Romeo And Juliet Love Essay

1176 Words5 Pages
What temperamental emotion is it that grips the heart of humanity so strong that is can blind, trap, enthrall, thrill and change those who come to experience it? It is love. A subject largely explored throughout literature, artwork and other media through the ages. Even Willian Shakespeare, considered the most well-known playwright since the 19th century focused on the illusive definition of love. Though it is impossible to know the librettists own thoughts on the subject, it is still possible to determine his own definition of love by the analysis of his 154 sonnets. While passing through Shakespeare sonnets, at least one theme of love becomes evident, that it is uncertain. To Shakespeare, love is ever changing as it shifts between magnificent…show more content…
Throughout the sonnets, it is speculated that the main subject is a young man whose relation to the famed playwright is unknown. In many of the sonnets, it can be seen that Shakespeare saw this young man (or whomever they may be,) as an angel. When the relationship is good, it is outstanding, and thus apparent throughout these writings. In sonnet 18, the speaker compares the subject of the writings to a summers day; “Thou art more lovely and more temperate.” (39) By saying that the subject is more lovely and temperate than a summer’s day, it can be inferred that the subject is calmer, cooler than the heat of summer. This is supported as the speaker continues with “Sometimes too hot the eye of heaven shines, and often is his gold completion dimmed; and ever fair from far fair declines, by chance or natured changing course untrimmed.” (39) Though summer is short lived, and seasons change, the subject’s beauty will never change, yet again supported by the next line; “but thy eternal summer shall not fade.” (39) The speaker even goes as far as to say that death cannot steal the beauty of the subject. Henceforth, in the final couplet, the speaker states that as long as men are alive with sight, that this sonnet in itself will withhold the beauty of the subject, making them an eternal
Open Document