Romeo y julieta

Ah Love!
Dr. Brian M. Peters
Tuesday, march 22th, 2010

Desire is a universal language. Despite age, ethnicity, socio-economic status, sexual orientations, religion and the like, love relates tothe whole world. Desire remains unpredictable, thanks to its spontaneity and unknown origins. Indeed, attempts to retrieve the birth of an incontrollable passion often fail. Moreover, love is toostrong to suppress, too wild to discipline or control. On one hand, desire arouses human senses above euphoria. On the other hand, desire creates a sensation of vulnerability and impotence. As aresult, unconventional passions consist of two opposed natures. For instance, Annie Proulx, in Brokeback Mountain, challenges the ideal conception of masculinity through Ennis del Mar and Jack Twistrelationship. Furthermore, in Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare, love and hate spell death for the two lovers. In either cases, unconventional passions rivals with an oppressive outside world. In bothRomeo and Juliet and Brokeback Mountain, the authors illustrate the duality between instinctive desire and self-conception. Hence, Proulx and Shakespeare display the hostile confrontation thatunconventional love inflicts.

In Brokeback Mountain, the relationship between Ennis del Mar and Jack Twist challenges the traditional mindset of the 1960s cowboy culture. Indeed, in Wyoming, UnitedEstates, homosexuality inspires repugnance and repressive acts of violence. In addition, the concept of two men in love defies all standards of masculinity. As a consequence, Jack and Ennis experienceunsuitable emotions, according to standard norms. Above all, Annie Proulx suggests that love between men in conservative Wyoming causes internal chaos. Ennis del Mar faces a situation whereoverwhelming passion and suffocating helplessness clash together: “Within a mile Ennis felt like someone was pulling his guts out hand over hand yard at a time. He stopped at the side of the road and, […],...