Romeo and Juliet - What is Love?
Uploaded by slick4 on Sep 29, 2000
Has Shakespeare convinced you that Romeo and Juliet are in love at the end of act one?What is love? Love means a warm liking or affection for a person, affectionate devotion. Does the way Romeo describe Juliet sound like love to you? In my opinion love does not occur at first sight, it is something that you need to work towards. Romeo just describes Juliet’s beauty and not her inner-beauty. “Beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear!” Romeo is just saying how beauty like that is too good for the earth. When Romeo says “ O dear account! My life is my foe’s debt,” he is saying that his life and love is in the hands of an enemy! This is a very harsh statement to say considering he has never talked or meet Juliet Capulet. Think of Shakespeare’s choice of words and the way he incorporates them into the play. Do his choice and arrangement of words; make you think, about Romeo and Juliet’s love?
If you thought Romeo was going to extremes wait until you hear about Juliet. Immediately after meeting Romeo, she tells the nurse “If he be married, my grave is likely to be my wedding-bed.” Juliet is saying that if she could not marry him she would rather be dead. Remember Juliet is saying this with out even knowing Romeo’s name. Juliet asks her nurse who that fine gentleman is, the nurse quickly replies “His name is Romeo, and a Montague; the only son of your great enemy.” Shakespeare makes you wonder if Romeo and Juliet are actually in love.
Since this play was written 400 years ago, the world has changed significantly, but the emotions and way of thinking in this play have withstood the test of time. This is why movies, such as Romeo and Juliet in (1996) were so successful. Shakespeare's play and the movie showed they have many similarities and many differences, but one thing remains, they all use universal truths to relate to their audiences.
As it stands, I do not believe that Romeo is in love with Juliet, but Juliet is in love with Romeo. If Shakespeare wants me to believe that Romeo is in love with Juliet, he would have to make Romeo more affectionate for Juliet’s love and not her beauty. Shakespeare did a nice job of making me believe that Juliet is in love with...