Love and hate are uncontrollable forces used in Shakespeare’s ‘Julius Caesar’ and Browning’s poems (The Laboratory-Ancien Régime, Soliloquy Of The Spanish Cloister and Porphyria’s Lover). These emotions are manipulated through the use of figurative and language devices. Love is the emotion used to describe a positive affection or attraction to something whereas hate is usually considered to be the opposite. At least that is what we believe them to be as they are man-made devices used to describe certain emotions we feel as human beings. Nonetheless, I consider hate to be a product of love and that they are both spontaneous and cause people to think irrationally. I will explore Shakespeare’s and Browning’s pieces to present this and link them together.

In ‘Julius Caesar’, there are many depictions of love but I think it is best shown in Act 3 Scene 2 where Brutus makes a speech to the Roman people at Caesar’s funeral and says “not that I loved Caesar less but that I loved Rome more”. This scene shows love because Brutus killed his own friend for the love of his country as he was tricked, by the conspirators, into believing that Caesar would become a tyrant, disrupt the peace in Rome and enslave the people if he came to more power. Later in his speech, Brutus says “I have the same dagger for myself, when it shall please my country to need my death”. This suggests that Brutus’ love for his country was more than any other positive relationship he had with other characters as he was willing to give his life for his country once the time came. This shows that love causes people to think illogically because Brutus was convinced that the only way to save his country was to kill another person. However, it is argued that it was not that Brutus loved Caesar but that he loved Cassius and he only said that he loved Rome to cover his tracks and also possibly to calm the Roman people. In either situation, irrationality is implied because Brutus killed a person regardless if it was for Rome or for the conspiracy.

Love is also presented in Browning’s poem ‘Porphyria’s Lover’ in lines 33-35 when the protagonist of the poem says “Porphyria worshipped me; surprise made my heart swell, and still it grew while I debated what to do”. This extract suggests that Porphyria loved him to a point where she was following him religiously and he was so gratified by her affection that his heart was ‘filling’ with love. The description of his heart swelling is a metaphor because the heart does not actually expand as love is a figurative device used to describe an emotion and therefore cannot physically change something. The quotation also shows that the main character did not know what to do as his love grew for Porphyria and from this, I can relate this to my point of love being a spontaneous and uncontrollable emotion. In this case, love appears to have an effect on people which prevents them from thinking in a rational manner. This is proven as a few lines later, the main character became so irrational that he grabbed hold of Porphyria’s hair and “wound three times her little throat around and strangled her”. This suggests that he killed Porphyria but why would he have to kill her if he was in love with her? I think he committed murder to preserve the moment that they were having; As she “worshipped” him, he never wanted Porphyria to stop loving him and by killing her, the moment would never be lost and she would love him for evermore.

Hate is shown in Act 1 Scene 1 of ‘Julius Caesar’ when Cassius tells Brutus of a time when Caesar was drowning in the Tiber and Cassius saved him. He also then mentions how Caesar ‘is now become a god, and Cassius is a wretched creature and must bend his body if Caesar carelessly but nod on him’. This presents hatred because Cassius rescued Caesar and saved his life when they were swimming in the Tiber but he was never given any recognition in return for his kind actions and this made Cassius feel as though Caesar owed him something. Furthermore, Caesar was treated as a god by the people and Cassius could not comprehend how he was so great as he “did mark how he did shake” when Caesar became ill just like any ordinary person. The idea of Caesar being a god is a metaphor as the people of Rome worshipped him in a manner which was almost parallel to the respect for the Roman gods. In this scene, hate is depicted as a passion for disliking someone as Cassius despises Caesar. The main cause for this being the unrequited love in which Cassius is given; there is a lack of love and this has led to his hatred for him. Cassius’ hatred shows irrational behaviour because shortly after this conversation with Brutus, he threw messages into Brutus’ window to convince him to join the conspiracy. This shows how immoral Cassius was being as he would even use his friend to get revenge on Caesar.

Hate is also used in Robert Browning’s ‘Soliloquy Of The Spanish Cloister’. In the beginning of the poem, the protagonist says “If hate killed men, Brother Lawrence, God’s blood, would not mine kill you!”. This extract suggests hate because the character uses the Lord’s name in vain. In a usual context, using the Lord’s name in a sentence is typically used to portray a shock to a person. However, in this situation, the Lord’s name is used in vain by a monk, a religious man who usually preaches and/or believes in God and by using the name in such a manner, it would be considered a sin. This shows that the main character’s hatred for Brother Lawrence is quite explicit and outgoing as he is even willing to use such language in spite of his religious background. Furthermore, The quotation also suggests that the main character loathes Lawrence to an extent where he would be willing to kill him but this is very strange behaviour as murdering a person would also be considered to be a sin. But what is the motivation or drive for the main character to want to kill Lawrence? I believe it to be jealousy as shown in the second stanza. “At the meal we sit together: salve tibi! I must hear”. This is a portrayal of hatred as the “salve tibi!” is meant to some form of mockery of Brother Lawrence’s formal manner in which he may speak but it cannot be concluded as Lawrence does not actually have any speech throughout the piece. Regardless of this, it shows jealousy as the main character may envy the respect given by the other monks.

Love and hate are both shown in Act 3 Scene 2 of ‘Julius Caesar’ during Mark Anthony’s speech to the people of Rome at Caesar’s funeral (just shortly after Brutus’ ‘love for Rome’ speech). In this scene, he says that he has come “to bury Caesar, not to praise him”. This shows Anthony’s love for Caesar as he is mourning for him. This is a different kind of love compared to the poem and scene aforementioned as this is reminiscing or remembering a person. Hate is also presented within the same speech through Anthony’s repetitive use of ‘honourable’ as it can be inferred as a sarcastic comment to mock the conspirators . Moreover, hatred is shown in the scene when Anthony uses ‘Caesar’s will’ to convert the people to his side and to oppose the conspirators. This is a portrayal of hate as Mark Anthony went out of his own way to either retrieve Caesar’s will or to fake it just to manipulate the people. Money from Caesar’s supposed will is also used to turn the people against the conspirators. “To every several man, seventy-five drachma”. This was a tactic implemented by Anthony with intention to bankrupt the conspirators whom had recently gained power.

The two themes are also presented in ‘The Laboratory-Ancien Régime’. Hate is more explicitly shown in this poem as the protagonist is assisted by a chemist or apothecary to create a poison to kill the woman whom her lover is seeing behind her back. “He is with her, and they know that I know where they are, what they do”. This quotation suggests hate as the protagonist and both her lover and mistress are apparently aware of her knowledge. However, another interpretation is that the protagonist is paranoid and only believes this as she is being influenced by her hatred. Love is less explicitly shown in the poem because it is hidden beneath the hate. Overall, the protagonist still has feelings of love for her other half but as she knows of another woman, she experiences jealousy which eventually leads to her hatred. “Say no! To that pulse’s magnificent come-and-go”. The pulse is a metaphor for the beating of heart as it is described by the ‘come-and-go’. The hyphens used between the words create a rhythm which resemble the quickness of the beating of the heart. The reason for this may be due to Browning being alive around the 1800s when women were believed to act upon their emotions and suggests why the poem may have been inspired by this.

Love and hate are shown as uncontrollable and spontaneous forces in ‘Julius Caesar’ and Browning’s poems because they show how irrational people become when they are under the influence of one or even both of the emotions. The first example being love when Brutus was trying to justify his barbaric actions. In the first poem, love is also presented as an emotion which causes people to think irrationally as the main character kills Porphyria to prevent her from not loving him. Both of these extracts include a death of another character to present love. This suggests how both Shakespeare and Browning were using love to portray an irrational action to either add effect and manipulate or change the story. Hate is also used in a similar manner across the pieces of literature as they include jealousy and envy. In ‘Julius Caesar’, Cassius is jealous of Caesar because of his success and the main character of Browning’s poem is jealous of Brother Lawrence as he is respected by the other monks. In all the extracts, love and hate is presented as forces which cannot be controlled and have stopped the rational motives and thoughts of the individuals.