Love Styles of Antony and Cleopatra and Romeo and JulietThe heart of many of Shakespeare's plays is love and tumultuous relationships. It is not a difficult task to try to analyze the relationships of its protagonists. Many of his characters would fit at least one of the “love styles” presented by John Alan Lee. There are many different types of relationships and John Alan Lee aims to classify or divide them into “different colors” (Lee, 40). Love styles can be applied to many relationships such as those in Shakespeare's works. The love styles described by John Alan Lee can also determine the success of a relationship. He places love styles in a diagram, and the position of one lover style relative to another can make a relationship succeed or fail. This phenomenon is known as “proximity theory” (Lee). Two people who share the same love style or who are close to each other in the diagram have a better chance of having a successful relationship. Two of Shakespeare's most famous plays, Antony and Cleopatra and Romeo and Juliet, have a lot in common. Both center on the romantic relationship between two people who have many reasons why they shouldn't be together. Romeo and Juliet centers on the love of two sons of feuding families, the Montagues and the Capulets. Likewise, Cleopatra is the queen of Egypt and Antony is one of the triumvirs of the Roman Empire. Both are expected to perform their duties, but ignore this to be together. Both couples meet an untimely end due to their inability to live without each other. Both couples also have an underlying understanding that their relationship is doomed to fail. Antony and Cleopatra are a little more... center of the card... Leopatra was doomed to fail. If this theory were correct, perhaps Romeo and Cleopatra would have been better suited for each other. Romeo would give Cleopatra the attention she wanted and Cleopatra would return the same attention. Cleopatra needs someone to give her his undivided attention. Romeo would gladly accept it. While the relationship would indeed be quite dramatic, it may have a better chance of success. The relationship ideals advocated by Shakespeare differ slightly from those of John Alan Lee. John Alan Lee and Shakespeare both have conflicting ideals about what is needed to maintain a successful relationship. Shakespeare creates relationships between his characters that would be extremely successful if some question of fate had not torn them apart. John Alan Lee would argue that their relationships were doomed from the start.