Infatuation In Shakespeare's Romeo And Juliet

Live, Laugh, Crush Infatuation can be defined as “puppy love” or “the temporary love of an adolescent” (Word Net). Therefore, this concludes that many adolescent relationships are short-lived. For instance, William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is frequently called a true love story, but really, the two protagonists, Romeo and Juliet are merely infatuated. First, in most relationships, true love takes time to develop, and Romeo and Juliet only know each other for a couple of days when they decide to marry. Furthermore, Romeo and Juliet constantly refer to each other’s looks, rather than to their true personality, which is a clear sign that they are simply infatuated. Finally, Romeo and Juliet are too young and naïve for their bond to be
First, Juliet “is not [even] fourteen [yet]” (1. 3. 15), when she marries Romeo and fully devotes herself to him. Romeo and Juliet’s relationship can be called “puppy love” (WordNet Search 3.0), since they are only adolescents. Also, Romeo and Juliet can not say that they are truly in love because they are very inexperienced when it comes to love. Secondly, Romeo is only a couple of years older than Juliet, so his affection for Juliet is just “the temporary love of an adolescent” (WordNet Search 3.0). He even admits to Friar Laurence when he is banished from Verona, that “wert [Friar Laurence] as young as [Romeo], [with] Juliet [as his] love…then mightst thou speak” (3. 3. 65-68) Romeo is a very young teenager and therefore, his relationship with Juliet is just infatuation. Thirdly, Romeo and Juliet are young and naïve because after they spend a night together and Romeo has to leave, they are confident that they will see each other again. Romeo “doubts it not” (3.5. 52) and acts very naively since he knows he is banished, but he still thinks he will see Juliet again. Romeo and Juliet think they know all about love, but in truth, they do not, since they are simply teenagers. Romeo and
However, it is the complete opposite. Primarily, there is not enough time for Romeo and Juliet’s relationship to develop into true love, so therefore it is just infatuation. Furthermore, Romeo and Juliet constantly refer to each other’s appearances instead of their true personality, which is a clear sign that they are only infatuated. Finally, Romeo and Juliet are only naïve adolescents who have not really experienced true love. Hence, their relationship is degraded to infatuation. In conclusion, it is very interesting why some readers call Romeo and Juliet a love story, since it really is not. If Shakespeare gave Romeo and Juliet more time to develop their relationship, maybe more readers would be convinced that Romeo and Juliet is a true love