The two lovers in arguably Shakespeare's most popular play, Romeo and Juliet, express two different types of love and their personalities are shown in the way they love. The play, written by William Shakespeare in 1590, is a tragedy born from an ancient youth comedy. However, Shakespeare's diction affects the mood of the piece and empathy is evoked in the reader. As stated in the prologue, Romeo and Juliet is the story of two star-crossed lovers who put aside the bad blood between their families, fall in love, and get married. By a twist of fate, Romeo is banished and Juliet is engaged to another man by her father. Juliet decides to fake her death to remain faithful to her love, Romeo, but he doesn't get the message of her plan. He learns of his death, goes to his grave and poisons himself. Juliet, seeing him dead, kills herself. The tragedy of the lovers heals the brood between the two families. Although they both meet the same fate, suicide in the name of love, they personify two different styles of love which leads them to the iconic double suicide. Romeo Montague exemplifies the traits of a "manic lover", while Juliet Capulet is a "ludus lover". Romeo displays the qualities of a maniacal lover in the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet. In the first four scenes of Act I, Romeo, the male protagonist, is depressed and heartbroken over Juliet Capulet's cousin, Rosaline. He tells his cousin Benvolio: “She is too fair, too wise, wisely too beautiful, / To deserve bliss by making me despair. / He has given up on loving, and in that vow / I live dead to tell it now (Act I, Scene I, Lines 223-226).” Here it is explained that Rosaline has spirit and has pledged her love to God instead of Romeo. In other words,...... middle of paper...... when Romeo is banished for the murder of Tybalt, the antagonist, and Capulet plans to marry Juliet to the earldom of Paris within two days, bringing history at its climax. The news brings Juliet, ironically, to the brink of suicide. To avoid this, Friar Laurence devises an ingenious plan, which, however, little by little, falls apart. Romeo never receives the letter and this leads to a spiral of bad luck. Paris is killed by Romeo, and after Romeo kills himself, Juliet sees him there and kills herself. The dramatic irony of the entire plot is that Friar Laurence aimed to unite the two families in love with the marriage of Romeo and Juliet, which he did, but only through their deaths. The two lovers, mania-loving Romeo and ludus-loving Juliet, also shared a tragic flaw; they believed in love more than in taking responsibility for their actions.