Comment on the Importance of Love and Marriage in Act I of Romeo and Juliet

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Comment on the Importance of Love and Marriage in Act I of Romeo and Juliet In this essay I will comment on the importance of love and marriage in act one of Romeo and Juliet. To do this, I will look at the different types of love demonstrated in this act and also examine the importance of marriage and what it meant for people in this time (around the 16th century). By taking a closer look at the different characters in the play, we can understand the importance of this theme in the story. One of the first mentions of love is when Montague and his wife are discussing their concerns about Romeo. They think that his recent behaviour has been strange as he has been very unhappy and seems to be avoiding the daylight. As soon as dawn breaks, he goes to his room and “makes himself an artificial night”. Shortly after this, we discover the reason for Romeo’s behaviour. He is in love with a girl called Rosaline and his desperate love is not returned, despite his best efforts, for example giving her money. This unrequited love is painful for him and he feels weighed down by it. However, it could be argued that what Romeo thinks is love is actually lust. He says that Rosaline is “rich in beauty” and often seems to mention her appearance which suggests that his feelings towards her are more sexual than anything else. This idea that women are sexual objects seems to be a view held by many of the male characters in this play. In the first scene Gregory and Sampson discuss raping the women of the Capulet household and taking “their maidenheads” (virginity). They see rape as a demonstration of their power over women which can be described as an abuse of love. Another type of love introduced in act one is maternal love. This is the love which should be felt by Lady Capulet towards Juliet, but instead seems to be felt by the nurse. When calling Juliet, the nurse
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