The power of strong emotion: love and hate
Emotion is careless, impulsive, and reckless in the play
Love and hate are two powerful emotional drivers in the play: sometimes they occur at the same time.
Romeo is initially debilitated by his strong, unrequited feelings for Rosaline: he hates the pain that his unreturned love causes him and is cast into a deep depression at the start.
Tybalt is a character full of rage and hatred – driven by impulsive and violent tendencies which drives the conflict of the play.
Juliet’s father, when Juliet disobey’s him, takes full control of him: “hang, beg, starve, die in the street!”
Romeo and Juliet’s love is instant – they are prepared to severe their ties with their families to be together.
Their strong love brings about destructive ends.
However, their true love is presented as being ‘pure’ and holy – there is no conflict through a religious lens– their love transcends (rises above) the human conflicts around them, and is supported and sanctioned by the Friar – a man of God