The theme of love serves as a quintessential element for a vast variety of literary works. Ranging from its common portrayal as the harbinger of joy and spiritual transcendence to its sinister ability to isolate and forsake, the versatility of love is used by both authors and playwrights to highlight core realities of the human condition. Subsequently, Shakespeare utilizes this perennial notion in a multitude of his texts and often subverts its traditional conventions through his masterful coalescing of both its exaltation and condemnation. This notion is prevalent in both his timeless tragedy Romeo and Juliet as well as in his comedy A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Although at the core of both texts is the tension that love evokes between individuals, their environment and the natural order, it is evident that the inextricable link between love…show more content… See, there she lies, / Flower as she was, deflowered by him. / Death is my son in law, death is my heir. / My daughter he hath wedded” (4.4 63-66). Firstly, the personification of death and its sexual relationship with Juliet carries with it a dual significance. Juliet’s laying with death signifies both her submission to overpowering allure of love and lust, as well as her literal quietus. As well, Shakespeare’s use of the word deflowering exemplifies not only the youthful rashness in which Juliet allows herself to be consumed by a deluge of passion, but also the inherent relationship between the life-giving act of intercourse and one’s eventual death. However, it is Capulet’s postulation that death has become part of his lineage that exemplifies the overbearing influence of fate. As marriage, the ritualistic manifestation of two individual’s love for one another, is emphasized in this passage, one can correlate this to mean not only Juliet’s inextricable relationship with death, but also as a foreshadowing of her demise as