Romeo and Juliet PQA essay

How does Shakespeare present Romeo’s attitude towards love in Act 1 Scene 1?
Quote 1. O loving hate, oxymoron,
Quote 2. Love’s transgression. Personification noun, verb, adj, adv ideas and emotions, abstract
noun
Quote 3. Love is a smoke.
Quote 4. Tyrannous – the tyrannous man – adjective – vicious leader, metaphor, personification
Quote 5: heart's oppression (Line 178)

Quote 6: sea nourish'd (Line 186) metaphor

Quote 7: love's of smoke

Quote 8: A choking gall

Quote 9: Serious vanity oxymoron

Quote 10: beauty star'd metaphor

Topic sentence: Shakespeare presents Romeo’s attitude towards love as very melodramatic.

First draft
Introduction 1:
Shakespeare presents Romeo’s attitude towards love as melodramatic. This is suggested in the
scene where Romeo is not actually thinking about love but more about trying to get attention
Introduction 2:
Shakespear presents Romeo’s attitude towards love in Act 1 scene 1 as melodramatic, twisted
and overwhelming. Through the use of language and structure techniques, Shakespear conveys
Romeo’s obsessive love towards this unidentified person and the audience is told of how
Romeo’s love is unrequited which adds a sickly element.
Paragraph 2:
Romeo is also very twisted. This is seen when he mentions himself as ‘a choking gull’. This word
is a particular adjective, so it shows Romeo trying to be smart. This shows that he is trying to
seem sad. It links to him liking being sad. There is evidence of this as he shows as “sea
nourish’d”.This is a metaphor this is can also link to Romeo trying to be smart and. This effect
makes Benvolio give more pity and attention and question to Romeo sorrowful

Melodramatic:
- love’s transgressions
- adding clouds to more clouds with his deep sighs
- serious vanity
- away from the light steals home
Twisted:
- O loving hate
- Love is smoke
- sea nourished
Overwhelming:
- A choking gall
- tyrannous
- heart’s oppression

Second Draft
Introduction
Shakespear presents Romeo’s attitude towards love in Act 1 scene 1 as melodramatic, twisted
and overwhelming. Through the use of language and structure techniques, Shakespear conveys
Romeo’s obsessive love towards this unidentified person and the audience is told of how
Romeo’s love is unrequited which adds a sickly element.
Shakespeare presents Romeo’s attitude towards love as melodramatic. This is indicated by Lord
Montague when he tells Benvolio of how ‘away from the light steals home’ Romeo. In choosing
the word ‘steals’, Shakespeare implies that Romeo is acting suspiciously and almost like a thief
scuttering away from daylight to not get caught of a crime. The audience will think Romeo as
dramatic and strange for his behaviour as they are yet aware that Romeo is lovesick.
Furthermore, when Romeo talks about ‘love’s transgression’ he brings back the idea of himself
being caught up in a crime. The tone in which he speaks makes himself to be a victim of love’s
whims and implies that he is a puppet to a higher power. Lord Montague also discusses how
Romeo is ‘adding clouds to more clouds with his deep sighs’ and this emphasises Romeo’s
misery. The exaggerated imagery is a show of overreaction to rejection and presents a rather
dramatic picture which is how Shakespeare depicts Romeo’s attitude towards love as
melodramatic.
Shakespeare presents Romeo’s attitude towards love as twisted. This is shown by Romeo when
he says, ‘O loving hate’. Shakespeare uses the oxymoron ‘loving hate’ to emphasis the hate.
This creates pity for Romeo as he enjoys love but is suffering from love that is not returned
which hurts him. Altogether this shows that Romeo has a twisted way of love, because he
enjoys it and hates it at the same time. Another way Shakespeare presents Romeo’s attitude
towards love as twisted is through the metaphor ‘love is a smoke’. The metaphor creates an
image of love as smoke which is cloudy and burns your eyes which implies love is blinding. Then
Romeo continues to discuss the effect of love as smoke so when the love is accepted the smoke
is ‘purged’ then the lovers love each other but when the lover is rejected then the smoke is
‘vexed’ so the lovers start to cry a ‘sea nourished with lover's tears’. Using the imagery
Shakespeare presents Romeo's attitude towards love as twisted.
Shakespeare presents Romeo’s attitude towards love as overwhelming by referring to love as a
‘choking gall’. Romeo feeling pressurised by his love this leads to him to experience many
different emotions such as sadness, fear and anger. The word gall creates an image of poison
sliding down Romeo’s throat making the audience see Romeo pain and suffering. Another way
the audience is told about Romeo's pain and suffering is by Benvolio describing Romeo ‘heart’s
oppression’ Romeo is experiencing so much brutality by his heart so even Benvolio can see it.
Shakespeare choosing the word oppression he creates a sense of hopelessness and melancholy
which shows us Romeo’s overwhelming experience. Because of all of these factors that
Shakespeare makes Romeo's heart feel tyrannous. His heart is imperious as it is focusing on a
woman that does not love him back. Romeo must hate his heart as much as he loves it. It is
through all these word choices that Shakespeare presents Romeo hearts as overwhelming.
In conclusion Shakespeare presents Romeo's attitude towards love as melodramatic, twisted
and overwhelming. Shakespeare shows Romeo's mixed emotion of love and hate to the
audience and creates pity for him.