Love Between Romeo And Juliet example essay topic

Romeo and Juliet is arguably the most famous love story in English literary tradition. The romantic love that is shared between the characters, Romeo and Juliet, is a passionate, ecstatic and overpowering force that supersedes all other values, loyalties, and emotions. Such a love is often perceived as purely erotic, especially when taking into consideration the mere five-day span of the play. However, Shakespeare has hardly written any emotion, especially love, to be simply plain and frivolous.

Like most of Shakespeare's plays, emotions, like love, are passionate and overpowering because they have meaning. Romeo and Juliet express their love in ways that cannot be bound to mere sexuality. Furthermore, their love seeks to contend every part of their social environment even with the knowledge of heavy consequences. Additionally, their ultimate suicides brought upon purely by their profound affection for one another provide proof that Romeo and Juliet's love is not solely erotic, but quite altruistic. Romeo and Juliet's love is often perceived as purely erotic due to their "love-at-first-sight" encounter.

However, the expression of their love is quite an entirely different matter. The manner in which Romeo and Juliet express their love for one another can hardly be confined to mere sexuality. In one of the most well-known and beloved scenes of Shakespeare's play, Romeo enters the Capulet's garden whereupon he glimpses Juliet atop a balcony. When Juliet warns him of the danger he has placed himself in, Romeo responds with an eloquent metaphor that also succeeds in expressing the nature of his love towards Juliet: With love's light wings did I o'erperch these walls; For stony limits cannot hold love out: And what love can do, that dares love attempt; Therefore thy kinsmen are no let to me. (2.2. 70-73) By professing his love as an entity that protects him from even the Capulet guards, Romeo conveys his love as something that is powerful enough to overcome all obstacles (web).

In Act Two, Scene Three of Romeo and Juliet, Romeo visits Friar Lawrence and informs him of his newfound love. Friar Lawrence is skeptical about Romeo's love for Juliet and cautions him about the sudden change of heart between Rosaline, his former interest, and Juliet. However, Romeo is able to refute the Friar's arguments and rightfully expresses the difference between his frivolous "love" for Rosaline and his passionate love for Juliet. "I pray thee chide not: she whom I love now / Doth grace for grace and love for love allow; / The other did not so" (2.3.

87-89). Romeo clearly states that the love between Juliet and himself is mutual and meaningful. It is unlike the interest he had for Rosaline, which can be assumed as nothing more than a hopeless crush (web). Juliet, too, expresses her love for Romeo as clearly romantic and deeply emotional. In the famed balcony scene, Juliet compares the depths of her love with that of the sea.

"My bounty is as boundless as the sea, / My love as deep; the more I give to thee, / The more I have, for both are infinite" (2.2. 139-141). In this way, Juliet's statement also supports the belief that her love for Romeo has true depth; it is definitely deeper than any love strictly confined to just physicality. In Act Three, Scene Two, Juliet anxiously waits for her newly wedded husband. While waiting for Romeo's arrival, Juliet further expresses her love for him. Give me my Romeo; and, when he shall die, Take him and cut him out in little stars, And he will make the face of heaven so fine That all the world will be in love with night, And pay no worship to the garish sun. - (3.2.

21-25) By using references to heaven, night and day, Juliet conveys her love as a spiritual one - something that is beyond this earth. The powerful, spiritual and romantic manner in which Romeo and Juliet express their love clearly shows that their shared affection is much more than physical. Their love is both deeply emotional and altruistic. The love between Romeo and Juliet is not only expressed passionately and powerfully, but it also takes passionate and powerful actions. It is within Shakespeare's play that the young lovers are driven to defy many aspects of their social lives. The love between them seeks to defy family, friends and even rulers (web).

Romeo and Juliet are not afraid to confront hardships and challenges for one another. A more lucid statement of defiance occurs when Juliet refuses to marry Paris, the man her father has arranged for her. I pray you, tell my lord and father, madam, I will not marry yet; and when I do, I swear It shall be Romeo, whom you know I hate, Rather than Paris: -these are news indeed! (3.5. 135-138) Juliet's father interprets this defiance as ungratefulness and pure disregard for the Capulet family. Perhaps this may hold especially true in the father's mindset because it is around this same time within the play that Romeo has already been banished for killing Juliet's cousin. Juliet herself pays a heavy price as she is personally banished from her own family.

She willingly confronts disown ment for her love of Romeo. Such sacrifices serve to show just how deep and powerful her love truly is. The power of Romeo and Juliet's love also defies the boundaries of friendship. In Act Two, Scene One, Romeo abandons Mercutio and Benvolio in order to sneak into Juliet's garden. "Can I go forward when my heart is here?" (2.1.

1). He clearly tells his friends that his heart would rather find his love in the place of the enemy than spend time with his friends away from danger. A very poignant moment that gives further insight into Romeo's devotion for Juliet occurs when he attempts to make peace between the feuding parties. Gentlemen, for shame! forbear this outrage! - Tybalt, -Mercutio, -the prince expressly hath Forbid this bandying in Verona streets. - Hold, Tybalt! -good Mercutio! - (3.1.

79-82) Because Romeo has united the two feuding families with his marriage to Juliet, he stands by his love by trying to make peace between Tybalt and Mercutio. However, his attempt falls on deaf ears and Romeo pays his own heavy price for love with the loss of his best friend, Mercutio. His friendships were contended by his deep love for Juliet. Finally, the love between Romeo and Juliet seeks to challenge even the ruler of Verona. Because Romeo has taken Tybalt's life in revenge for Mercutio, Romeo is banished from the city under the pain of death.

Romeo, however, defies this banishment despite the fact that it was given directly from the Prince. He returns to Verona, all the while knowing full well the consequences of his actions, and goes to Juliet's chamber in order to comfort her and consummate his marriage. By doing this, he proves that his love for her clearly overcomes all obstacles. The actions of Romeo and Juliet challenge all the aspects of their social environment. These actions are a definite extension of the love they express and offer further proof of their altruistic love.

Many critics argue that the five-day time frame, which the play covers, is not sufficient enough for love to be considered altruistic. However, if Romeo and Juliet's love were simply physical, their separation would have ended their love once and for all. The love between Romeo and Juliet still lingered just as strongly even while they were apart and especially when faced with the possibility of never seeing each other again. Both Romeo and Juliet would rather choose a path of pain and death than one that included a life without each other.

In an intimate scene between Romeo and Juliet, Romeo tells Juliet that he would die for her if she willed it. Let me be ta " en, let me be put to death; I am content, so thou wilt have it so... Come, death, and welcome! Juliet wills it so. - (3.5. 17-24) It is here that Romeo clearly and emotionally expresses he would take death for love. His deep devotion to Juliet will once again move him to do anything.

Romeo has already defied his city's ruler by visiting Juliet and continues to show that his love is just as strong and powerful despite any possibility that he may never see her again. In Act Four, Scene One, Juliet goes and visits Friar Lawrence when she is told that she must marry Paris. She clearly describes very harsh miseries and pains she would rather endure for the sake of being with her beloved Romeo. O, bid me leap, rather than marry Paris, From off the battlements of yonder tower; Or walk in thievish ways; or bid me lurk Where serpents are; chain me with roaring bears; Or shut me nightly in a charnel-house, O'er-cover'd quite with dead men's rattling bones, With reeky shanks and yellow c hapless skulls; Or bid me go into a new-made grave, And hide me with a dead man in his shroud; Things that, to hear them told, have made me tremble; And I will do it without fear or doubt, To live an unstain'd wife to my sweet love. (4.1.

78-89) Juliet's love for Romeo continues to be undaunted by the fact that they may be separated forever. The love between Romeo and Juliet is again proven altruistic because of their firm stance in continuing to love one another despite their separation. The most poignant proof of the love between Romeo and Juliet is ultimately shown in the play's ending. The sacrifice of their own lives for one another is the defining confirmation of their altruistic love.

In the end, the two lovers are faced with two choices: to live without their love or to die loving one another. It is in this defining moment that the lovers choose death. When Romeo hears of his beloved's death, there is no hesitation in his choice. He says out loud, "Well, Juliet, I will lie with thee to-night" (5.1.

36). Once he has made his way into the tomb of his wife, Romeo professes his love for her one last time... I still will stay with thee, And never from this palace of dim night Depart again: here, here will I remain With worms that are thy chambermaids: O, here Will I set up my everlasting rest; And shake the yoke of inauspicious stars From this world-wearied flesh. -Eyes, look your last! Arms, take your last embrace! and, lips, O you The doors of breath, seal with a righteous kiss A dateless bargain to engrossing death!

- Come, bitter conduct, come, unsavoury guide! Thou desperate pilot, now at once run on The dashing rocks thy sea-sick weary bark! ... Thus with a kiss I die. (5.3.

106-120) With these words, Romeo illustrates that his love for Juliet has never wavered from their first meeting unto his death. His love for her will even continue into the afterlife. When Juliet awakens to find her Romeo dead, she makes the same choice as he. I will kiss thy lips; Haply some poison yet doth hang on them, To make me die with a restorative... O happy dagger! This is thy sheath; there rest, and let me die. (5.3.

170-176) Juliet, who has claimed her love "as boundless as the sea" (2.2. 139), has not faltered in her love for her Romeo. The young lovers both go beyond weighing between life and death. They give the ultimate sacrifice of their own lives instead of living without the companionship of the other; it is a mark of true, altruistic love. Romeo and Juliet is arguably the most famous love story in English literary tradition because of the passionate, ecstatic and overpowering love that is shared between the two main characters. This utterly selfless love is the work of a man who does not write about emotions that are purely simple and frivolous.

Shakespeare's paints love with meaning and because it has meaning, it is a force that supersedes all other values, loyalties, and emotions. Such a love cannot be and is not bound by simple physicality. Despite what critics have implied, the young lovers express their love in a deeply emotional and spiritual manner. The love that they share is powerful enough to challenge their existing social environment, which they pay a heavy price for and the ultimate expression of their love for each other is shown in the sacrifice of their own lives. Because they would rather choose death than live a life without the other, Romeo and Juliet's love prove to be unwavering - not even death can separate the two. These two "star cross'd lovers" (Prologue) show a true devotion to each other that can only be described as genuinely altruistic.

Phillips, Brian. Spark Note on Romeo and Juliet. 25 November 2003... The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. Ed. W.J. Craig. London: Magpie Books, 1993.764-794.

Weller, Philip. Romeo and Juliet Navigators. 23 December 2001. Shakespeare Navigators. 25 November 2003...