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The Definition of Love: Romeo and Juliet
William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is often considered to be the greatest love story of all time. The two young lovers fall in love at first sight, sacrifice everything for one another, and are cruelly separated by their warring families. As a result of a series of tragic misunderstandings and the obstacles created by their parents and society, the young lovers are driven to suicide. The play seems to define true love as something which is all-consuming and can only be understood by people who have personally endured its slings and arrows. On the other hand, it also suggests that love can test the characters of young people and elevate the soul.
Although Romeo and Juliet are often presented as blindly in love, the character of Juliet in particular often shows a great deal of maturity in her attitude to her passion. While she loves Romeo with all of her heart, she knows that the sudden and all-consuming nature of it is dangerous and has a dark side. Juliet says, even as she declares her love to Romeo that she has no delight in their contract because: “It is too rash, too unadvised, too sudden; /Too like the...
Juliet gains a maturity over the course of the narrative, transforming from an immature child who cannot even imagine being married to a woman who is able to take responsibility for her actions and takes a calculated risk to be with the man she loves. Even the impulsive Romeo switches his affection from a cold woman named Rosalind who cannot love him back to reevaluating the conflict between the Montagues and Capulets. He attempts to stop the fight between the Montagues and Capulets, because of his loyalty to Juliet, though this ultimately ends in the tragic death of his friend Mercutio and Juliet’s cousin Tybalt.
Love is transforming and passionate, but caring for another person can also educate and mature the young. Ultimately, for all of the follies love causes in the play, the romance between the young lovers motivates their parents to mend the breach between the two families. But love is also violent because of its all-consuming nature, and also transforms many of the relationships of the young people in the play in a negative fashion. Juliet experiences a break with…
Works Cited
Shakespeare, William. Romeo and Juliet. Shakespeare Homepage. Web. February 9, 2019. http://shakespeare.mit.edu/romeo_juliet/
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