Why does Shakespeare link love and death??
In many of his works, Shakespeare is concerned with the idea of mortality – does a great love, or a piece of writing, or a thing of beauty continue to exist even after we die? In R&J specifically, he’s trying to depict a love that is too great for this world, especially a world in which someone wasn’t free to love the person that he or she chose. R&J can’t be together because of the ancient and bitter rivalry between their families – their sacrifice ends the feud. So how does he resolve mortality and love? He writes it down in a play that will live on long after “the lovers” and the poet himself are dead. Immortality – whether for love, self, or beauty – is achieved in the greatness of one’s art.
