This play is about two family’s; the Montague’s (Romeo’s family) and the Capulet’s (Juliet’s family). At the beginning of the play Romeo is “in love” with this girl named Rosaline except she doesn’t love him back. Lady Capulet tells Juliet that Count Paris wishes to marry her. Romeo and Juliet don’t actually meet until the party. When Romeo sees Juliet, all his thoughts about Rosaline disappeared. They are instantly attracted to each other and then realize that they are each other’s enemies.
Is young love more of just
the idea of being in love more than
anything else? For example, In 1.1.10,
BENVOLIO
[…] What sadness lengthens Romeo's hours?
ROMEO
Not having that, which, having, makes them short.
BENVOLIO
In love?
ROMEO
Out–
BENVOLIO
Of love?
ROMEO
Out of her favour, where I am in love.
[…] What sadness lengthens Romeo's hours?
ROMEO
Not having that, which, having, makes them short.
BENVOLIO
In love?
ROMEO
Out–
BENVOLIO
Of love?
ROMEO
Out of her favour, where I am in love.
At the beginning of the play Romeo
is completely in love with Rosaline. He calls her the “love of his life” and when
he’s not dreaming about Rosaline in his room, he mopes around in a grove of
sycamore trees where those who are “sick
amour” usually hang out (1.1.4). Even though Romeo knows Rosaline has
absolutely no interest in him, he still goes after her. This makes me think
that Romeo isn’t so much in love with Rosaline as he is obsessed with the idea
of being in love.
Here is another quote when Romeo
sees Juliet that makes me think that Romeo is more into the idea of being in
love than anything else—(1.5.1)
ROMEO
O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright!
It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night
Like a rich jewel in an Ethiope's ear;
Beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear!
So shows a snowy dove trooping with crows,
As yonder lady o'er her fellows shows.
The measure done, I'll watch her place of stand,
And, touching hers, make blessed my rude hand.
Did my heart love till now? forswear it, sight!
For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night.
O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright!
It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night
Like a rich jewel in an Ethiope's ear;
Beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear!
So shows a snowy dove trooping with crows,
As yonder lady o'er her fellows shows.
The measure done, I'll watch her place of stand,
And, touching hers, make blessed my rude hand.
Did my heart love till now? forswear it, sight!
For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night.
I found it interesting that at
the VERY moment Romeo sees Juliet, he falls in love. What about Rosaline—the “love
of his life”…the women he would rather die for than live without. This part
makes me think that Romeo was never really in love with Rosaline in the first
place if he’s going to forget about her so quickly. This makes me wonder, does
this also mean that Romeo’s love for Juliet is nothing more than a worthless obsession?
By unpacking these quotes, I was able to make inferences on
whether Romeo really is in love with Juliet. Before I started reading this
play, I believed that young love did exist because love is a feeling. Replace
love with the word happy for a
second. How do you now if you’re truly happy? We’ve all had those moments—weather
it’s when someone is taking a picture of you or you’re opening a birthday
present that you don’t really like—where you smile because you feel like you should be happy even though in reality
you’re not. There is always this one girl in school who always seems happy and
cheerful…but how could you really know for sure if she’s really happy? People
can give others the allusion that they’re happy but you can never know for
sure. I guess what I’m getting to here is that it goes the same with love.
Sometimes—okay, well most of the time—in young teenagers we feel like we should
be in love or we’re just pulled into it because of the idea. Since love is a
feeling like any other, only the person in love can determine for him/herself
whether it’s true love or not.
That was a great post! I think it was really interesting that you said Romeo was just wrapped up in the idea of love, rather than love itself. I agree with you; it does not seem as though you can switch so rapidly from one person to another, the way romeo did from Rosaline to Juliet. He might have been so eager to move on that he convinced himself he was in love with this beautiful girl.
ReplyDeleteHey Sophie
ReplyDeleteI TOTALLY agree with you. I think that Romeo just wanted to love someone that loves him back and be appreciated by someone. He thinks he should be happy in love, so he fabricates a love that he would be happy with. I think that his love for Juliet wasn't true love since he might just see her as a replacement for Rosaline. I also think that the timing of all of this is another piece of evidence. All of his decisions happen so fast that he doesn't have time to think about them. Maybe this happens so that he can do them before he realizes that he would leave Rosaline behind. He does it quickly, like ripping off a band-aid.
Hi! That was a great post! I see that we wrote about similar topics :3
ReplyDeleteFirst off, I completely agree with you. Young love is simply an idea that we teenagers like. We think that love is a substitute for happiness, and we don't care how we get that joy.
Romeo's falling in love also seems like a reflection of his shallow behavior: he sees Juliet (who is prettier than Rosaline) and immediately falls in love. It's sort of like Benvolio's line earlier in the play, when he says that he will show Romeo a prettier woman and make him forget about Rosaline. Have they no qualms about simply dropping people the moment they see someone better? It's really quite conceited. Perhaps Shakespeare was trying to make a point about how stereotypical men only care about beauty. Romeo's behavior sort of disgusts me: you can't just toss people aside without consideration. Everyone is equal and deserves to be treated fairly.
Again, great post!
~Adrian
I think that Romeo is truly in love with Juliet and that their young love is true. Too true perhaps since they die because of it. It may have started out as attracted by looks but if that were true, shouldn't there be hesitation for death, to drink the poison or stab with a dagger? I doubt that Juliet looked her very best in the crypt or that Romeo looked amazing as he laid dead from poison but even through this phase of hard decisions, they chose to stay together, even in death. In response to Adrian's comment, I do not really agree with your opinion on Romeo. He does not disgust me and the fact that he chose to die once he knew of Juliet's death makes it known that yes, in a way he did toss peoples' lives aside without consideration and that was his own, not even out of self pity but of the will to spend eternity with his wife. Anyway, great post Sophie, and I liked how you unpacked the quotes!
ReplyDelete