Love And Violence What Lies Ahead Essay

Another theme which the first scene demonstrates is the ill-fated young love which can bedestructive, as demonstrated by the tragic death of Romeo and Juliet. This ill-fated love isdestroying Romeo from the very first scene, where he is in a deep state of depression because ofhis unrequited love for Rosaline. While the ill-fated love prevalent in the play is not between himand Rosaline, the concept of this love is introduced from the very first scene. Although Romeo s love for Rosaline fades quickly when he falls in love with Juliet later in the play, the love for Julietproves to be destined for ruin as well. It is this innocent love between Romeo and Juliet (and theirparents bitter rivalry) which brings them to their premature end. Using Romeo s love forRosaline to demonstrate, this grevious end is foreshadowed from the very first scene. This issummed up well by Benvolio when he says Alas that love, so gentle in his view,/ Should be sotyrannous and rough in proof! (I i 174-175). This proves to be quite true. The rivalry and ill-fated love which are so evident and important throughout the play aremade quite clear in the first scene of Romeo and Juliet. However, while in the first scene thesetwo themes are separate, as the play progresses their cause-and-effect relationship is made quiteclear. It is the bitter hatred between the Montagues and Capulets which is the obstacle in thisyoung innocent love, a love which proves to be strong enough(and an obstacle which provesstrong enough) to kill the young lovers. It is only the death of these two children, who are soloved by the warring families, that can finally end the age-old feud between them and take off theblindfold of hate they had been wearing for so long. The introduction of these very importantthemes in the first scene is a very good beginning to the play.