Was It Love?
Have you ever read Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet? Romeo and Juliet is the story of two “star-crossed lovers.” It is known for its amazing love story and tragic end. Although some people say they were only infatuated with each other, Romeo and Juliet truly loved each other.
Dictionary.com states love is “a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person.” Love is a very passionate feeling for someone that a person chooses to give all of ourselves to that only deepens over time. On the other hand, infatuation is to act foolish with unreasoning passion, as love (Dictionary.com). Infatuation is like lust, something you rush into that is unpredictable and ends suddenly. Romeo and Juliet both fit definitions of love.
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Romeo proclaimed, “Did my heart love til now? For swear it, sight/ For I never saw true beauty til this night” (I.v.59-60). Here, Romeo forgot his love for Rosaline because he has found his one true love. After the dance Juliet went out to her balcony and cried out,
Deny thy father and refuse thy name:
Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love.
And I’ll no longer be a Capulet (II.ii.34-36).
She was willing to give up her name for the love she shared with Romeo minutes after they first meet. Even death was not too much for Romeo and Juliet. There are many times in the play that death did not drive Romeo or Juliet apart but closer together. Juliet warned Romeo, “If they see thee, they will murder thee.”(II.ii.70) Romeo proceeded to say, “Alack, there lies more peril in thine eye/ Than twenty of their swords! Look thou but sweet. /and I am proof against their enmity.” (II.ii.71-73) Here Juliet was afraid for her loves life but Romeo said it was worth the risk to die just to be with her for a moment.
Romeo’s love was greater than their families hate. For example, Juliet’s cousin Tybalt tried to fight and kill Romeo. Romeo told Tybalt,
I do protest I never injured thee.
But love thee better than thou can devise.
Til thou shalt know the reason of my