Essay/Term paper: Cotrasting types of love evident in the play

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Persuasive Essays

Comparing the Different Types of Love Evident in Romeo
and Juliet




"True love is like ghosts,"claims François, Duc de La Rochefoucauld, "Which
everyone talks about but few have seen". What is true love? Is it idealistic
love or physical love, mature love or paternal love. Well kiddies, it is all that
are listed here for each has its own place in the Shakespearean play Romeo
and Juliet.


Physical love, which Mercutio believes in, is well explained in his Queen Mab
story. Queen Mab, an English folk tale fairy was said to bring the dreams to
men and her child is the midwife to men's fantasies. Mercutio wants just the
physical part of love, that is, sex. This is evident in his queen mab story:
"O, then, I see Queen Mab hath been with you.
She is a fairie's midwife, and she comes
In shape no bigger than an agate-stone
On the fore-finger of an alderman,
Drawn with a team of little atomies
Over men's noses as they lie asleep;
Her waggon spokes made of long spinners legs,
The cover of the wings of grasshoppers;
Her traces of the smallest spiders web;
Her collars of the moonshine's watery beams;
Her whip of cricket's bone; the lash of film;
Her waggoner a small grey-coated gnat,
Not half so big as a round little worm
Pricked from the lazy finger of a maid:
Her chariot is an empty hazle-nut
Made by the joiner squirrel, or old grub,
Time out o' the fairies' coachmakers.
And in this state she gallops night by night
Through lovers brainsand then they dream of love;
O"er the courtier"s knees...."(ActI Scene iiii lines 62-73)
Mercutio tells this story because that is the way he feels about love; which is
All that he is in it for is the sex. It is not important to him to wait and let the
relationship advance with age it is important that he gets what he wants
fast. Physical love is defined as the act of sex or sexual intercourse.
Romeo, on the other hand believes in idealistic love. This is when
everything should be perfect and . This is evident in the scen where Romeo
is at the Capulet household and Juliet and him are on the balcony. "By love,
that first did prompt me to inquire; He lent me counsil and I lent him eyes. I
am no pilot; yet, wert thou as far As that vast shore wash"d with the
farthest sea, I would adventure for such merchandise."(Act II Scene ii Lines
80-84) This is also evident in this statment: "I have Night"s cloak to hide me
from their eyes; And but thou love me, let them find me here. My life were
better ended by their hate." (Act 2 Scene 2 Lines 75-78)

Friar Laurence, on the otherhand, believes in paternal love. This is evident in
the following: "That"s my good son..." (Act 2 Scene 3 Line 47) and "... He
loves Romeo as a son..." (Page 99, Scene Summary) Paternal love is the love
that a father has for for a son or daughter. The friar really cares for Romeo.

Ther are Many types of love portrayed in the Shakespearean play Romeo and
Juliet. These types of love can still be noticed around in the world today.
One of the less comon ones around is idealistic love. Maybe that is what true
love is.