Romeo And Juliet And Antony And Cleopatra example essay topic

Love and desire has existed in many forms throughout time. William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet and Antony and Cleopatra, are two good examples of how love can be beautiful and pure yet destructive and fatal. This essay will explore the two plays mainly considering the relationships of Antony and Cleopatra and Romeo and Juliet and how Shakespeare treats the issue of love within each of them. It could be suggested that Shakespeare was influenced by the Italian theatre, 'Characters meet and fall in love, they have funny friends and bawdy servants. These acts follow an Italian style called Commedia dell " arte, which usually has two virtuous lovers and fathers keep them apart and servants make racy comments about sex. ' According to the trailer for Baz Luhrmans film Romeo and Juliet, it was "The greatest love story ever told".

It has been a story that has lasted through out many generations; "The names of Romeo and Juliet are practically synonyms for passionate, mutual love. Although Shakespeare did not invent this story of youthful passion, it's Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet that turned the title lovers into classic models for tragic romance. It could be suggested that Shakespeare was partly influenced by Shakespeare based "Romeo and Juliet" on an earlier poem by Arthur Brooke, "Romeus and Juliet". The opinions of the authors about the subjects of love and marriage differ and it is shown in their writing.

Brooke condemned the conduct of Romeo and Juliet in a prose address at the beginning of his book, describing them as: "A couple of unfortunate lovers, thralling themselves to un honest desire, neglecting the authority and advise of parents... attempting all adventures of peril for the attaining of their wished lust (and) abusing the honourable name of lawful marriage... ". It could be suggested here that Brooke's poem has a high moralistic value, 'So, to like effect, by sundry means the good man's example biddeth men to be good, and the evil man's mischief war neth men not to be evil. ' Thus that is to say that Brooke saw the Characters of Romeus and Juliet to be bad and sinful. From that perspective it would seem that, Brooke saw the young couple as a pair of sinful teenagers rebelling against their parents. 'In Elizabethan England, people did not think of individual rights as we do today.

They had a strong sense of how family and national history shaped their own lives. ' Children thus were expected to be obedient to their parent's wishes, hence the theme of young versus old love, in which marriage was seen as an arrangement for social and economic and political reasons. This is demonstrated by Shakespeare in the form of his Character, Paris, 'And having now provided A gentleman of noble parentage Of fair demesnes, youthful, nobly lined,' However, it could be shown that Shakespeare took a more gentle approach and was sympathetic to the young lover's plight, condemning the parents as well as showing that their death was more to do with destiny rather than self-induced fate. 'The integral connection between love and death appears in the prologue - "From out of the fatal loins of these two foes" came a pair of "star-crossed" lovers. The intense enmity of the family feud does not cause the lovers death, but rather generates the twin birth of love and death in the persons of the lovers. It suggests that they do not die because of warring parents, but rather that the parents are the circumstances of they " re meeting, loving and death.

' It would seem as suggested that the path of Romeo and Juliet was already mapped out before they were born. Even though Romeo and Juliet is a story of Love, the prologue is full of negative language, 'ancient grudge', 'civil blood', 'death-marked'. It thus suggests that it is going to be a love story with problems. The same point can be made for the later Story of Antony and Cleopatra. Shakespeare developed this play from Plutarch's 'Life of Marcus Antonius'.

It could be suggested that 'This play is limited to the love of "mature people". So it should be 'read in contrast to Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare's play of young love'. Another point here is that, the two plays are part of 'Shakespeare's double portrait of love' Antony and Cleopatra contrast specifically with Romeo and Juliet as the love of passion and appetite opposed to the love of affection and instinct. '. That is to say that Antony and Cleopatra may be presented as a more sensual than spiritual love. In contrast to the private and secret intimacies of young, na " ive couple, like that of the Duchess of Mali, who secretly falls in love with Antonio.

Antony and Cleopatra's relationship is very much in the public arena, like that of an older, wiser, stronger couple. 'Tonight we " ll wander through the streets'. However, both couple's experiences of love run parallel to each other. A proposal here is that the demise of Antony and Cleopatra, unlike Romeo and Juliet's, was not due to fate and destiny. Unlike Romeo and Juliet, they had a choice of the path to take in their lives; Antony in particular was the master of his own downfall. 'I am conqueror of myself'.

' It was a 'passionate infatuation which betrays a great and generous man. ' Is that to say that his love, like that of King Herod for Mariam got in the way of reason? 'For his love to her was not of a calm nature'. A point to suggest here is that the reason and sense for Antony was Rome and its masculine values, war, politics and power. Egypt however, one could argue was the erotic, with feminine sensuality, desire and, pleasure. 'I'th East my pleasure my pleasure lies. ' 'love is a violent, ecstatic, overpowering force that supersedes all other values, loyalties and emotions.

' However Shakespeare shows the strength of the love, through tragic acts of suicide. Both Antony and Cleopatra commit suicide in belief that they will be joined together in death 'But I will be a bridegroom in my death and run into't As to my lover's bed. ' 'Husband I come' According to critics of the play 'Death to Cleopatra means the freedom to rejoin Antony in all of the splendour of their first meeting. '. One could perhaps propose that the death scenes become a final expression of their love for each other. 'That kiss which is my heaven to have'.

An argument here could be, 'Is Antony and Cleopatra a tragedy of lyrical inspiration, justifying love by presenting it as a triumphant over death, or, is it rather a remorseless exposure of human frailties, a presentation of spiritual possibilities dissipated through a senseless surrender of passion. ' The first point to be raised here is the issue of love being triumphant over death in both plays. 'Love conquers death even more surely than it defeats hate. Time is defeated... the intensity of emotion towers above it's temporal duration of success.

' Thus suggesting that love is timeless and in death it continues. 'To Romeo, this double suicide is a kind of everlasting reconciliation, "I will stay with thee... O here will I set up my everlasting rest. ' However, a point to be made here would be that, if love triumphed death, then neither play would be a tragedy. Thus it could be professed that Shakespeare, whilst he implies that love is a beautiful and sensual sensation 'How silver-sweet sound lovers' tongues by night, like softest music to attending ears. ' It could also cloud a person's judgement and hinder their perception of reason and emotion.

'Those his goodly eyes, that o'er the files and musters of the war have glowed like plated Mars, now bend, now turn the office and devotion of their view upon a tawny front. '. That is to say that 'The eyes of Antony that turn their devotion toward Cleopatra are loving eyes and differ from the eyes of wisdom and reason. ' An aspect of love that is often examined in relation to Shakespeare's plays is the significance of the eyes, 'that the eyes are a guide in love'. As well as being the eyes that see the physical beauty, they are also " the windows of the soul".

Shakespeare's Cleopatra is shown as an artist of love who knows the importance of the eyes in love. When she appears in the famous barge scene, she makes sure that her servant 'tended her I'the eyes, and made their bends adorning. ' Antony "eats" Cleopatra with his eyes. Indeed in Romeo and Juliet, Lady Capulet urges her daughter to look into her suitors eyes 'And what obscured in this fair volume lies, find written in the margent of his eye's. This precious book of love, this unbound lover, to beautify him only lacks a cover.

' A point to made here is that one could not really get to know a person by looking in their eyes and it is in fact a superficial kind of love, a desire. Shakespeare it could be argued presents many different kinds of 'love' within his plays, particularly in Romeo and Juliet. 'Love in it's many forms, is an important theme in the play. ' A reason for that would be to emphasise the romantic love of the two main characters.

At the beginning of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, Romeo is seen to profess his love for Rosaline, who it would seem has no interest in him 'Out of her favour where I am in love. ' The treatment of Romeo's love for Rosaline is contrasted against the love he feels for Juliet. The love that he shows for Rosaline would appear to be more of a courtly or Petrachan love. An indication of this would be the language with which Romeo speaks, it is more poetic and exaggerated in form and contains standard oxymoron's 'O brawling love, O loving hate O anything of nothing first create!' This courtly love shows the adoration and respect of a man towards a lady, who is chaste and unattainable, 'She hath Dian's wit, And in strong proof of chastity well armed From love's weak childish bow she lives unharmed. ' In contrast to that is the love that is shared between Romeo and Juliet, a true or "ideal" love. Its goodness is represented by the religious, spiritual and romantic language that Romeo and Juliet use to dedicate their love, One could propose that 'the language and form of dialogue that is privately shared by Romeo and Juliet, is totally different from public life.

' 'O speak again bright angel, for thou art As glorious to this night, being o'er my head, As a winged messenger of heaven'. Love described in religious terms, heightens the holiness and sacredness of this relationship. This leads on however, to contrast the ideas of love with other characters within the two plays. The language of the Mercutio, Enobarbus, the nurse, Charmain and the other servants in both Romeo and Juliet and Antony and Cleopatra suggest a different attitude towards love. 'The most obvious and recurring contrasts are those made between Charmain and Cleopatra. Just as the coarse bawdry of the servants in Romeo and Juliet contrasts with the sophisticated wit of Mercutio and the na " ive passion of the lovers.

' Thus that is to suggest that Shakespeare presented love in three levels. There is the primal instinct of sexual carnality, 'He ploughed her, and she cropped. ', The trite action of petrachan love, 'Well such is love's transgression Griefs of mine own lie heavy in my breast' Finally, true or ideal love, the highest kind of love, in which one loves in body and spirit. '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. ' 'Shakespeare is not didactic; he is an artist who feels and depicts.

In making us feel and see, he may also lead us, unintentionally on his part into certain kinds of resolution and behaviour. ' On conclusion, one can suggest that Shakespeare, like Brooke had a slightly apprehensive view about love, that although it can be beautiful, it can also be destructive and fatal. 'These violent delights have violent ends. '

Bibliography

BOOKS Bev ington, David (eds) Antony and Cleopatra, (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1990) Castiglione, Baldasare, The Book of the Courier, translated by Sir Thomas Ho by (New York, E.
P. Dutton, 1956) Coleridge, Samuel Taylor, Shakespearean Criticism.
2 volumes. (eds) Thomas Middleton Rays or (Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 1930) Horne, Herman Harrell, Shakespeare's Philosophy of Love (North Carolina, Edwards and Broughton Co, 1945) Quennell, Peter, Shakespeare: The Poet And His Background, (Great Britain, Penguin Books, 1969) Simply Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet (New York, Barron's educational series, 2002) Stockholder, Kay, Dream Works, Lovers and Families in Shakespeare's plays (Canada, University of Toronto Press, 1987) Traci, Phillip J.
The Love Play of Antony and Cleopatra, (Netherlands, Mouton & Co, 1970) Travers i D.
A, ., An Approach to Shakespeare (New York, Doubleday & Co, 1956) WEBSITES 'Aspects of love', web (accessed 11th December, 02) Discuss the presentation of the themes of love and marriage in "Romeo and Juliet".
web (accessed 11th December, 02) Grzebeta, S, 'Love concepts in Shakespeare Romeo and Juliet' web (accessed 8th Decmeber, o 2) Jewish Antiquities, Book XV, Chapter 7, The works of Flavius Josephus, translated by William Whist on, web Style of Romeo and Juliet, , web (accessed 11th December, 02) Themes, motifs and symbols' web (accessed 1st December, 02) 'Types of love in Romeo and Juliet', web (accessed 10 t December, 02) OTHER WORKS CITED Ayla l, , Amina, 'Shakespeare and the Renassiance, Antony and Cleopatra, Plutarch's 'Life of Marcus Antonius', in 'Lives of the Noble Grecian's and Romans', available to Shakespeare in Thomas North's translation of 1579 (2002).