Opinion Piece Romeo and Juliet Essay

There are so many wrong things about the love that Romeo and Juliet had. They said they loved each other, but I do not find that possible. For one thing, the love that Romeo felt for Rosaline was not love. Second, Shakespeare does not exactly explain love very well, or the definition of it. Thirdly, Juliet and Romeo were never in love, plain and simple. And fourthly, defining infatuation. Apparently, Shakespeare has mistaken love for infatuation in this play. First off, the ‘love’ that Romeo felt for Rosaline was definitely not actual love. He only strongly admired her from a distance, not being able to get closer. She never felt anything for him in return; it was never meant to be. But when Juliet came along, his feelings were strong enough to forget about Rosaline completely. Juliet was different; she actually had feelings for Romeo too. When Juliet had feelings for Romeo, Rosaline barely even knew he existed. When Juliet spent time with Romeo and cared for him even though she barely knew him, Rosaline could not have cared less. The fact that Romeo and Juliet’s families are enemies possibly might make the two teenagers want to be together more, to sort of rebel against their families’ ways. I mean, they are teenagers. Now, we have to go over defining love, because clearly it is not properly introduced in Shakespeare’s play. There is no specific way to know you’re in love, because if you actually are you should just know, and feel it. There’s no telling that a first love will never last. There is no rule that you can only be in love when you are a certain age. Anyone is capable of love. Teenage love is true too, and can be strong. Or at least, some is. You cannot say that a person is only in love when they feel certain things. It only matters that you do know the person somewhat well, and you strongly care about them. That they bring out a positive part of you or make you feel warm and fuzzy inside, and that you feel no need to hide your true self from them. Infatuation or admiration is NOT love. It’s like an extreme exaggeration of feelings. For example, say a girl who’s obsessed with a celebrity says she loves him. No, she is not. Because for one thing, she’s never even met the guy before–or gotten a chance to know him. So that is how it was with Romeo and Rosaline. Although, Romeo didn’t know Juliet very well either. Romeo and Juliet were never in love. It is plainly put. Everything happened too fast, the relationship moved too quickly which resulted in a tragedy. There was no time for them to get to know each other. Though you can fall in love quickly once you know who they are. But no, there was no time for that. They just had to get married quickly and leave the knowing each other for later. To love someone, you have to know them. Romeo never knew what Juliet’s favorite color was, or what her hobbies were. He never knew her fears, her favorite food, or her skills. Juliet never knew if Romeo liked poetry, music, or fighting. Though, obviously he did not. But did she ever know that? Maybe he was afraid of spiders. Who knew? Juliet barely had an idea. In order to love someone, you have to know at least something about them or their life or their personality. It is absurd. And in order for them to have a successful marriage, they would have to get to know each other pretty well first. You can not save that for later, marriage does not work that way. And what if, once they did get to know each other, they did not like each other at all? Say, if one was not what the other was expecting of a person. They might make each other mad all the time, and the relationship would come crashing down, only because they didn’t know each other first, before they went and got married. Infatuation. To define it more specifically, it is when you obsess over someone or something, saying you love it and adore it but you really don’t, you just don’t know it. You strongly admire that thing or person, and you love the idea of it being yours. So basically it’s a sense of possession you feel when you really want something and all you care about is having it. You become completely obsessed and that’s all you care about. So, evidently, Romeo was definitely infatuated with Rosaline, and he was infatuated with Juliet too, the only feelings Romeo ever felt for anyone was infatuation. Juliet and Romeo barely knew each other.