Marriage And Sex In Shakespeare's Romeo And Juliet

A wise individual once said, "love is the most beautiful thing to have, hardest thing to earn, and most painful thing to lose” (“Things We Say”). Such a powerful emotion as love, or lack thereof, has made prominent appearances in the minds of people throughout the ages. It has influenced the social norms of societies over the years, as well as unified people through shared experience. Love is the driving force behind the human emotional experience and that is a notion that has held true through the Elizabethan and modern eras. In contrast, attitudes towards marriage and sex have changed drastically since Elizabethan times to modern times which can be illustrated through the messages in the works of art such as literature and movies through …show more content…
One of Shakespeare’s most famous pieces, Romeo and Juliet, focuses on the idea of “star-crossed” lovers. In this play, he depicts love as a cruel and ruthless puppeteer, toying with the hearts of many and eventually causing two teens to kill themselves for love (“William Shakespeare”). Although another message is given by the tragedy; that however inconvenient Cupid’s choice may be, the energy of love hurdles obstacles: "With love 's light wings did I o 'erperch these walls," says Romeo to Juliet, adding, "And what love can do, that dares love attempt” (Romeo and Juliet 2.2). Love is also personified through Romeo’s aforementioned speech by giving love “light wings” and describing what love can do. By personifying love, it is communicating the idea that love is a force that guides a person’s actions, which is further developed by the end of the tragedy when two young lovers kill themselves because their love for one another compels them to act in the most extreme of ways, ending their lives so that they can be with the one they love in death. Additionally, in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare explores how love can defy all logic and how it is practically a drug, “Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind; and therefore is wing 'd Cupid painted blind (A Midsummer Night 's Dream, 1.1). Shakespeare even introduces a humorous display of how love is blind when he has a beautiful fairy princess fall in love with a man with the head of an ass. Many sonnets of the time also expressed how people felt about love. One of these sonnets by Sir Phillip Sidney, My True Love Hath My Heart, shows in words how strong love can be for a person. Sidney says that love is not just a word, feeling or emotion, but something bigger. Love comes from within a person and unites people in