Shakespeare’s Attitude Towards Love

 Introduction
o Shakespeare is a master of understanding love
 He’s a modern guru
 “Shakespeare in Love”
o Despite his mastery of portraying love as a playwright, he doesn’t necessarily
make a claim that puts love in good standing
 It causes Desdemona to die
 It makes Titania betray her husband for a changeling boy and he,
accordingly, poisons her
o Love incites radical behavioral enhancements in whoever it finds in both
Shakespearean comedies and dramas, though over the course of his time as a
playwright he becomes more cynical about it’s affect on his characters.
 More often than not, Shakespeare treats love as an obsessive affliction that drives his
characters to commit atrocities, regardless of how encouraging their intentions may
have been.
o