Hate In Shakespeare's Romeo And Juliet

Horace Walpole once said, “The world is a tragedy to those who feel, but a comedy to those who think.” Romeo and Juliet, written by William Shakespeare, is no exception to this for the forbidden lovers let their emotions control how they lived their lives, allowing love to overpower logic. Rather than love and lust, the Capulets and Montagues allowed disgust and spitefulness to cause much chaos to the everyday lives of the feuding families. At the start of the play, hate overruled all resulting in multiple disturbances throughout the town and story. When the lovers first met, a deep affection is created between the two. As their endearment towards one another prosper, the loathing among the Capulets and Montagues continue to grow, which
makes the hidden relationship between Romeo and Juliet fatal. The hatefulness from the families triggered many deaths that could have been prevented if the Capulets and Montagues would think rationally rather than impulsively, making what was suppose to be a sweet bond into one that was bitter. Shakespeare uses foreshadowing and tone in order to show that loving someone can be more poisonous than poison itself.
Shakespeare demonstrated foreshadowing through the death throughout the play. The forbidden lover’s relationship is known to end in disaster by the audience along with characters who suspect that their love is poisonous for one another. Juliet is one of the many characters who foreshadowed the lover's untimely deaths multiple times throughout the entirety of the play. Shortly after Juliet and Romeo met, she says, “my grave is like to be my wedding bed” (I. v. 148-149), meaning she would die before marrying anyone besides Romeo. This becomes true when she is told that a marriage was arranged between Paris and herself, so she chooses death over forced love. Mercutio and Benvolio discuss Romeo and his love for Juliet, Mercutio stating that “he is already dead” (II. iv. 14). Mercutio foreshadows Romeo dying due to him chasing the love of his life, even Lady Capulet stated that “that same villain, Romeo” (III. v. 85) will pass, whether it be from natural causes or by the hands of man as revenge for him ending Tybalt long before he should have passed. All of this casts an eerie and ghostly atmosphere in the play, causing the audience to question whether or not Romeo and Juliet’s love is as poisonous, if not more, than what the strongest of venom could accomplish.
The tone of Romeo and Juliet changes drastically throughout the scenes, depending on which characters are speaking.
Overall, the tone appears to be violent yet romantic. At the very start of the play, Tybalt declares “have at thee, coward” (I. i. 73) as he draws his sword and fights servants of the Montague family. This scene along with others demonstrate how aggressive the hatred became, the violence growing so out of control that it resulted in a multitude of deaths. Whenever the forbidden lovers are together, a passionate atmosphere is created causing the audience to care for the sweethearts more than before. Romeo is immediately captivated by the beauty that is Juliet, declaring “did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight, for I ne’er saw true beauty till this night” (I. v. 59-60). The same goes for Juliet. It could be said that the two fell in love at first sight. As the play progresses, the tone gradually becomes more and more depressing. The love felt is expected to perish for the venom that is the conflict between the feuding families is overpowering even Romeo and Juliet’s intense bond. Hope for a cheerful and compassionate ending becomes slimmer as the destruction caused by the feuding families builds
up.
All through Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare continuously uses foreshadowing and tone to display how loving someone can be more poisonous than poison itself. Due to the time period that the play was written in and takes place, the series of events are greatly affected. If the story would have taken place in modern time, many incidents would not have occurred or would have occurred in a different manner. Because the lifespan of humans have increased since the 1400s, people generally don’t rush into love as fast as those in the thirteenth century. It was common and mainly expected for people to fall in love and marry at such a young age, Juliet, for example, only being thirteen in the play. Committing to a person who one barely knows, it is bound to end in disaster. Falling in love with someone who one is not suppose to associate with, that makes the poison all the more powerful. What it comes down to is that people might not agree with the rash decisions of the forbidden lovers, but only the two know how real their love is. They took their chances in hopes of a beautiful future ahead of them, but alas, that did not occur “for never was a story of more woe, than this of Juliet and her Romeo” (V. iii. 320-321).