Pain and Joy of Love in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet

Introduction: Love's Two Sides

William Shakespeare knew a great deal about people and about life. One play that demonstrates his astute powers of observation is Romeo and Juliet, in which he explores the pain of love. Love is often praised for the positive emotions it brings into the world. However, the truth is that love also brings much pain. Things rarely go exactly the way we want them to, and sometimes they do not go our way at all. Through tragedy, Shakespeare illustrates the power of love and the tenacity of the human spirit, suggesting that it is better to have known love than never to have experienced it at all.

Love has two sides: one is beautiful while the other is painful, and the emotion of love can hardly exist without lovers experiencing both. This theme is just as resonant today as it was in Shakespeare's day. Love cannot exist without pain, and people around us prove this every day. Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet demonstrates that love is nothing without suffering.

The Beauty and Depth of Their Love

Romeo and Juliet is remarkable because it captures the quintessential beauty of love. The young couple experiences a depth of love that changes lives and drives people to do almost anything to be together. Love makes people want to transform their lives, and this is part of what makes Romeo and Juliet so enduringly popular. These two would go to the opposite end of the world to be with one another, and while part of this seems reckless, audiences can relate to it.

Shakespeare allows these two characters to be themselves throughout the play. They are young and far from prudent. Character is a central issue because it directly affects the outcome of the play. A more cautious or submissive Romeo or Juliet would never have produced the same results, and this is why character matters. As Henry Myers observes, Shakespeare tells the audience through them that "character is a deeper and more important influence in human affairs than luck or chance" (Myers 1963). Young or old, in love or not, we hold the power of our destiny in our hands, and Romeo and Juliet prove this with every move they make.

Irrationality and Passion

Shakespeare emphasizes the power of love when sparks fly as the lovers first meet. They are drawn to one another almost instantaneously, and nothing describes this better than love. Their path of passion will not be stopped by anyone or anything. Shakespeare allows the audience to witness how this love unfolds through language. When Romeo sees Juliet, he says, "O she doth teach the torches to burn bright; / Her beauty hangs upon the cheek of night / Like a rich jewel in Aethiop's ear" (I.v.41–46). Similarly, Juliet finds Romeo equally captivating, and upon discovering he is a Montague, she says:

My only love sprung from my only hate!
Too early seen unknown, and known too late!
Prodigious birth of love it is to me,
That I must love a loathed enemy. (I.v.138–141)

Here we see how powerful love is and how quickly it can take hold. This aspect of their relationship reinforces how little control we have over the emotion we call love. The heart simply knows when it knows, and the head has very little to do with the choice the heart makes. Shakespeare understood this and brought it to the audience's attention through these two young people from feuding families.

Love will not be controlled and, many times, refuses to be rational. Those in love rarely stop to consider reason or logic in their decisions, because the heart overrules the head and makes logic seem almost irrelevant. We see this irrationality in Romeo, who is willing to abandon his family name on impulse, telling Juliet: "Call me but love, and I'll be new baptized; / Henceforth I never will be Romeo" (II.i.93–94). Juliet, too, experiences the same kind of irrationality, noting how quickly she has fallen for this young man. She swears to "prove more true / Than those that have more cunning to be strange" (II.i.42–43), and tells him, "My bounty is as boundless as the sea, / My love as deep; the more I give to thee, / The more I have, for both are infinite" (II.i.175–177).

Love becomes all these two think about. Everything else in their world becomes of lesser importance. While we might view this as impulsive, we also know what it is like to become so absorbed by someone else that we give less attention to friends and family. Shakespeare is pointing out how normal these two are: they find love, they experience its good side, and they bask in passion while desiring more.

Works Cited

Myers, Henry Alonzo. "Tragedy and Comedy." A Midsummer Night's Dream. Ed. Wolfgang Clemen. New York: Signet Classics, 1963. Print.

Shakespeare, William. Romeo and Juliet. The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. New York: Barnes and Noble Books, 1994. Print.