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Romeo And Juliet Research Paper

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The Slaves of Love

Love is often seen as a savior; bringing hope and happiness for all. However, Shakespeare depicts love as a tyrant- bringing death and misery to those who encounter it. In Shakespeare's work all types of love, weather it be compassion, greed, or pride, result in misfortune. At the beginning of the Romeo and Juliet, Mercutio recognizes a change in Romeo and depicts how love has transformed his friend, causing him to seem more like a ghost than a man. Shakespeare uses Mercutio's criticism of Romeo's behavior to foreshadow that his love for Juliet will soon bring him death. Mercutio's criticism about the changes in Romeo's behavior prove that love causes people to negatively change by sacrificing their values, risking their …show more content…

Mercutio explains that people become controlled by their love when he says he could “conjure” Romeo by “Rosaline’s bright eyes” and then he would appear from the dead (2.1.67). When Romeo offers money to the apothecary, desire controls his decisions causing him to let go of important values. The apothecary sacrifices his morals in turn for his love of money letting someone die. The apothecary's does not dare to sell the poison because of its harmful effect, but his greed and starvation make him “afford no law” and value his life over others (5.1.215). The apothecary rapidly changes his mind despite the fact that it will kill Romeo, saying: “my poverty, but not my will, consents” because his greed becomes greater than his values (5.1.215). Even Romeo recognises that the apothecary has broken some of his ethics saying that gold is “worse poison to men’s souls” and that he gave the apothecary poison rather than receive it (5.1.217). Romeo tells Shakespeare’s belief that greed and gold is “doing more murder in this loathsome world” than poisons (5.1.217). The apothecary's want for gold outweighed his personal beliefs causing him to give up some of the things he held most dear leading to another's …show more content…

However, Shakespeare depicts love as a force that causes men to act more dishonorably and negatively changes their personality. Friar Lawrence recognises the change in Romeo’s attitude and starts to notice his resemblance to Mercutio’s conjured spirit. Mercutio referred to Romeo as several different people, unable to decide if he was a “madman”, “lover”, or “humors” after falling in love (2.1.67). Romeo’s undistinguished personality was caused by his passion changing his character. Later the Friar believes that Romeo is now only a shell of a man and that his “tears are womanish” and he has the “unreasonable fury of a beast” (3.3.149). The Friars continues on to explain that Romeo's best traits were modified by love. Friar Lawrence describes Romeo’s once noble characteristics as “a form of wax” something unmolded and confused, unable to reach its full potential (3.3.149). The Friar also thinks that acting as a “misbehaved and sullen wench” was doing him no good only causing him more pain (3.3.151). Juliet also suffered a change of personality losing her rationality and patience causing her to make irresponsible and rash decisions. Juliet who thinks through every situation and is obedient to her father suddenly lashes out. Juliet once said that she could “like of paris's love” if it pleased her parents but soon after meeting Romeo says that she would absolutely not be a “joyful bride” (1.4.41, 3.5.165).

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Mercutio is different from Romeo because he does not believe in love and makes fun of Romeo and falling in love so heavily all the time. When Romeo describes his love for Rosaline using a rose with thorns as a metaphor. Mercutio laughs and says ”If love be rough with you, be rough with love; Prick love for pricking and you beat love down”(I.4.27-28). In another scenario of Romeo and Mercutio’s foils is when Romeo tells his friends about a dream he had about the party and is expecting a disastrous outcome of the party. Mercutio makes fun of Romeo because he does not believe that dreams can become visions of impending danger.

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When Romeo is desperately trying to get the poison, he tells him that he “pays thy poverty and not thy will” (5.1.79). Romeo uses his money to convince the Apothecary that money is equal to will. He does this to convince the Apothecary to sell him the poison, and it does nudge the apothecary in Romeo's favor. He tries again when he reminds the Apothecary that “need and oppression starveth in thy cheeks” (5.1.73). This reminder is a further attempt to convince the apothecary to sell him the poison.

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The quote said by the character Friar Lawrence perfectly encapsulates the essence of Shakespeare's play, Romeo and Juliet. This lesson given to Romeo by Friar Lawrence, reminds him that quick bursts of obsessive love will ultimately end in tragedy. Romeo will soon learn this the hard way, ultimately through his own actions, Friar Lawrences, and the Nurses actions. Let's first take a look at Romeo's actions. It is clear that Romeo's obsessive and unstable behavior is one of the biggest faults, shown clearly through his first appearance.

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As a result, it is important to consider that his actions highlight the insight of the social norms of the era. The Apothecary’s negligence becomes obvious when he fails to assess the consequences of his actions. For instance, when Romeo gives the Apothecary money for the poison, the Apothecary replies with a sense of unwillingness, stating “Put this in any kind of liquid you want, and drink it. Even if you had the strength of twenty men, it would kill you quickly” (Shakespeare 5.1: 79-81). Through this response we can tell that the Apothecary doesn't care about what happens later on to Romeo.

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There is thy gold- worse poison to men’s souls, Doing more murder in this loathsome world,Than these poor compounds that thou mayst not sell. I sell thee poison; thou hast sold me none. Farewell. Buy food and get thyself in flesh. Come,cordial and not poison, go with me To Juliet’s grave; for there I must use thee(Shakespeare 5.1.80-85).

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