Love and Hate in Romeo and Juliet Essay Example

Is love or hate more powerful? As stated by Martin Luther King Jr. “Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that."(1963). Meaning that my stance on this is that love is more powerful. Love is more powerful than hate because Romeo and Juliet’s love caused their parents’ feud to end, Romeo and Juliet’s love for each other caused them to die for each other, and Lord Capulet’s love for his daughter only caused her more pain. We love people so much to the point where it becomes obsessive and it turns evil and eventually leads to our ruin. In hate you don’t see that. Yes, hate can be violent. However, your hate for someone only goes to a certain point. You don’t constantly think about the person you hate. You don’t risk your life for the person you hate. No, they are insignificant to you. Love on the other hand is deadly. You spend all day constantly replaying thoughts of them in your head. You spend all day wishing you were with them. You would risk your life to ensure their safety. You love them so much that it pains you to be separated from them. Therefore, love is more powerful than hate.

First and foremost, Romeo and Juliet’s love caused their parent’s lifelong feud to be no more. Meaning that it was Romeo and Juliet’s love for each other that showed that the Montagues’ and the Capulets’ feuds were pointless and that it only brought both of their houses a plague as Mercutio would say it. Nothing is more powerful than seeing two young lovers dead next to each other because of the fact that they could not be together. As stated in scene 5 “This letter doth make good Friar’s words: Their course of love, the tiding of her death, And here he writes that he did buy a poison Of a poor pothecary, and therewithal Came to this vault to die and lie with Juliet. Where be these enemies? Capulet, Montague, See what a scourge is laid upon your hate, That heaven finds means to kill your joys with love; And I, for winking at your discords too, Have lost a brace of kinsmen. All are punished. O brother Montague, give me thy hand. This is my daughter’s jointure, for no more Can I demand. But I can give thee more, For I will raise her statue in pure gold, That whiles Verona by that name is known, There shall no figure at such rate be set As that of true and faithful Juliet.”(Shakespeare 256). In this quote it shows how it is brought to Lords Capulet and Montague that it was their hate that had caused this. However, it was not their hate that killed Romeo and Juliet. That was caused by Romeo and Juliet’s love for each other. But, it was the houses’ hate for each other that kept them apart and it was realized that their hate had driven these two lovers into madness and had caused them not to be together. Thus resulting in their death. It was Romeo and Juliet’s love that brought the two houses together. Twas not the hate of the houses but the love between the two heirs. Therefore love is more powerful than hate.

Furthermore, love was what caused Romeo and Juliet’s ruin. Romeo and Juliet loved each other so much that they believed that they could not live without the other. As Romeo stood over his lover he weeps and he begged to see her just once more. I find that to be absolutely heart wrenching and a tearjerker. To watch someone you love just lie there without an ounce of life left in them is absolutely horrible. Now imagine you were Romeo. You just married the woman you love so dearly and now you are looking over her at her grave. This is what drove him to die. This is what drove him to leave everything behind just for the chance to see her just once more. “Will I set up my everlasting rest And shake the yoke of inauspicious stars From this world-wearied flesh. Eyes, look your last! Arms, take your last embrace! and, lips, O you The doors of breath, seal with a righteous kiss A dateless bargain to engrossing death! Come, bitter conduct; come, unsavory guide! Thou desperate pilot, now at once run on The dashing rocks thy seasick weary bark! Here’s to my love! [drinks] O true apothecary! Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die. [falls].”(Shakespeare collections). Now imagine you were Juliet. You just woke up from a two day nap and you are now in death central. You just faked your death to get out of a wedding to stay loyal to Romeo and he is supposed to be there so that the two of you can run away together. You look down and find him lying there, dead. Same as Romeo you just married this man that you love so dearly and now you are looking at him without a breath in his body. “Go, get thee hence, for I will not away. [Exit Friar Laurence.] What’s here? A cup, closed in my true love’s hand? Poison, I see, hath been his timeless end. O churl! drunk all, and left no friendly drop To help me after? I will kiss thy lips. Haply some poison yet doth hang on them To make me die with a restorative. [kisses him] Thy lips are warm! Chief Watchman  [within]. Lead, boy. Which way? Juliet. Yea, noise? Then I’ll be brief. O happy dagger! [snatches Romeo’s dagger] This is thy sheath; there rust, and let me die. [She stabs herself and falls.]”(Shakespeare collections). Both of these quotes show the effects of loving someone so much that it ends up killing you. Romeo poisoned himself and Juliet stabbed and killed herself. Therefore love is more powerful.

Moreover, Lord Capulet’s love for his daughter only caused him to lose his daughter. When Lord Capulet found out that his daughter, his only child left, had spent the entire day crying about the loss of her cousin (that is what he thinks is what happened). Of course his first question is: How do I make my daughter happy? His first go to was Paris, the count that wants to marry Juliet. He believed that once Juliet got married to this rich man and had nothing to worry about that she would be happy. However, this was not the case in fact it only made the situation worse. Especially when he did not give Juliet the decision to marry Paris he actually just made her marry this man. As written in scene three “Hang thee, young baggage! disobedient wretch! I tell thee what—get thee to church a Thursday Or never after look me in the face. Speak not, reply not, do not answer me! My fingers itch. Wife, we scarce thought us blest That God had lent us but this only child; But now I see this one is one too much, And that we have a curse in having her. Out on her, hilding!”(Shakespeare collections). In this quote Lord Capulet becomes so angry that his daughter is not accepting his love that he becomes so angry that he threatens her instead of comforting her. This leads to Juliet having to go to Friar Lawrence to fake her death. In summary, Lord Capulet loves his daughter so much that when he sees that she is upset he wants to make her happy so he tries to get her to marry Paris. He had good intentions but he did not realize the true story and ended up having not just a sad child but a deceased one. Therefore, love is more powerful than hate.

Fine, love is more powerful than hate. The reasons behind this are that love caused the Capulet’s and the Montague’s houses to end their feud, it caused Romeo and Juliet’s deaths, and it caused Lord Capulet to lose his only child Juliet. Love is the reason behind all of these misfortunes. Therefore when asked the question: “Is love or hate more powerful?” You should answer with love because of the fact that love is what drives people insane and it causes misfortune and ruin.