One of the most renowned stories of all time is that of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Their willingness to sacrifice bright futures for love will always be remembered; but were they truly in love? I believe their feelings were nothing more than pure obsession. Infatuation can be immensely convincing and is not to be taken lightly. It has great power to influence human behavior and, unfortunately for Romeo and Juliet, it brought about their death. It is not to say that love can’t be created from lust, but the two teenagers did not have time to build love; they knew each other for only a matter of days.
Before meeting Juliet, Romeo was heart-broken because the beautiful Rosaline did not share his feelings, believing he didn’t truly love her.
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She was shielded by her family and hadn’t yet had a romantic relationship. Neither Romeo nor Juliet knew anything about a real romantic love. Their “love” is based on passionate feelings and first glances. When Juliet notices Romeo at the ball, she says, “Go ask his name. - If he be married. My grave is like to be my wedding bed.” (1.5.132-133) Juliet believes her future would be miserable without this mysterious boy in it. This shows her naïveté and inability to think sensibly. They are too young to take their "love" so extremely and plan their futures around it. They took the meaning of “love at first sight” to the extreme. Love takes time to grow and requires the knowledge of one another. In Act 1, Scene 1, Romeo says about Rosaline, “Love is a smoke raised with the fume of sighs; Being purged, a fire sparkling in lovers ' eyes; Being vexed a sea nourished with lovers ' tears: What is it else? A madness most discreet, a choking gall and a preserving sweet.” He senses the insanity right away. It is the madness of infatuation which Romeo and Juliet are far too young to handle and in the long run, it leads to their ruin. Romeo’s adolescence makes him unaware of real love (he may be familiar to the madness of fixation). Romeo states his feelings very distractedly, using words such as “smoke,” “sea,” and “fire.” This shows that he knows more about love from books or …show more content…
His verification of love for Rosaline is based on her beauty. But, when Romeo finds someone more stunning than her, it is easy for him to let go of his previous feelings. We will never know if he would be capable of getting rid of his feelings for Juliet in the same fashion. When Romeo and Juliet met at the ball, they were instantly attracted to each other. Instant attraction is a trademark of infatuation, not essentially love. Friar Lawrence makes a considerable argument that Romeo 's love for Juliet could be nothing more than pure fixation. Just days before, Romeo was crying over another woman, the unachievable Rosaline. Friar Lawrence realizes that Romeo could fall in love with any beautiful girl he sees. In fact, Romeo does just that; he doesn’t follow his heart, he follows his eyes. All thoughts of Rosaline are forgotten once he sees Juliet. How could he resist her, all wholesomeness and graceful? Certainly, his obsession stops him from doing so. Infatuation easily causes a young man to be indecisive; love should not. Love should be deliberated of the long-term effects of one’s decisions. Juliet, to her credit, is aware of the irony of falling for someone whose family is off-limits to her, though she doesn’t speak of her own family’s reaction. She does cry about the feud between the families and its effect on her when she says, “My only love sprung from my only hate! Too early seen unknown, and known too
Romeo and Juliet is one of the most famous love tales, but what if the play is not actually a tale of love, but of total obsession and infatuation. Romeo has an immature concept of love and is rather obsessive. Romeo is not the only person in the play who is obsessed though. Many people throughout the play notice his immaturities about love. Very rarely was true love actually shown in the play. attention. Romeo childishly cries to his friend, Benvolio because Rosaline will not love him back and says " She hath forsworn to love, and in that vow/ Do I live dead that live to tell it now" (I i 219-220). Romeo is stating that he's ready to die for loving Rosaline. This is exactly the same attitude Romeo had towards Juliet a little later in the play. During Scene I, Act ii, Romeo's friend, Benvolio tries to get him to go to the Capulet's party to help him get over Rosaline and meet other women Romeo gets very angry and emotional when he suggests this. “Now Romeo is beloved and loves again, / Alike bewitched by the charm of looks” (II 5-6). The chorus expresses Romeo’s juvenile way...
Have you ever been so in love that you would give up your life to be with another person? That is greatly the case in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Many question how true Romeo's love for Juliet was because of his infatuation with Rosaline. However, Romeo proved multiple times that he was truly in love with Juliet, and risked his life many times to be with her. Romeo's love for Juliet superseded any other relationships, especially his infatuation with Rosaline.
It’s often said that love at first sight is what occurred in this dismal story but you can not truly be in love until you have gotten to know the person and actually talked to them. When Romeo first saw Juliet he was already saying he was in love with her and didn’t even speak to her, “Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight!” (I.V.52). When in actual, true love you must know the person. Juliet had just learned his name and she was already calling him her love, “My only love, sprung from my only hate!” (I.V.138). On top of that, they were just teenagers. Majority of all teenagers suffer from mood swings due to the hormones raging through their body. One day they’re angry the next they’re sad, so how could they have truly known what they have wanted? Yes, it is possible for teenagers to be in love, but it’s hard to tell whether it’s actual love. “One fairer than my love? The all-seeing sun” (I.II.96) In that line he was talking about a girl he met before he met Juliet, Romeo was claiming he was in love with her, Rosaline, and he was really down about that sitatuion. “Is Rosaline that thou didst love so dear, / So soon forsaken? Young men’s love then lies / Not truly in their hearts, but in their eyes.” (II.III.66-68) Friar Lawrence even pointed it out; if he was able to get over Rosaline that quickly then he did not love her. If he could get over her that fast then he could find somebody else and get over Juliet
Out of his love for you, he came to that party, and at this party, he met Juliet, his future wife.Now, we cannot put the blame for them falling in love on you. However, it is of the opinion of the court that you, Rosaline, tendered Romeo's heart, making him prone to fall in love easily. This may also have caused his easiness to slip in and out of moods. This is shown when he, at first was against all fights and was trying to keep the peace between his friend Mercutio, and enemy Tybalt. Soon after Tybalt slay Mercutio, Romeo suddenly had a change of heart and avenged his friends death, and for this reason was banished from his hometown Verona.
Lust or Love: An Essay Analyzing the Relationship of Romeo and Juliet in Romeo and Juliet
Through his motivation to find love, Romeo, a dynamic character, changes from a subdued individual, into a jovial lovesick character. In the early sections of the play, Romeo is in love with a woman named Rosaline who does not reciprocate those feelings. This leads him to drone on about, “sad hours “ (I.i.146) and how he would, “rather weep” (I.i.167) because he is, “out of her favour” (I.i.154). The importance of Romeo’s affection for each of his women is essential to address. The feelings that Romeo possesses inevitably leads him to become sorrowful over rejection but then, optimistic for Juliet. Later on in the play, once Romeo meets Juliet, he is quick to forget the love that he had for Rosaline and the grieving that he had underwent. After meeting her at Capulet’s ball Romeo states that she is, “my
Is Rosaline, whom thou didst love so dear, so soon forsaken? Young men's love lies. Not truly in their hearts, but in their eyes. But come, young waverer, come, go with me, In one respect I'll thy assistant be," Friar Laurence said, giving proof that he knew that Romeo only liked her for her looks. He also admits to marrying Romeo and Juliet for his motives to form peace between the two rival families.
In William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Romeo’s impulsiveness contributes to the tragedy of the play. There is no doubt that Romeo rushes into love throughout the play. One example of this is when he falls in love with Rosaline. Although Rosaline is not a major role in the play, it shows the sorrow and uncertainty Romeo goes through after not being loved back. Marilyn Williamson said “During the time in which he was infatuated with Rosaline, he was … withdrawn into darkness” (6). The fact that Rosaline never shares the same feelings with Romeo, shows how quickly Romeo is to fall in love. “Out of her favor, where I am in love” (Rom. 1.1.158). Ironically, Romeo falls in love with Juliet during his plan to get closer to Rosaline. He is at a Capulet party when he first sees Juliet and
Romeo has an obsessive personality. The morning before he meets Juliet, he is obsessing on Rosaline. To see Rosaline, Romeo snuck into a Capulet’s party; once there, he meets Juliet and instantly he forgets his obsession of Rosaline, thinking Juliet is the most beautiful creature on earth. Friar Lawrence even acknowledges this when he states, “Young men’s love then lies / Not truly in their hearts but in their eyes” (II iii 67-68). Romeo’s affection is easily swayed from Rosaline to Juliet.
Furthermore, Romeo starts the whole tragedy. True, Juliet acts naïve, nonetheless Romeo acts hastily by encouraging the relationship. Prior to Romeo and Juliet’s encounter, Romeo is in an infatuation with Rosaline. In Act 1.1, Romeo depicts Rosaline's beauty and says, "She is too fair, too wise, wisely too fair." Romeo’s love for Rosaline is only skin deep and faces heart break when she chooses to be celibate. Yet when Romeo sees Juliet for the first time, he forgets all about Rosaline and instantly falls for Juliet. In Act 1.5, Romeo is the first to spot Juliet and immediately feels an attraction to her. In addition, Romeo thinks Juliet is very beautiful and convinces her to kiss him without knowing each other. Then in Act 2.1, Romeo pursues Juliet and goes to her balcony and begins to profess his love for her. When Romeo is swearing that he is in love with Juliet, she stops him and says everything is happening so quickly. However, Romeo reassures Juliet and they plan for their marriage.
Romeo had unrequited love for Rosaline, who is mentioned, but doesn’t appear in the movie or the original script. But those feelings are dead the second he sees Juliet.
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.
Romeo’s numerous rash decisions demonstrates his great impulsiveness. Romeo at first grieves over his unreciprocated love for Rosaline, but after he sees Juliet; he forgets about Rosaline entirely. His hastiness leads him to make decisions that are not intelligent or to his benefit. Shortly after meeting Juliet, he asks her to “exchange [her] faithful vow” for his ( 2.2.132). Romeo’s recklessness is evident that he does not think before he makes important decisions; prompting him to propose to Juliet just hours after their first meeting. Yet the morning before, Romeo was suffering from depression because he could never have his Rosaline. After what seems like a lifetime of loving Rosaline and promising to never love anyone but her, Romeo sees Juliet and instantaneously all his thoughts of Rosaline vanish. Romeo becomes infatuated with Juliet, with whom he exchanges less then fifty words before “falling in love.” The next morning he begs Friar L...
Even before Juliet is introduced, Romeo considers himself to be in love with Rosaline. Although he says that it is true love, stating “.. Doth add more grief to too much of mine own. Love is a smoke raised with the fume of sighs; Being purged, a fire sparkling in lovers' eyes.” (Shakespeare, I.1.23), it is clear that his obsession with Rosaline is purely surface-level.
Before I discuss my modifications to the play and how I would go about directing my own version, the way I see the relationship between Romeo and Juliet should be looked at. In my opinion, the couple isn’t genuinely in love. They feelings they have for each other is pure lust, rather then a deep passionate love. I find it unlikely that they can know each other well enough and on such a personal level to have a lasting, meaningful relationship. One minute Romeo is entirely in love with Rosaline and the next Juliet comes in to the picture and Rosaline goes out of his mind entirely. Shakespeare made note of this, by having Friar Lawrence state a question about Romeo’s short love affair with Rosaline. ‘Holy Saint Francis, what a change is here! Is Rosaline, that thou didst love so dear, So soon forsaken? Young men’s love then lies Not truly in their hearts, but in their eyes.’ (2, 3, 65-68)