Love/hate - Why It Is Relevent?

(LOVE/HATE, WHY IT IS RELEVENT) In the 16th century William Shakespeare wrote 37 plays and 154 sonnets, which included Romeo and Juliet, sonnet 18 and sonnet 130. In one of Shakespeare's most popular plays, Romeo (a Montague) and Juliet’s (a Capulet) secret marriage is destined to bring tragedy both to the couple and to their families. As the ‘ancient grudge‘between the two families is still apparent to that day, Romeo and Juliet are forced to hide their love for each other, causing a play of love and also tragedy. The themes of love and hate can be compared to those we see in Sonnet 18, Sonnet 130 and The Laboratory. For example in Romeo and Juliet, the balcony scene (act 2; scene 2) and throughout Sonnet 18 the thought of courtly love is shown. Throughout Sonnet 18 the idea of courtly love is presented through many metaphors referring to nature all based on the women’s outer appearance. Throughout Sonnet 130, we might first read it as being a hateful, untraditional sonnet. (IN THIS ESSAY…)

 For example it does not have the usual love through beauty theme like Sonnet 18 and Romeo and Juliet. However in the end we can see that it is possibly the one including the most love as the man explaining the women’s (what most would class as unpleasant) appearance, does not stop loving her because of this. Giving the theme of eternal love throughout with the quote “by heaven, I think my love as rare, as any she belied with false compare.” The Laboratory, concentrates on portraying the theme of hate and revenge, not so much love. “Which is the poison to poison her?” we see a one sided love and lots of jealousy throughout the poem. In the prologue of Romeo and Juliet and throughout Sonnet 18 and 130 we see a traditional sonnet structure, which includes the 14 lines, each line following the rule of an iambic pentameter.

In Romeo and Juliet courtly love is portrayed throughout. During Romeo's soliloquy (act 2; scene 2) he expresses his love by using the metaphor “Juliet is the sun”. This suggests that Juliet is physically and emotionally higher than himself. The metaphor suggests she is physically higher than Romeo by relating her to 'the sun'. As the sun is so far up in the sky, it is physically impossible to touch, just as Juliet Is standing on her balcony over Romeo where he cannot yet touch her. The sun and light can be seen as biblical as it has connotations of heaven with it being untouchable. In the 16th century also people were very religious and one main goal in their life was to go to heaven. This exceeds the idea of courtly love throughout this scene. Courtly love is echoed in act 1; scene 2, Romeo and Mercutio are speaking about Romeo's love for Rosaline. “Sups the fair Rosaline whom thou so lovest”. Romeo is seen as a courtly as he has a fairly quick transition from loving Rosaline to expressing his love for Juliet. Again in act 2; scene 2, “The brightness of her cheeks would shame those stars.” this evocative use of imagery is true love because Romeo says that Juliet’s beauty is better than nature. This quote is also courtly love as it embodies that language which is likely to be used in a patriarchal sonnet. This could be linked to sonnet 18 as he applies that the cheek is better than the stars. It implies that the person in sonnet 18 is better than the day and how nature falls short. In the 16th century, courtly love would be expected before marriage. It would be unusual to meet your soon to be husband more than 3 times before marriage. Marriage in the 16th century was  not for love, as in Romeo and Juliet, Juliet would only have been made to marry Paris to continue their social status and their wealth, rather than being concerned with true love. Whereas a 21st century relationship consists of many different cultures and genders. This may have been considered a sin back in the 16th century. Today we are used to both the men and women making an effort towards the relationship unlike Juliet and Paris' relationship. Today it is normal to move in together, and maybe even have children before getting married, completely different to the 16th century.