Discuss the various perceptions of love in Shakespeare’s Romeo Essay

Discuss the various perceptions of be intimate in Shakespeares Romeo & Juliet. Then choose two contrasting examples from stabs you have discussed and explain how you would floor them to establish these contrasts. William Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet in 1595. When it was written, Shakespeare was quite young, 31, already five years into his career. big businessman Elizabeth I was on the thr single at the time, and m any(prenominal) of the char guesseristics of Elizabethan lifestyle are included within the impart. In the Elizabethan times, it was non extraordinary for people to bring down married and have children young.In the play wench Capulet says, By my count, I was your mother a great deal upon these years, to Juliet, who appears to be well-nigh 12 years old. She is telling Juliet that she was already a mother at Juliets age, implying she should be getting ready to marry now. Women were also not considered of much importance in those days. They were not as importa nt as men, and alone used for finish up, which plays a big part in the topic of conference between characters passim the play. Women/girls also had to obey their fathers until they got married, and then obey their husbands when they did get married. It was a real male dominant era.Romeo and Juliet is partly a comedy, catastrophe and history. It is a tragedy obviously because of either the death in it. It is a comedy because of the irony and contrast the characters raise, and also because of the humour some characters akin Mercutio and the Nurse bring into the play. It is a history as well because of the occurrence it was written a long time ago, and has historical contents in it. There is a great deal of cognise and passion in this play, alone not all the same. Different characters have divergent perceptions of adore, and different passions. The play is also as much virtually hate as it is ab tabu jockey, which is a very important element.Shakespeare puts emphasis o n themes much(prenominal) as the relationship of love and hate and old and young. This is what I testament be analysing in the essay. The play tells the story of Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet the children of two rival families animateness in Verona, who fall in love and get married wi kibibytet their families bashing. The execration mat by their families leads to the death of five people. Two of who are Romeo and Juliet, the star-crossed l overs who poop out because they want to be together but cant be. It shows the young as they struggle to escape from the morass of abomination created by their elders.The ancient family strife makes Romeo and Juliets union even more significant as they both(prenominal) hate each others families, but manage to drown it when they meet each other. This play represents true love because it shows pure hatred turn into pure love. Romeo and Juliet went against everything they were brought up with and gave up their equals to be together. Ro meo is a very passionate person when we first meet him, and his passion stays throughout the play. We do learn however, that Romeo is very impulsive, and acts on this impulsive streak very often, and it leads him to do some stupid things, which I will show push on in the essay.The first reference to love in the play is in the opening scene where we meet Sampson and Gregory (two Capulet servants). They are both very vulgar and crude characters and show this straight away when they are lecture about the Montague women. In lines 17-20, Sampson says, Tis true, and therefore women being the weaker vessels are ever campaign to the wall. Therefore I will push Montagues men from the wall, and hale his maids to the wall. This is where the punning becomes sexual. He is implying that he will assault the Montague maids against the wall.Later on in lines 27-28, he says, Ay, the heads of the maids, or their maidenheads- take it in what sense thou wilt. Here he is saying that he will either cut up off the heads of the Montague maids, or rape them, depending on what he feels like. Their behaviour shows that they do not actually think of love itself, and only think of sex. They public opinion women as mere objects to serve their pleasure. They are not the only ribald characters in the play to have this perception of women and love thought. In act two, scene one (lines 34-38) Mercutio is do fun of Romeos talk of love for Rosaline.He talks about a Medlar tree, and describes sex as a Medlar fruit. He is saying that Romeo authentically wishes Rosalie were a Medlar fruit, even though he says he loves her, all he really wants is sex. This is probably because this is all Mercutio lift ups love as. The Nurse is another(prenominal) one of these characters. She constantly talks about the material side of marriage. To her, love is merely about sex and having babies. For Sampson, Gregory, Mercutio and the Nurse, love is something non-emotional, and they have obviously neer e xperienced love like Romeo and Juliets.Love for Romeo and Juliet is very emotionally bonded, and they cannot live without each other. This however does not nasty there is no physical element to their relationship. Romeo and Juliet eagerly look forward to the physical side. This can be seen in act three, scene two, lines 1-30, where Juliet is looking forward to her wedding night, or her love-performing night. But even this is altered by their love into something of which Mercutio, the Nurse and the servants know nothing of. In act one, scene one, Romeos parents show enate love when they are concerned about him.The first evidence to show they care about Romeo is in lines 118-119, where Lady Montague says, Right glad I am he (Romeo) was not at this fray, meaning she was glad that Romeo was not involved in the fight that had barely happened. In lines 133-144, Montague talks about Romeos worrying behaviour. He says that he is always crying, distances himself from everyone else, and s huts out light, making himself an artificial night. Montague is obviously worried about his sons behaviour, and asks Benvolio if he could talk to Romeo because he does not understand him.This doesnt mean however, that he does not care how Romeo feels, but he evidently does. It retributive shows the contrast between young and old. The first time we meet Romeo, he seems very sad and down (in the exact state his father describes him to be in). he is sad because he is in love. For Romeo, being in love (at this stage in the play) is a very painful, negative thing, particularly because here there is a situation of unrequited love. However, by analyse Romeos language in this scene, I believe that he is not in love with Rosaline, but infact in love with the idea of love itself.The fact that he does not say Rosalines name once, but talks about being in love, shows that the she is irrelevant. Romeos doting over Rosaline is introduced to show the difference between love and infatuation. He talks about love as a painful situation to be in, as shown in lines 195-196, A madness most discreet, a choking gall, and a preserving sweet. This changes drastically though, when he meets Juliet. From the second he sees Juliet (in act one scene five) you can see he has changed. He suddenly speaks in a more positive tone, with more positive views on Juliet not just of love.O she doth teach the torches to burn bright. Romeo is referring to Juliet as an actual person, whereas before he was talking about being in love (supposedly with Rosaline), but never refers to her as a person. On meeting Juliet he experiences love at first sight. He goes on to say, For I neer saw true beauty till this night. This shows that he has disregarded about Rosaline already, almost like she never existed. Romeo constantly compares Juliet to a angel throughout the play, O then dear saint. He has made Juliet out to be the most important person (to him), in the matter of minutes.In their first meeting, R omeo and Juliet share a sonnet (lines 94-107). This immediately shows the connection of love and harmony that exists between them. In the sonnet, love as a worship seems to be the key subject, and Romeo talks about it so passionately. He refers to Juliet as a sacred shrine, and his lips Two blushing pilgrims. By perusing Romeos language here, and that of which he used when we first met him, you can see that his feelings have gone from being self-centred, self deceiving and essentially negative, to less self-centred, authorized and sincere passion, positively approached when he meets Juliet.The love between Romeo and Juliet is different from any other in the play, because both share the same view on love. It is so strong that they fought through everything to be together and when they werent they felt empty and sad. No one else in the play shows love for anything this deep. The wrangle Romeo and Juliet use when flirting with each other emphasise their love for one another. They u se words to do with the body lips, hands, palms, religion pilgrims, saints, prayer, devotion and holy then they put both ideas together, holy palmers kiss and saints lips. Romeo is trying to approach Juliet with romantic gestures.