Romeo and Juliet Essay - Misconceptions Between Love and Lust free essay sample

Romeo has himself, along with the audience for a short period of time believing that he is in love with Rosaline. However, at the very sight of Juliet, he instantly claims to be in love and leaves the audience wondering how he forgot about Rosaline, a woman he supposedly loved so quickly. This leads the audience to consider that Romeo did not feel true love for Rosaline, therefore questioning the thought of this complete, passionate love he feels for Juliet, and further leading the audience to believe that Romeo and Juliet may not even Ferri 2 e considered a love story, but a tragedy due to the misinterpretation between love and lust with many elements of infatuation in between. The play starts off with Romeo claiming to be in a state of complete love with Rosaline. However, as he starts to explain the complications of this love with his cousin Benvolio, it becomes clear that Rosaline does not feel the same way about Romeo, as she does not even know who he is. This lets the audience know that what Romeo is feeling is infatuation and lust, not anything as deep and intense as love should be labeled as. His feelings for Rosaline have been strictly created and grown off the sight of her, but have not developed in any other form, except that he thinks of her as a beautiful woman who has allegedly stolen his heart. As Benvolio listens to Romeo explain his obsession with Rosaline, Benvolio asks Romeo why he has chosen to love Rosaline. To which Romeo repliesâ€Å"Well, in that hit you miss: shell not be hit,  with Cupids arrow; she hath Dians wit, And, in strong proof of chastity well armd, from loves weak childish bow she lives unharmd.   (Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet,I,I,215-223). Romeo describes how Rosaline has not been â€Å"hit with cupids bow† meaning that she has yet to fall in love with him, nor will she ever. Also this verse gives the audience proof that Romeo is in love with just her looks, and the lack of her personality traits being described only confirms the argument that Romeo is only infatuated with Rosaline. However, the infatuation with Rosaline seems to give Romeo a new perspective on what he should feel when he loves someone, letting him believe that when he meets Juliet, it was true love. Ferri 3 In the play, Romeo is not the only one who is thought to be in this state of infatuation. Just like himself, Paris the man who is betrothed to Juliet, believes he has some sort of a loving feeling towards Juliet. The audience can in a way, make the interpretation that love may not even be a valid theme in the play and the idea of falling or being overcome by love by only the sight of one another, does not match, nor come close to the true meaning of deep, compassionate love. A possibility that love is becoming real is when Romeo and Juliet have their second encounter in the Capulet’s courtyard, after the party where they both first fell into the trance of lust with one another. It is here that Romeo and Juliet begin this love story that captivates the reader into considering that both lovers are growing the rarely heard of love for each other. As the conversation between the two develops, marriage has already been announced and the feeling of love has been expressed â€Å"R: O, wilt thou leave me so unsatisfied? J: What satisfaction canst thou have tonight? R: The exchange of thy love’s faithful vow for mine. J: I gave thee mine before thou didst request it; and yet i would it were to give again. † (Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, II, II, 133-136) The audience, at this moment, is caught in the daze of how much depth and emotion these two claim to feel about one another that it is disregarded how the two only met hours before. As both characters seem to feel love and adoration between each other, attention on    Romeos abrupt love and obsession with Rosaline poses the subject of Romeos possible lack Ferri 4 of true love towards Juliet. Also Juliet is described to be not yet fourteen â€Å"My child is a stranger in the world, she hath not seen the change of fourteen years† (Shakespeare, I, II, 8-9). By her father simply stating that Juliet is a stranger in the world he is telling Paris, she is not yet ready for love or marriage as she does not and could not understand the meaning behind the two. he is just entering into her teenage years and most, if not all teenagers in her and our society do not know, understand, or even experience the committed, powerful feeling that love for a significant other is. Although both end up committing suicide because the thought of not having the other in their lives was unthinkable, irrationality was taken by both characters, as by simply being in the right place a t the wrong time caused this story of bringing two loathing families together by a mutual love, into becoming a tragedy as these two lovers would take their lives to stay in eternity with the other. The debate on whether or not Shakespeare created a love story between two â€Å"star cross’d lovers† whose fate lead them down a path of destruction continues as generations come across the play. Interpretations are all different as are each and every perspective on the piece. Much evidence in the play itself shines a light on the illusion of both Romeo and Juliet being in this unbreakable, dying love. Nevertheless, by Shakespeare using this illusion, not many look into the dim, grey area of the trance of lust that is what may be the true feeling between the two lovers. Love is not a tangible thing; you can not hold or touch it. However it is a connection between two people that have learned from pain and trial to find the genuine act of love. One could argue Ferri 5 that Romeo and Juliet were never in love. That neither had the capacity to find sincere love, and by pondering this statement, stating that these two tragic lovers lives, were nothing in comparison to an authentic love story.