Used Romeo and Juliet play with topic: Love is a dream as a theme AND dream vs. reality as a subtopic - Essay Example

Reality is somewhat undergrounded by dreams of the play and it appears that love between Romeo and Juliet is only a dream and no reality is involved in it. The central characters of the play who are Romeo and Juliet meet each other at night times in most crucial scenes, which is indicative of the fact that darkness is helpful for their relationship. Night is associated with dreams and sleep while day is related to reality and truth. In this context, it can be assumed that the love of Romeo and Juliet increased in nights or in sleepy or dreamy states.

Hence, their love is a dream that prospers at nights. Mercutio while informing Romeo about Queen Mab, a fairy Queen who brings dreams to sleepers says, “And in this state she gallops night by night / Through lovers brains, and then they dream of love (Act I, Scene IV, 70-71). According to Mercutio, it is only the fairy Queen who encourages people to love in dreams as she travels through lovers’ brains to make them dream of love and it is only at nights. Therefore, Romeo and Juliet’s love is a love in dream at nights.

When Romeo was required to leave for exile in the morning and he has passed a night with Juliet, Juliet says, “More light and light, more dark and dark our woes” (Act III, Scene V, 36). Juliet considers light and day as her enemies and pretends that it is still night. As dream is falsification so Romeo and Juliet’s consideration that the day is still night is an indication of a dreamy state. They consider night as a refuge against their wretchedness and depressed state and day as something that keeps the capacity of increasing their woes and worries.

Love in Romeo and Juliet is a dream, which is short lived. Dreams are usually short in length because the dreamers see dreams at nights when they are asleep. The dream of love that Romeo and Juliet visualize is short lived as it ends