Themes Of Love In Shakespeare's Romeo And Juliet

Both plays can be seen, to have very distinct configurations, the merchant of Venice is seen as a comedy love play, whereas Romeo and Juliet is seen as a tragic play. Shakespeare explores the feelings of love through various ways such as love at first and presenting love as being never ceasing. When both plays were performed, the Shakespearean audience would think that courtly is better than romantic due to the fact that it is seen that women have more power and in order for the man to win the women’s heart he needs to do something lusty in order for that to happen. Whereas romantic love is seen as inappropriate. However if the plays where to be played in the 21st century, it would have been inconsistent and romantic love would have been the …show more content…
In Romeo and Juliet, Juliet is the passive character as her life decisions are controlled by her parents, for example Juliet’s mother commands her towards marrying Paris as she talks about him in sonnet form which suggests that romance is knocking on the door but also and ideal man has been found for Juliet. Juliet’s mother wants Juliet’s to marry someone with a status like their own generation as Paris is referred to a ‘man of wax’ he is almost sculptured as being perfect and being a noble and gentle man for Juliet. This part of the play being presented to a Shakespearean audience would be much preferred.
On the other hand Portia from the ‘Merchant of Venice’ ‘is the will of a living daughter curbed by the will of a dead father’ this quote entangles that’s Portia’s dead father has scheduled her life even though he has laid to rest. The word ‘curbed’ translates to check or to restrain. Additionally the dead father is still in control. Throughout the play parental love is exposed as the father takes over the offspring’s life and doesn’t let her keep control of it. In the Shakespearean times the father was the man of the house and always took control, comprehensively all fathers were seen as always