Within Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’, the juxtaposition of courtly love and true love is prominent throughout, especially through the scenes 1 and 5 of act 1. The first scene of act 1 is actually unnecessary to the plot, and only exists to emphasize the brilliance of true love through contrast to the utter sorrow shown through the character Romeo when he is a courtly lover. An example of the development of Romeo as a lover, from courtly to true, can be seen in his descriptions of women he finds attractive. In scene 1, the descriptions are hyperbolic and fake, yet in scene 5, they are modestly appropriate and truly felt. Evidence of this can be found within the religious metaphors Romeo uses in scene 5, which are unconventional to the time,
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Evidence of this is present within the quotation ‘In sadness, cousin, I do love a woman’ when Romeo refers to her using not a name, but gender. This shows he is a courtly lover through the connotation of his lover being nothing more than of a sex, and thus that being the only important thing about them. Through surrounding this sexism with upset toning, Shakespeare degrades it; supporting his ideology of true love and its regarding to each of its lovers as equal in contrast. Due to this, the implication arises that there is no need for us to know her name; she is not real almost, as his love for her is not either. Therefore, he is not convincing Benvolio, but himself that it is meant to be, even though the dramatic irony states that the reader knows it is not, as told in the prologue. Supposedly, courtly love is meant to induce the lover into a state of sadness, as seen through ‘In sadness’; becoming an empty shell of a man as he chases after his ‘love’ hopelessly. Thus, to a Shakespearean reader, these emotions and feelings are all too relatable. Shakespeare unconventionally questions these emotions and products of courtly love, and suggests that courtly love is wrong and that his character is not truly in love; only in love with the act of being in love. To a …show more content…
Through using techniques and tones considered unconventional at the time, he directly contrasts the attributes of the more ‘forced’ love, emphasising the positive qualities of his own ideal, and demoting those of courtly love. We know he was effective in challenging his society’s perception of love, as our present society has adapted his ideology. This makes it the accepted concept of love for the 21st
Evidence of this is present within the quotation ‘In sadness, cousin, I do love a woman’ when Romeo refers to her using not a name, but gender. This shows he is a courtly lover through the connotation of his lover being nothing more than of a sex, and thus that being the only important thing about them. Through surrounding this sexism with upset toning, Shakespeare degrades it; supporting his ideology of true love and its regarding to each of its lovers as equal in contrast. Due to this, the implication arises that there is no need for us to know her name; she is not real almost, as his love for her is not either. Therefore, he is not convincing Benvolio, but himself that it is meant to be, even though the dramatic irony states that the reader knows it is not, as told in the prologue. Supposedly, courtly love is meant to induce the lover into a state of sadness, as seen through ‘In sadness’; becoming an empty shell of a man as he chases after his ‘love’ hopelessly. Thus, to a Shakespearean reader, these emotions and feelings are all too relatable. Shakespeare unconventionally questions these emotions and products of courtly love, and suggests that courtly love is wrong and that his character is not truly in love; only in love with the act of being in love. To a …show more content…
Through using techniques and tones considered unconventional at the time, he directly contrasts the attributes of the more ‘forced’ love, emphasising the positive qualities of his own ideal, and demoting those of courtly love. We know he was effective in challenging his society’s perception of love, as our present society has adapted his ideology. This makes it the accepted concept of love for the 21st