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  • Essay / Romeo and Juliet as an example of powerful young love

    Whether it is a poem, a play, or a sonnet, the well-known name of William Shakespeare will forever be remembered as one of the few playwrights to have influenced literary culture and society for centuries to come. His romantic tragedy, Romeo and Juliet, is one of Shakespeare's most recognized and popular plays, with many modern retellings using the story of Romeo and Juliet as inspiration for another romantic chronicle. Although it sends its readers and viewers on an intense and passionate adventure, Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is an example of young romantic love and the power of its possession. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”?Get the original essayThe story of the ill-fated lovers, Romeo and Juliet, is based on the acrimonious animosity of the two rival families; the Montagues and the Capulets. Romeo, of House Montague, falls in love with Juliet, of House Capulet but, knowing that their parents will never approve of their union, they struggle to keep their love a secret. Shakespeare projected Elizabethan conceptions of love in this play, in which it was seen as inconsequential, secondary to political, economic, and family affairs in arranged marriages. However, the characters of Romeo and Juliet challenge this idea and prove that “love” is an integral part of human existence. Throughout the piece there is a subtle suggestion of light and dark imagery; Shakespeare uses this technique to elucidate the prosperous relationship of the “star-crossed lovers.” In Act 2, Scene 2, Romeo uses a metaphor when he calls Juliet "the sun", suggesting to the audience his new desire for Juliet. The sun evokes light, radiance, warmth and power; and for Romeo, Juliet is almost eclipsing. As he sneaks into Juliet's courtyard (literally in the shadows), Juliet appears "shattering the light through that window", and Romeo begs the sun to "rise...and kill the envious moon". Interestingly, Romeo refers to Rosaline (his former love) as the moon, but this also means that his love for Juliet (the sun) eclipses (or eclipses) the moon, or rather Rosaline. It is also in this scene that Romeo praises Juliet's purity, referring to her heavenly appearance and influence. Shakespeare set Romeo and Juliet in a time when religion was a driving force; a moral compass in everyone's life. When Shakespeare includes religious language, readers and viewers notice how Romeo and Juliet's love rules their lives. For example, when Romeo and Juliet first meet and share their first kiss at Lord Capulet's ball, Shakespeare subtly includes religious imagery with a "holy shrine"; “good pilgrim” and “my sin is purged”. Shakespeare also cleverly uses the garden setting of Act 2, Scene 2 to reference a pastoral Eden, symbolizing both purity and virginity. Romeo's opening monologue elevates Juliet to such grandiose and divine importance, aligning her with the "sun" and the "stars." He even alludes to the goddess of the Moon and the patroness of virgins, Diana; implying that she is "sick [with jealousy] and pale with sorrow", that "her servant", Juliet, is "much more beautiful than she". Romeo returns to praising Juliet's eyes as "two of the fairest stars of all". the sky” and indulges in hyperbole: “And if his eyes were there, they were in his head? The glow of her cheek would shame these..