1. The themes of love and hate in Shakespeare's works. By: Whitney Leflore
2. Love According to Dictionary.com, love is defined as a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person. Romeo and Juliet is a play about two young lovers who are forced apart because of hate between their families. The love between Romeo and Juliet is obvious. They would both rather die than be without each other.
3. “One fairer than my love? The all-seeing sunNe'er saw her match since first the world begun."(Romeo and Juliet, 1.2)
4. Love continued… Othello is another example of love. Othello is said to be “By far the most romantic figure among Shakespeare’s heroes.” (Shakespearean Tragedy, 1). “Excellent wretch! Perdition catch my soulBut I do love thee! and when I love thee not,Chaos is come again.”( Othello Act 3 Scene 3).
6. Love continued… A Midsummer Night’s dream is the third and final example of love being presented. In a A Midsummer Night’s Dream, love is a very obvious theme, everyone In the play is trying to be with the one they love. “Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind;And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind.”(1.1)
8. Hate According to Dictionary.com hate is defined as to dislike intensely or passionately; feel extreme aversion for or extreme hostility toward; detest: to hate the enemy; to hate bigotry (www.dictionary.com). All of the plays previously mentioned also strongly contain hate also along with love.
9. Hate continued… Romeo and Juliet shows hate more profoundly than the other plays. There is so much hate between the two families that in the end they both end up killing themselves. “These violent delights have violent endsAnd in their triumph die, like fire and powder,Which as they kiss consume."(Romeo and Juliet, 2.3)
11. Hate continued… In Othello, Othello actually ends up killing his wife, because of jealousy and hate. Othello does not want his wife loving anyone else or anyone loving her, so ultimately, he murders her so no one else can have her.
13. Love and Hate. “Though I do hate him as I do hell’s pains yet for necessity of present life, I must show out a flag and a sign of love, which is indeed but a sign.” (Othello, 1.1 152-155). Love and hate is also probably most prominent in Romeo and Juliet. There is so much love between Romeo and Juliet , in contrast to the hate between their families.
14. Overall it is shown that Shakespeare wrote primarily to entertain those who read or saw his works. His writing is very passionate and intricate due to the strong words and phrases he uses and his use of iambic pentameter. Love and hate are very evident in most of Shakespeare’s plays, whether it is shown through a family feud like in Romeo and Juliet, jealousy in Othello, or jealousy and lust in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
