Examples Of Unrequited Love In Romeo And Juliet

Cadence Ryan

English

Mrs. McIntosh

27 March 2023

What is Love?

William Shakespeare was a famous poet who lived in the mid-1590s. He wrote many famous plays and sonnets. One of his most famous plays was The Most Excellent and Lamentable Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet. A big misunderstanding about this play is that it is a love story. Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy that follows two lovers, Romeo and Juliet, who kill themselves because of the hate surrounding their family. However, this does not mean love isn’t shown throughout. Love is a device that many authors use. Shakespeare uses love to develop personalities, take risks, and allow characters to make decisions that would otherwise be unthinkable. He shows many different types of love in his plays.

Unrequited love is when one character feels romantic love towards another that doesn’t feel that same. This love is shown through Romeo and Rosaline. Shakespeare writes, “This love feel I, that feel no love in this” (Shakespeare 1.2.180). When Romeo says this, he is saying that while he loves Rosaline, she doesn’t love him back. Another example of unrequited love is when Shakespeare writes, “She whom I love now doth grace for grace and love for love allow. The other did not so” (2.3.87-89). When Romeo says this, he is talking about how Juliet loves him back while Rosaline didn’t. Shakespeare uses unrequited love to develop Romeo as a petrarchan lover. His love for Rosaline quickly switching to Juliet shows he never truly loved

Fated love is when two people are destined to be together. This destiny is often felt by the two people and given as a reason for the characters to make rash decisions for someone they’ve known for little time. An example of this is when the author writes, “From forth the fatal loins of these two foes a pair of star-crossed lovers take their life” (Prologue). When Shakespeare tells the audience that Romeo and Juliet are fated to be together and die because of their love, he is giving an example of fated love. Shakespeare implies that they are fated lovers by having Romeo talk about fate and blaming it for what had happened to Juliet. Juliet also thinks they were fated because of feelings she got when looking at Romeo from her balcony. This is shown when he writes, “I fear, too early, for my mind misgives some consequence yet hanging in the stars” (1.4.113-118). This shows that fate is the cause of their meeting and death. Shakespeare uses fated love to excuse the sacrifices both Romeo and Juliet made for someone they had just met. Their destined love gives reason to their