Romeo and Juliet- Love

While reading Romeo and Juliet and focusing on the themes in class, I've noticed a huge connection between love and hate. It seems throughout the plot line that Shakespeare incorporates the two and seems to make his characters mistake love and hate for each other. In the start of Act One, the Montagues and Capulets are known to have a history of hate and violence. They even begin to fight in the streets in the first scene, and even at an attempt to be broken up, can not help but cause violence because of their differences. I found this very interesting because when you think of Romeo and Juliet, you immediately think of romance and love. Already in the story of two lovers I see the element of hate, and how that relates back to love in the end.

The story of Romeo and Juliet is ultimately about love, and although many already know that there's not a happy ending to this story, the book has proven so far that love is very difficult. Love is commonly thought of as sweet, happy and easy. So far the story has taught me that love is far from easy, and can actually be extremely powerful and violent. Romeo says in Act One Scene 3, "Is love a tender thing? It is too rough, too rude, too boisterous, and it pricks like a thorn." I took this to mean Romeo questioning if love was dainty and easy, and concluding that it is too hard, too mean, too rowdy and it hurts. This is the kind of love I have seen so far in Romeo and Juliet.

I'm excited to see how the love plays out between Romeo and Juliet and how that may alter their opinions on hate. When they fall in love and begin to question the hate existing between their families, I believe they will see that love is more dominant and can overpower even the deepest hate. Although love can be mean, difficult, and hurt and Romeo doesn't think that it is worth it, I hope that his opinions will change when he does meet Juliet. At this point in the story, though, Romeo does not think much of the Capulets besides that they are terrible people. It is interesting that after so many years of hate, it only took a second for Romeo to fall in love.