Describe the relationship between Romeo and Juliet.

Shakespeare, presents the relationship shared by the characters as almost too good to be true, given the circumstances, that their households share an ancient grudge . The extract displays a sonnet with an ABAB rhyme scheme this suggests the gradual growth of attraction or maybe love between Romeo and Juliet It also suggests that the Century that this play was written ideals of love are being challenged by the two kids. Shakespeare is questioning the traditional beliefs on the conformity and confinement of love in general for example, any expression of love outside of marriage was frowned upon in society Perhaps Shakespeare begins to explore identities and relationships between young people and in doing that encourages Elizabethan society to do the same. The structure of the text involves couplets of subtle flirting, while also maintaining equality in speech between the new lovers. One can suggest that Juliet, being a female of that century, had the ability to return and express her feelings too Stage directions “she returns his kiss” suggests mirroring of Romeo’s actions, making their relationship seem almost perfect to further elaborate on the relationship they share, Juliet shows her loyalty to Romeo despite the fact that he murdered her cousin in Act 3 Scene 2, stating “my dearest cousin and my dearest Lord”. The adjective “dearest” is in its superlative form, which suggests her absolute love for her cousin, and her sadness towards his death however, through the higher importance of the adjective “death”, she immediately prioritises Romeo. While this could suggest deep affection towards him, she Also subsequently betrays the Capulet name. it also looks like Juliet is just putting effort into their relationship while Romeo enjoys the benefits. In this play, we are exposed to a very manipulative Romeo, who uses Juliet’s innocence to claim her love. Juliet is inexperienced with relationships as we know because of the quote “my only love”. This suggests that the use of the adjective “only” establishes that she is new to love, and naïve this results in her possibly being taken advantage of Romeo uses religious imagery and connotations to woo her, or rather “kiss” her he personifies his lips to be “pilgrims” the plural noun has references to religious beliefs, to which Juliet has naturally been used to growing up. Romeo uses the idea of prayer and God to convince Juliet that the sexual favours she offers him are considered harmless and acceptable. He elevates her by describing her as a “shrine”, which usually is made by precious metals and stones, and is used for prayer and for kind of worship the connotations of worship suggest that he is making her feel valued, while consequently exploiting her emotions. Which suggest that their relationship may appear beautiful on the outside, but at the same time, it may not be the truest or purest form of love. You could also argue that there relationship is also seen as quite dangerous at times like in act 2 scene 2 romeo risks his life to go see Juliet which in my opinion is still lust from not having Rosalind want him and from seeing Juliet at that party the SAME night just to try and show to Juliet that he does love her manipulating her in a sort of way he tells her “it is the east and Juliet is the sun” which once again is elevating Juliet up with the use of this metaphor that refers her to something so beautiful as the sun. Juliet then says arguably the most famous line in the play “Romeo Romeo wherefore art thou Romeo” the phrase “wherefore art thou” once again shows Juliet’s desperation to be with Romeo which would be very discouraged in that time (which hasn’t really changed in the 21st century as when asking for someone’s hand in marriage if a woman does it its seen as weird and no right the man has to do it) once again this love is seen as dangerous because just like I mentioned before Juliet defies her family but more importantly her fathers wishes which was unheard of during that time which just because of Romeo’s manipulation could get Juliet exiled from Verona but she does it anyway just for her “love” for Romeo. In the final act of Romeo and Juliet we see it all end because they die for each other which in my opinion could be the only part in the play that you could successfully argue that Romeo did actually love Juliet and it was truly love from both perspectives of the relationship because they show each other their devotion to one another by dying for each other Romeo dies with a kiss from Juliet as seen in the quote “Thus with a kiss I die” he then dies as soon as Juliet wakes up which she then replies too with by taking Romeo’s dagger and stabbing her self with it in the end they ended up dying with something from the person they last “loved” Romeo with a kiss and Juliet with the dagger finally showing everyone the true connection and devotion they had for each other . In my opinion as I clearly stated Romeo and Juliet wasn’t one of the greatest stories of love it was about how easily an older more experienced man could manipulate a younger innocent girl with no experience to think she was falling madly in love with him to only then fall so deep into the lies and deception that it causes her to take her own life