Important Issues In Romeo And Juliet example essay topic

Romeo & Juliet How important are the issues: love, obedience and duty in the play? "O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy father and refuse thy name, Or if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, And I'll no longer be a Capulet". (II, ii, 33-36) These famous lines from Romeo and Juliet, demonstrate the importance of the three issues love, obedience and duty in the play.

They illustrate the mindset of Romeo and Juliet, and their willingness to defy their parents and duty to their families, in order to be with each other. Romeo and Juliet is the most famed love story in English literary tradition, and therefore love is the overriding theme of the play, causing characters to disregard issues like obedience and duty. Shakespeare's play deals with many types of love, and depicts all sides of the emotion. "Alas that Love, so gentle in his view, Should be so tyrannous and rough in proof!" (I, I, 163-4) The play focuses on romantic love, specifically that between Romeo and Juliet. In this play love is a violent, ecstatic, overpowering force that supersedes all other values, loyalties, and emotions. And in the course of the play, the young lovers are driven to defy their entire social world: Family: "Deny thy father and refuse thy name; Or if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, And I'll no longer be a Capulet" (II, ii, 34-36) Friends: Romeo abandons Mercurio and Benvolio after the feast, to go to Juliet's garden.

And ruler: Romeo returns to Verona for Juliet, after being exiled by the Prince. The love that the County Paris feels for Juliet is, however, contractual. He does not actually know Juliet, only her family and what she represents. Paris looks to marry the Capulet name.

This is apparent in the way that the marriage is discussed, between Lord Capulet and Paris, even before Paris and Juliet meet. (I, ii) Of course, Lord Capulet agrees as the County Paris is "a gentleman of noble parentage... ( , v, 179) and he stands to gain from the arrangement. Both obedience and duty are presented in this play, however both Romeo and Juliet do not fulfill their duty to their families, and prove to be disobedient of their parents' wishes as a result of their love for each other. Obedience, or rather disobedience is perhaps best illustrated through the forbidden love of Romeo and Juliet. During the balcony scene (II, ii) Juliet asks Romeo to "defy your father" and indicates that she is prepared to "no longer be a Capulet", indicating that she will disobey her parent's wishes in order to be with Romeo. Until her meeting with Romeo, Juliet was obedient, even agreeing to consider marrying a man she had never met.

(I, , 98-100) But her love for Romeo is a cause for change, and she feels she should obey her heart over her parents. Duty to one's family is prominent in Romeo and Juliet and both feel a duty to their families. Romeo even states, "My name, dear saint, is hateful to myself, Because it is an enemy to thee"; (II, ii, 55), indicating that he realizes the two must not be together as their families are enemies. But Romeo and Juliet, cannot contain their feelings, and decide that fulfilling to their own needs is perhaps more important.

Previous to meeting Juliet, Romeo felt it his duty to defend his family name. But in Act, scene I Romeo refuses a challenge from Ty balt, as his love for Juliet means he cannot attack a "good Capulet". While duty and obedience are important issues in Romeo and Juliet, none is as important as love. Both Romeo and Juliet are unable to fulfill their duties and obey the wishes of others.

Their love results in both fulfilling duty to themselves and obeying their own hearts. The powerful nature of love in Romeo and Juliet is perhaps best seen in the way it is described, or, more accurately, the way descriptions of it so consistently fail to capture its entirety. "But my true love is grown to such excess I cannot sum up sum of half my wealth". (II, vi, 33-34).