Romeo and Juliet: A Dichotomy between Love and Violence Chris Cannon http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_sm3IFr7Xcv A/R9AutaZ1ckI/AAAAAAAAA4U/YfhdiI hk-SI/s320/japrj1.jpg http://students.ed.uiuc.edu/bach/rnj24/68RNJ.gif http://www.silentfilmstillarchiv e.com/stills/romeo_and_juliet 1.jpg 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 http://students.ed.uiuc.edu/bach/rnj24/pictures/68tybaltdead.jpg Altered Definition and Perspective of Love • Dominant and ecstatic force • Values/loyalties ignored • Overriding theme • Shakespeare’s disregard for the platonic “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) http://students.ed.uiuc.edu/bach/rnj24/pictures/rj3.gif Self vs. Society and Public • The importance of honor • Self-image • Traditional Renaissance family • Love and obstruction of tradition • Challenges religion “The god of my idolatry.” – Juliet (Act II, Scene i) http://upload.wikimedia.org/wi kipedia/commons/b/ba/Pragu e_St_Wenceslas_Smichov.jp g http://img2.scoop.co .nz/stories/images/0 804/0b609e612ccb e859cd6c.jpeg 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>.