Actual Shakespeare Podcast

In the podcast episode, the host discusses the theme of love versus lust in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. They argue that Juliet's rebellion against societal expectations was driven by her desire for love, but it was actually lust that led her to marry Romeo. Similarly, Romeo mistakes his lust for Juliet as true love, using religious imagery to justify his feelings. The host suggests that their passion and impulsiveness ultimately lead to their tragic end. The episode concludes by highlighting the idea that love brings life while lust leads to its demise. Hey Shakespeareans, welcome to Balcony Musings, Close Reams of Shakespeare's Text. It's Sibby and today we're diving into Shakespeare's universally shared 1597 Romeo and Juliet, looking closely at Act 2, Scene 2. Think of the first thing that comes to mind when you hear Romeo and Juliet. True love, right? Both Juliet as a traditional trope of female rebellion and Romeo the modern-day definition of a player. How can you know that it wasn't simply passion-filled lust fueled by desire for escape? To set the scene, Juliet, our impulsive martyr, battles the zeitgeist. Her war ground is structured in unmoving Elizabethan society. They say all is fair in love and war, but if not love, then what was she fighting for? She unknowingly longs for love to carve a path of rebellion. A dramatically ironic situation arises when she announces in Act 3, Scene 5, I will not marry yet, and when I do, I swear it shall be Romeo, whom you know I hate. Isn't marrying someone you're subconsciously trained to hate reflective of human nature to escape from expectations of society? The ironic part being, she had impossibly already married him, so then it was never really love leading her rebellion. The real origin was her lust. Romeo delusionally mistakes his lustful relationship with Juliet for true love, deceived he was rebranding love from his unrequited relationship with Rosaline. Isn't it universal that starry eyes represent an everlasting connection? Conversely, a dangerous flame or the symbolic fire sparking in another's eyes is where Romeo idolizes in Act 1, Scene 1, his slowly extinguishing infatuation and life-threatening obsession for Juliet. What's more, the metaphorical facade of love as a smirk raised with a few more sighs demonstrates his inability to interpret lust at face value. In fact, he's so wrongly convinced about his understanding of love that he suddenly begins using religious imagery as commonly used in the Elizabethan era to rebrand love as innocent and cleansing. In Act 2, Scene 2, he speculates by saying, call me but love and I'll be knew baptized, a contrasting perspective to his initial fiery and falsified representation of love. Ultimately, the hamata that brought Romeo and Juliet to their tragic and quick end was their passion and impulsiveness to act on their physical attraction. In Act 2, Scene 2, or more commonly the crowd-favorite balcony scene, we see the character development of Romeo and Juliet. In the fiery personality of the personified sun in Arise, Fair Sun and Kill the Envious Moon, we see vicariously through the eyes of Romeo an extremely sexualized Juliet. He wished for that same Juliet to kill the envious moon, the chastic symbol of Diana, the goddess of purity and virginity. Her violent passion is supported in the underlying message of her admission that yet I should kill thee with much cherishing, but the paradox paints her as a heartless perpetrator negating her fondness and yet still deceiving them into believing that this was true love. Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet follows the journey of two tragic souls delusionally mistaking lust for true love in a rush to escape restrictions imposed by their Elizabethan society. Just like in modern day where the short-term situationships we hear about advocate lust, Romeo and Juliet's lust story presents the idea that in the presence of love, life flourishes and in the act of lust, love dies. Thank you for listening and tune in next time for more.