Shakespeare's Plays: Early Modern Ideas of Love and Intimacy Examined

This essay provides an in-depth analysis of William Shakespeare's plays, focusing on how they explore and mobilize early modern ideas about love and intimacy. It examines specific plays like Othello and Macbeth, highlighting the contrasting themes of love, jealousy, friendship, and familial bonds. The essay delves into how Shakespeare's works uphold and contest Elizabethan and Jacobean values, exploring the complexities of romantic relationships and the impact of passion and tragedy. It discusses the characters' motivations, the consequences of their actions, and the ways in which Shakespeare's plays reflect the societal norms and beliefs of his time, ultimately revealing the enduring relevance of his insights into human relationships. The essay also provides insights into the concept of friendship as depicted in Shakespeare's plays, touching on loyalty, trust, and the tragic consequences of broken bonds, offering a comprehensive understanding of Shakespeare's perspective on love, intimacy, and the human condition.

Shakespeare’s
play

CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................2
UNDERSTANDING OF THE ISSUE............................................................................................2
How do Shakespeare’s plays mobilise early modern ideas about love and intimacy?................2
ARGUMENT DEVELOPMENT....................................................................................................3
Ways in which the plays Othello and Macbeth uphold...............................................................3
Contest Elizabethan and Jacobean values about romantic love, friendship and familial bonds
and concept of love for hamlet....................................................................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7
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INTRODUCTION
William Shakespeare was an English playwright, actor, poet and is known as one of the
greatest writers in English (Minear, 2011). He was also known as Bard of Avon. The idea of love
in most of the plays of Shakespeare was different from others. He says that true love and
friendship guide a person and without true love or friendship any can get lost. Most of his plays
ad tragic end and described ways in which involvement of passion and jealousy in love can lead
a person towards destruction and can reduce regenerator function of love because of which
existence of love can end. This essay will lay emphasis upon ways in which Shakespeare’s plays
mobilise early modern ideas about love and intimacy.
UNDERSTANDING OF THE ISSUE
How do Shakespeare’s plays mobilise early modern ideas about love and intimacy?
Shakespeare’s is known for his romantic plays and act. He has been famous by writing
various books and conducting plays. From star-struck love affairs to marriages built on murder,
Shakespeare has created some unforgettable romantic relationships. This can be better explained
by othello and Macbeth act. The book of the same act was tending to be written in 1603. The act
was based on their two central characters and they have explained about the feelings of intimacy,
jealousy, love and romance. In this act Shakespeare has told the world that anyone should not be
involved in changing one they love. They need to accept who they are and as they are. This is the
true idea of love and it is been explained in this at. Othello was general in Venetian military. The
character was good natured but has shown jealousy at certain moments of time. Shakespeare has
provided the details that if you are in love then you are bounded by the feeling of jealousy. There
is no love without jealousy and the act is based on this. It has also been analysed that
Shakespeare idea of love and intimacy was different from other authors. Through out the act it
has been analysed that Othello made rash decisions based on jealousy. It was the jealousy that
motivates him to do wicked deeds as defined in act. However, the jealousy has overcome the
characters emotions (Schwartz, 2016). It has been analysed that as the play goes on with the
feeling of jealousy Othello will be involved in doing sin. Shakespeare has also said in this act is
that family approval is not everything. If you are truly in love with someone you will be with
them even if no one is them to support. Shakespeare has motivated to fight for one’s love.
Othello was not liked by the audiences because of the wicked and rash decision made by them.
This has made his character a symbol for hatred. However, the act belongs to Othello, lago was
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also an important character in the act. It was the lago wo manipulated all characters and their
deeds. It was analysed that most romantic from all Shakespeare acts was Othello. He was so in
love but after some time the character was not able to control his emotions. He became jealous
and was involved in ding acts of sins.
Shakespeare has said that if your loved ones go away from oneself than let them go, as
the true feeling and love can not be controlled. Shakespeare has said that money is also not
everything. One should be they’re with partner even if they have no money, this was idea about
love given by Shakespeare. It has also been analysed that now-a-days most people do not fall in
love as older times. So, the theory given by author can be considered as failed during this time.
The idea of Shakespeare related to love and romance was really different from other authors. He
has provided the details that love can over compass every other feeling and people can take great
challenges when they are in love. Money is also not anything in love, the key is to be honest in
relationship. Shakespeare in his most famous act of Othello has said that a min break can re-
invent one’s relationship. The change of scenery and country side vacation can bring change in
the love relationship. This needs to be taken by every couple so that they can come back to good
old times (Kottman, 2020). This can spice up stale relationship. The author in play has also
provided the details that there is a very thin line between love and hate. Shakespeare was
blurring the boundaries between the two emotions long before Othello was in love. The author
has said that if one can love they can also hate with the same urge.
It can be said that Shakespeare’s ideas about love and intimacy feeling of love change
from passiveness to passion which can impact relationship between two. Shakespeare says that
idea of love should not be changed for one’s own loved ones but feeling such as jealousy,
passion should nor get involved in love relationships because it can lead to downfall of one’s
own relationship with others. Feeling of love is based on the way in which an individual act and
think. Both of his plays it was identified that development of feeling of jealousy and passion in a
relationship can led to destruction of relationship and sometimes it can result in destruction of
oneself.
ARGUMENT DEVELOPMENT
Ways in which the plays Othello and Macbeth uphold
Othello and Macbeth are two most famous plays of William Shakespeare. In 17th century
he wrote both the tragedy stories. In both the stories idea of love and intimacy are completely
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different. In Othello tragedy of jealousy has been elaborated whereas in Macbeth tragedy of
ambition have been explained. Both the plays are filled with love situations. Both the plays
explain that most of the plays of William Shakespeare focuses upon love as an incidental theme.
Idea or concept of love in both the plays have been explained differently. In Macbeth, one
character becomes both victim and villain and falls for both greed and hate when Macbeth is
been tricked (Bouguerba, 2017). This greed flaws his relation with Lady Macbeth and eventually
he gets defeated. Whereas, romance and love described on Othello is different in which Othello
was a self-controlled solemn who had experienced hardship, but was inexperienced in heart or
love affairs. This flaw increased jealousy and rage within him which eventually led to his
demise. The idea of love in both Othello and Macbeth is different but respectful in their own
way. Both of them were wrong in their own way. Due to love they felt the pain and anguish of
remorse, wanting them to take back what rightfully belonged to them. But love is the name of
forgivingness as time heals all kinds of wounds but they realised it quite late. Due to which death
came to them by their own hands. Othello and Macbeth hold values of love, romance and
relationship in their own ways. Both of these plays describe love as a feeling of jealousy, pain
and explains that this pain, jealousy, anger and rage and impact one’s own relationship with
others.
Analysis of both the plays of Othello and Macbeth explains excessive passion. Macbeth
and his wife oppose them to natural order and each other. Whereas, Othello was completely
dependent upon Desdemona which made him realise that growth in his soul has antecedents in
the passion of his idolatry. Passion of love was shown in Othello’s play, in which his unnatural
love and affection for his wife using magic as a method was described. Both the plays of William
Shakespeare clearly explain that excessive of love, affection can spoil regenerative powers of
love, intimacy, affection and relationship. Not loving in a natural manner, or not loving wisely
can result in dissolution of the alliance (Singh and Arora, 2015). According to William
Shakespeare, it is important to control passion for love because only regenerative functions of
love is extremely important for maintaining existence of love. In both the plays of William
Shakespeare, union of mature tragedy led to wastage of lives of all of those people who were
involved. At their very end both Othello and Macbeth realised that their anger, frustration,
jealousy and their respective situation resulted in failure of love. Main message both the plays of
William Shakespeare provides a message that excessive passion of love and affection of hinder
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or affect any relationship or love drastically. He also says that passion cannot stress of tragedy
circumstances. If this feeling of an excessive passion is not controlled then one can lose their
feeling of nobility, love as well as family relationships can also get impacted drastically in a
negative manner.
So, from this analysis it can be said that Shakespeare’s plays mobilise early modern ideas
about love and intimacy in a completely different manner. His plays help in understanding a limit
or boundary that should be maintain in love (Marker, 2013). Passion can result in crossing all
kinds of boundaries of a relationship because of which feeling of love can be impacted. the way
or manner in which love has been treated in Othello and Macbeth is quite strategic and
completely different from his other plays.in both the plays of Shakespeare, love, intimacy,
relationship, friendship were inter-related to jealousy, passion, tragedy, that eventually led to
tragic end that consist of destruction. Both the plays of Shakespeare gave an insight of danger of
illusion in love.
Contest Elizabethan and Jacobean values about romantic love, friendship and familial bonds and
concept of love for hamlet
If one is true fan of plays of Shakespeare then they can understand that friendship for
Shakespeare meant loyalty, mutual respect and unwavering support for each other. There are
various plays in which this true friendship has been shown like friendship of Hamlet and Horatio.
But this concept of friendship has been described in different ways in different plays.
Elizabethan taught ideal example of friendship to readers (Marker, 2013). Different plays of
Shakespeare explained different range of friendship in which friendship could mean neighbour, a
lover, or fellow countryman, to a family member or the close personal acquaintance. But one
characteristic of friendship in all of his plays was common that was loyalty. Friendship in his
plays meant loyalty. In fact, friendship was one of the main and central themes of Shakespeare’s
plays. He has always shown friendship as close and trustworthy relationship but with a bit fragile
because when trust is broken in friendship it led to dangerous results.
In Elizabethan, idea of friendly identification has helped in understanding friendship, but at
the end this friendship itself caused inevitable complications. Whereas in Jacobean play, love
triangle plot disappeared when friendship became a source of virtuous alliance and correction.
Both Elizabethan and Jacobean explains that women are more untrustworthy in terms of
friendship and friendship is the last value to which a man can cling. But due to sense of male
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honour, friendship used to loom actions. In early Jacobean period friendship used to appear as a
tragedy mode even in comedy. In order to maintain loyalty in friendship an authority was
required to be invoked in order to resolve tension in any of the genres.
In most of the plays of Shakespeare tragic conclusion was a pattern in terms of friendship. It
helped in understanding and revealing a darker side of human relationships (Marker, 2013). In
most of the plays of Shakespeare, villain used to break trust of close friends. Shakespeare
explored concept of friendship in almost all of his plays and explained different sides of
friendship, love affection and relationship. According to value of Elizabethan it was said that it is
foolishness to marry for love but love can eventually occur in marriage. It was said that one of
the greatest symbols of comedy is marriage that renews the world. This was the concept of love
that was presented by Shakespeare in the Elizabethan Era (Marker, 2013). But the Jacobean era
of love was different from Elizabethan. Jacobean plays did not focus upon same romantic love as
Shakespeare plays. Hats, ornaments and feathers were some of that Jacobean men used to wear
on love occasions. Jacobean described love as a power of willingly doing anything. It was also
said in this era that family love is one of the most loyal type of love present. It was one of the
most important things present within lives of people. So, from this analysis it can be said that
Elizabethan or Jacobean values about love, friendship and family bonds were different.
CONCLUSION
From the above study it has been summarised that Shakespeare has really different idea
about love, romance and intimacy. The play has provided details about the feeling of jealousy,
romance, race and hate. The main character was supressed by the feeling of jealousy. because of
this feeling he was been involved in doing various sins and wicked deeds. The audience did not
like his character because of this. It has been analysed that Shakespeare said that there is a thin
line between love and hate.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Bouguerba, T., 2017. Constructing Black Masculinity In Oliver Parker’s Othello (1995). Studies
in Linguistics, Culture, and FLT, 2(1), pp.101-118.
Kottman, P.A., 2020. Shakespeare, Love and Language. Shakespeare Quarterly.
Marker, J.W., 2013. Orson Welles's Macbeth: Allegory of Anticommunism. Literature/Film
Quarterly, 41(2), pp.116-128.
Minear, E., 2011. Hearing and Seeing in Othello’s Eavesdropping Scene. Who Hears in
Shakespeare?: Shakespeare’s Auditory World, Stage and Screen, p.219.
Schwartz, R.M., 2016. Loving justice, living Shakespeare. Oxford University Press.
Singh, R. and Arora, M.K., 2015. Three UK based Film-Adaptations of Shakespeare’s Macbeth:
A Comparative Analysis. International Journal Of English And Education, pp.387-391.
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