Forbidden Love- Romeo and Juliet

Romeo and Juliet- William Shakespeare

The supposed greatest love story of all time. (Truth be told, I liked the movie version with Leo-bae) 

Summary

Though I am pretty sure no-one needs a summary about this love story, here is one anyway which may provide a sort of recap. Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet are 'star-cross'd' lovers destined to die, because it says so in the chorus. Romeo gets the hots for Juliet at a party that he was not invited to and they fell in live and got hitched a few days later. A few murders and arranged marriages and fake poisons later, Romeo stumbles upon a fake-dead Juliet, is overcome with grief, takes real poison, fake-dead Juliet wakes up to find real-dead Romeo had died for her so fake-dead Juliet becomes read-dead Juliet by stabbing herself. Pretty simple. Of course they are now dubbed as the greatest couple known to man. Please, my boyfriend got me a candle for my birthday a few years ago, how's that for a keeper?  

Theme and Analysis 

So there are, obviously loads of themes which come across from the story, here are a few: 

-Romantic love- Romeo and Juliet are the archetype lovers, Romeo is depicted as a Petrarchan lover, with the use of classical poetry, and imagery and wordplay. They often talk in sonnet, "Palm to palm is holy palmer's kiss", which signifies their love for each other. Juliet is described by Romeo using religious imagery, whereby her lips are a 'shrine'. They are obviously romantically involved, because they are willing to die for each 

-Familial love (kinda)- Juliet is a daddy's girl. "Earth hath swallowed all my hopes but she" but then her parents are presented as unloving, uncaring and lacking any understanding for her. This is a form of dramatic irony, as Lady Capulet is overcome with guilt by the end of the play.

-Fraternal and Platonic love- There is a serious bromance between the male characters in the play, to the point of Romeo killing Tybalt for murdering his BFF, Mercrutio. 

Important bits you can memorise: 

Love in 'Romeo and Juliet'- The thing about love in this story, is that its almost forbidden. Everyone knows that if someone tells you not to push the big shiny red button, you're going to want to push the shiny red button, and that is what Romeo and Juliet is. They appear even more attractive to each other because they are forbidden fruit, it makes it more exciting, and they crave that love and excitement in their lives, which are controlled by their parents. It really makes you want to believe in true love, simply from the beautiful and passionate way that Shakespeare has written in.You could argue that it is puppy love that Romeo had for Rosaline before he met Juliet, and that she's simply a rebound.  

Quotes about this: "ROMEO: Love is a smoke raised with the fume of sighs;/Being purged, a fire sparkling in lovers' eyes:/Being vex'd a sea nourish'd with lovers' tears:/What is it else? a madness most discreet,/A choking gall and a preserving sweet."  You need to remember that Romeo was a teenager at the time, so this is pretty impressive. He uses abstract language- love as 'smoke', 'fire' as a 'sea' as 'madness'. It shows that Romeo is actually in love with Juliet and his emotion is accurately expressed through his language and diction. 

Sex in 'Romeo and Juliet'-If you read my blog about Lady Chatterley's Lover, and how sex is a very apparent theme in the book, this one is dialled back about ten notches... but it's still there. In the novel, practically everything is about sex, everything is a dirty joke and violence is heavily eroticized, and it creates a very sexual atmosphere which may lead to the interpretation that the protagonists young love is just them wanting to get some... but I'm going to opt out and say that there is more to love than just sex- but feel free to interpret this one on your own.

Quotes about this: "The bawdy hand of the dial is now upon the prick of noon" This is Mercrutio talking about something simple, the time of day, yet it has a sexual connotation about it, reflecting how most jokes usually are sexual, and nonchalant. Also, "JULIET 'Give me my Romeo, and when I shall die/ Take him and cut him out in little stars,/ And he will make the face of heaven so fine" So, here, there is a link with 'die' being slang for an orgasm... so when she dies.. she.. you know. Yep. Also when her father finds her dead, and talks of how she has been 'deflowered'. Yep. English. It is interesting though, how there is almost an irony as sex is supposed to result in the creation of life, not the death...Again, make your own conclusions to this

Transience in 'Romeo and Juliet'- Think about the story long enough, and you will realise that Romeo and thirteen-year-old Juliet fall in love at first sight, get hitched within 24 hours and die in each others arms a few days later. There is some correlation, that can be made between the fleeting nature of time and youth in the story. 

Quotes about this: "ROMEO 'Lady by yonder blessed moon I swear/That tips with silver all these fruit-tree tops-' JULIET' 'O, swear not by the moon, the inconstant moon,/That monthly changes in her circled orb,/Lest that thy love prove likewise variable.' This is the part where I would go 'OHHHHH' because my girl, Juliet slayed. English banter, you guys... I live for it. 

Marriage in 'Romeo and Juliet'- In terms of context at the time this play was written, marriage for love is a pretty radical and dangerous choice- especially for rich kids, because they have influence in society (poorer folk could marry whoever, because they have nothing to lose). Romeo and Juliet pay the ultimate price for marrying for love... their death. However, they did almost resolve their parents battles...so it was worth it... right?

Quotes about this: "LADY CAPULET' Marry, that 'marry' is the very theme/I came to talk of. Tell me, daughter Juliet,/How stands your disposition to be married?' JULIET 'It is an honour that I dream not of.'" This is around the beginning of the play, when we are introduced to what Juliet is like as a (bratty) teenager. Yet, she winds up marrying Romeo 24 hours later after the party- way to stick to your guns, Juliet. 

Tone and Analysis Overall

Shakespeare uses a lot of oxymoron in this play, which kinda help to get the point across. Juliet's cry in "My only love, sprung from my only hate"  is an example of the oxymoron that is used in the play. By using oxymoron and paradoxes in the play, Shakespeare manages to make the form match up with the content. 

Shakespeare writes in blank verse, which is essentially saying that he writes in unrhymed iambic pentameter. You should know the drill by now, of coming up with conclusions about why this is the case. Overall this is a play everyone should be quite familiar with it, and just for the banter, here is a link which I found pretty funny about the 'sex' in this story. Hope this helps calm some stress!