FREE ESSAY ON SHAKESPEARE'S VIEWS ON LOVE

SHAKESPEARE'S VIEWS ON LOVE

Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare's sixteenth century tragedy, remains one of the most
famous, timeless pieces of literature yet created. This bittersweet tale documents the
forbidden attraction between two impulsive children, and their tragic suicides. The
story's incidents, saturated with Shakespeare's views and opinions, reveal the
playwright's philosophies on love. Many consider Romeo and Juliet the greatest love story
of all time, yet when the "love" between the two main characters is analyzed, it cannot
truly be considered love. Instead Shakespeare wrote this play as a testament of the harsh
consequences of reckless lust and attraction, and endeavored to send an admonition.
Shakespeare meant not for Romeo and Juliet to define true love, rather, to define what
true love is not.
The balcony scene of Act II, pulsating with the passionate current existing between the
Romeo and Juliet, contains some of the richest, most beautiful poetry ever written.
However, from a more critical aspect, this scene also contains some of the most
impetuous, melodramatic reactions of two attracted individuals ever chronicled. Though
they have only known each other for a few hours, and have not yet shared " a hundred
words of [each other's] utterance (II. ii. 64-65), they immediately devote themselves to
each other. Both Romeo and Juliet display a dangerously impulsive nature, as well as an
inability to control their emotions, characteristic of their age.
The reckless actions of Romeo seem especially thoughtless, considering the danger he
faces on the territory of his mortal enemies, the Capulets. Yet he insists in stealing
alone in the dark night to see his "love" Juliet. Romeo's remarkably recent and
compelling obsession over Rosaline, his "old desire[,] doth in his deathbed lie, an young
affection gapes to be his heir. / That fair for which love groaned for and would die, /
With tender Juliet matched, is now not fair." ( Prolougue Act II, 1-4 ). Thus, Rosaline
is swiftly replaced. Mightn't Juliet be replaced that quickly?
In an elaborate monologue Romeo worshipfully compares his lady to brilliant, heavenly
bodies and beings, such as "bright angel" (II. ii. 28) with eyes as "the fairest stars in
all the heaven" (II. ii. 15). Romeo's departure from the darkness in which he has been
hiding and his venture to the light of Juliet, his "fair sun" (II. ii. 4), symbolizes the
dawning of a new age in his life, after the dark night of Rosaline's rejection. Romeo
appears guilty of desperation; his ecstasy in finding a beautiful girl sharing his
attractions blinds common sense.
Juliet's impulsive behavior proves similar to Romeo's. They see each other, exchange a
few romantic words, and she allows him to kiss her. Then alone on the balcony she pines
for him, swearing to renounce her own family and "no longer be a Capulet " (II. ii. 38),
pledging herself to a boy she has just hardly met. She ignores the impulse to fear this
sudden and intense attraction, " . . . too rash, to unadvised, too sudden, / Too like the
lightning which doth cease to be / ere one can say 'It lightens.' " (II. ii. 129-130).
Juliet does not realize the wisdom in and significance of her own words, the
foreshadowing of her own fate.
These theoretical mortal enemies, oblivious of the danger and obstacles that impede their
future, transform in a single night to mortal lovers who cannot live without each other.
They exchange vows on the moonlit balcony, beneath the heavens, vibrant and volatile,
symbolizing the explosive nature of the situation.
The situation does swiftly explode in Act III, Scene I, the point at which the play
rapidly spirals downward. Mercutio, Romeo's comical (and often obnoxious) friend, and
Tybalt, Juliet's fiery, hot-blooded cousin, clash as a result of reckless insults and the
thirst for revenge. When Mercutio falls, Romeo in his fury flies after Tybalt, and in
turn kills him. Two beloved lives snuffed out because of visceral rage, emotions let wild
and unrestrained.
Had this play ended happily, it easily could easily be considered a comical masterpiece.
However, the tragic end causes viewers to think about the cause of the play's disastrous
events: the deaths of Romeo, Juliet, Mercutio, and Tybalt. The deaths of Mercutio and
Tybalt were undoubtedly caused by the powerful impulses of hate, much like the impulses
of attraction between Romeo and Juliet, which, in the end, killed them also. Had they not
felt those impulses so passionately, neither would have felt the compulsion to commit
suicide because of the impossibility of living without the other, and probably would have
escaped happily to Mantua. Shakespeare draws parallels between lust and hate, two of
mankind's most powerful impulses, to oppose them, and support instead true love, a
gradual respect and understanding of an individual, based on more than physical
attraction.
Bibliography
Romeo and Juliet