Research Paper on True Love and Why Shakespeare Wrote Romeo and Juliet

True Love and the Reason Shakespeare Writes about Love

What is true love?

What’s in a name? That which we call a rose

By any other name would smell as sweet.

    The age old question of true love. What is it really? I don’t think that anyone has a certain answer for it. True love is anything that someone wants it to be. It is beautiful, not judgemental, real, worth dying for, the greatest gift God ever gave to man. True love is a topic that has been looked at throughout time, and is continued to be an interesting topic of study. It has been talked about in stories, songs, poems, plays and so much more. One of the most influential writers that talked about the topic of true love was William Shakespeare. He wrote many plays and poems all about it. One of his most famous writings on this topic would have to be Romeo and Juliet. This is the amazing story of two people brought together by fate, despite the fact that the society that they live in does not approve of them being together. They are each members of two opposing families in Verona, Italy. Juliet’s father is trying to find someone for her to marry, and Romeo had just gotten over being let down by the girl he loved before. When they met, it was love at first sight, and they knew that they would do anything just to be together. They secretly get married, and plan to run away. Their untimely death at the end symbolises the idea that their love is so strong that they would die for one another, instead of living each day without the other. True love never dies.

Why did Shakespeare write about true love so much?

Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight! For I ne’er saw true beauty till this night.

    You have to ask yourself after reading a book like Romeo and Juliet, what inspired Shakespeare to write such a story? Was there something that inspired him? It turns out that Romeo and Juliet was based on a real life experience of Shakespeare.

The story was that at a party (either there or at another similar Court function), he fell in love with one of the Queen's young Maids of Honor, a girl two or three years older then he was. But, he was a child in her eyes, so she was clearly not interested.

The poor kid couldn't get her out of his mind. The love that he had read about was really not great, it was torture! He tried to relieve his pain by writing poems about her, and when he couldn't resist to share them, he was made fun of by his friends. He was so torn. If this was what love was all about, he wished never to experience it again!

Then he met another girl. Her name was Mary Browne. She was 13 and had come to serve as a maid of honor in Court. He forgot the other girl and dreamed only of Mary. We will never know if she loved him back for sure, but it seems like a good guess that she did.

Mary's family were Catholic though, and she was arranged to marry a Catholic peer, the second Earl of Southampton. Mary was only thirteen while Southampton was twenty-one! Shakespeare was furious, and  his life was controlled by the Lord Treasurer, a leader of the Protestant faction at Court and in Parliament. He would never be allowed to marry a Catholic.  His terrible lifelong loneliness paired with the hatred he felt for the people who stood between him and Mary.

This is, in a nutshell, the story of Romeo and Juliet. Pretty cool, huh?

The Symbolism of true love in Romeo and Juliet

Parting is such sweet sorrow

That I shall say goodnight

Till it be morrow

In Romeo and Juliet, true love is a symbol for so many things. It is the center of the story, and everything that happens is a result of true love, and fate.

The Forcefulness of Love
    Romeo and Juliet focuses on the power of true love, and how nothing can come between two people in love. The love in the story is not the sappy love that is often heard of- it is about the brutally honest, intense, and irresistible feelings of two star-crossed lovers. It envelops the individuals and forces them to come to the realization that if they can't be together, they cannot live. The young pair are driven to defy their entire social world. They have to go against everything that they know in order to keep their love alive. The thought of true love throughout book is easily said to have no definition. It is compared to religion, to magic, and to something that neither of the characters in the story can interpret. Love is the force that pushes the story along- keeps it going.

Love as a Cause of Violence
    The realization of the passion of love in the story is astounding.  It can overwhelm a person as powerfully and completely as hate can. There is violence throughout Romeo and Juliet, and it always is involved with love, hate, or a combination of the two. People constantly are killed and threatened, and Romeo and Juliet both talk about committing suicide (in the name of love).  The end of the story has the most profound choice of this, where the characters assume that they can only preserve their love through death. Their love is so powerful that it causes them to be willing to die for it. This is a blessing and a curse, bringing destruction, and repair. The two lovers die in spite of their emotions, but the feuds within the families are extinguished. They never thought that love could be so violent.

The Individual Versus Society
    Romeo and Juliet's love struggles throughout the story because of the overwhelming sense that they are defying the laws in the society of the world as they know it. They are their own enemies, but also the only thing that either of them would ever want. Romeo and Juliet are
basically rebelling against everything that they know, and are willing to do so if it means that they can be together. The problem of the opposing families, the fact that the father is supposed to pick a husband for his daughter, and religion are all obstacles that the couple has to face. The lovers seem to be in a battle throughout the story. They are fighting for the fact that they should be allowed to love no matter what.  Their death at the end of the story can arguably be the thing that will ensure them the fact that they will not have to hide their love any more. They fought against society, and won. 

The Inevitability of Fate
    Fate is one of the most prominent things shown in the story. The couple are said to be "star-crossed lovers", and it is said that fate controls them. It is not just the audience that is aware of the couple's match- Romeo and Juliet both are sold on the idea that fate is the thing that brought the two together. There are clues through the story that show fate controls where everything goes- The places of the two families, the falling through of Friar Lawrence's plans, the awful timing of Romeo's suicide and Juliet's awakening- and these are not just coincidences. They are proof that fate is the thing that brings the death of the two lovers. Fate controls everything. That could be said as a good, or a bad thing.

A Summary

Love is a smoke raised with the fume of sighs;

Being purged, a fire sparkling in lovers' eyes;

Being vex'd a sea nourish'd with lovers' tears:

What is it else? a madness most discreet,

A choking gall and a preserving sweet

    After looking at the whole symbolism of love in Romeo and Juliet, I know that there is one definite answer to what this story all boils down to. True love. Love is the reason that choices were made, people died, and the realization of fate prevailed. I think that this throughout this project, I learned a lot. I feel a sense of accomplishment that in the end, the answer that I was looking for was so simple. Love never dies, never judges, and has no rules. Love is the light that guides us through the dark spots of life. Love is the reason that people believe in fate. Love is the thing that brings us together, tears us apart, and makes us realize who we really are. And I think this is the reason that Shakespeare loved writing about it so much. Love is the only answer that we need.

Bibliography/Work Cited

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"Quotes From Romeo and Juliet." Quotes Quotations. Web. 31 May 2011. <http://quotations.about.com/od/shakespearequotes/a/bard20_5.htm>.

"Romeo and Juliet Love Quotes." Shmoop: Homework Help, Teacher Resources, Test Prep. Web. 31 May 2011. <http://www.shmoop.com/romeo-and-juliet/love-quotes.html>.

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"SparkNotes: Romeo and Juliet: Themes, Motifs & Symbols." SparkNotes: Today's Most Popular Study Guides. Web. 31 May 2011. <http://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/romeojuliet/themes.html>.