Aspects of Love in William Shakespeares Romeo and Juliet :: Romeo and Juliet Essays

Aspects of Love in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet 'Aspects of Love': Discuss the various forms of love that are present in Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet". It's a clichÃÆ'Â © to say that Romeo and Juliet is the greatest love story ever told. People say this because it is the most famous love story told and the play has various aspects of love and not only one. Even the phrase 'the greatest love story ever told' was used as a tagline for the recent Baz Luhrmann film. The prologue is full of violent and negative language e.g. ancient grudge, civil blood, fatal lions, death- marked, rage. But also has words to do with love e.g. star crossed lovers. You can already tell that this is going to be a love story with trouble, worry and violence in it. The first reference to an aspect of love in this so-called "greatest love story ever told" after the Prologue is to rape and therefore lust not love. The first two characters that the audience is introduced to are Sampson and Gregory. They are vulgar and crude, making many sexual references and innuendoes. They do not see love as involving emotions or desires, but as a purely physical thing, sexual not emotional. Sampson refers to women as "weaker vessels" and tells of how he will rape the maids of the Montague household; "Women being the weaker vessels are ever thrust to the wall", "I will push Montague's men from the wall, and thrust his maids to the wall". Both Sampson and Gregory have petty and narrow perceptions of 'love'. Neither of them appears to have ever experienced true love. They talk in a crude and coarse manner and see women as objects not people. Courtly love characterises Romeo's behaviour at the start as he mopes over the unattainable Rosaline. This is only upper class and is not necessarily about love. It is really a series of expectations, aristocratic societies expected their young men to idolise a woman 'out of their league. This happens to Romeo because he is self-pitying