Romeo And Juliet Beliefs

A society’s beliefs are best shown through its stories. Beliefs about love are no exception. While not a modern or American tale, William Shakespeare’s play Romeo & Juliet is an outstanding example, as its messages about love are deeply ingrained in both American culture and storytelling. In fact, some have even called it the most iconic love story of all time. It is questionable as to rather its ownership of such a title is respectable. Ironically, the titular Romeo and Juliet are a pair of awe-inspiringly ill-advised adolescents, and the play itself is a tragedy that ends in suicide and is populated by misfortunate miscommunication and fatal absurdity. Above all, Romeo is nothing but a foolish teenager who is immature, fate tempting, a serial

She hath forsworn to love, and in that vow

Do I live dead that live to tell it now. (I.i.212-19)

This behavior is fitting of infantilism, as a mature adult knows they are not entitled to have someone else reciprocate their feelings. Likewise, Romeo’s naiveté is also reflected in his beliefs, one of which being that dreams show sights into the future (I.iv.51-52). Ordinarily, only very young children or equally uneducated older individuals are unaware of the fact that dreams do not carry any sort of significance. Subsequently, Romeo’s adolescence has fatal consequences when he interrupts the fight between Mercutio and Tybalt, which results in the deaths of both participants and Romeo’s banishment. Immediately before Mercutio’s death, he asks Romeo why he jumped in between him and Tybalt. In response, Romeo says, “I thought all for the best” (III.i.98-100). Such a statement clearly illustrates a childish world-view, as it is required to possess one to believe that inserting oneself into a swordfight would result in zero casualties.

As well as acting immature, Romeo is also extremely prone to tempting fate. When, Romeo shares that he has a foreboding feeling about attending the party, as he feels doing so will cause his

When Romeo is talking about his new love, Juliet to Friar Lawrence, the friar says, “O, she [Rosaline] knew well / Thy love did read by rote that could not spell,” revealing that even people who are not familiar with Romeo, avoid his romantic advances due to noticing that he has obviously repeated every line of poetry before about a different romantic interest (II.iii.89-90). After seeing Juliet for the first time, he says, “Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight! / For I ne’er saw true beauty till this night,” which shows how easy it is for him to fall in “true love,” as it only takes a glance for this random girl to capture his heart and cause him to start waxing poetically about her (I.v.50-51). Both Mercutio and Benvolio, Romeo’s closest friends, disappear before ever learning that he has changed girls. This shows his serial romantic nature because it shows how, even the people closest to him, his friends, cannot tell that is referring to a new girl, which reveals that he must spout the same romantic drivel about every