This is the very first time that Romeo sees Juliet and they both fall in love. Then, they find out they have fallen in love with the enemy. Romeo starts his soliloquy with the theme of light as he says ‘O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright.’ Firstly, we can see that Romeo is surprised due to the use of ‘O.’ Romeo has never seen anyone as beautiful as Juliet and therefore is amazed at her beauty. Romeo is also lost for words. ‘Teach the torches to burn bright,’ explains that Juliet is so bright and is in fact brighter than the torches.
He sees her lips and never tries of them; her fingers' hands' and wrists are unsurpassed; her arms-more than half-bare- cannot be matched; whatever he can't see he can imagine." (Ovid p.900) Daphnes 'unadorned' hair already enchants Apollo, and dreaming it all made up would simply be breathtaking. " Certainly, the next detail, that Daphne's eyes sparkle like stars,clues us into the fact that Apollo is in love. The difference between love and lust, however, is that to the one in love, that person is truly beautiful both physically and on the inside, but the to the one that is lustful, that person is just a mere sex object. For example, in the myth of Io and Jove, Jupiter never comments about Io's beauty, but only that she would make some lucky male happy in bed.
Shakespeare quite obviously plays with the conventions of Petrarchan characters and their views of desire throughout the play but most significantly towards the beginning. Romeo is introduced as a character that seems to be blinded by love, his desire for Rosaline is over powering, shallow and foolish – “He that is strucken blind cannot forget / The precious treasure of his eyesight lost” (1.1.225-226). Shakespeare has created Romeo to resemble the typical ‘Petrarchan lover’ speakers that are found in Petrarch’s sonnets, we hear Romeo obsessing over Rosaline whom like ‘Laura’ from Petrarch’s sonnets is unattainable to Romeo, as she is choosing to remain celibate - "She hath forsworn to love, and in that vow / Do I live dead that live to tell it now” (1.1.216-217) Shakespeare has purposefully created Romeo and Rosaline with these similarities to Petrarchan conventions in mind as he is able to successfully critique the discourse of desire through the growth of Romeo in the play and the introduction of Juliet. Shakespeare also relies on the fact that his audience are aware of ‘what’s in store’ for Romeo, allowing him to create a clichéd and conventional character - “The theatre audience knows that
Now he sees Hero as impure and a deceiver. He thinks she is rotten and worthless now; he even calls her a “rotten orange” and says, “You seem to me like Dian” which means that she looks like the goddess Diana, sweet and chaste but she is really “Venus” the god of sexuality. Claudio, as we see, is quite gullible as he is twice deceived by Don John. The first time is at the ball when Don John tells Claudio that Don Pedro is not wooing by proxy but instead for himself. Don John says “my brother is amorous on Hero” meaning that Don Pedro is in love with Hero.
I will also use Baz Luhrmanns interpretation of the story as well as the original script to see how their love is distinguished towards the audience. Romeo is amazed at the beauty he sees in Juliet, this can be seen with the way he describes how pretty she is. He says ‘she doth teach the torches to burn bright! it seems she hangs on the cheek of night.’. With this, he is describing her as the only source of light in the room, or like a star in the night sky showing how he feels.
The theme of fate is developed in Romeo and Juliet through the use of paradox, literal and grammatical, and metaphor. When true love happens you don’t know what is going to happen and people will go till the end of the Earth to be with each other. Fate is one of the major themes in Romeo and Juliet and it plays a key role in many ways. In the book Romeo and Juliet would do anything for one another and throughout the play the reader is able to tell how much they are meant to be together. Romeo and Juliet see each other for the first time and they fell in love instantly.
Write about the different ways in which Shakespeare presents love in Acts One and Two of King Lear In more ways than others Shakespeare presents love as a necessary transaction between people, especially within family. In King Lear, love seems to be portrayed as something which can be used to manipulate or please someone for another person’s wishes. Furthermore, love is also used to emphasise the Machiavellian nature of certain characters, who wish to use it specifically to capitalise on some form of gain for themselves. Edmund is a prime example of this as is Goneril and Regan who both seem to bestow loving remarks towards their father only when it is for their benefit. Firstly, in Act 1, Shakespeare presents love almost like that of a business transaction between different people.
Shakespeare explores many different kinds of love in his play Romeo and Juliet. Discuss his portrayal of the theme of love through your analysis, language and actions. Shakespeare’s tragedy ‘Romeo and Juliet’ tells the tale of two young lovers who come from feuding families, the Montagues and the Capulets. The tale is set in Verona, Italy which is a country associated with love and romance. In the story there is constant conflict between love and hate which creates drama; for example the play opens with a fight between the Montagues and the Capulets.
His reaction in Act I scene iv shows that Juliet's appearance greatly affects him “O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright! It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night. As a rich jewel in an Ethiop's ear-. Beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear!”(act I, scene iv, 45-48) He says to himself, "Did my heart love til now? "(act I, scene iv, 53) Romeo quickly decides that he is in love with Juliet even though he has not yet spoken to her.
In the first place Friar Laurence was a strong element in theses events because he was one of Romeo’s most important friends and helped him marry Juliet. When Romeo speaks with Friar Laurence about Juliet and how they both wish to be married, Friar Laurence is hesitant about the marrying them but in the end decides to help them. Friar Laurence states, “But come, young waver, come, go with me, in one respect I’ll thy assistant be, For this alliance may so happy prove To turn your households rancor to pure love.” (II, iii, 89-92). Clearly, Friar Laurence wants to help Romeo by marrying him with Juliet. Friar Laurence also marries them for another reason based on love, he wishes for the children of both families to live in peace and end the feud.