The Love of Romeo and Juliet Versus Antony and Cleopatra - Essay Example

The love of Romeo and Juliet verses Antony and Cleopatra Shakespeare created the characters of Romeo and Juliet and Antony and Cleopatra. The Romeo and Juliet play was written by Shakespeare in 1597 and was entirely fictional. Antony and Cleopatra was written by Shakespeare in 1606 but it was adapted from the real story of Marcus Antonius of Rome and Cleopatra VII of Egypt. Both the plays were based on love stories but the theme of love was depicted entirely differently in both the plays. Both the plays were tragic love stories that ended in death but Romeo and Juliet was intense, passionate, and violent while Antony and Cleopatra was more sacrificial, tragic, and more public. Romeo and Juliet’s love story is one of the most famous love stories in English literature. Love is the dominant theme in this play and even though it is a tragic love story, Romeo and Juliet’s love was love at first sight, it was romantic, intense, intimate, passionate, and loyal. However, at the same time, their love was violent and an overpowering force for them that superseded emotions and loyalties. Their love was loyal but it destroyed their social gatherings, it caused violence, and it resulted in the tragic end. Their love story shows that how two young souls belonging to families that are enemies of each other go through love at first sight and are ready to defy their social world including families, friends, and whole society. Even though both Romeo and Juliet know that their families will never accept them and they will never be able to get married, they love each other and grow together. In fact, they turn down their families for each other as well as Juliet claims “Deny thy father and refuse thy name, Or if thou wilt not, be not sworn my love, And I’ll no longer be a Capulet” (Shakespeare 23). An example of how he abandons his friends is given in the play where he leaves them after the feast and goes to Juliet’s garden. Their love goes through many challenges but its power is shown when Shakespeare shows how they are ready to abandon their families just for the sake of each other. Hence, their love is powerful and a driving factor in the novel that allows the characters to be into each other so much that they forget about their worlds and at times also forget themselves. Their love is portrayed as so powerful that nothing is able to explain their feelings for each other. They are ready to leave their families and face anything that comes to their way. Their love is magical, sometimes, religious, and sometimes it becomes unexplainable as Juliet says “But my true love is grown to such excess, I cannot sum up some of half my wealth” (Shakespeare 37). Their love was also the cause of many deaths and violence in the play. The passion and emotion of love is depicted as so strong that it leads to hate, violence, and death. Moreover, Romeo and Juliet’s love is so passionate that they are willing to suicide. Even when Juliet is subjected to marry someone else, she says “If all else fail, myself have power to die” (Shakespeare 58). This is proven in the end of the play where the tragic love leads to double suicide. Their love has been so powerful that they took the step together as they knew only death has the power to preserve their love forever. Thus, Romeo and Juliet’s love was passionate, intense, and also violent. On the other hand, the love of Antony and Cleopatra was also tragic but the theme was depicted in a different way. Their love was rather sacrificial and more mature than the love of young Romeo and Juliet. Antony and Cleopatra was not like Shakespeare’s other romantic plays. It was different and carried the message from a real life story. Antony and Cleopatra’s love demanded sacrifice and thinking for each other first, they loved each other, they fought the war together, and they were defeated (Shakespeare 81). Throughout the play, Antony and Cleopatra’s love was rather very open instead of like that of Romeo and Juliet. At many occasions, Cleopatra expressed her willingness and expectation of declaring her love grandly. They wanted to have clear notions about their love for each other and were not dependent upon private meetings and an intimate relationship such as that of Romeo and Juliet. Antony and Cleopatra were very different and their love was more public. Their love was also represented as a matter of state affairs and a quest for power. In other areas, it was also seen that their love was rather an extension of the politics (Shakespeare 92). Both Antony and Cleopatra were in an open relationship as two powerful people and despite the threats they received, they continued to be with each other and their love never weakened. Both of them were in love despite their positions, their powers, and their consequences. They loved each other and risked their entire worthwhile achievements and struggles. They just wanted to stand by each other and in the end even sacrificed their life for each other. It showed the struggle that love puts us through between professional and personal lives. Their love had drama, passion, loyalty, sacrifice and tragedy, just like Romeo and Juliet but it was rather more mature and involved serious elements such as power, state, and wars. However, Shakespeare’s themes for both his plays were love but they were depicted in entirely different ways. Romeo and Juliet’s love was passionate, loyal, and tragic and so was the love of Antony and Cleopatra. Romeo and Juliet’s love was between the enmity of two families and it shows how the personal grudges lead to the violence and deaths of the two loved ones. They also broke their social ties for each other as they could just seen each other and wanted to be together hence they decided to die together. On the other hand, Antony and Cleopatra were in love but they knew the importance of their power and professional lives. In the end, they too, died for one another and preserved their love forever. Work Cited Shakespeare William. The Plays of William Shakespeare. London: C. Whittingham, 1804 Read More