Love analysis

• Introduction

  In Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliet' the theme of love is interwoven into every scene of the play, with different forms of love being explored in witty and moving ways that resonate with the audience. Shakespeare contrasts the purity of first love with the passionate and uncontrollable force of the action, showing the readers what love compels people to do. He uses existing conventions along with his own language and imagery to present love as unrequited, elevated, physical and bearing a close connection with violence and death.
• 'O brawling love, O loving hate' 'feather of lead', 'bright smoke'

  presents the agonising experience of courtly love and the confusion it causes to Romeo

  oxymorons show his conflicted mind about how he is in so much pain for his 'love' for rosaline and confusion he faces on whether to seek her love

  'o' sound elongates feelings and agony

  courtly love often entails the knight adoring the lady with almost religious devotion

  unending list of oxymorons suggests Romeo's inability to comprehend what is in front of him and his confusion on love

  speech with oxymorons is 13 lines suggesting it is an imperfect sonnet alluding to the fact courtly love is not true
• 'The all seeing sun / Ne'er saw her match since first the world begun'

  conveys Romeo is experiencing the elaborate exaggerated ideal of courtly love which is almost a religion of love and involves a kind of religious devotion on behalf of the knight

  conveys the idea Romeo is more in love with the idea of being in love which contrasts to the true love he experiences with Juliet and shows the shallow obsession that is true love
• 'my will to her consent is but a part'

  shows audience the value of love in who Juliet marries

  view is juxtaposed to the typical patriarchal society

  Shakespeare emphasizes the importance of love by using Capulet to display this view in a typically patriarchal society where the value of love in marriage was often overlooked and replaced by social status
• 'Thou was the prettiest babe that e'er I nursed'

  superlative conveys the maternal love the nurse feels for Juliet as a result of her caring for her since she was a baby
• 'prick love for pricking'

  subordinate clause contrasts love with violence

  placement of the abstract noun 'love' placed between verb 'prick'

  this foreshadows the lengths characters will go to as a result of love and shows the correlation of love and physical acts of display
• 'If love be rough with you be rough with love'

  Mercutio concentrates purely on the physical side of love

  alludes to sexual side of love

  suggests love can be 'rough' emotionally, evident in the way Romeo is suffering from unrequited, Petrarchan love

  portrays love as a physical and mental battle
• 'leg excels all men'

  sexualized view of Romeo contrasts with Juliet's emotional attachment

  conveys how the couples love transcends convention
• 'but sworn by love and I'll no longer be a capulet'

  soliloquy speeds up action

  Juliet is ready to give up heritage to be with Romeo

  conveys extent of love that she is ready to abandon societal expectations to be with him
• 'holy saint Francis what a change is here'

  Friar is amazed at Romeo's fickleness

  changed from a shallow courtly affection of a naive young man who doesn't know what love is like to a blinding love

  shows the ability of love to change and develop his character
• 'than your consent gives strength to make it fly'

  at the beginning of the play before experiencing love Juliet is a naive and subdued young girl
• 'he shall not make me a joyful bride'

  meeting Romeo is an awakening to the fact love is more than a filial obedience

  adverb 'not' shows she is not conforming to the patriarchal expectations of a young girl as she has experienced real love which has changed her perspective on marriage

  becomes practical (questions asked at balc scene) and independent

  rejection of patriarchal expectations conveys absolute commitment to Romeo and shows their love is unconditional and heedless of social convention and family ties
• 'two blushing pilgrims'

  shared sonnet shows the unity of the couple and the depth of connection between them

  metaphor has a real sense of equality and balance between them

  'two' suggests they are both equal

  religious language suggests their love is pure and elevated - otherworldly / transcendent
• pure and chaste religious imagery when Romeo and Juliet meet is contrasted to act 5 scene 3 when the imagery becomes sexualized.

  in many cultures sex is a way of consummating a marriage and thus completes the unification of a couple.

  here the couple are unified in death and the sexual imagery is symbolic of the consummation of their unity in the afterlife.

  • Romeo drinks to his death in a round vial - symbolic of female sexuality in Elizabethan times
  • Combines with Juliet killing herself with a dagger - phallic symbol which can be representative of re-consummating the marriage

  highlights that their love was transcendent and able to connect them physically, mentally and spiritually
• 'o happy dagger'

  the personification of the dagger as 'happy' shows her one true want is to be with Romeo eternally - even in death

  love is all consuming and eternal