Platonic Love in 'Romeo and Juliet'

Paper Summary:

This paper examines the nature of love in Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet in terms of Greek philosopher Plato's definitions of love. This paper argues that Romeo and Juliet does indeed exemplify the types of ideal love that Plato talks about and gives examples including sexual desire, willingness to risk death, madness, divinity of the lover and other.

From the Paper:

"The nature of love has been speculated upon by humans for thousands of years, perhaps since long before humans have been able to give it conscious thought. Some of the most wise and thought-provoking insights into the nature of love have passed down to us from the Greek writer and philosopher, Plato. Plato is responsible for our knowledge of the philosophies of Socrates, but he also wrote down many of his own thoughts and opinions, especially those on the nature of human conditions. Plato's ideal form of love is exemplified in the play The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, as we will see. Plato describes various types of love through his dialogues including the Symposium and Phaedrus, which give some of the clearest vision of his ideals on the subject."

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