Introduction
Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, and it is considered to be one of the most significant plays in world literature. The story has always attracted the attention of the general public, linguists, and litterateurs. Lively descriptions, profound characters, and proper use of metaphors make the tragedy especially emphatic. In this research work, several issues are going to be discussed. The paper will be focused on the image of the lovers and the aspects of love; the metaphorical language of the play will also be studied. The research will allow seeing how the concept of love develops throughout the plot and how the author skillfully portrays his characters.
Main Themes and Conflicts and Their Role in the Play
In Romeo and Juliet, love is the central theme of the tragedy, and the images of the protagonists are mostly shaped by the relationships and challenges they had to face. With the help of his characters, Shakespeare showed that love may bring both happiness and struggle. In order to understand the concept of love and other aspects that shape the protagonists, it would be useful to analyze scientific sources.
Although love is often associated with happiness and a promising future, the relationships between Romeo and Juliet are challenged by their feuding families, violence, and the pressure of society. According to Kottman, the play presents “a conflict between the lovers’ individual desires and the reigning demands of family, civic, and social norms in relation to which those desires are formed” (1). He emphasizes that the main obstacle for the characters’ relationship is the rivalry of their families, where fathers have a decisive role. King emphasizes that “the patriarch’s dominance results in a division of self: the emotional self, and the public self” (38). As an example, Juliet obeys her father regarding marriage at first, though inside, she accepts her love for Romeo. At the same time, religion, represented by the character of Friar Lawrence, appears to support the relationships of protagonists, as this character tries to assist Romeo and Juliet in their escape.
Struggle between the protagonists and the external forces is an important element of the play that influences the characters. When the protagonists fell in love, they realized that they are “neither bound to, nor separated from, one another by any “third” power— nature, mortality, family enmity, or civic norms” (Kottman 37). The conflict brings suffering to Romeo and Juliet but helps them with self-realization and recognition of each other.
As it is possible to notice, the concept of death is another essential theme of the story. According to Lindell, the play changes from comedy to tragedy “with the almost accidental, almost incidental, stabbing of Mercutio” (166). An important scene that shapes the character of Juliet is the death of her cousin, Tybalt. Juliet had to choose between her cousin and her love; however, she protects Romeo. This scene is another symbol of the protagonists’ confronting their families and society.
However, death in the play is not only a negative notion. Cano and García-Periago confirm that the death of Romeo and Juliet reconciled the rivaling families (338). Moreover, with the help of the suicide scene, Shakespeare shows that even mortality is not able to separate lovers (Kottman 38). As a result, romantic love, struggle, the idea of death, and conflict between the protagonists and the external forces became the factors shaping the characters and the play itself.
The Aspect of Love
Modern Studies
Since romantic love can be considered the major theme of the tragedy, it would be useful to analyze it in detail by discussing modern research works. For example, Isea and Lonngren used mathematical tools to analyze the stability of the protagonists’ relationships (1). With the use of mathematical formulae, the researchers evaluated how much time the couple could spend together and alone and to what extent they enjoyed each other’s company. Some of the additional factors covered the challenges that couples may experience nowadays: the time spent on social networks and the tolerance towards each other’s way of spending money. The analysis of four different scenarios showed that in most of the cases, Romeo and Juliet had stable relationships (Isea and Lonngren 3). In the conclusion part, the authors suggested that such a study can help couples understand their relationships better.
The relationship between love and stigma was also an important research subject. Brooks et al. used the example of the protagonists to study stigmatized relationships and called “a seemingly positive aspect of stigmatized relationships” the Romeo and Juliet effect (104). The findings of the study showed that people who face stigma are likely to be more involved in each other. Moreover, they suggested that there is a positive correlation between “the amounts of stigma a couple of faces and the amount of love that they are perceived to have” (Brooks et al. 108). This idea proves that stigma expressed through pressure from family and society contributed to the protagonists’ mutual self-recognition and their deep feelings.
Metaphors as the Means of Emphasis
The unique language of the story makes the play more dramatic and touching. Metaphor is one of the stylistic devices that Shakespeare uses to portray the characters and their romance. The love affair of Romeo and Juliet itself is depicted as the symbol of feelings that are powerful and tragic at the same time. In this part of the paper, the most significant metaphors of the play will be analyzed.
The beginning of Romeo and Juliet’s relationship is marked by the frequent use of metaphors. Their feelings develop very fast: the protagonists fall in love at first sight and get married within a couple of days. Accelerated love is a metaphor for life brevity; Shakespeare implies that lovers should enjoy every moment spent together since life is unpredictable and changeable. Characters themselves use metaphorical language; for example, Gibbs emphasizes the metaphor “Juliet is the sun”, which conveys Romeo’s admiration of Juliet (83). In general, all metaphors at the beginning of the play are bright and optimistic since young love is considered a tender and entirely positive feeling.
Further, metaphors in the book appear in more negative circumstances. In the scene of Tybalt stabbing Mercutio, the latter describes his wound as a “scratch” (Bleakley 6). He then says that he is “peppered, warrant for this world” (Bleakley 6). With the help of these metaphors, the character demonstrates courage, even though his wound is fatal. It is also possible to notice that some of the metaphors can be related to real life. According to the opinion of the general public, the following metaphor is considered one of the brightest in Shakespeare’s works: “Young men’s love then lies not truly in their hearts, but in their eyes” (Wilson 14). Such an opinion remains today, as many people agree that men pay more attention to the external, rather than internal qualities of their lover.
At the same time, entire scenes and elements of the story can be called metaphorical. For example, the rival families and the secret love of Romeo and Juliet is a metaphor of “our struggles for freedom and self-realization” emphasized by Kottman (3). The scene where Romeo sees Juliet on a balcony can be interpreted as a metaphor of unhappy or impossible love. Moreover, a couple being apart is a symbol that would help readers predict the tragic ending of the story.
To sum up, by using metaphors in the play, Shakespeare helped readers understand both the protagonists and supporting characters and their relationships in a more profound way. Moreover, through this technique, readers could predict how the story would develop. Finally, metaphors allow the author to accentuate certain scenes or important moments in the plot, draw the reader’s attention and make the story more appealing and gripping.
Conclusion
The story of Romeo and Juliet is an example of how twisted plot and memorable language combined to create a masterpiece of world literature. The message of the author was to accentuate the value of love and that lovers need to appreciate every moment with each other. Then, he confirms that in relationships, people sometimes face difficulties, which, however, can make their feelings deeper. Shakespeare describes their love affair and obstacles they had to overcome, which are the major factors that shape the lovers. In addition, the themes of the rivalry between two families, the pressure of society, death, and faith, also influenced the images of the characters. Finally, with the help of vivid metaphorical language, the author allows readers to understand the characters and their relationships better.
Works Cited
Bleakley, Alan. Thinking with Metaphors in Medicine: The State of the Art. Routledge, 2017.
Brooks, Thomas. R., et al. “Romeo and Juliet: Perceptions of Love of Stigmatized Relationships.” Interpersona, vol. 11, no. 2, 2017, pp. 102-112.
Cano, Marina, and Rosa García-Periago. Jane Austen and William Shakespeare: A Love Affair in Literature, Film and Performance. Springer Nature, 2019.
Isea, Raul, and Karl E. Lonngren. “Analyzing the Love Affair of Romeo and Juliet with Modern Mathematical Tools.” Journal of Mathematics & Statistics Science, 2018, vol. 1, no. 1, pp.1-3.
King, Griffin. “Am I Not Fallen Away: Surrogate Fathers in Shakespeare’s Henry IV Part 1 and Romeo and Juliet.” Verso, 2019, pp. 36-46.
Kottman, Paul. A. “Defying the Stars: Tragic Love as the Struggle for Freedom in Romeo and Juliet.” Shakespeare Quarterly, vol. 63, no. 1, 2012, pp. 1–38.
Lindell, Kiki. “Putting the Fun Back into Funerals: Dealing/Dallying with Death in Romeo and Juliet.” Comparative Drama, vol. 5, no. 2 & 3, 2016, pp. 165-181.
Wilson, Chris. “Here Are Shakespeare’s 15 Most Beloved Quotes.”Times, 2016. Web.