A Comparison Of Love In Romeo And Juliet By William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare, a poet prominent for his tragedies concerning forbidden love, once proposed that “love, so gentle in his view, Should be so tyrannous and rough in proof”. Nonetheless, society has educated humanity to deduce that love is an auspicious emotion, worshipping the feeling by squandering a myriad of hours searching for the “right one” and venerating “family time”. Hence, it is evident that love is a powerful instrument in numerous lives as individuals have expended hours fixated on enhancing the love of storge, love between family members, as well as eros, romantic love that is perceived by significant others. Although the amalgamation of media and culture has convinced civilization to deduce that love is a vital necessity
for its supposed concomitants of beatitudes, countless of artists have substantiated otherwise as they frequently depicted the tragic deaths and severed relations that materialized due to these overvalued perceptions of love. In William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Kate Tempest’s “My Shakespeare”, Ovid’s “Pyramus and Thisbe”, and Pamela Rafael Berkman’s “Duty”, the writers suggest that the love of storge represents an obstacle to eros as it induces misunderstandings to transpire within lovers, further generating the progression of complications. In the development of their theses, the authors initially employed indicators of the love of storge to convey that eros is exceedingly delicate for it can be eradicated by the misinterpretations emerging from the intense affection within the kin.
Following Lord Capulet’s arranged marriage for his daughter, Juliet refused to be wed to his favored consort due to her love for Romeo which evoked her father to holler that his “care hath been to have her matched” and reprimand her for such insolence (Shakespeare I.v.179). Juliet’s parents profoundly concerned themselves about their daughter’s melancholic mood from her cousin’s death; as a result, they primarily admonished their daughter for disobeying their command to marry Paris, prompting her to develop a scheme of feigning death that ultimately resulted in the protagonists’ genuine demise. By emphasizing the endearment The Capulets perceived towards their daughter, Shakespeare implies that storge may threaten eros since the excessive affection of the parents to their child strangled the lives of both their daughter as well as her beloved as it engendered the misconceptions of death to arise between the protagonists. Likewise, Ovid depicted Pyramus and Thisbe’s desire to marry, however, their “marriage was forbidden by their parents” (11). The families of the two characters despised one another; therefore, they did not permit the wedding to occur between their children, inducing Pyramus to perish after a series of turmoils
during his attempt to elope with Thisbe. Through the revelation of the families’ feud, Ovid signifies the fragility of the love of eros as a parent’s egocentric nature can instigate the demise of one’s entire kindred, which is pronounced as the protagonist of the greek myth succumbed to the strain caused by the misunderstandings that arose due to the feud. Thus, the writers incorporated the consequences on eros culminating from the love of storge to bespeak that love essentially does not possess the “happy ending” ensured in fairy tales that individuals are anticipating in the modern society. Moreover, the litterateurs exhibited the love of eros and its predecessor, storge, to denote the influence family love holds over the misunderstandings that obliterate romantic love.
Due to his belief in Juliet’s death, Romeo mentioned that he would “lie with [Juliet] t[hat] night” (Shakespeare V.i.34). Romeo accentuated his extreme desire to die with Juliet for he could not imagine living in a world that was void of his beloved despite the fact that she was not deceased in actuality and he had simply misapprehended her authentic intentions to be able to live with him. As Shakespeare exposed Romeo’s will to die, the poet indicates that love is ethereal since lovers encounter numerous tribulations due to the tumults that originate from storge, prominent when the protagonists’ of the play eventually perish, which further validates that the ideal endearment is discovered exclusively in delirious fantasies. Similarly, Tempest suggested that Shakespeare’s morals influence “every vain admirer” as his “words are the setting for our stories” (13, 31). Tempest disclosed that Shakespeare’s plays persist to impact humanity as his tragedies, which arose due to the excessive endearment experienced within one’s kindred, represented an equivalent duplicate to the innumerable lives existing in communities. Through her connection between the situations of the characters Shakespeare presented and those that countless subjects of the populace living currently experience, Tempest conveys
that those who infatuate themselves in prioritizing their partner to enhance their bond have encountered various instances of disapproval from their guardians, promoting the termination of their vigorous relationship instead of enriching it as the lovers initiate new affiliations with different significant others which only further amplifies the prospect of misconceptions to emerge; consequently, Tempest reminds her audience that Shakespeare’s notions about storge’s vast ramifications on eros relates to the egregious conditions multitudinous people undergo today. Additionally, following the deaths of Romeo and Juliet, Lady Capulet recalled the incident when she had “pushed away [Lord Montague’s] kisses” as she believed her worth was in her family (Berkman 226-228); subsequently, “him [she] did not marry” although it was “[him] she had loved” (Berkman 229). Lady Capulet cherished Lord Montague during their adolescent years, however, was prevented from marrying him as her family had expected her to concentrate her absorption in their favored spouse, further generating misunderstandings within Montague concerning the validity of her endearment towards him. By exhibiting the intimacy perceived in Lady Capulet and Lord Montague’s past, Berkman attempts to convince the readers that the affinity among lovers is exceptionally delicate for it is prone to wither due to the conflicting emotions that are fostered from one’s affection towards their kin, which is prominent as Lady Capulet’s denial to kiss Lord Montague in behalf of her devotion to family induced her lover to misconceive that she genuinely did not intend to persist as his beloved. Accordingly, the writers utilized the repercussions of eros that stem from their genesis, storge, to reinforce their assertion that the heightened intensity of familial love poses a hazard to the vulnerable affection between devotees as it can enkindle misconstructions to materialize. Furthermore, the authors displayed the misunderstandings ensuing from the detrimental love of storge that ultimately annihilated eros to indicate that the love between family members is capable of eliminating the bonds between lovers. Upon Romeo’s death due to his belief that Juliet had perished, Juliet exclaimed to the dagger that she would “be brief… [She] was [the] sheath; there rust, and let [her] die” (Shakespeare V.iii.160-170). Juliet thrust the dagger into her body as she did not sustain any intentions to continue existing in a life that lacked her Romeo, who had tragically died due to the misinterpretations that emerged from Juliet’s simulated death to deceive her family for she did not desire to comply with the regulations her parents required her to obey under their jurisdiction. Through the depiction of Juliet’s immoderate love by the exhibition of her death, Shakespeare signifies that eros is continuously menaced by the misapprehensions that derive from an inordinate quantity of storge since excessive parental love has extremely limited lovers in their prospect for exhilaration as it forbids any affection between the two significant others from blossoming, prompting the devotees to uncover new resolutions to their restrained endearment which evidently concludes in a woeful manner. Correspondingly, succeeding the discovery of Pyramus’ wounded figure, Thisbe resolved to “follow [him] in death” (Ovid 135) as she “placed the dagger’s point beneath her breast” and lunged the blade into her body (Ovid 149-150). Upon her return to the mulberry tree after her encounter with the lioness, Thisbe arrived only to witness the death of her imminent husband and perished along her beloved Pyramus, who had executed himself with the bayonet she had utilized to commit suicide, for the couple did not approve that their love was forbidden by their parents. As Ovid reveals the death of Thisbe, he communicates to the reader that misunderstandings emanate from a parent’s overprotective love and incessantly damages eros since the protagonists’ families despised one another; hence, they attempted to protect their children by averting their marriage for they regarded one another as villains, which did not merely exterminate the potent link between the lovers, however, devastated the connection within the family members as well. Therefore, the writers vindicated their contention that misapprehensions resulting from an superfluous extent of familial love jeopardize eros by manifesting the ruination of robust relationships with the depictions of the protagonists’ deaths within their narratives. In the final analysis, the litterateurs propose that eros is imperiled by the love of storge as love within the family precipitates misconceptions, eradicating the bonds between impassioned lovers as additional impediments arise. Throughout the progression of the stories, it is apparent that the overwhelming affection perceived within the kin has promoted misapprehensions to emerge. Consequently, the misunderstandings that surfaced due to the subduing endearment induced the obliteration of the connections between numerous couples as the two lovers ultimately perished or were compelled to cease their affiliation; thus, the artists signify the desideratum for individuals to discern the concealed characteristics of love. Although technology and traditional values endowed by society have deceived humanity to perceive love as a requisite for perpetual elation, the writers emphasize that it is not too late to alter one’s sentiment about love’s genuine peculiarity for Vincent Van Gogh, a renowned artist, once imparted that “love is something eternal; the aspect may change, but not the essence” of its atrocious consequences.