사랑의 신비: 로미오와 줄리엣의 르네상스적 사랑의 구조

The Mysticism of Love: The Structure of Renaissance Love in Romeo and Juliet

Since the Renaissance was the age where ancient and Medieval ideas came into contact with new perspectives, we find in Romeo and Juliet various types of love, consistent with the different periods they derived from. This paper aims to examine how the play reflects these types of love and represents the theme of mysticism in relation to love. The mysticism of love can be analyzed from the viewpoints of: the love of ancient New Comedy; Medieval courtly love; and the ‘ideal love’ of the Renaissance. To illustrate the dramatic plot of Juliet’s love for Romeo resisted by her father, follows the tradition of ‘New Comedy.’ Especially, the mysticism of love is fore-grounded well when their love has the meaning of religious martyrdom of courtly love. Juliet who prays for the night to come without shame shows an aspect of ‘ideal love’ of the Renaissance, which tries to escape from the ascetic viewpoint that sexual desire must be suppressed and women should be obedient. Their love also becomes mysterious by the love which brings sexual ecstasy transcending death.