The Volatile Nature of Love in Shakespeare

Ever notice how Shakespeare's characters seem to experience pretty quick changes in emotion? One minute 2 characters hate each other, and the next they're living happily ever after. This is readily apparent in Much Ado About Nothing and Richard III. Or, they simply start as friends, but as soon as something in the situation changes, they're in love, like in Twelfth Night. The point is, can people's emotions really change as quickly as Shakespeare portrayed it? Or was he simply trying to make a point with this theme?

I also want to examine the volatility of love in Shakespeare's sonnets. Many of his sonnets talk of love that never ends: "It is an ever-fixed mark." It makes one wonder why there is such a disparity between his poems and plays. Does it come about because of different audiences, different ideas thematically?

For this, I have already found one source through Google books: A Companion to Shakespeare's Sonnets, by Michael Schoenfeldt. It contains an article by Jyotsna Singh called "Mapping the 'Emotional Regime' of Shakespeare's Sonnets." Having skimmed the article it seems to contain some valuable information about romantic love in the sonnets.

This is what I want to look at as I attempt to fulfill the depth requirement. So many of Shakespeare's plays include the genesis of romantic love in so many different forms. But so often, these relationships generate very quickly and can degenerate just as quickly. For instance, in Othello, all of the events leading up to Othello's marriage to Desdemona seem to move a pretty rapid pace, and the tables turn just as quickly when Othello discovers Desdemona's affair.

I'm hoping to gain some more variety in my sources throughout the weekend, so hopefully I will be able to focus my research on a few plays (any more than that would be too much) and a few sonnets.