Joshua Harris once famously expressed, “True love isn't expressed in passionately whispered words, an intimate kiss, or a [sic] embrace... love is expressed in self-control, patience, even words left unsaid.” William Shakespeare’s classic duo Romeo and Juliet fail to meet this definition of love, greatly thanks to Romeo’s adolescent imprudence. Their love is driven by sexual desire and irrational thoughts, perpetuated by ideas implanted in their minds by irresponsible adults. In Shakespeare’s acclaimed tragedy, Romeo and Juliet, Romeo’s affection for Juliet is undeniably not true love, because Romeo is constantly emotionally unstable and proves to quickly fall in love through his eyes and not his heart.
Foremost, Romeo is constantly emotionally
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At the beginning of Act I, Romeo expresses his love for Rosaline’s beauty, asserting to Benvolio that “[s]he is too fair, too wise, wisely too fair, / To merit bliss by making me despair” (I. i. 212-3). Romeo believes that she is too beautiful to be celibate, and that her vow of chastity “makes him despair.” Romeo fell in love with Rosaline even though he’d never gotten to know her, clearly based off of a physical desire for her. Later that very day, Romeo attends a masquerade party where he catches the eye of Juliet, and entirely forgets about his love for Rosaline. Having immediately fallen in love with Juliet, he pronounces to her, “O, speak again, bright angel, for thou art / As glorious to this night... / As is a winged messenger of heaven / Unto the white-upturned wond’ring eyes / Of mortals that fall back to gaze on him” (II. ii. 26-30). Romeo instantly falls for Juliet, comparing her beauty to that of a heavenly angel. He puts Juliet on a pedestal, admiring her physical charm despite never discovering her inner beauty. Romeo’s sudden physical attraction to these two young misses is attributed to his internal lustfulness, thus proving the superficiality of his love for