Essay Sample on Love and Hate in Romeo and Juliet

Romeo and Juliet is a well-known romantic tale of two young people from rival households who gain strength as a consequence of conflict. Shakespeare’s writing puts many of the characters in a situation that they cannot control, namely Juliet. The characterization of Juliet– her rebellion against her parents in the name of love and her stubbornness against the course which young women of her class were expected to take at the time– conveys the theme of the power of hate and love and the consequences that come with actions driven by these emotions. 

The power of hate is a prevalent theme throughout Romeo and Juliet. The entirety of the conflict in the play stems from the animosity between the Capulets and the Montagues. At the beginning of the play, the Capulet servants Sampson and Gregory fantasize about the downfall of the Montague family saying “...Therefore I will push Montague’s men from the wall and thrust his maids to the wall,” which shows that even the servants from the households feel the same hatred. (1.1.17-19). Typically the servants would hate their masters, due to the socio-economic structure at the time, yet the servants instead harbor such feelings towards the enemies of the family they serve. This unusual behavior further establishes just how intense the hatred between the households is. Oddly enough, though, the reason behind their intense hatred for each other is never given. 

When thinking of strong women in literature, one might think of the likes of Jo March, Jane Eyre, or Katniss Everdeen. Is Juliet Capulet– in all of her love-struck glory, suicidal tendencies, and all– included in this group? The decisions Juliet makes in the play are influenced by her love for Romeo, thus making her character a perfect portrayal of the strength of love and opposition to hate. She has an unmistakable identity, that of the beautiful daughter of a wealthy nobleman, expected to marry someone of equal status and keep the family assets. In the time in which the play is set in, this could be regarded as the sole role of a girl like her. In the beginning, Juliet has no desire to be married, saying to her mother and the Nurse, “It is an [honor] I dream not of” (Shakespeare, 1.3.71). She is adamant about this and is opposed to even talking about the idea of it. This all changes when she meets Romeo. Suddenly, Juliet is charmed by the concept of marriage. As she speaks with him from her balcony, she makes the demands that they marry. “If that thy bent of love be honorable, Thy purpose marriage, send me word tomorrow,” she says, insisting that he must prove his love by marrying her (Shakespeare, 2.2.150,151). Juliet is fully aware of the hatred that runs deep between their families, and she chooses to ignore this in favor of secretly marrying her love. “Deny thy father and refuse thy name, Or if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, and I’ll no longer be a Capulet,” as she prepares to go to the extremes for her love, suggesting that either she or Romeo give up their name as part of their household (Shakespeare, 2.2.37-39).  When she and Romeo are secretly married, this could be considered as the point when she breaks free from the clutches of her father’s rule. The modern saying “giving your daughter away” is nothing more than a euphemism for the ritual of fathers choosing whom their daughter would marry, therefore giving the authority over her to her husband. When Juliet is secretly married to her lover, her father isn’t “giving her away”, which is her turning away from the gender barriers of the time to make her own choices. 

When Romeo flees to Mantua after slaying Tybalt, Juliet’s love for him never wavers. Lord Capulet takes notice of Juliet’s depression and believes that it's because Tybalt has been killed. He has no idea that Juliet is upset due to her separation from Romeo. In an attempt to cheer her up, he arranges her marriage to Paris. She and her parents get into a horrible fight over the matter, and she claims that she would rather die than marry Paris, “Delay this marriage for a month, a week,  Or, if you do not, make the bridal bed In that dim monument where Tybalt lies,” which shows how strong Juliet’s character is connected to her love for Romeo. Despite the circumstance that she is dealing with, she continues with her strong resolve and devotion to Romeo and comes up with a plan to be reunited with him. She goes to Friar Lawrence for help and he creates the plan for her to drink a drug the night before her wedding day hat will make her appear dead. Juliet agrees to this and takes the potion from Friar Lawrence readily. However, when it is the night for the plan to be put into action, she has doubts. This is particularly interesting because throughout the play Juliet has never before shown any hesitation in major decisions. This time, though, Juliet is shown to have some hesitation in taking the drug. She is paranoid of a bad outcome and thinks of many situations where everything goes wrong… perhaps the potion will not work, Friar Lawrence is poisoning her to cover up the fact that he married her and Romeo, or worst of all– she wakes up before Romeo is alive and is left with Tybalt’s ghost. She goes through many possible situations before finally drinking the drug, “Romeo, Romeo, Romeo! Here’s drink. I drink to thee,” showing that despite her worries about what will happen, her love for Romeo is so strong that she goes through with her plan (Shakespeare, 4.3.59). While Juliet is fast asleep, many disasters occur. Romeo doesn’t receive the letter telling him of the plans and is told by someone that Juliet is dead. He rushes back to Verona to kill himself next to his lover, only to meet Paris. They fight just outside of Juliet’s tomb, and Paris falls. Romeo kisses Juliet one last time before dying by suicide himself, and Juliet awakens soon after. She is heartbroken at the death of Romeo and immediately kills herself as well. “O, happy dagger, This is thy sheath. There rust, and let me die,” she says, thrusting his dagger into herself and dying beside him (Shakespeare, 5.3.147,175).