The Portrayal of Love in Romeo and Juliette - Literary Analysis Essay

Introduction

Shakespeare explores the different concept of love vastly in Romeo and Juliet. The entire play focuses on the various kinds of love evinced and the distinction between them. He accomplishes this by demonstrating one form of love alongside an entirely different one, for instance, he depicts the obscene love for female's bodies on a particular scene and then what follows is a scene of romantic real love, which not only exaggerates the kind of love being portrayed but makes the show more entertaining (Mann 47). The paper shall focus on how Shakespeare plays around with different kinds of love including forbidden love, motherly love, and friendship love.

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The various kinds of love manifested in Romeo and Juliet can be classified into two classes: romantic love and parental love. The romantic love encompasses the sexual part, romantic love, unromantic, crude and spiritual love like the one between Romeo and Juliet and Romeo and Rosaline (Mann 50). The other kind, the parental love is evinced in the relationships between Juliet's family and the nurse and between Romeo and his family.

Forbidden love was a primary component of the play because if their union was not prohibited, the play would not have been the same and there would not be an accident either. Their love was difficult because of the endless wrangles between their families and contempt for one another, which played a huge role in Romeo and Juliet marrying in secret. If it were not mandatory, no tragedy would have occurred, and there would have been no challenge of Lord Capulet organizing a wedding with Paris and would not have made decisions undisclosed (Taylor 3). The love between Romeo and Juliet is so intense that both are willing to die to preserve their love.

The relationship between Juliet and the nurse is like maternal love, and they confide in one another. The nurse cares about Juliet deeply and hates seeing her upset. Contrarily, the relationship between Juliet and her mother is very different because her mother does not show her affection like a mother ought to show her daughter. The nurse shows Juliet compassion more than Lady Capulet does. She even goes further to provide Juliet with ideas on how she can meet up with Romeo and defends her from her father when he criticizes her for rejecting Paris as a husband (Taylor 5). Nonetheless, Lady Capulet shows emotions and is sorrowful when she learns of the death of her daughter.

The strong friendship between Romeo and his friends is shown at the beginning of the play. When Lord Montague asks his nephew about where to find Romeo, Romeo's friend, and cousin explain how he has attentively watched Romeo, whom he saw crying trying to hide from the sight of others. Just next to the scene, when Romeo talks energetically of his lost love, Benvolio tries to cheer up Romeo (Taylor 7). Benvolio suggests to Romeo that he should try to see other maidens and he informs Romeo of the masque at the residence of the Capulets with the goal of distracting him from matters of love.

Conclusion

The way Shakespeare handles love in Romeo and Juliet is convoluted and diverse. He demonstrates love in many aspects to link together the main relationships shown. Romeo and Juliet have permanently linked with love, and the play considered an emblematic narration of love.

Bibliography

Mann, Juliette. "Devils to Ourselves: An Analysis of the Humanistic Pessimism that Links Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde to Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida as well as Romeo and Juliet." (2017).

Taylor, Kelsey Rhea. "Fulfilling Their Fate: Roman Mythological Allusions and Organic Unity in Romeo and Juliet." Journal of Creative Inquiry 1.1 (2017).