Romeo and Juliet- "Love VS. Lust", and "Passion and Violence go Hand in Hand"

In the play Romeo and Juliet, we see various different themes and these themes have several quotes throughout the play that relate back to them. Two of the specific themes that I noticed throughout the play were "Love VS. Lust" and "Passion and Violence go Hand in Hand".

One of the themes in the book was "Love Vs. Lust". This theme means that in the play, love is often mistaken for love and, lust is held at the same standard as love. We see quotes that relate to the theme "Love Vs Lust" all through the play. An example of a quote that can fit into this category is in the Chorus of the Prologue for the second act. The quote says:

"Alike bewitched by the charm of looks"

This quote is about Romeo and Juliet and what it is basically saying is that both of them fell for each other's good looks. This is a good example of Love VS. Lust because although this quote is saying they are falling for each other, it does not say that they fell for each other's personality or their intellect; it is saying that the thing they love about each other is their looks which is just a physical attribute. It has nothing to do with what they are really like on the outside. In other words, it is due to lust that they begin to fall in love.



Another example of the theme "Love VS. Lust" in the play is when, in Act 1 Scene 1, Romeo says:

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

This quote falls under the category of "Love VS. Lust" because although Romeo is talking about how his heart has never loved before this moment, he is talking about Juliet's beauty being the reason for him falling in love. He says that there is no way he has loved before now because he has never seen true beauty until he say Juliet. Even though he is talking about love, he is comparing love to her beauty, and really, that is just lust. 



Another theme that we see a lot of is "Passion and Violence go Hand in Hand". We see this theme a lot because in this play, the passion that Romeo and Juliet have for one another is often described in a way that is seen as violent, and in the play, passion is also directly related to violence. An example of passion and violence going hand in hand in this play is when Juliet says:

"My only love sprung from my only hate"

This is an example of passion and violence going hand in hand because she is saying that the only man she loves is the son of the man her family hates; her passion for him is shadowed by the violence of the two family's rivalry.
Another example of the theme "Passion and Violence go Hand in Hand" is when Juliet is thinking to herself in Act 1 Scene 5, and she is thinking:

"If he be married, my grave is like to be my wedding-bed"

This is another quote in which we see passion and violence going hand in hand because, although she is saying it because of how passionate he is about him, she is still talking about committing suicide. Her passion for him is so big that she would rather die than marry anyone else.

In conclusion the themes we recognize from the play are seen in the quotes all throughout the entire play. Various quotes show us that love is often mistaken for lust, and that passion and violence and directly related.