The Phenomenon of Love at First Sight in Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

The Phenomenon of Love at First Sight in Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

One of the first things that make reader believe in love at first

sight is the way Shakespeare created two characters who should of

hated each other in the form of Romeo and Juliet but who instantly

fell in love the moment they first saw each other. This shows the

reader that even though they were from feuding families and were each

others enemies love at first sight was in itself was a real enough

force to make two people fall in love

The first message in the play is where straight away Shakespeare makes

his first reference to love "… A pair of star crossed lovers take

their life… Doth with their death bury their parents' strife" Even

though this does not refer to love at first sight directly it does

help the reader believe in love at first sight as it is showing what a

powerful emotion love is. This is because at the begining of the play

the reader discovers the Montague's and the Capulet's (Romeo and

Juliet's families) hate each other so much that they have even killed

each other and it takes an even more powerful emotion than hate to

stop the feud. That is love; the families only "bury the hatchet" when

their children kill themselves because their love for each other is so

great. That is another example of Shakespeare's convincing portrayal

of the power of love and thus also love at first sight.

The part of the play where Romeo first sees Juliet is a very important

part of how Shakespeare convinces the reader that love at first sight

exists however Shakespeare also places some doubt in the readers mind

at this point about how genuine and long ...

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Juliet are in love. It supports the existence of love at first sight

because Romeo and Juliet have only just met but they are already sure

of their feelings for each other.

After the sonnet there is a stage direction which says "he kisses her"

this is important because it is a climax to the play so far and the

first time which Shakespeare says they have touched, it is also

important because Shakespeare used very few stage directions as he was

there directing his plays at their performances and most of the ones

he did include were simply directions to the actors about when to come

on and off the stage so the fact that Shakespeare included this means

that it is an important and essential part of the play. The kiss helps

the reader to believe in the fact that Romeo and Juliet have fallen in

love at first sight.