Romeo and Juliet: A Dichotomy between Love and

ViolenceChris Cannon

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Love as an Impetus for Violence

• Relevance is hidden

• Love vs. Hate

• Passion and lack of logicality

• Romeo crashing the feast

• Negative events to follow

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Altered Definition and Perspective of Love

• Dominant and ecstatic force

• Values/loyalties ignored

• Overriding theme

• Shakespeare’s disregard for the platonic

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“Deny thy father and refuse thy name, or if thy wilt not, be but sworn my love, and I'll no longer be a Capulet.” – Juliet (Act II, Scene ii)

Self vs. Society and Public

• The importance of honor

• Self-image

• Traditional Renaissance family

• Love and obstruction of tradition

• Challenges religion

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“The god of my idolatry.” – Juliet (Act II, Scene i)

Chaos in Love• “But my true love is grown to such excess. I cannot sum up sum of

half my wealth.” – Juliet (Act III, Scene i)

• Can one exist without the other?

• Lack of mental stability/control

• Uncontrollability of fate

• Love cannot be dictated

Works CIted

Works Cited

Resnick, Chris. "Violence in Romeo & Juliet." 24 May 2009 <http://pages.towson.edu/quick/romeoandjuliet/violence.htm>.

"Romeo and Juliet: Violence and Love." The Themes and Works of William Shakespeare. 22 May 2009 <http://shakespeare.mit.edu/romeo_juliet/full.html>.

"SparkNotes: Romeo and Juliet: Themes, Motifs & Symbols." SparkNotes. 23 May 2009 <http://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/romeojuliet/themes.html>.