love in r&j Flashcards
paretnal love in r&j
Throughout the play we get a parralel of the two different parental figures that both the main characters have, showing the closeness or at least the extreme care that elder figures hold for those whom they raise
parental love paragraph
- romeo seeks out a father figure in the friar whom he does not have the comfortability with with his hard valued upper class paretns nor his masculine friends, romeo does not wholey abide to the friar showing he views him more as a confidant and friend
- theres a clear class differnce between the lady and lords and the nurse and friar that would not be crossed in elizabethan society
- romeo calls the friar ‘father’ which is a term typically reserved for clergy meaning that it could allude to how he sees the friar as a genuine parental guidance, similarly the friar refers to him as ‘son’
- theres a deep level of trust between the two, romeo tells no one of his love as it is much purer and more sacred than his prior relationship but he informs the father showing trust and also shows how the friar is relgiosuly pure- the influence of religion and would show the audeince the fairness of romeo and julliettes affair/ importace of human relations
- in turn the friar is kind and helpful to romeo, asking god to ‘pardon sin’ when he learns of wrongs, he is secretive and caring- hes also trusted he knows that ‘romeo hath not been in bed’
- very similarly juliet and the nurse, her inferior in society, have a very trusted and loving relationship thats almost very casual through the nurses bawdy jokes- a contrast to the awkward relations between lady c and juliet
- the nurse views jeliet as a replacement for her own daughter susan and julliet certainly sees her in a motherly fashion
- often in elizabtthan england a wet nurse would stay with a girl and form a strong bond, the nurse si far more loyal to juliet than her employers- delivering messages back and forth from romeo against soceities will. ‘seek happy days to happy nights’
- theres a confusing mixture of parental language and also a sense of intense trust and loyalty- showing the betrayal of parents and the need for a figure of guidance and friendship
- juliets family though very conformist emphasise the importance of preserving their daughters youth as they care for her
masculine and warped idea of love for sex paragraph
-in act two scene one as romeo hides in the capulet household, mercutio uses a range of sexual language which subverts romeos affeminite use of petrachan sonnets- he calls to romeo by rosalines ‘red lip’ and ‘quivering thigh’ he lessens her to an object of sexual gratification, red lip is a symbol of promsicuousness- indeed it appears men do not understand the depth of human love as they cant thathom romeos naive but honest love
- if love be rough with you be rough with love- he doesnt understand the depths
- romeo seconds this with complaining how ‘jousts at scars’ when he has never felt a wound, showing how mercutio cannot relate to romeos expeirnces so should not diminsh them
- he diminshes women and does not have any understanding of his friends feeling towards them beyond the surface level of sexual gratification, he feels that roslaine can easily be replaced whilst romeo has been consumed by his love for her, he dehuamnses her in the metaphor ‘thy swan a crow’ swans are white like purity and are seen as great regal beauties, in constrast crows are common birds that are black and often very loud and unpleasent
- overall the two contrast as though naive and petrachan romeo loves and values women whilst bubbly and joyous mectuio does not
romeo and julliets importance on human connection and the daul aspect of love over reason
- The interesting hierachal shift between the two is expressed through a semnatic field of religion that deems julliet to be a divine power, ‘holy shrine’, ‘pilgrim’ and ‘winged messanger of heaven’ all paint imagery of julliet emodiying a divine figure wilst romeo a mortal, her setting is physically above him on the balcony. Romeo continues this motif by claiming with her hell be ‘new baptised’- he plans on adopting her name something completely unheard of.
- the extended metaphor of pilgrims shows how romeo vies juiiet as something incredibly holy and magical, he wants to persue her deparately- she is the holy land.
- he laterclaims that her ‘beauty hath made me effeminate’ here romeo is showing how heavy the effects of human love are as he is now showing accentuated traits of femeninity that he does not repel
- julliet equally subverts ideas of femeninity as her husband seems more emotionally driven she is hevaily engaged in logic and dominence
- she uses controlling instrcutive verbs whilst speaking to romeo of which he abides with ‘send me word’ and ‘have my lips’ show how she has taken control of the situation rather than being passive or even letting herself be courted as he would chose to
- upon meeting symbolically the two share a sonnet which is both a clear indication of love but also a showing of the equality in the relationship as there is no dictator
