Both Romeo and Juliet undergo a clear awakening
The main theme in the play is love, which is powerfully passionate throughout and cannot be controlled nor ignored. At first, Romeo exhibits courtly love for Rosaline, which represents a primitive and superficial form of love. Immediately Romeo and Juliet saw each other; they fall in love, and Romeo at once does not consider any other thing as necessary, including his own life (Novy 360). Lover reveals itself as a powerful healer; although it is at the cost of Romeo and Juliet’s lives, their love eases the rivalry between the families. Friendly love is also seen in the play in relationships between; Mercutio, Benvolio, and Romeo; Friar Lawrence and Romeo. The theme of love in the can be viewed as a transforming factor, both Romeo and Juliet undergo a clear awakening where Romeo proceed from recklessness of Courtly love to deep and passionate love. Juliet, on the other hand, is acquainted with love and becomes persistent about her future, transpiring as a practical, dominant personality (Garber 126).
The fight between Tybalt, Mercutio, and their deaths; Romeo killing Paris; and lady Montague dying after Romeo’s disappearance, shows how love is irresponsible and the actions of Romeo and Juliet result to a lot of violence and conflict. The love for self and status in Capulet and Tybalt causes the eradication of Juliet and Mercutio, respectively. Both Capulet and Tybalt portray aggressive behaviors to individuals who they feel are threatening their self-love (Wood 115). Furthermore, the love for a parent to a daughter is also seen. Juliet’s parents, though against her, will want her to get married to Paris, who is from a wealthy family and thus will have a comfortable life.
In conclusion, the love exhibited between Romeo and Juliet is one with uncontrollable passion, wild, cannot be controlled by a human. The love they have traps individuals and sets them against their families, circumstances, and cultural constraints. In essence, that ‘Romeo and Juliet’ is a story about tragic love, it is also a play revealing hate. It is necessary to idealize the pure love between them, but also consider the anger and hate that inflame the story. There is a rivalry between the main characters’ love story, represented through darkness, selfishness, transformative power, and hatred by the families (Montagues and the Capulets). Throughout the play, the strong desires of the lovers collide with their families’ equally powerful hatred towards each other. The characters love throughout the play does not resolve the hostility, but instead ends at the price of their lives.