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Explore how Shakespeare uses love in the play ‘Romeo and Juliet’ Romeo and Juliet is a play by William Shakespeare, based in the Italian city of Verona, where two “star cross’d lovers” are stuck in the middle of a turf war between the two richest families in the city. Romeo and Juliet are stuck on opposite sides of this war, and as their families hate each other with a passion, they both know that if they were seen as “together”, it would mean certain death for them both. They decide to keep their relationship secret, but through an unfortunate series of events, and their undying love for one another, they both meet their fate by their own hands.
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Write My Essay For MeShakespeare was a writer during the golden age, who’s plays have become world renowned. He frequently used the theme of love in his plays, and Romeo and Juliet is a shining example of this theme. He used the ideas of true love and courtly love in the play, but also used the themes of unrequited love, Petrarchan style wooing, and family love and hate, to display an emotive, love fuelled feud that has become one of the best known plays of all time.
In Shakespeare’s time, the theme of courtly love, or courting, was quite common practice. It involved a rich, young man attempting to ‘woo’ a rich, young lady, with poetry, sonnets, music, compliments, and expensive gifts such as flowers or wine. It was thought of as a kind of ‘sport’ for the young and wealthy, who had little other to do. It was not intended that courting would end up with a marriage or family, instead once the man had grown tired of courting a certain lady, he would move on to another one.
The audiences of Shakespeare’s plays thought that courtly love was not out of the ordinary, and it was accepted as part of normal life for the upper class citizen. Those who were not as rich however, would not be able to invest the amount of money they would need to if they wished to successfully court a woman, so they instead only ended up being in true love, where they wished to be married and have a family with someone else.
In the play, Romeo is shown as an impulsive and lustful young Montague, who is used to courtly love and think of it as a game, not a way of finding a long-term relationship. This is one of the most obvious ways that love is demonstrated in Romeo and Juliet, as he becomes sulky and depressed after the woman he was attempting to court, Rosaline, pushes him away. He has been putting her up on a pedestal, and treating her as if she were a deity, so when he is told no, he begins to moan out loud about the whole situation. When he is consulted later about the ordeal by his friend, Benvolio, he begins to moan and groan, not realising how stupid he is making himself look in the process.
After a while, Romeo sees that the Montagues and Capulets had been involved in a brawl, he says “O me! What fray was here? Yet tell me not, for I have heard it all”. This demonstrates that even though members of his family may have been injured or killed in this fight, he is ignoring it over the feelings he has for a girl that has rejected him, demonstrating that the love he feels for his family is inferior to his love towards women, a fact that carries through the play.
Later in Act 1, Romeo comes across Juliet, a young Capulet, who he falls in love with at first sight. At this point, it still is not clear whether he wishes to court with her, or if he feels true love for her. Even if he was truly in love with her, he still is acting. At the time that he meets her, she is much more mature than he is, even though she is only 14 or 15. When he first meets her, he begins to talk in metaphors, and the two begin to have an entire conversation based on the metaphor that his lips are “two blushing pilgrims”, and tells her he wants to kiss her with them. She then replies in a jokey manor, telling him “Ay pilgrim, lips that they must use in praye,……………………….
