There is no positive outcome for individuals who only focused on their personal welfare. For Christians, a meaningful life is obtained through God’s grace and He solely controls the outcome of an individual’s life. His fury reigns intensely on individuals attempting to regulate their own destiny. In William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, the star-crossed lovers suffered dire consequences from humanism. The Capulet and Montague feud was not the source of Romeo and Juliet’s circumstance, but their narcissistic projection. Their love brought them temporary pleasure; however, that same love caused their permanent end. Romeo is the main factor behind the demise of Juliet and himself. Romeo is introduced as a passive man who deeply longs for romance. He is a slave to passion and romance and is obsessed with obtaining it with whoever is willing to reciprocate. Romeo is in deep depression because of unrequited love for Rosalind, “This love feel I, that feel no love in this” (1.1.182). He assumes his love for Rosalind …show more content…
Romeo 's nonexistent communication with Rosalind is a sign he is merely infatuated with her external appearance, “Oh, she is rich in beauty, only poor That when she dies, with beauty dies her store” (1.1.215-16). One of the attributes of narcissism is the “love of or sexual desire for one 's own body” (Merriam-Webster 824). His obsessive compulsion with beauty leads him into despair because he is unable to attain the beautiful object he desires. In Slavoj Zizek 's Courtly Love, or Woman as Things, “the Lady is thus perceived as a kind of spiritual guide into the higher sphere of religious ecstasy” (Zizek 1181). Rosalind is Romeo 's “Lady” and spiritual guide to his “religious ecstasy.” In a sense, his “love” for Rosalind 's beauty is a representation of his addiction for beautiful objects. Without Rosalind (his stimulant), he is unable to enhance his sensation for beauty (Pastorino 154). Therefore, Romeo must obtain his stimulant for beauty from another