Romeo and Juliet is a classical lovers’ couple. Although it is a play, the plot illustrates the bonding of lovers. The description of the young couple’s attachment to each other follows the contact rebus theory. It can also explain the two lovers’ destructive behavior and the tragic end. (Motivational Work, Part 1: Values and Theory, pages 135 -139). Romeo and Juliet’s love story is brief but intense but maybe too condensed to describe an actual one. What is the least realistic in Shakespeare’s oeuvre concerns the time period. On the other hand, you have to sacrifice some reality to make it a good play.
The Play
Two feuding Families
Romeo and Juliet live in Verona and come from two feuding families, the Montagues, and the Capulets. Both are mere youngsters. At the start of the play, Romeo is bewailing his unrequited love for Rosemunda. His friends persuade him to go to a party where he might fall in love with a new girl. Meanwhile, Juliet’s mother is busy telling her that at 14, she is reaching marriageable age. Present is also Juliet’s wet nurse.
A Party
Her father holds a party at their home, to which everyone is invited except the Montagues. Romeo and his friends get to hear of the party and sneak in wearing disguises. As soon as he sets eyes on Juliet, he falls in love, unaware she is a Capulet. When the dancing starts, Romeo makes sure to dance with Juliet and declares his love for her. It is reciprocated immediately by Juliet, who is also unaware that he is a Montague. When they finish dancing, they ask other guests what their names are.
Juliet’s Balcony
The fact that they belong to families with an ancient grudge does not change their feelings for each other. After the party, Romeo hides in Juliet’s orchard. Soon, she emerges onto her balcony and speaks aloud about her love for Romeo. He reveals himself, and together they again profess their love for each other. They decide to marry secretly, and Juliet promises to send Romeo a message the next day so they can make plans for the wedding.
The Marriage
Romeo arranges for his old friend and confessor, Friar Laurence, to conduct the service. The nurse is informed, Juliet arrives under the pretext of going to confession, and the two are married. Her nurse arranges a rope ladder so Romeo can climb up to Juliet for their wedding night. When it’s all over, and Romeo and Juliet go their separate ways, Romeo and his friends run into a group of young men of the Capulet clan. He refuses to be drawn into a duel with Juliet’s cousin Tybalt and does not rise to the challenge.
Romeo’s Duel
So a duel breaks out between Tybalt and Romeo’s friend; Romeo tries to intervene and, in doing so, indirectly causes the murder of his friend. Romeo is plunged into rage and despair, and rushes madly after Tybalt, challenges him to a duel, and kills him. All this happens in the open, and the word soon spreads. The Prince of Verona banishes Romeo on pain of imprisonment and death should he return. Romeo goes into hiding with Friar Laurence, to whom he reveals his thoughts of suicide.
The Parting
Before Romeo leaves town, he and Juliet spend the night together. They part at dawn, not knowing when they will see each other again, and swear undying fidelity. That morning, Juliet’s parents tell her they intend to marry her to a young count, Paris, the next day. At first, she refuses, and her parents threaten to disown her. There’s a knock at the door, and Juliet’s nurse joins the Friar in raising Romeo’s hopes that he will eventually be able to live with Juliet.
Juliet Drinks the Potion
The nurse agrees with them, and Juliet begs Friar Laurence to help her in her despair. He gives Juliet a potion that will put her into a death-like sleep for 42 hours. The plan is that Romeo will find her in her burial chamber, she will wake, and they will flee. Juliet pretends to acquiesce to her parent’s wishes and, that evening, drinks the potion. Everyone believes she is dead, and she is given a funeral.
The Tragic Ending of Romeo and Juliet
Friar Laurence sends word to Romeo about the potion, but it fails to reach him. After hearing that Juliet has died, Romeo decides to take his own life and buy a poison vial from the apothecary. That night he goes to Juliet’s coffin, kisses her one last time, and takes the poison. Soon after that, Juliet awakens and, finding Romeo dead by her side, kills herself with his knife. Their respective parents find them in the chamber, and before their dead children, they swear a pact of peace between the two families.
Romeo’s and Juliet’s Contact Rebuses
Lover’s Bonding
The story of Romeo and Juliet is an example of contact rebuses that elicits intense and passionate love. Their bonding includes elements of compliance and withdrawal contact rebuses. When Juliet’s father bans members of the Montague family from Juliet’s party, there is already a contact via withdrawal, which Romeo interprets as an indirect invitation to attend. He falls in love with Juliet at first sight, and Juliet, through her body language and facial expressions, sends signals to Romeo that pierce his heart. He, meanwhile, transmits his amorous signals to Juliet.
Compliance Contact Rebus
Their contact intensifies when they dance with each other to the point where they can openly communicate via eye and body contact. He also talks to Juliet. All these contact rebuses are a form of compliance behavior and are thus positive, albeit coded, way of making contact. At the same time, the lovers-to-be are also partly concealed behind masks and are ignorant of each other’s identity, and in this sense, it is also a withdrawal form of contact.
Withdrawal Contact Rebus
They respond to this withdrawal by trying to reach out to each other. However, they react to this situation by finding each other’s names, realizing that further contact would be illicit. The problem establishes a compelling test of withdrawal, and in retaining their feelings of love in defiance of their family feud, they give each other profound positive affirmation. After the party, there is another moment of withdrawal on a concrete level: Juliet remains in the house, and Romeo leaves.
Juliet goes onto her balcony and talks aloud to herself, allowing Romeo to overhear should he be nearby. He, in turn, has crept into her orchard, from where he responds to her advances. Marrying is another method by which one tests the love of another. Romeo’s duel with Tybalt can also be seen as a kind of withdrawal contact gambit, as it means he will not be able to meet Juliet.
Aggressive Contact Rebus
Moreover, he has killed one of Juliet’s closest relatives and has thus established an aggressive contact rebus. Juliet responds by holding on to her love for Romeo, and they spend the night together. When Juliet visits Friar Laurence and receives the sleeping draught, it shows her trust in Romeo and his confidant. The tragic ending occurs when Romeo fails to see Juliet’s subterfuge and believes her dead. It was a contact rebus too concealed for him to understand.
The Functions of Romeo and Juliet’s Contact Rebuses
Indirect Emotional Communication
The tests that the lovers proffer each other fulfill the functions mentioned previously. The couple cannot be overt about their true feelings for each other, as they risk being openly rejected. At the party, Juliet shows her interest through her body language, while Romeo’s mode of communication is more verbal. Both are wearing masks and are unaware of the other’s name, and in this ignorance of identity, they elicit strong affirmation of the other’s love, a coup de foudre.
The Feud as a Confirmation for Romeo and Juliet
The bad blood between the Montagues and Capulets paradoxically allows the two star-crossed lovers to receive immediate and intense confirmation of the other’s love. They do so indirectly when they make positive contact with each other. Juliet speaks aloud into the night air rather than appealing directly to Romeo, who, in turn, remains undercover until Juliet has said. Marriage is an example of a compliance rebus, and they test each other by assaying the consequences of their positive advances.
Test of Trust
The couple takes steps towards ever-greater intimacy as they protect themselves, express their feelings, and transmit/receive powerful, indirect affirmation. Then, when Romeo commits his act of violence, he evaluates Juliet’s love and loyalty. on the other hand, Juliet confides fully in Romeo’s confessor, testing whether or not Romeo is to be trusted in turn.
Finding the Right Partner: Romeo
They also use their indirect contact to test whether they have found the right person. Romeo has just been through a period of unrequited love and is apparently in dire need of a positive response from his chosen one. He is in doubt as to whether anyone can genuinely love him. Rosamunda and Juliet can be taken to represent the two different love relationships that Romeo is seeking.
If he chooses the “Rosemunda” type, he may find his unreciprocated feelings hard to bear yet comforting, as he need not doubt her feelings for him. Should he have the courage to choose the “Juliet” type, on the other hand, he will find genuine love yet be plagued by doubt. In selecting a Capulet and murdering one to boot, Romeo makes sure to elicit an unambiguous response from Juliet. Her feelings for him are more important than family loyalties if she loves him. Her acceptance of his hand gives him further powerful and positive affirmation.
Finding the Right Partner: Juliet
Juliet, for her part, has a family that seems largely indifferent to her, to the extent that if she refuses to marry Paris, they will disown her. In other words, they are only prepared to accept her if she lives up to their expectations. Juliet seems to be looking for someone for whom social conformity and façades are unimportant.
Juliet is looking for a devoted partner whom she really can trust. The fact that Romeo is a Montague tells her that Romeo is a feelings man rather than a façade-man, and demonstrates this right from their first encounter with his candid declaration of love. Marrying her confirms this lack of convention. Granted, Romeo’s murder of Tybalt and the subsequent end it put to their chances of meeting may make her doubt his love, but it does demonstrate that compliance is of no importance to him.
The Lovers’ Insecurity
Both the young lovers are in doubt that they can be loved for who they are, and it is this that, in one way, leads to their untimely and tragic deaths. Romeo might have been convinced that he would never meet someone who loves him, and his insecurity pushes him to test things with a brutal act of violence. Juliet also discovers that she can not trust the man she loves when she wakes to find his dead body beside her. Both lovers’ hopes and mutual love have been dashed.
The destructive contact rebus
A Catharsis for Romeo and Juliet
The play excellently describes the functions of destructiveness in bonding. First of all, it is an indirect communication of the psychological paín that Romeo and Juliet bears. Without having to experience their agony openly, they can have a hidden catharsis of their torment. It gives them a feeling of relief without understanding the roots of their suffering. However, the catharsis function of the destructive behavior serves as an emotional survival technic.
An Intense Effort of Contact
The main aim of destructiveness is to make the contact effort more intense. You receive attention from others. Friar Laurence and Juilet’s nurse help the couple more when the young couple is in great danger.
Not to mention how destructiveness makes it possible for Romeo and Juliet to give each other strong positive confirmations. They both want to continue their relationship, although the two families are in a feud. Juliet is still in love with Romeo even if he has killed her cousin. On the other hand, Romeo waits to flee from Verona, risking being caught and executed. His relationship with Juliet is more important.
Through Romeo and Juliet’s contact rebuses, they send vital positive life energy to each other. In addition, they receive a commitment from Friar Laurence and the nurse. They function as foster parents.
The Dilemma for Romeo and Juliet
The play shows well the dilemma of the destructive contact rebus. Despite the positive life force given to Romeo and Juliet, it is not enough to strengthen their self-esteem and trust in themselves and others.
The two lovers have not been sufficiently positively confirmed during their childhood. At the same time, there are powerful negative confirmations directed at them. Juliet is forced to obey the family without considering her needs, and Rosamunda has recently turned down Romeo. In addition, he has put himself in a very damaging situation through the duel. The most essential thing for their families is loyalty, not their children’s well-being.
The Logic of the Destructive Contact Rebus
Consequently, the craving for strong positive confirmations is still intense because they are not given sufficient life energy. Therefore, Romeo and Juliet unconsciously continue to use destructive contact rebuses, which lead to their death. The end shows clearly the risk with destructive contact rebuses. You risk deer consequences if you do not receive strong positive reactions, especially if the destructive behavior is prolonged.
Love and Doubt in the Hearts of Romeo and Juliet
In summary, their insecurity and doubts are as much the source of their love as the cause of their deaths. A love story that is gripping and tragic and will never cease to fascinate.
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