How Does Romeo's Perception Of Love Change Throughout The Play

English 9 Gabriel. 9 June 2024.

How and why does Romeo’s perception of love change throughout the play? What implications does this have for the greater theme of love in the play?

The play Romeo and Juliet explores different versions of love through the titular protagonist Romeo. Romeo’s evolution from expressing a more immature and traditional version of love to a showing a more profound and sentimental version of love allows the audience to see how viewing love differently influences one’s decisions. Through an analysis of Romeo's use of figurative language, actions, and internal dialogue, his evolution into expressing true love characterized by his willingness to do anything for love emerges. Romeo initially lays out his immature and materialistic

Romeo’s shift into using the word “love” in a sense other than the romantic kind that had to be won in a battle demonstrates his more sentimental perception of the word. Furthermore, Romeo’s close friend, Benvolio, who didn’t know that Romeo was married to Juliet, said that Romeo would, “answer the letter master, how he dares” (2.4.11-2). Benvolio’s close relationship to Romeo emphasizes how atypical this decline by Romeo is. Shakespeare uses this intense moment as an opportunity for Romeo to demonstrate his evolution towards expressing true love. Romeo finally concludes his evolution into expressing fuller and more profound sentiments of love with his suicide out of grief for him believing Juliet to be dead. Romeo, once in Juliet’s tomb, states the following to himself before drinking a poison to kill himself, “Here, here will I remain. here will I set up my everlasting rest and shake the yoke of inauspicious stars from this world-wearied flesh” (5.3.108-112). These final few lines of internal dialogue from Romeo are the conclusion to his evolution from expressing a more immature and traditional version of love to his eventual profound love for Juliet. Romeo

Additionally, the figurative language of him going to, “shake the yoke of inauspicious stars from this world-wearied flesh” suggests that Romeo is dying at peace considering that he believes himself to be removing himself from all the bad luck he has suffered in the world. Through Romeo’s figurative language before he dies, we can see that Romeo is now content dying for love and he now knows what it means to be truly in love. Shakespeare masterfully writes Romeo’s poetic end to not only bring emotion into the audience but to serve as the capstone to Romeo’s evolution into a more profound perspective on love. From Romeo’s actions and language throughout the play, the beautiful yet ultimately tragic tale of Romeo’s evolution is told. Shakespeare uses the character of Romeo to examine different perspectives on love. Originally, we see Romeo being grief-stricken due to being out of favor with the woman that he “loves”. Yet towards the end of the play we see Shakespeare’s version of true love, where both lovers are willing to die for one another. Although Romeo does die at the end of the play, his death was not in vain. Thus it seems that Shakespeare’s ultimate