A COMPARISON BETWEEN LOVE OF ROMEO AND
JULIET AND MODERN LOVE
by
Zou Shan
May, 2012
Hubei Engineering University
Abstract
Romeo and Juliet is one of great playwright Shakespear’s famous palys . In this story, Shakespear showed us what is true love on the earth. Love between Remeo and Juliet is pure and noble, their courage of willing to sacrifice for love moves and encourages generation to generation. Love is one of the finest affecions of our human being, it’s a miraculous element that makes people happy and sad. Everyone has the freedom of love, and everyone has the right to have the taste of it. The so-called love must have romantic factors and pure spirit. And most importantly, it must be without any purpose ,purity and no impurity .However , this is indeed what our mordern people lack of and is the most moving part. This thesis stand at the point of the love between Romeo and Juliet to deeply analysis the background of the tragedy, and comparied with modern love ,to find out their similarities and differences, thus to study what is love and what kind of love is true love. Furthermore, on the basis of this elaborating the essence of love, connotation and meaning of love education among college students.
Key words：Romeo and Juliet ; modern love; similarities;differences
罗密欧与朱丽叶的爱情和现代爱情的对比
摘要
《罗密欧与朱丽叶》是伟大的戏剧家莎士比亚流传最广的戏剧之一。在这部作品中，莎士比亚向人们展示了什么才是真正的爱情。罗密欧与朱丽叶之间的爱情纯洁而高尚。他们为爱而甘愿做出牺牲的勇气感动和鼓舞着一代又一代人。爱情是人世间最美好的情感之一,是世人为之欣喜为之忧的奇妙情愫。每一个人都有恋爱的自由,都有品尝爱情滋味的权利。而所谓爱情，就是一定要有浪漫的情愫，肤身的精神。更重要的是，不带任何目的，纯粹而无杂质。然而这正是我们现代人所缺少的，也正是最打动人心的地方。本文则通过前人已有的研究成果对罗密欧与朱丽叶的爱情进行深入分析和总结，深入探析这一爱情悲剧的背景，并且将其与现代爱情做对比，探讨其中的相似性和差异性，看看到底什么是爱情，什么样的爱情才是真正的爱情，并在此基础上阐述了爱情的实质和大学生爱情教育的内涵及意义。
关键词：《罗密欧与朱丽叶》；现代爱情；相似性；差异性；
Contents
1. Definition of love (1)
2. Love of Romeo and Juliet (2)
3. A summary of modern love (4)
4. A comparison between Remeo and Juliet’s love and modern love .. 5
4.1 Similarities (5)
4.2 Differences (7)
4.2.1 Different backgrounds (7)
4.2.2Different aims (8)
4.2.3 Different endings (10)
5. Conclusion (10)
Bibliography (13)
1. Definition of love
Love, for thousands of years, always being regarded as a symbol of holy and purity. Love is great, it embodies a higher state of mental life; love is pure, it can not be tolerate anything false and turbidly; besides , love is mysterious, which makes a great number of men and women addicted ,and even pay their life.
Love is one of the eternal themes of people’s social life. Ever since there’s human being, there’s self-consciousness of people, affection world, and love is concluded in the rich world. Love is an important field of people’s moral life, and also an important content of everybody’s life road. It is not only related to the happiness of real life, but also reflects the civilization degree of society and the standard of social morality. All along history, people always look forward to love, create love, and write poem to eulogize love.
There is a poem about love, “What is love? How lucky he is whoever understands it … What can love do? I know, I will die for it.” Maybe there is no need to die for love, but what is love after all? How many people understand it?
Thousands of years ago, an ancient philosopher Socrates, had ever put forward a question—what is love? And answered with famous words of a love teacher, which is love is neither an immortal matter nor mortal thing, but exists between the two, it is a great elf, and just all kinds of elf, love are a n agent between soul and earthling.”
Thousands of years later, contemporary philosopher Roland·Batt still emphasis in Lover’s Words that “I really really want to know what love is on earth.”
From my understanding of love, it is a feeling of falling in love and hearts correspond, an impulse of a unity of two person. It is a spontaneous passion. Once the passion deduce, talking about it is something of mist, for that love either is the incarnation, or is nothing. And when passion love comes into being, the lovely points of the loved one are exaggerated, so that the same person are definitely different between the eyes of loved and no loved one. Thus can Burst express the opinion again and again that all people who fall in love love not a real person but one imaged in their own hearts, their sense themselves.
When love someone, honesty is needed. Only two honest hearts can link together. When all of you done in love come from honesty, the half one can touch them deeply, and know your heart from it, because honesty is the foundation of love.
When love someone, lenience is needed. As one love begins, the two should learn how to run it, your love will be happy if you can do it well, or it will take great number of consequence. Lenience is always needed in love, there are some kinds of friction when getting along with each other, if you don’t have a lenient heart, and I think it sad.
When love someone, frankness is needed. Two frank hearts can make we know each other. Be frank, a suspicion is deduced, but a trust increasing.
When love someone, responsibility is needed. Maybe responsibility gives us a feeling of hard, but it is indispensable in love. Lovers should know clearly about responsibility, and should n’t heart the other side without the basic of love.
In true love, the whole heart should be put, so do specialty and fair. To move you’re beloved by real heart, thus, a real, good, beautiful love story can be written.
2. Love of Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet is a famous tragic love story of Shakespeare's early work. It depicts the story of a pair of couples man and woman to be dismantled and then both sentimental.
The story took place in Verona City—an attractive little city in the north of Italy. At that time there were two prominent families—the Capulet family, who the support of the Holy Roman Emperor, and the Montague family, who respected the Pope. The factions struggle made the two mutually hostile, implacable, and developed grievances deep feud. However, all of this can not stop the pace of love, the beautiful and passionate Capulet’s daughter Juliet and handsome dashing Montague’ son Romeo fell in love at their first sight, they ignored the family's objections and got married, the wedding was held under the auspices of the kindly priest Lawrence .
Happiness is always short, Romeo was driven out of the city by his family, Juliet's father forced her to marry an Earl, she did not dare to go against the family, and even she did not want to betray her lover. Priest Lawrence helped her again, so she swallowed sleeping pills as feign death in order to procrastinate time. Believed that Juliet was died, the whole Capulet family made a funeral for her sadly. Romeo was just in the back to the city, being in a misery of the truth, he was so sorrowful that he drank poison and fell down on the side of Juliet. So surprised Juliet was, when regained consciousness seeing that her love was just on her side. But at the time Romeo told her that he was dying, Juliet was heartbroken and could not bear to live alone, she decided to end her own life by Romeo’s dagger without any hesitation, the two embrace love ascended to heaven. The great sorrow awakened two hostile families; the blood did n’t flow in vain for their loved ones, the two finally reconciled.
John·Hances had ever wrote in the prologue of Romeo and Juliet, “Romeo and Juliet is a love tragedy of young people, no play can embody the fierce and ideal passion of young people as it. The readers being addicted to love can find out the most ideal verse to express their mood in the play, and hope those who don’t love deeply can be as the former after reading. This universal desire of love and organic combination of self-devoting spirit and desire of love can express themselves perfectly in this playwright.”And this is the great mental heritage that Romeo and Juliet leaves to us, and will nourish our human beings’ soul continuously.
Although Romeo born in a great feudal family, he didn’t inherit the feudal traditional thought, yet he complied with the trend of age, betrayed his feudal family and became a unswerved humanistic people; he was honest, brave, educational, capable, he had a firm heart of universal love; he persuade a autonomous, free and wonderful love life. Even though he loves the enemy’s daughter, he never cowered. He didn’t have the prejudice of family status, once he loved Juliet, he regarded Couplets as his own family, and hoped to untie the old grudge all heart; he was loyal to love, and willing to be exiled to other place for love and lover, even to end his own life.
Juliet was a 13-year-old noble young lade, but she was brave, strong, wisdom.
Breaking heavy restrict of great family, she darling fall in love with Romeo and entrust her life to love. Knowing there’s no hope after Romeo’s exile, she refused to marry noble young Pales. With her wisdom, she lied to her father many times, and took sleeping pills at the sake of life; all of these were for realizing ideal love. She regarded love as important as life, at the death of Romeo; she also ended her precious life.
3. A summary of modern love
Modern love likes the flexible and unpredicted clouds, which makes people more and more confused.
Modern love is composed of flowers. Offering a bunch of flower is to offer a love, until now, the greatest love belongs to the one who own 999 roses, and that kind of love is amazing. The flower shop becomes the monopolization of young people to sell love, the love desire of young people expands rapidly, and flower shops grow up like the bamboo after the spring rain, which sell the most majestic affection of human beings and in the mean time take back the most valuable money. The rich people buy flowers and buy love at the same time, however ugly the buyer is, beautiful girls can only see the beautiful of the flowers and ignore other things. Rich people can buy different flowers for different girls, and take back different taste of love. Thom poor one who can not afford flowers cannot hope love, but to make plans when hoard enough money. Maybe there’s an important problem is ignored by people, which is the flowers in flower shops have been cut the roots, they have no origin, they are dead ones. Why those people who are eager for love can’t realize the difference? What does flower stand for? For money? For affection? For honesty? Or for anything else?
Modern love has become a lightning war. Know at the first day, embrace at the second day, mix at the third day. The painting of Managua makes people slap the table and shout with praise, which is both bride and bridegroom wearing beautiful full dress stepped into the wedding room, “what’s your name?” the bride asked her husband suddenly. What a good question it is—this is the romantic point of modern love. The other side of the lightning speed love combination is the rapid disintegration
of it. Even an anger, a rumor, an affair, an ignorance, a friction can break love into pieces, weak as glass.
Modern love has become pop music. How moved it is when being sung, “I cannot be without you, I cannot live without you.” In fact, this kind of songs can be sung to anybody. Modern young people’s oath just like the pop music, believe it or not, it just is there. One day you watched couple on the TV (as Yao Chen and Lin Xiaosu), but the second day they divorced, all of your envy turn into misery. Can you understand love? Can you explain what love is? Can love still be explained with immortal?
Betrayal has become the new theme of modern. Modern love sweeps the third person into the dustbin of history, thus lover being a romantic word. The lover in people’s eyes is the real point of love, but the most obstacle of family. Some knowledge people suggest canceling family to get back to nature, and there’s no need to conceal when lover appears, instead, it can be the capital to show. Inexpertly, they seem finding out the truth of love—there’s no true love in the world at all, but only the mutual attraction between men and women existing.
Does the tradition love step into error path? Or modern love lost its way?
4. A comparison between Romeo and Juliet’s love and modern love 4.1 Similarities
There are a lot of patterns when love occurs, but no one can be compared with falling in love at the first sight. It is a characteristic of love. The meet of Romeo and Juliet begins their amazing and mysterious love. At the first sight of Juliet, Romeo was astonished, “O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright.Juliet is the sun rising in the east.The brightness of her cheek would shame those stars. As day-light doth a lamp.”Just before, he was in a gloomy of his single pine love, but now he signed, “My love before is fake but not true, and tonight I meet the one.”And Juliet’s response was more immediate, “if he has married, tomb is my wedding bed.” Seeing the two falls in love, I can nearly feel their passion.
According to data in 2002 Valentine’s Day survey, the romantic affection as Romeo and Juliet’s meeting unexpectedly and being with each other at family party was liked by most Italy lovers. Besides as a latest survey shows the rate of first sight love of Chinese reaches up to 66%. Which is to suggest, that most love, both in ancient time and in modern world, are spontaneous, they are all come from the first impression. When two hot eyes meet each other, there must be some new fantastic story. Especially when someone is at the low mood, or he (or she) is just break up with some guy, the first sight of love is more easily take place.
As you know, people in love, like Romeo and Juliet, their mind are always simple; they can do everything for his (or her) love, even at the price of life. And they do everything is to get more love from the beloved one, to get closer to his (or her) heart. Their aim is pure. The essence of love is nature. As a notion of ancient Greece philosopher Plato, love is only related to psyche, it is absolutely reject to sex desire, they have no relation at all, it’s a psychological support of men and women, it melt all the affection in the solicitude of the beloved one. And Plato insists, mankind have two kinds of fertility, which is body fertility and internal spirit fertility. The former is the capability of continuing later generation. But the two gender love depend on flesh is not true love at all, only the internal spirit fertility can be called true love.
On the whole, whenever in Romeo and Juliet’s love or in modern, the origins are the same—both for pure love, a simple internal spirit affection. Moreover, Romeo and Juliet witness the essence—love is love. And in my point of view, when the two fell in love, Romeo was 16,but Juliet just 13,as all for pure love, their minds are not mature enough, they don’t know what true is, all of their behavior originate from an impulse of their deep heart. In fact, it is an instinct of animal, and is a hidden consciousness. Which is that you will compare your mate to the one in your imagination, and mostly from appearance and temperament, the closer to your standard, the more attention you will pay.
4.2 Differences
4.2.1 Different backgrounds
The love story of Romeo and Juliet was written in 1590s. In 16th century, British were underpaying Renaissance, humanism train of thought dominated in social cultural trains. Humanism seeked for human liberation, upheld individual freedom, Romeo and Juliet seek for freedom of love just at the price of lives.
At that time, England was a Christian country; the reigning monarch of England was Queen Elizabeth I. All children were baptized, soon after they were born, into the Church of England; they were taught the essentials of the Christian faith, and instructed in their duty to God and to humankind. Marriages were performed, and funerals conducted, only by the licensed clergy and in accordance with the Church’s rites and ceremonies. Attendance at divine service was compulsory; absences could be punished by fines. By such means, the authorities were able to keep some check on the populace—recording births, marriages, and deaths, being alert to any religious nonconformity, which could be politically dangerous; and ensuring a minimum of orthodox instruction through the official “Homilies” which were regularly preached from the pulpits of all parish churches throughout the realm. Following Henry VIII’s break away from the Church of Rome, all people in England were able to hear the church services in their own language. The Book of Common Prayer was used in every church, and an English translation of the Bible was read aloud in public. The Christian religion had never been so well taught before!
However, stepping into 21st century, science and culture have entered a high speed era. House price, stock market, commodity price and too many realities perplex our modern people. Love, a mankind affection, which has always been talked about and the most frequency word in discussion, is bond with more and more real conditions. With the liberation of the society, people’s minds also keep the pace. They pay they love not only to get love but to get more realities. Thus people pay more attention to what they can get from love, money? Power? Or status? Because they
believe, in this materialistic world, it’s difficult to handle things without money and money; even it’s difficult to live in this world without them.
And the new century gives more new styles of love.
In modern society, people who know love as “the more you give, the richer I will be”like Juliet is rare. What modern people want most is how to exchange through affection. Love has already become the bargaining chip of someone, which can be only paid for get to the aim. It is difficult to find pure love in this materialistic world.
A recent survey has already told us clearly people’s attitude toward love and bread (material). Li Tong says, “You are not going to die without love; you are not going to live without bread. That this is the case, love is a kind of luxury good, bread is necessity. Which do you want, luxury good or necessity?”Guan Shanshi says, “Who can promise that love can be depend on for lifetime in this desire metropolis? Maybe love will let your affection down, but bread will never let your stomach down!”“With the acceleration of urbanization, more and more young people drift in strange cities. To us, love is far away, but bread is necessary.”
I think it’s not the young people themselves willing to change their attitude toward love, but the modern world compel them to, and all they hunt for is to keep pace with the world and never be eliminated. For that, in their mind, reality is cruel.
4.2.2Different aims
At the age of Romeo and Juliet, all love and marriage were restricted by their families, and what their family seek for is “social position and economic status be in harmony”. However deep their children love each other, they would take every price to part them despite any conflict. Thus the reverse psychology was more serious among young people, and they were more eager for true love. Therefore their aim in love is single—just for love—a real feeling of affection.
Classic love notion think, love should immortal; but modern love notion think, only seek for owning ever, but not care about immortal. Many young people in love game they play with heart-beat. Modern people may encounter with love anytime,
however, chances can be chosen are too many, they will face with new challenge continuously.
But in this modern world, everything has changed. Young people has become a bargaining chip of their own or their family, what they want most is how to make use of the valuable bargaining chip to get them more money, to enter into a higher status and to consolidate their foundation. This kind of love is very rational, realistic.
For example, some single girls who just step out of the campus, may don’t have a good plan for their future, all they know is how to dress up beautifully to attract the eyeball of heterosexual. But as you know, they just come to the society; they don’t have enough money to make up themselves. Thus they think of their beauty, it’s the most valuable capital of them, they should make full use of it. They open their eyes as big as possible for their ideal “lover”, and never miss any chance, they hunt for fortune, despite of age, and they even willing to be a fling, because they enjoy the life surrounding by money, money makes them a feeling of safety.
And some young people, especially who are in the campus, they really don’t know what love is. They regard love as a game, which they will never put all their heart, but only hope to win the game. Maybe they have a love affair with someone just to prove themselves and to show their ability. They have the ability to compete with others; they have the ability to win girl’s sweet heart. At the same time, some girls who have a love affair with some boy, maybe for the reason that she loves him, but to keep up with the trend—other girls already have boyfriend, they want to enjoy the feeling of company and being spoiled.
Love is great; it’s a two-edged sword, which can change a person into a bright side, and a dark side. Some lovers live together, for that they love each other, however, other people live together just for sex, their love is just a partner. They purely love for sex, and being into the college, they can allocate their time freely, thus many students are eager to have a taste of the forbidden fruit. However, they lack of self-control, they always feel lonesome and emptiness, then they begins to look for love, to look for love for sex.
4.2.3 Different endings
Not everything will develop as expectation, neither will love. Romeo and Juliet yearned for true love, they sacrificed their lives, but what did they get in the end? And this is the point they leave us to considerate. They end their lives for love, but love returns them nothing. “Love” is the core of social tragedy; they can’t get rid of the charge of fate which ties the two as an invisible rope.
But with society changing, people’s material life improved, and mental life get rich, the yearn and pursuit for love have gradually become a trend of age, love has become the basic condition moral cornerstone of marriage, love has become an indispensable foundation of their relation.
Modern people don’t love for love, so their endings are different from Romeo and Juliet’s love. With different intention, their endings are different. Those who regard love as a game, they are mocked by the game in the end, they part. Those who regard love as bargaining chip for money or status, maybe they win in the end, but they lost the chance of loving or being loved by others in the game of love; however if they are defeated, can they become enemy only, for that no one want their love ship is at the basic of interest conflict. Those who love for sex will be punished by their behavior; their “love”must leave sometime, and will never come back. Those who ever put all their heart to love someone, they may go through all the travels, then step into the paradise of marriage and enjoy a different form of love; maybe thanks to some reasons they separate in the end, but they can still be good friend, because they’ve ever be together, they know each other well. Besides, to all conditions, rational people will never end their lives for love, all of them have a faith in their deep mind—life is given by parents, it’s precious and should be cherished.
5. Conclusion
Love is mysterious, and life is precious. We should treat life properly, we should cherish it, and then how should we treat love?
Firstly, we should advocate common objective love. When beginning a love, we should put same thoughts, same faith and pursuit at the first place, and set beautiful soul, noble mortality as the first standard of selecting a date. Shakespeare had ever said, “love is not the sweet word under tree shadow, not the honey talk in Cockaigne, not slight tear, and not stubborn compel, but the soul communication that builds on the basic of common pursuit.”So at the selecting of date, the most indispensible condition should be the general consistence of common objective love, thoughts, ideals and life interest. Thus out college students as the ridgepole of the new era, their love notion should be the organic combination of ideals, morality and duty.
Secondly, we should learn to handle the relationship between love and undertaking, money, and status. Love is great, it’s an important part of life, but not the whole of life, and it should obey and promote undertaking. We should correct our attitude toward love. Only our undertaking success, can the flower of love be more bright-colored. So college students should put undertaking at the first place, correct the relationship between love and undertaking, and not spend all precious time on love but loose to learn. Love without undertaking is as sowing seed in the desert, it will wither sooner or later. Merely the combination of them, love can be vigorous.
Then, we should know that love means duty and contribution. College students should know that love is not only to gain, but to pay, to take the responsibility. In our social life, there are two types of duty, one is to society, and the other is to family, parents, children, and mate. The latter belongs to private life; it’s the weakest field that the society can interfere, which depends on well-morality and sense of duty. For that reason, once college students enter love kingdom, they can win noble love with fierce sense of duty and spirit of contribution.
Furthermore, we should be serious, earnest and intent to affection. Love is a relation that male and female adore each other, including special affection and obligatory, which exist between the two, and never accept the third one. And love is not game; both sides should treat each other honestly. Countless facts prove that cheating love is not happy. In addition, once the two build love connection, they
should be intent, loyal and dependable, and should not careless, or it’s immoral. And no love built on the basic of sex is accepted.
Last but not least, we should learn to understand, believe, and respect each other in love. We should have independent personality and mental world; neither depends on the other one absolutely, nor occupies the other side completely. Love is as behaving, understanding, believe, honesty and lenience are very commendable qualities. After all “there’s no perfect man in the world”.
Bibliography
Romeo and Juliet.Cambridge University Press, 1946.
The Riverside Shakespeare.Boston:Houghton Mifflin Company,1974.
William Shakespeare,The Complete Works, New York:The VikingPress, 1975.
弗洛姆.爱的艺术[M].北京:商务印书馆, 1987, 17.
黄宜亮.社会主义义利观———面向21世纪的价值选择[M].郑州:河南人民出版社,2002.
今道友信.关于爱[M].北京:三联书店,1987.
李建平,罪恶论———道德价值的逆向研究[M].辽宁人民出版社,1996,(1).
李培超.论道德冲突[D].长沙:湖南师范大学,1994.
欧阳周,汪振华.爱情美学[M].长沙:中南工业大学出版社,1999.
莎士比亚.新莎士比亚全集[C].方平译.石家庄:河北教育出版社,2000.
莎士比亚.罗密欧与朱丽叶[M].朱生豪,译.北京:中国对外经济贸易出版社, 2000. 斯密.道德情操论[M].北京:商务印书馆, 1997, 34
孙家.莎士比亚与现代西方戏剧[M].成都:四川教育出版社,1994,34-35.
瓦西列夫.情爱论[M].北京:三联书店,1984.
西美尔.柏拉图式的爱欲与现代的爱欲[C]∥刘小枫.人类困境中的审美精神.上海:东方出版社中心,1994.
杨岚.人类情感论[M].天津:百花文艺出版社,2002,131.
杨雄等.社会转型与青年发展[M].上海:上海社会科学院出版社,2004.
英尔顿·亨特.情爱自然史[M].赵跃,李建光译.北京:作家出版社,1988,186.
朱于新,余秋阳.对罗密欧与朱丽叶的解读[J].青海师专学报:教育科学,2006,(6).