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The Themes Of Love In Friar Laurence's Romeo And Juliet

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On face value, to “love moderately” implies “loving less”, thereby “reducing” the amount of love. However, it must be read in the context of Friar Laurence’s speech to Romeo, such that it acts as an elderly piece of advice and wisdom to Romeo, perhaps conceivably as a warning. As an uninvolved party surveying the course of events in Romeo and Juliet, Friar Laurence is given insight on all perspectives, such that he may provide impartial judgements. In Act Two, Scene Five, before wedding the couple, Friar Laurence advises Romeo to simply slow his pace with Juliet, using proverbs to articulate the destructiveness his hastened relationship may likely lead to. The Friar is not suggesting that “moderate” love is wiser than fleeting love, instead guiding Romeo to understand the reasoning behind his wisdom: Based on experience, he believes that loving in moderation allows for a lasting relationship, where the couple should take time to explore their relationship, rather than rushing desperately onwards (i.e. falling in love, be wed and consummated within days). …show more content…

Often led by emotions, people are romantic and pursue perfection, as illustrated by Romeo’s character, but fail to recognise that such ideals do not depict reality, if not only part of it. While the line “stony limits cannot hold love out” (2.1.110) expresses that the Capulets’ walls cannot keep the lover, Romeo, out, it is simultaneously indicative of Romeo’s romanticised notions of love, where “love has no limits” – a disillusionment of reality as a whole. Given the above, though Romeo embodies a version of reality, and is not inferred as invalid, it cannot represent reality in its entirety. Romeo and Juliet’s method of love therefore provides an insight as to why it may not be as desired by some, despite the fleeting passion they

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