Loving is Such Sweet Sorrow
Romeo and Juliet is a world renowned play that conveys the idea that everyone wants true love. But, through this, most people go through a tough decision or obstacle to reach their goal of love. There are many ways to deal with this problem, but Romeo and Juliet decided to deal with it through killing themselves. This was a permanent solution to a temporary problem. They saw it that if they kill themselves, they will be with each other in the afterlife. The sequence of events in Romeo and Juliet compares compares greatly to events in 21st century songs. We see similar actions in the songs; ‘Stay with Me’, ‘Safe and Sound’ and ‘Hey There Delilah’. Each of these songs portrays a different event in the timeline, and together they show that mainly everyone finds a way to overcome an obstacle, to be with the one they love.
When compared side by side with Romeo and Juliet, we can see how the theme everyone wants love, shows up in the song ‘Stay With Me’ by Sam Smith as well as the well-known play. For example, when Smith says, “I still need love cause I’m just a man. These nights never seem to go to plan”, he is showing us how he needs love. And, his tone in the recording of the song, shows his feelings. He shows that he feels sad about not having love, through his drawn out delivery that sound almost like cries for someone. This relates to the morning after Romeo first talked to Juliet. We can see how much Romeo desires her and her love in the quote, “Can I go forward when my heart is here? / Turn back, dull earth, and find thy center out” (2.1.1–2). These are the first words Romeo spoke the morning after falling in love with Juliet. The words, “find thy center out” means where his heart is, and with the context of his previous words, we can see this means his heart lies with Juliet. These words relate to “never go to plan” from ‘Stay With Me’ because they show how unpredicted Romeo and Juliet’s love was. Also, in the song ‘Stay With Me’, Smith sings, “I don’t want to be here if I can’t be with you tonight”. This line portrays how intense love is. Smith is saying he doesn’t want to feel anything if he can’t be with the one he loves. This relates to how Romeo wants to be with juliet constantly. We can see his desire in the quote:
She speaks.
O, speak again, bright angel! For thou art
As glorious to this night, being o’er my head,
As is a wingèd messenger of heaven
Unto the white, upturnèd, wondering eyes
Of mortals that fall back to gaze on him
When he bestrides the lazy-puffing clouds
And sails upon the bosom of the air. (2.2.26–32)
In this quote, Romeo shows his love for Juliet through words that show her as an “angel”.
In the sequence of events I mentioned in the intro, the second theme is coming to an obstacle. We can see a major obstacle of space in the song, ‘Hey There Delilah’ and a major obstacle of space in Romeo and Juliet. For example, in the line, “What’s it like in New York City, I’m a 1000 miles away but girl tonight you look so pretty” we see how staying together through a distance is difficult. This relates to the distance Juliet and Romeo face in order for Romeo to stay alive. We can see the heartache that Romeo’s soon departure is causing in the lines, “And trust me, love, in my eye so do you. / Dry sorrow drinks our blood. Adieu, adieu” (3.5.58–59). In these lines Romeo is saying to Juliet that she looks pale because she is concerned by the fact that she may never see Romeo again. These lines stress the fact that Romeo and Juliet are nothing without eachother. The words “dry sorrow drinks our blood” shows that the sadness is overtaking their bodies. We see the struggle of separation again in the lies “Hey there Delilah, I know that times are getting hard but just believe me girl someday I’ll pay the bills with this guitar” of the song ‘Hey There Delilah’. These lines show us that not being together is difficult because you never know when next time you are going to see the person you love will be. These lines pertain to the scene where Romeo asks Balthaser about Juliet, the second Balthaser returned from Verona.
News from Verona! — How now, Balthasar?
Dost thou not bring me letters from the friar?
How doth my lady? Is my father well?
How fares my Juliet? That I ask again,
For nothing can be ill if she be well. (5.1.12.15)
These lines show how important Juliet is to Romeo even if they aren’t together. We can see through the words “nothing can be ill if she be well”, that Romeo not always knowing how Juliet is doing, makes him frustrated.
Safe and Sound’ by Taylor Swift portrays the final event in the sequence I talked about in the intro; finding a solution to the problem. The song can be interpreted in many different ways, but I found that it relates to Romeo and Juliet because of their decision to kill themselves. In the quote, “Just close your eyes, the sun is going down, you’ll be alright, no one can hurt you now, come morning light, you and I’ll be safe and sound” I found that Swift was talking about killing herself. Although Taylor may not have meant it this way, I interpreted this line as suicide. “The sun is going down” is a metaphor for their lives ending. Swift showed that suicide would be a good thing because they would both be “safe and sound”. This relates to the thought process of Romeo and Juliet. They thought, if they both died, them being separated can no longer hurt. We can see this thought process in the quote:
And with this knife I’ll help it presently.
God joined my heart and Romeo’s, thou our hands.
And ere this hand, by thee to Romeo sealed,
Shall be the label to another deed,
Or my true heart with treacherous revolt
Turn to another, this shall slay them both. (4.1.55–60)
In this passage, Juliet is saying she will die before marrying another man because she is still in love with Romeo. This related to the song because “come morning light you and I’ll be safe and sound” means in the morning (when they are both dead) we will be safe and together. Again we see lines that can be interpreted as suicide in the lines “The war outside our door keeps raging on, hold onto this lullaby even when the musics gone, gone”. If the “war” is Romeo and Juliet’s families’ feud, the “lullaby” represented their love and the “music” represented their lives, the words she says translate to “the feud is still going on, hold onto our love even when our lives end”. Swift proved again that suicide was a good option for the people in the song because they would be protected from the “war”. Romeo and Juliet thought the only way they can be together is if they both kill themselves or run away. They chose to take the easy way out and be together in the afterlife, rather than find a way to be together in their current lives and not cause their families tremendous pain.
All three songs; ‘Stay With Me’, ‘Safe and Sound’, and ‘Hey There Delilah’ fall under the same umbrella. The topic everyone wants love, shows up in the song ‘Stay With Me’ by Sam Smith. The message everyone faces an obstacle to get love, is revealed in the song ‘Hey There Delilah’ by Plain White Tees. And finally, the argument that we all find a way to get over these obstacles, comes up in the song ‘Safe and Sound’ by Taylor Swift. All of these themes relate to the story line of Romeo and Juliet. Romeo and Juliet, in the 16th century, started a trend that continued all the way into the 21st century.
