Lust In Romeo And Juliet

When do you know that you’re in love? Is it at the very first sight of someone walking past you? Or does it take so much more time and effort, to come to the point of being madly and deeply in love? In the play Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare, the two main characters find themselves believing that after one glance, they can fall for each other completely. However, I believe that love at first sight can easily be mistaken for something of lust and attraction, and is just a pure fantasy for many. Romeo and Juliet were naïve, broken hearted, not in touch with their emotions, and acted out impulsively on things they had little knowledge of, and were in fact not in love with each other as so many readers believe. The definition of lust is a very strong sexual desire for someone. When Romeo had first seen Juliet the night of the

Romeo’s love, Rosaline, had chosen to become a nun, leaving Romeo filled with sadness, “I have lost myself; I am not here… In sadness, cousin, I do love a woman… O, teach me how I shall forget to think.” (Page 8, Shakespeare.) Romeo had been heartbroken that the woman he had loved for a while, had turned him down for chastity. He had gone to the party that night only to forget of his love for her. With this sadness in mind it seems probable for Juliet to have been solely a rebound, to forget Rosaline and the pain she caused him. Meanwhile, with Juliet, she was being arranged into a marriage with Paris. Her mother had asked her, “How stands your disposition to be married?” with that Juliet replied stating, “It is an honour I dream not of.” (Page 13, Shakespeare.) Juliet had been against the idea of being in a marriage with no choice in the matter. When she met Romeo, she craved the thought of having a choice in who she would marry. She, as well as Romeo, had used him for her own personal desire to get over a sadness that consumed