Can someone please edit my essay on Romeo and Juliet

Hi everyone, im new to these forums so i apologise if this is in the wrong place, but please can someone edit my essay and give me some constructuive criticism please?

How is love presented in the play Romeo and Juliet. Is this representation of love different today?

In Romeo and Juliet, the way love is portrayed emphasizes its power and hold over its victims. It shows us how love or even passionate infatuation can cause people to behave erratically and differently to what is expected of them. Also it tells the hard truth that love is not a fairytale, it has its ups and downs, in the scenario of Romeo and Juliet, it is the anger between their families, an external factor, rather than an issue with love or trust etc. Although the most obvious portrayal of love is between the main two protagonists, there are also a few other concepts explored. Mercutio explores the more ‘vulgar’ side of love, with his sexual remarks and jokes, “If love be blind, love cannot hit the mark. Now will he sit under a medlar tree, And wish his mistress were that kind of fruit As maids call medlars, when they laugh alone. Romeo, that she were, O, that she were
An open et caetera, thou a poperin pear!” This quote from Mercutio shows us his vulgar side, as he is degrading love to sex. This is shown in his joke about medlars and his opening sentence. Juliets parents show required love. It is obvious that their marriage was arranged, and they fulfill what is and was required of them. Furthermore, Benvolio expresses a great love for friends, as he hurts when Romeo hurts. Benvolio sympathizes with Romeo during his conversation with him about Rosaline and when asked by Romeo if he finds his situation funny “This love feel I, that feel no love in this. Dost thou not laugh?” Benvolio understands his pain and replies “No, coz, I rather weep” which clearly shows that if Romeo is in a state of distress, Benvolio similarly feels emotions of upset.
I can compare this to the representation of love today. In our modern society, many things have changed since the era of Romeo and Juliet. The concept of marriage has been devalued which means that the driven desire to get married would not be there. There are so many more ways to communicate, via text messaging, social websites and instant messaging. Young women in today societies most probably won’t be under the intense scrutiny that Juliet would, their parents wouldn’t be so active in their personal life. Although the concept would definitely still be there, of two love stricken teenagers obsessed with eachother, the actions leading to the ultimate consequence would not manifest. If we compare Romeo and Juliet’s relationship, to young couples in today’s society, many similarities are quite apparent. Many teenage couples today can seem to be ‘over dramatic’ about many aspects of the relationship, which can be compared to Romeo and Juliet. Also, the immature mentality that many young couples have nowadays is very similar to Romeo and Juliet, who confess their undying love after they’ve only just met. Romeo, only knowing Juliet for less than a full evening proclaims his love “O, speak again, bright angel ! For thou art as glorious…As is a winged messenger of heaven” This quote demonstrates the type of mentality many young couples have today. Without even getting to know eachother, they immediately confess love without knowing its true meaning.

Extract the most important quotes from the above. Compare Romeo’s feelings for Rosaline and Juliet, are they same?

What is love? Love is a deep, powerful emotion, which can happen between any two people. It is a life lasting devotion. On the other hand, Infatuation is a rushed, obsessive and physical attraction which is based almost entirely on looks. Therefore in my opinion, Romeo’s feelings for Rosaline and Juliet were indeed the same, not love, but infatuation.

In scene IV before meeting Juliet, Romeo is very sombre and demoralized by his love of Rosaline. He appears to be acutely depressed and very pessimistic. Romeo claimed he was deeply in love with Rosaline and he was extremely sad and upset that the feeling wasn’t returned. Romeo was positive that he had found his true love in Rosaline “A right good mark-man! And she’s fair I love.” He is describing how he has hit the spot and he is positive that he is truly in love. Romeo contradicts himself when he says “He that is stricken blind cannot forget, the precious treasure of his eyesight lost”. Romeo states how nothing can make him forget how Rosaline is the most beautiful; comparing it to how the blind cannot forget the loss of eyesight. When Romeo is musing about Rosaline, he uses oxymoron’s extensively “Why then, O brawling love, O loving hate, O anything of nothing first created! O heavy lightness, serious vanity, misshapen chaos of well-seeming forms! Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick health, Still-waking sleep, that is not what it is! ” Romeo’s use of oxymoron’s represents his state of mind; he is very confused because love is supposed to be a joyous thing, but it his making him miserable. He believes he is deeply in love, but he acknowledges that she doesn’t feel the same way and never will, since she took a vow of chastity. Therefore his source of happiness (Rosaline) is also his unhappiness, which causes him emotional distress.
But once he saw Juliet, all his ‘true love’ for Rosaline was immediately forgotten. This is because Romeo bases love entirely on the aesthetic aspect; looks as seen when he is musing “Alike bewitched by the charm of looks”. Unlike Rosaline, Juliet returned Romeo’s feelings which strengthened his infatuation. If Rosaline acknowledged Romeo, he would not have looked at Juliet. Romeo is very impulsive, he doesn’t really think about things, which is fairly obvious when he immediately falls in love with Juliet, when he was supposedly in love with Rosaline.
Although Romeo was only infatuated with both Juliet and Rosaline, he was infatuated in different ways, with Rosaline it was courtly love, it is implied that Romeo never even had a conversation with Rosaline, he just admired her from a distance, he didn’t know anything about her, and he was just infatuated. With Juliet, maybe he could have loved her, but their relationship moved way too quickly. To love someone, you must get to know them, their hobbies, their fears, their skills etc but Romeo and Juliet never shared with each other information, realistically they barely knew a thing about each other, so how could they proclaim undying love? It is clear that Romeo has never loved anyone.
Romeo being in love with two women produces a feeling of doubt in the audience. They will begin to ponder of the possibilities that Romeo might not be in love with either, just infatuated. This is very effective as the audience will get more engrossed in the play, wanting to hear and understand every detail to make their own conclusion on Romeo’s situation.
To conclude, in my opinion, Romeo’s feelings for both Rosaline and Juliet were not love, but instead infatuation, he barely knew either of them. He was in love with the idea of loving someone and being loved.

Have a look at Baz Luhrmann and Franco Zefirelli's version of Romeo and Juliet. Is love represented/portrayed differently? If so how?

There have been two major film interpretations of Romeo and Juliet, Baz Luhrmann’s modern version and Franco Zefirelli’s traditional version. They both keep the storyline but the two settings and time frame are completely different.
Baz Luhrmann takes a modern twist on his film, bringing it forward in time into the 21st century, set in America, where two rival businesses Montague and Capulet are situated. In this version swords are swapped for guns, families are portrayed as warring factions, similar to the Mafia. I believe it has been updated brilliantly for a modern audience highlighting how themes in the original play can still impact us. Guns and violence are commonplace in the film which I believe is relevant for the setting and storyline. It is very fast paced, which will appeal to the audience of today. Luhrmann implemented many anachronistic elements to make the story relevant such as keeping the original script.
Franco Zefirelli’s version is very straightforward. It is set in Verona, with traditional dress and is during the time period of the play. Zefirelli unlike Luhrmann, portrayed the play almost identically to Shakespeare.
I believe the two films portray love similarly. They both keep the love aspect untouched from Shakespeare’s original play and both interpretations show each type of love which is present in the play, such as true love or infatuation, required love and courtly love. Furthermore, in both movies they portray Romeo as he is in the play, very impulsive. Juliet is also portrayed in accordance with the play, she is naive but eventually develops into a more mature and independent character.