Romeo And Juliet Essay On Love

“From forth the fatal loins of these two foes / A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life…” (Prologue.5-6). Romeo and Juliet is a play written by William Shakespeare involving two young people, Romeo and Juliet, who fall in “love”. These two people are from enemy households, making it impossible for their families to allow their union. Because of this, they are married in secret and devise a plan that lets them be together, but then results in many deaths, including their own. In Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare is conveying that love, especially in youth, is based on physical appearance. When Romeo first sees Juliet, he becomes quite smitten with her, or perhaps smitten with just the idea of her. His first impression of
When Romeo goes to Friar Lawrence to have him marry him and Juliet, the Friar expresses his disbelief that Romeo could move so quickly from loving Rosaline to now loving Juliet. Before he had met Juliet, Romeo had been in love with a woman named Rosaline, but quickly forgot her after meeting Juliet. The Friar says “[Rosaline] So soon forsaken? Young men’s love then lies / Not truly in their hearts, but in their eyes” (2.3.71-72). Moving on so quickly from Rosaline shows that Romeo cannot actually love Juliet, he just thinks that he loves her because he believes she is beautiful. Friar Lawrence is saying that because of Romeo’s quick change in love, it is proving that young men can’t truly love, and the love that they think they have is simply based on the physical appearance of those they “love”. Benvolio and Romeo have a conversation about Romeo’s love with Rosaline towards the beginning of the play that also gives Shakespeare’s view of love. In this conversation, Benvolio is trying to get Romeo to forget about Rosaline and learn to love someone new. When they talk about his love for Rosaline, they mention many times that Romeo thinks Rosaline is the most beautiful woman in the world, and that is why he loves her. Benvolio states “Sups the fair Rosaline whom thou so loves… / Compare her face with some that I shall show / And I will make thee think thy swan a crow” (1.3.90,93-94). Benvolio thinks that if he
This can be determined as the main theme of the play through looking at Romeo and Juliet’s relationship in the whole book and concluding that their “love”, is simply based on how beautiful they think each other are. There are also the many opinions from supporting characters on love that allow Shakespeare to better present this belief. Understanding this theme allows people to know that love in youth is not normally going to be real love, and that most young people only know how to love based on appearance. This can help us be wary of youth who claim they are in love and also be wary of ourselves if we think we are in love. Love is something that you have to consider and make sure you aren’t just thinking you’re in love because you are simply attracted to