Is Romeo and Juliet a Love Story?
Immature love says: 'I love you because I need you.' Mature love says 'I need you because I love you.' Erich Fromm. Romeo and Juliet is based on immature love, and is not a true love story. Love is a great source of passion throughout the world. Though love is considered a good emotion, it can also be one of the biggest flaws a person can have. When one is in love, they will basically do anything to be with the one they love. They don’t care about the number of rules they break, or how much they change themselves, as long as they can be with the one they truly love. They may take drastic measures from defying their parents and friends to committing suicide. Shakespeare shows the power of love and the affect it has, through one of the most well-known love stories in the world. Shakespeare's play, Romeo and Juliet brings the audience through the brief relationship between Romeo and Juliet; even though it is short it is complex. We are shown love, hate, passion and commitment. In the end, we are shown how true love leass to true sacrifice. Is it possible that love at first sight really exists? That forces such as fate, can make a person find true love and never let go no matter the circumstances? The answers to these questions can be found in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.
The Capulet’s and the Montague’s are enemies with hate that runs deep, but as it would happen Romeo a Montague and Juliet a Capulet are the break in the hate. The moment Romeo lays eyes on Juliet he knows she is the one and asks himself "Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight, for i ne'er saw true beauty till this night (1.3.53)." Romeo and Juliet remain together against all hate that blocks their love, and betray their...
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In The New Humanities Reader edited by Richard E. Miller and Kurt Spellmeyer. We read about Barbara Fredrickson the author of the book “Love 2.0” copy right (2013). Barbara Fredrickson is a psychologist who show in her research how our supreme emotion affects everything we Feel, Think, Do and become. Barbara also uses her research from her lab to describe her ideas about love. She defines love not as a romance or stable emotion between friends, partners and families, but as a micro-moment between all people even stranger (108). She went farther in her interpretation of love and how the existence of love can improve a person’s mental and physical health (107). Through reading
Many people claim that love and hate are the same thing, while others say that the two emotions are complete opposites. William Shakespeare explored the two emotions in his play Romeo and Juliet. In the play, Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet are teens who grew up in families that have been feuding longer than either family can remember. However, the two meet out of unforeseen circumstances, and fall irrevocably in “love”. They woo, and within twenty-four hours they are married. Things seem to be going well until Romeo is provoked into killing Juliet’s cousin, Tybalt, and gets himself banished. Juliet is also promised to marry Paris, an eligible bachelor, while she is still mourning Romeo’s banishment. She decides to see one of the two people who know of her and Romeo’s marriage, Friar Laurence, to whom she says that if she cannot find a way out of being alone she will kill herself. The Friar gives her a potion to sleep for forty-two hours and appear dead to help her. The plan is that Romeo is supposed to be there when she wakes up, but Romeo hears that she is dead and kills himself at her feet. She then awakes and kills herself as well, ending the whole brutal affair. The reader is then left to wonder if what they have just experienced is a tragedy of young love or a lesson on the power of hate, a question for which Shakespeare leaves a blurry but definite answer. After a deeper look into the text, it becomes clearly evident that hate has far more power over the characters than their “love” ever could.
Kerschen, Lois. “Critical Essay on Romeo and Juliet.” Drama for Students. Vol. 21. Ed. Anne
This passage marks the first of several types of love, and gives us an intuitive
As Erich Fromm said, “immature love says: 'I love you because I need you.' Mature love says 'I need you because I love you.” Fromm is showing love means to commit oneself without guarantee, to give oneself completely in the hope that our love will produce love in the loved person. Love is an act of faith, and whoever is of little faith is also of little love. Romeo and Juliet, written by Shakespeare, tells of a pair of star-crossed lovers who face obstacles the tragic consequences which cause their love and passion to be short-lived. In their appalling consequences, Shakespeare portrays how immature love can engulf young lovers, resulting in decision-making. This love is shown through the actions of Romeo, Juliet, and Mercutio.
Despite what many people think, Romeo and Juliet is not a love story; rather a story of desperation and obsession. People have been reading Shakespeare for hundreds of years and several people have mistaken it for a love story, due to the fact that Romeo loves Juliet so much he is willing to kill himself when he finds her supposedly dead; she does the same when she wakes up to find him dead. But in fact, Romeo is more taken aback by her beauty than he is in love with her. Juliet is intrigued by the fact someone could love her because her parents are very unsupportive of her. When the two find each other, they immediately become obsessed, mistaking this for love at first sight.
Their youthful love plays a big role in their irrational decisions and their love blossoming so intensely and so quickly. “Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight! For I ne’er saw true beauty till this night” (1.V.52). This quote demonstrates how deeply Romeo is possessed by Juliet, showing their love at first sight. Not knowing that Romeo and Juliet are from feuding families, they fall in love at first sight. The love between Romeo and Juliet continues, despite the bitterness between the two families. “Love give me strength, and strength shall help afford” (1V.1.125) This quote shows how Shakespeare handled an emotion, then translating it into something that gave Juliet strength to continue the Friar 's plan to be with Romeo. The love between Romeo and Juliet makes them forget about their commitments to the world and everyone around them, they both get consumed in a self centered world of
Barbara Lee Fredrickson, a psychologist, introduces a new conception of love to the readers. She tries to simplify the perception of love most people have known for their entire life. The special bonds and magical bond that continues the love for eternity are all myths and lies. Something that poisons our minds to be committed to one another. The definition of Fredrickson’s conception of “love” is more scientific than emotional. When defining love, it is more dependent on the activity of the brain, “positivity resonance”, and love hormones. The claim that Fredrickson makes in Love 2.0 does give a critical point of love, that it is simpler than you think. However, not every conception of love does Fredrickson explain it to be biological. The
Throughout Romeo and Juliet love and hate are combined. However even though they are combined love still remains the principal theme in the play. Although in the play the theme of hatred can be just as important and sometimes it intensifies the theme of love. For example Romeo and Juliet’s love wouldn’t have been so extreme and powerful unless there was the hatred between the Montague’s and Capulet’s.
Paragraph one intro-What is the origin of this universal feeling known as love? It all starts with the history of love. There really is no marked beginning of this feeling that has no evidence of its existence. It could have begun scientifically with Neanderthals, or even religiously with Adam and Eve-the theories and stories are endless. Some psychiatrists claim it begins with the Oedipal suppression, where the son feels a form of love for their mother just as their daughter would feel the same for their father. As they mature and meet a potential mate who shows similar characteristics to their parents, passionate love forms between them. There is no specific answer as to why any one person falls for a particular type of person, only theories, and approaches. In this essay, we will look at all aspects of love and just what it does to the brain as well as what parts it deactivates, the things you go
...uliet. “Where be these enemies? Capulet, Montague? See what a scourge is laid upon your hate, that heaven finds means to kill your joys with love!”... “Give me thy hand this is my daughter’s jointure, for no more can I demand.” This is evidence that Capulet and Montague hated each other, but when their children die, they realise that there is no point in hating each other, so they reconcile and become friends.
Capulet and Romeo Montague, face a bigger problem; forbidden love. Taking place in Verona, an ignorant Romeo first meets a childish Juliet at the Capulet’s party. Romeo and his kinsman, Benvolio, attend the party masked, searching for his first love, Rosaline. Coincidentally, Romeo meets Juliet, a new beauty, and falls in love with her not knowing the fact that she is a Capulet. The feud continues, leading one mistake after another, until both families realize their selfishness at the last minute. The unfortunate tragedy of two “star-crossed lovers” is ironically caused by the impetuosity of Romeo and Juliet themselves (Shakespeare 7).
True love is one of the most genuine, not to mention precious feelings in the world. In Shakespeare's play, Romeo and Juliet, a pair of lovers denotes the strength of true love and it's ability to overcome nearly all obstacles. However, this kind of love is a rarity due to it's pureness but somehow many cheap imitations are still mistaken for real love. Romeo and Juliet's love is authentic and by no means an infatuation seeing as first of all, they both risk their lives to see each other and would rather die than be separated. Juliet also has an unusual level of loyalty towards her partner for her age which supports the idea of true love. In addition, throughout the play, Romeo's demeanour started to change and he began to mature in a considerably short period of time. Young love is a petty sentiment nonetheless when it develops into a fully-fledged unconditional love, both partners will begin to evolve and will do nearly anything for the other.
The phenomenon of love is such that when two souls first fall into love, their passions and
Romeo and Juliet, the tragic play by William Shakespeare, centers around the love story between Romeo, the young heir of the Montagues, and Juliet, the daughter of the house of Capulet. This story starts off with two opposing families of royalty, the Montagues and the Capulets. These families have a deep seeded hatred for one another that traces way back into their family’s history. Shakespeare takes his audience though a heart churning tale of two star crossed lovers. From the start Romeo and Juliet’s love seemed to be an uphill battle that they would never win even with help. The relationship of Romeo and Juliet is a tragic love story of two star crossed lovers trying to find a way to love each other.