The Theme Of Love In William Shakespear

Essay, Research Paper

Shakespeare and Love

The theme of love runs rampant throughout William Shakespeare s classic romantic writing. He has been labeled one of the greatest poets of all time. Whether he was writing a play or portraying a semi-biographical story it was all expressed through his poetic language. Shakespeare is known for his drama in his writing, and there is no more important factor to drama than love. Poetic language used throughout Shakespeare s work adds to the romance and expresses the common theme of love like no other writer could. Some of the works illustrating his romance are The Passionate Pilgrim and Phoenix and the Turtle . Judging the poems by their names may immediately suggest the theme of love. But in reading these works, the in depth meaning and feeling of the poems come alive. These are not all stories of true, fairy-tale love though. Shakespeare illustrates the reality of love through tales of betrayal, unrequited love, and the loss of love as well as the traditional theme of true love. All these aspects of love are made clear in his works through the author s writing tools. The theme of Love in William Shakespeare s poetry is illustrated through characters, symbolism and diction.

The theme of Love in William Shakespeare s poetry is illustrated through characters. In the first verse of the poem, The Passionate Pilgrim , the characters are not named but given an identity through plot,

When my love swears that she is made of truth,

I do believe her; though I know she lies,

That she might think me some untutor d youth,

Unskilful in the world s false forgeries.

Thus vainly thinking that she thinks me young,

Although I know my years be past the best,

I smiling credit her false-speaking tongue

Therefore I ll lie with love, and love with me,

Since that our faults in love thus smother d be.

This poem speaks of a man in love with a woman that is lying to him and thinks he is naive enough not to notice. The real truth is that he is blinded by such unconditional love that he has learned to pay no mind to her lies. This may be a case of unrequited love on the man s part because it sounds as though she doesn t love him as much as he does her. A real, true story of love would be of blind love for each other until death parts them. That tale of loss of love occurs in the poem Phoenix and the Turtle . The love between them is most eloquently expressed in the lines:

Love and constancy is dead,

Phoenix and the Turtle fled

In a mutual flame from hence.

These lines speak to the heart of the reader and explain the impact of the loss of a true love when the turtle passes. The line, Love and constancy is dead says that everything they had come to know as everyday life with each other will now change as a result of this tragedy. The Phoenix, now left behind, feels dead without the love and support they shared. Memories of their early days together, of what once was, will now invade its mind forever. Young love thrives in the sixth verse of The Passionate Pilgrim . The two characters that Shakespeare speaks of are Cytherea and Adonis. Cytherea is another name for the Greek goddess of love, Aphrodite. Adonis is the handsome god of fertility and plenty. The story unfolds as this verse reads:

When Cytherea, all in love forlorn,

A longing tarriance for Adonis made

Under an osier growing by a brook,

A brook where Adon used to cool his spleen:

Hot was the day: she hotter that did look

For his approach, that often there had been.

Anon he comes, and throws his mantle by,

And stood stark naked on the brook s green brim:

The sun look d on the world with glorious eye,

Yet not so wistly as this queen on him

He, spying her, bounced in, whereas he stood:

O Jove, quoth she, why as not I a flood!

The story is that Aphrodite was walking by when she spotted Adonis in a brook cooling off during a hot day in the sun. Aphrodite was then struck with love at the sight of this handsome god. The last line shows how deep her love at first sight indeed was; O Jove, quoth she, why was I not a flood! She was wishing she were a flood so she could surround the man in the water he was already in. The love she felt was so passionate that she just wanted to be all over him all at once. Shakespeare effectively used characterization to illustrate the theme of love throughout his poetry.

The theme of love in William Shakespeare s poetry is illustrated through symbolism. The different kinds of love are very colorfully introduced through Shakespeare s use of symbolism. In the seventh verse of The Passionate Pilgrim it reads:

Mild as a dove, but neither true not trusty;

Brighter than glass, and yet, as glass is, brittle;

Softer than wax, and yet, as iron, rusty:

These lines describe one man s love for a two-faced or complicated woman. The symbolism is describing a tough, strong woman that can be sweet at times. She can be full of life one second, but then something will make her mood break. The rest of that verse says:

She burn d with love, as straw with fire flameth;

She burn d out love, as soon as straw outburneth;

She framed the love, and yet she fo

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