughts no tongue…Neither a borrower nor a lender be…to thine own self be true.’ Polonius does not want his son whom he loves, to give in to the temptations of the world outside. When dealing with Ophelia, Polonius loves her enough to try to steer her away from Hamlet’s ‘brokers’ vows and ‘tenders of his affection’ which may (and could be argued, ultimately do) cause her woe. In turn Ophelia and Laertes show their respect and love for Polonius by accepting his words and swearing to take them to heart. The royal family however, is portrayed in stark opposition to this family. Instead of familial love holding them together, betrayal and revenge destroys the relationships and lives of Hamlet, Gertrude and Claudius. Gertrude betrays Hamlet by guiltlessly abandon her family for ‘incestuous sheets’, marrying her brother-in-law and seemingly not caring as to the effect it has on her son or late husband. As established before, Hamlet and Claudius have a relationship bound together by the desire to kill the other. This eventually culminates in the death of both families, demonstrating the destructive nature of the royal family which is contrasted by the other family, and how this destruction can extend into other’s

William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet is not just about the love affair between two main characters. It is also about a long lasting family feud which in turn causing two brutal deaths.

Since the parents didn’t like each other it rubbed off on everyone else in the families. Tybalt, who was mad at Romeo, probably wouldn’t have been mad at him if it wasn’t for the feud. This prevalent in the following: Tybalt says, “ This, by voice, should be a Montague. Fetch me my rapier,boy...Now by the stock and honor of my kin, To strike him dead I hold not a sin.” This is obvious that the parents were at fault, because it affected the family members too. It made them hate the other family without having a valid reason. “Two households, both alike in dignity..”,

(I, ii, 15) Shakespeare is trying to make it incest between this couple but in my opinion it's not. On a google search I searched up the word "incest" and the definition I found was "Sexual intercourse between persons too closely related that they are forbidden by law to marry; also: the statutory crime of such a relationship." I'm going based of on this search, and to me this is talking about blood family like dad and daughter etc. now Gertrude remarried her dead husband's brother, not her brother. She was only related to him by a piece of paper. There is no law saying you can't marry your brother's widow. Could it be both Hamlet and the Ghost called it incest because they were hurt about her unnatural marriage and they didn't know how to properly express their emotions so they go by insulting Claudius and Gertrude?

Due to this flaw, Lear has given way to the two older daughters to conspire against him.  Lear is finally thrown out of his daughters’ homes and left with a fool, a servant and a beggar. This is when Lear realizes the mistake that he has made and suffers the banishment of his two eldest daughters.  Lear is caught in a storm and begins to lose his sanity because he can not bear the treatment of his two daughters as well as the error he has made with Cordelia and Kent.  Lear also suffers from lack of rest when he is moving all over the place and the thing that breaks him is the death of his youngest daughter, Cordelia.  This suffering can be contrasted with other happier times like when Lear was still king and when he was not banished by his two daughters.

Since its origination, William Shakespeare’s Hamlet has been revered for its spectacular analysis of human morale and sanity. However, Shakespeare also explores the theme of marriage, particularly the mildly incestuous remarriage of a widow. Among scholars, one of the greatest literary debates of all time is over Gertrude’s motivations for remarrying her brother-in-law, Claudius. Many argue that Claudius and Gertrude were having an affair before King Hamlet’s murder, while others believe that Claudius merely wooed Gertrude in her time of brief grieving. However, due to the role of women during the time Hamlet was set in, Gertrude’s primary reason for marrying Claudius so hastily was to protect her bloodline and her own royal power.

Intergenerational conflict has been an ongoing issue in literature, and real life. We see intergenerational conflict in Emily Bronte’s “Wuthering Heights”, William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”, and even in modern literature like Annemarie MacDonald’s “Fall on Your Knees”. More specifically, in Shakespeare’s plays we are introduced to many different forms of conflict. One of the most prominent is intergenerational conflict, especially in “Romeo & Juliet”, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, and “I Henry IV”. Examples of intergenerational conflict in these plays include Romeo’s defiance of his parents, Juliet’s conflict with her father, Hermia’s paternal conflicts, and King Henry’s disappointment with his son, Hal.

In the play The Tragedy of King Lear, William Shakespeare conveys a power struggle between Lear´s good and loyal subjects, and those who were greedy and manipulative. King Lear split his kingdom among his two eldest daughters who relied on flattery rather than genuinity to portray their love for him, and banished his kind and honest daughter, Cordelia, for defying his expectation of insincere praise. From then on, there was a great deal of tension between the characters who wanted to take Lear down, and those who would try to protect him with their loyalty. The tension spiraled into a war. Shakespeare intentionally neglects details about the time period of the conflict in order for it to be portrayed as a quarrel between the virtues and

Throughout the play, Hamlet’s disdain for his mother marriage to his uncle, Claudius, is made apparent. It is because of this union, Hamlet believes that it is his responsibility to separate Claudius from his mother for her own good. Because Hamlet’s father, King Hamlet, was killed his brother, Claudius, is now King and has married Gertrude, Hamlet’s mother. After a play which depicts the death of King

Despite the fact that Gertrude has very little role and few lines in the play still she is central to the action of the play. Prince Hamlet hatred and disgust for her mother as she marries Claudius, is one of the main important reflections of the play. This is because in times of Shakespeare, marrying husband's brother after husband's death was considered as a sin and act of being disloyal with the husband. Secondly, Prince Hamlet also considered Claudius inferior to his father, the late King Hamlet, in all aspects of life.

Incest flows abundantly through this play like no other. The relationship between Claudius and Gertrude could be considered incest from Hamlet’s perspective even though they are not blood related. He sees his blood uncle and his blood mother together which tortured his conscience. Why did the thought of his mother having sex deter him so bad? Did Hamlet want to look to his mother for sexual comfort? Hamlet was said to have ‘Oedipus Complex’ which is explained as every sons supposed desire to kill his father and have sex with his mother. Whether this is the case is unsure the reason for him to be

At the beginning of the play King Lear has more power than anyone else, the feeling of power made him think it was okay to ask his three daughters who loved him the most. When his youngest and favourite daughter Cordelia did not give him the answer he wanted by saying, “Unhappy that I am, I cannot heave / My heart into my mouth/ I love your majesty / According to my bond, no more nor less” (King Lear 1.1.91-93). he started lashing out. Lear clearly values Goneril and Regan fawning over him over Cordelia’s sincere honesty. Out of pride and anger, Lear banishes Cordelia, as well as Kent for defending her. Lear splits the kingdom in half to Goneril and Regan which leads to the deaths of many people in the play. Throughout the play he becomes increasingly shocked when people do not obey him the way they did before and the lack of respect he receives. With his loss of power Lear often responds to these problems with anger saying things like “My curses on her!” (2.4.138). about his own daughter. By the end of the play he recognizes that he takes responsibility for both his own problems and for those of others. King Lear’s actions were the first step to the plays tragic outcome.

Family is meant to care for each other, love each other unconditionally, and support each other. Of course, as any holiday at home can prove, complete support is not always possible. Sometimes family members hurt each other and even, in worst-case scenarios, kill each other over issues as important as protecting another or as petty as fighting over a boy. In Shakespeare’s Othello, Macbeth, Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, King Lear, and The Winter’s Tale, if family members operate with selfish motives, they hurt the hero and contribute to his fall; but if the family supports each other with only love, the hero can redeem himself from his fall and even succeed in finding lasting happiness.