Love at First Sight, Is There Such a Thing? (Argument Essay)

Danielle F. Figuracion
Comm 1-I
Love At First Sight, Is There Such A Thing?

What is common among the Hunger Games, Romeo and Juliet, Pokémon, 500 Days of Summer and The Vampire Diaries? They all have the trope of “love at first sight”—Peeta instantly fell in love with Katniss when he heard her sing on the first day of school; Romeo fell in love with Juliet the first time he saw her; Brock fell in love with every pretty girl he saw; Tom fell in love with Summer at first sight in the office; and Stefan also had love at first sight with Elena. Love at first sight is the most widely used trope in literature and film. It is so common that most people mistake it as a reality.
Why do I think that love at first sight is fictional? “Love is to be delighted by the happiness of another,” said Gottfried Leibniz. If what he said is true, then love at first sight is not really love. You can’t know the happiness of a person in an instant; you’ll have to be psychic to do that. To discover an individual’s happiness, one has to get to know him/her more. This can be achieved by spending time with that person—listening and understanding him/her.
Another reason why love at first sight is fictional is infatuation. Love at first sight is just infatuation. Infatuation is not love because it is mere attraction and admiration while love is committing oneself to another because he/she cares for the other. Therefore, love at first sight is not love. Although it is not love, infatuation is inevitable when it comes to love relationships, because it gives you the courage to get to know someone, confess your feelings and move on to the “next level.” Even so, it does not guarantee love. It just gives it a “push.”
There may be instances when people get infatuated with each other at first sight, then end up falling in love. This situation, according to them, is love at first sight. I think not. I think these instances are what you call infatuation that progressed into love. And these encounters don’t happen often. They are very rare. There is a bigger chance of you being infatuated, but as you get to know that person, you realize that he/she is not who you thought he/she was. We get infatuated all the time—when we see super good looking celebrities, appetizing foods, and such—but love, it only happens once, and it doesn’t happen in a blink of an eye, it develops.
In the end, I think that love at first sight is not truly love, but infatuation. I find it so because, again, you can’t know someone’s happiness just by the mere sight of him. So, you can’t be delighted by his happiness. Although I believe that there is an innate romanticism attached to the thought of meeting someone, and having them hit enough emotional triggers immediately at first sight, I don’t think that it is love. It is infatuation—the first step towards love which can grow into a more mature love.