Lust In Shakespeare's Romeo And Juliet

915 Words2 Pages

In Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, two teens from feuding families fall in love. Or do they really fall in love? Although Romeo and Juliet say they love each other and even go as far to kill themselves for each other, this is most likely an extreme form of lust and not love. At the Capulet party, Romeo and Juliet lock eyes and are instantly attracted to each other. Although Romeo never personally met Juliet at the time, Romeo fell in love with her beauty. That same day Romeo was in love with Rosaline, stated in the quote, “I have forgot that name and that name’s woe.” (William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, Act 2:1). Romeo quickly got over Rosaline and ‘fell in love’ with Juliet, he called her the prettiest girl he ever saw, and claimed to …show more content…

He told Friar Lawrence that he was in ‘love’ with Rosaline. The friar knew he didn’t love her and told him to move on. Eventually, he did but to Juliet. When Romeo first saw Juliet, he claimed to be in love with her, similarly to his relationship with Rosaline, but if Romeo ‘loved’ Rosaline he wouldn’t have moved on so easily to Juliet. He may have liked Juliet more than Rosaline because Juliet reciprocated his feelings, however he only knew Juliet for a few days. Most people will fall in love in a few months, maybe a year or two, but Romeo fell in love in only a day. As stated in the article, “The response that is going on in your brain is a positive happy feeling. That coupled with Romeo’s chemical response amplified his crazy love for Juliet.” This quote clarifies that the chemical response in Romeo’s brain after he saw Juliet amplified his romantic feelings towards her. He may have felt more attracted to her and even felt like he may have loved her because he felt so …show more content…

These two teens mistaken their strong feelings for each other as love which sadly led to their deaths. Romeo became worryingly unstable and manic as he learned of his beloved wife’s death. Romeo’s intrepid behavior increased during the day, as demonstrated when he bought poison illegally from a poor apothecarist. This emotional outburst is not new for Romeo, but was more moderate in the past. Romeo previously became severely depressed after Rosaline didn’t show romantic interest. This shows how emotional Romeo truly is and how dangerous his behavior can become and will eventually escalate situations further, such as Paris’s death when Romeo reviled him, and ultimately Romeo’s action contributed to his own death. Romeo’s behavior also led to Juliet’s fateful death when she found Romeo’s lifeless body next to her and was mortified by what she saw. Juliet can be easily influenced by someone and is generally pliant, she’s not very independent and is too young to make decisions by herself. She felt afraid after seeing her husband dead and wanted to be with him eternally and sadly decided that suicide was the only way. This shocking event in Verona could have been reprieved if the cowardly, pompous friar didn’t help the frantic Juliet who was susceptible to self-harm. The friar Lawrence was later caught by the Prince and his militants. The tragedy of Romeo and Juliet tells

Open Document