A common motif that appears often throughout Renaissance literature is that of friendship-versus-love; this idea is presented in many Shakespeare plays that bring to light the contradictory ideas of the true victor between love and friendship. Unlike many other motifs throughout Shakespearean plays, the battle between love and friendship lies in the foundation of many of his works. Shakespeare uses friendship and love as individual ideas, allowing them to overlap to create this love-versus-friendship battle. This battle not only pertains to marriage versus friends, but also to the real meaning of the two words.
The theme of friendship stands at the forefront of many Shakespearean works. Janet Witalec dove into the idea of friendship in Shakespeare’s works in the “Shakespearean Criticism Vol. 83” dissecting the way in which the motif of friendship is prevalent in various works of the great playwright.
“The theme of friendship is prevalent in Shakespeare’s works, from his comedies and romances to his histories and tragedies, and is personified in such pairs as Hamlet and Horatio of Hamlet, Rosalind and Celia in As You Like It, and Hal and Falstaff in the Henry IV play,” Witalec states as she discusses the role of scholarly interest in the theme of Shakespearean friendship.
It is important to look at both love and friendship individually before looking at the duality of the two. Together they appear as this idea of friendship-versus-love a scheme that appears often in Renaissance literature. This scheme pits friends often times male against the idea or threat of a union in marriage. Witalec comments that in the end marriage commonly wins out, but contradictory ideas of the true victor between love and friendship continue to appear throughout the works of Shakespeare.
Some examples of this idea can be found in many of his works such as in “As you Like it” (AYL): “Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly: Then, heigh-ho, the holly. This life is most jolly.” ( 2.7.189-191) The quote is talking about the nature of life, love, friendship, knowing what you are up against and being happy to face it one way or another. The idea of love and friendship working against each other and with each other simultaneously. AYL effectively pits different types of love against each other. The use of to show the quickness of Rosalind and Orlando’s love helps display the almost comedically sexual nature of their love it is also short lives as Shakespeare is quick to point out the realistic aspects with “the truest poetry is the most feigning” (3.2.15-16)
The idea of love versus friendship is also very obvious in the central theme of an early Shakespeare comedy “Two Gentlemen of Verona” (TGV). “That which I would discover. The law of friendship bids me conceal.” (3.1.4-5) Proteus decides to tell on Valentine for planning to elope with the Duke’s daughter. Proteus seems as though he’s betraying Valentine because of the fact that the Duke has been such a generous host.
When it comes to the dramatization of friendship according to Witalec “most critics have focused on Hamlet, particularly the Danish prince’s friendship with the loyal Horatio as well as his perilous relationship with university companions Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.” As far as critics are concerned the idea of friendship in Shakespeare’s plays runs deep. Along with that of love versus friendship, scholars have dove into the concept of false friendships “most notably the fascinating relationship between Prince Hal and Falstaff and the dramatist’s iconographic representation of false friendship in his late tragedy Timon of Athens.”
In “Shakespeare and Friendship” Will Tosh discusses the intense and complicated dynamics of friendship presented in Shakespeare’s plays. He dives into what is really meant by “friends” in Shakespeare’s works the word comes to mean not only lover and family but also affectionate companionship in any form. The most common form of friendship that appears in Shakespeare plays to come in the form of friendship-versus-love.
“For some, friendship was a preciously rare union of profound emotional, intellectual, spiritual and physical intensity, experienced by a lucky few and impossible to resist. It’s a character in “Twelfth Night” (TN) who most eloquently expresses the heart-swelling potential of this kind of friendship.” The character referenced in this quote is Antonio. Antonio is a sea-captain who rescued Sebastian from a shipwreck. As Antonio is challenged by the Duke, he explains after saving Sebastian’s life, he granted the man
“Did I redeem; a wreck past hope he was: His life I gave him and did thereto add My love, without retention or restraint, All his in dedication; for his sake Did I expose myself, pure for his love, Into the danger of this adverse town; Drew to defend him when he was beset: Where being apprehended, his false cunning, Not meaning to partake with me in danger, Taught him to face me out of his acquaintance, And grew a twenty years removed thing While one would wink; denied me mine own purse, Which I had recommended to his use Not half an hour before.” (TN, 5.1.75–77)
This quote displays love and friendship that the men forged spending day and night in each others company. It directly demonstrates the power of friendship that is worth fighting for. This idea is important in the argument of love-versus-friendship because it shows how a true friendship even that of the same sex can be just as strong and true love. TN is a rare example of the many Shakespearean works as it perfectly demonstrates a case in which no truer love can exist that would overshadow this friendship; whereas in many other works such as “Romeo and Juliet” (Rom.), the love overshadowed all else. The difference in the way friendship is handled and love is handled in the works of Shakespeare create this back and forth battle in which the victor changes as the setting changes.
Tosh makes a point of bringing to light Shakespeare attitude towards friendships. Shakespeare presents the idea of “perfect” friendships whether is be between men or women in a skeptical way. The idea that true friendship was for men only was pushed aside as he presented women just as devoted to their friendships as the men are. We see this presented in pairs such as Rosalind and Celia (AYL) and Helena and Hermia (A Midsummer Night’s Dream). That being said Shakespeare obviously loved drama and that love is what creates draw to these characters. He drew off of real-world relationships playing up the unpredictable qualities in love and friendship in the real world.
“In his stories, the true love of friendship didn’t always get the happy ending it deserved. Rosalind and Celia, and Helena and Hermia find their friendships tested by the competing demands of heterosexual romantic love,” Tosh says pointing out this bitter battle between romantic love and friendship seen in Shakespeare plays.
Looking at “Love in the Work of William Shakespeare” by Lee Jamieson he talks about the use of love as a recurring theme in many of Shakespeare’s works. Jamieson talks about Shakespeare’s exploration of imperfect love, such as in Rom. as well as “As you like it” (AYL) and many others to get the point across. Rom. is regarded as one of the most famous romantic tragedies. Shakespeare’s balance of both friendship and love remains hidden at the foundation of the play.
“When we first meet Romeo he is a love-sick puppy experiencing infatuation. It is not until he meets Juliet that he really understands the meaning of love. Similarly, Juliet is engaged to marry Paris, but this love is bound by tradition, not passion. She also discovers that passion when she first meets Romeo.” Jamieson says showing us how fickle love does not last when paired up against romantic love.
One thing left out of this assessment of romantic love are the friendships that drove that love forward. Those friendships although aiding them in pursuing their love for each other seem to be no match for this romantic love, yet we see when one is not stronger than the other in this love-versus-friendship battle neither will win such as is the case for the story of Romeo and Juliet.
When looking at Rom. it is important to note the use of the tomb and joint burial. Through their deaths, Romeo and Juliet become a representation of what it is like for love to mortal. Shakespeare has taken away any idea that their love will last in some sort of afterlife and shined a light on the harsh realities of mortal love. Ramie Targoff states in “Mortal Love: Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and the Practice of Joint Burial” that ‘The idea that love was mortal lies at the heart of sixteenth-century English Protestant culture and represents one of its strongest breaks from the Italian and Catholic traditions it had inherited.” This is something that once realized can be noted in many other works. Shakespeare does not limit ideas to one play starting over in the next but continues to develop the meaning of love and friendship throughout each work.
Targoff takes into consideration Shakespeare’s Rom. in the context of modern attitudes towards love and death. He argues that Shakespeare’s way of rejecting the idea that Romeo and Juliet would share a heavenly afterlife is what helped him to shape a tragedy that insists that love is mortal. This application of the work shows how Shakespeare was able to create emotion that continues to remain relevant.
Shakespeare handles the Renaissance conventions that depict friendship and love as bitter rivals in a unique way that flows from one story to the next. We see this represented in his plays through the surrendering of a close bond between two men due to a romantic interest. Evidence of this motif is seen all throughout the works of Shakespeare, and those inspired by him.
Shakespeare is able to portray friendship as an aspect or type of love. He is, throughout his plays pitting these different types of love against each other. Through using the real-world drama he is able to connect with audiences even to this day. This battle he creates transcends time. Love-versus-friendship does not only take place in one of Shakespeare ’s works but lies hidden in the foundation of many.
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