Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Romeo and Juliet Act I: question 1
1. Romeo goes from being in "love" with Rosaline to being even more in "love" with Juliet the instant he sees Juliet. Is this a case of love at first sight, or is it simply physical attraction? Is love at first sight even possible, or do you have to get to know a person? Offer details to support your answer. Due Tuesday 2/23/10 by midnight.
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76 comments:
Personally I feel Romeo is a young man who allows his hormones to get the best of him. He confuses his feelings and emotions for true love when in all reality he knows nothing of these women. When he lays eyes upon Juliet he insists it is true love, but i do not agree with his nieve way of thought. For example I would like to refer back to page 53. Romeo questions if his heart has ever felt love prior to laying eyes on Juliet. He speaks only of her beauty throughout this page. True love is more then skin deep. I believe in lust at first sight, but true love can only develope over a period of time. I do agree that many cases of true love orginate from the lust that is developed when a man lays eyes on a woman of beauty or vise versa. Reffering back to the story, Romeo had not spoken one word to Juliet before declaring he was in love. In order to truely love a person you must love every aspect of that person. This includes not only there appearence, but their morals, beliefs, and personal standards.
"Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind, And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind"
-William Shakespeare A Midsummer Night's Dream - Act 1, Scene 1
re: Alison
Alison stated that she believed in lust but not love at first sight as Romeo preached. And from Romeo’s past track record with love, Juliet should be just another foundation for his next puppy dog love. However, obviously she was not. I agree with Alison in that you can’t love a person until you know them inside and out but I also believe that Romeo’s infatuation with Juliet was more than just lust. When Juliet walked into the party, Romeo instantly knew that she would make a major impact in his life. When their eyes met, Romeo forgot that his heart ached from his breakup with Rosaline and his tears and frowns were gone. If one person can make that much of an impact on another person, it must be something far greater than lust. Even from Juliet’s point of view; she said early on in the play (pg. 31) that marriage is “an honor I dream not of”. However, when she sees Romeo, she instantly found a deep connection with him and she even proposed to him after not even a day of meeting him. This shows that even though they may have not been in love yet, there was a mutual feeling between Romeo and Juliet that they were destined to be together.
Romeo seems to be a young, foolish teenager who is just looking for someone to love. I think he is just physically attracted to the women he says to be in love with, and he never looks deeper into their personality or feelings. I do not personally believe in love at first site, because I don’t think that physical attractions are what dictate love. Many people like Romeo believe that they love a person, but I don’t think you can love someone until you get to know them. Also, Romeo has jumped very quickly from Rosaline to Juliet which shows that he was wrong in thinking he was in love with Rosaline. He could just as easily be wrong about his love for Juliet. When Romeo first sees Juliet he describes her beauty and never asks himself if she might be a good person or not. Romeo is craving beauty in a woman, and unwisely believes he is in love.
Love, it is one thing that brings so much joy to so many people across the universe. There is a difference though between love and infatuation that is misconstrued every so often. Do I believe in love at first sight? Sure I do but only a certain kind of love fits that bill. There is probably nobody out there in today's world that hasn't used a dating service that has fallen in love with another's personality at first sight. In today's world the word love is used to describe so much more than it has in the past.
In the case of Romeo, he is so astounded by Rosaline's beauty that he believes he is in love. He then falls in love with Juliet literally because she is more beautiful than Rosaline. Romeo falls in love with her beauty rather than anything else about her. He doesn't even know her name and yet he is in belief they are meant to be together forever and ever after. Then within one day of knowing each other they decide to get married.
Love is such a mystery that no one man or woman has ever been able to understand it in its entirety. Personally, I believe that they were just so lost in "young love" as the older folks call it. I think that in order to be in love you must also know the other person's name, interests, or even talk to them more than once to know you are meant to be together. A boy's idea of love at first sight differs from a girl's and Romeo and Juliet are a fair example of that. In the words of the band, The Darkness:
"I believe in a thing called love
Just listen to the rhythm of my heart
There's a chance we could make it now
……
I believe in a thing called love"
This much in my mind is true, I believe in a thing called love, Romeo is compelled by infatuation and doesn't even know Juliet's name, and The Darkness has written one of the greatest songs of all time. If it's right it's right, if it isn't meant to be you would know. Societies in the past may not of had such ideals about love in comparison to today but I think that Romeo and Juliet were rushing it a bit too quickly.
~Jeremy Brinling a.k.a. Jer Bear
Re Alison: I have to agree with Alison that I also believe in lust at first sight but not love at first sight. In order to fall in love with someone I think that you have to get to know them. You can be attracted to someone at first glance but I think that you can’t actually fall in love without knowing the other persons personality. When you first see someone, I mean yeah they may be attractive, but they also may be a mean person or someone you really don’t get along with. Therefore I think that you actually need to get to know someone before you decide that they are the one.
In my opinion, there is no such thing as love at first sight. Often people mistake infatuation or lust with being in love. Romeo is a young boy who claimed he was in love first with Rosaline and then bounced right on to Juliet who he had at most a three minutes conversion with. This is the red flag both of Romeo's interests are not love. If he loved Rosaline it wouldn't have been so easy to forget about her and who's to say if the book ended different it wouldn't have been the same with Juliet too. He might have gotten more time with Juliet then he was able to with Rosaline but not nearly close enough to claim he's in love with her. They're practically strangers. Romeo loves the aspect of falling in love so much, the first girl he has any strong attraction to he believes shes his one and only. He's letting his hormones get the best of him. Everyone always wants to believe their first boyfriend or girlfriend is going to last forever. We think this because were young and nieve, and your first expierence with the opposite sex is exciting and new. At this age we don't have enough expierence in life to know what love is. Love between two people grows as time goes on. It's impossible to be in love with someone you know nothing about.
Romeo shares a lot of similarities to an average sixteen year old boy, and eyeing up pretty girls is one of them. However, I believe Romeo experiences something much deeper than physical lust and attraction when he lays eyes on Juliet for the first time. This is evident based on his reaction after he saw her. For instance, on page 53, he says "O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright! It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night as a rich jewel in an Eithop's ear...". Although he is commenting on her physical appearance for the most part, a reaction such as this surely means that more feelings are involved other than physical infatuation and lust. The reaction is incredibly heartfelt and touching...nothing a person who would only experience a physical attraction would say. The way he goes on an on about her leads me to believe that he feels a true sense of love for her at first sight. Later on in the quote on page 53, Romeo also says "Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight, For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night." He is confessing his love for Juliet. I HIGHLY doubt that someone who is merely physical attracted to someone would instantly begin professing his or her love. Clearly, he feels an instant connection. In other words, he experiences love at first sight.
Now, one might ask, "Is love at first sight even something that is feasible?" While I have yet to experience true love for someone other than my family or to have someone feel that way about me, I believe that love at first sight is possible. However, I also believe that it takes time and a lot of communication to affirm these initial feelings. One cannot deny an initial connection, though. We can use Romeo and Juliet as another example of love at first sight. Their very first conversation that they had together was in the form of a sonnet (pgs 57-59) . Quite frankly, if two people are able to complete each other's sentences in the form of a sonnet, then I'd say that's an indicator of a strong connection. The two of them then immediately start kissing. I, for one, wouldn't kiss someone unless I really felt a strong feeling towards her. If these two are already comfortable enough to kiss each other, then I'd say that they have formed a very strong connection already. We can also use an example from our school play, "Les Miserables". In the play, Marius Pontmercy and Cosette fall in love the instant that they look into each other's eyes, and they instantly begin talking about being together forever. In other words, again, I'd say this is love at first sight. Based on what I've read in the story and my beliefs, I believe love at first sight is possible. However, like I said, time and experience with the other person are needed to affirm these feelings.
RE: Alison's Comment: I liked your take on the situation between Romeo and Juliet. I agree that you have to get to know everything about a person to truly know them, and that with seeing someone for the first time you can fall into lust and not into love. It would be like telling your mother that you fell in-love with the new kid at school, except back then they would have believed that you were in love and would have had you married. The quote is perfect for describing how true love works.
I believe that Romeo is physically attracted to Juliet, at least at first. There is no possible way, in my opinion, to fall in love with someone without actually knowing them. When you love someone, you have to love their whole being, not just their appearance. If one just loves someone else's appearance, the chances of that relationship being successful or long lasting are very slim. Romeo seems to be a typical teenage male. He is quite shallow, emotional, and doesn't say anything that has much value or sincerity to Juliet. I give props to Juliet for calling him out on that. Too many girls today fall for that kind of thing and end up upset when the relationship ends suddenly. All in all, I believe Romeo is experiencing lust at first sight, rather than love.
I feel that Romeo is very much so attracted to Juliet’s physical features. It is more lust than love. He may feel very strongly on how she looks, but he does not know one thing about her. He doesn’t know her personality, how she feels about life and marriage, or anything important of that sort. You can love someone once you have spent time with them and have gotten to know all sorts of information about them. You should know little things that make the other person happy, stories of their lives, what they love to do, and you should know why you love them. You shouldn’t love them for their exterior; they should be beautiful from the outside out. Romeo is just a love sick puppy, and he doesn’t know what he wants. He has bounced from girl to girl claiming that he loved them as well. If you love someone, you don’t just drop them they second that you think someone better comes along.
I believe that Romeo’s love with Rosaline was not at all like the love he felt for Juliet when he first saw her. The love for Rosaline was more infatuation than true love. Romeo knew he loved Juliet form the moment he laid eyes on her. I don’t think Romeo is just another teenage boy scoping out girls, because his personality is not like that. He says on page 40, “Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight! For I ne’er saw true beauty till this night”. He is saying that he never knew what love was until he saw Juliet. I believe that when we experience true love, we will know it right away. I’m pretty sure none of us have experience this feeling yet, given the fact that we are only in 10th grade. I don’t think you need to get to know a person before you experience true love. We just get a feeling that it’s right. I liked how Romeo could tell the difference between loving Rosaline and loving Juliet. People are saying that it is more like puppy love with Juliet, but I don’t believe that at all. Romeo’s love for Rosaline was more like puppy love instead of his love for Juliet. Shakespeare lets the playgoers know that Romeo and Juliet are meant for each other by the way their first conversation goes, with it being like a sonnet. He is saying that their love is beautiful and one of a kind, not just lust. Even though they are young, I definitely believe they are experiencing true love at first sight.
Love is a beautiful thing, but is lust? I don’t believe in love at first and I don’t think Romeo fell in love with Juliet, but with her appearance. Love and attraction are two different things. I do believe in attraction at first sight. You can definitely see someone from across the room, like the way they look and want to meet them. After you meet, you could start dating which could eventually lead to falling in love, but I feel as if you can't truly love someone unless you really know him or her. It is widely believed that love at first sight is not true, but infatuation. For instance, a male friend of mine saw a girl and fell in love with her immediately without even knowing where and who she is to the extent that he had to follow her to where she lives. In fact, they started a relationship a few days after already getting physical with each other. However, I can tell you today that they are not enjoying each other's company right now and I guess the reason is because they did not take time to know and study each other very well before establishing the relationship. Romeo didn’t even know what Juliet’s name was. Her beauty had blinded him and that’s all he cared about. If you recall, in Act 1, Scene 5 (line 95), Romeo starts his first conversation talking about Juliet by explaining how much he wanted to kiss her and that Pilgrims and Saints are meant to use their lips for kissing. Seems like lust to me! I don’t believe it is appropriate to start a conversation with a stranger not by introducing yourself, but explaining how much you wanted to kiss them. Being in love is knowing the person inside and out in my opinion. Someone once told me that love is like friendship on fire. Romeo and Juliet weren’t even friends to begin with.
I do not believe that there is such a thing as love at first sight, but maybe a lust at first sight. People say that love lasts forever, so if Romeo’s feelings for Rosaline were true, he wouldn’t have “fallen out of love” so quickly. Romeo is also still quite young and probably doesn’t understand what love really is yet, and is just going through an infatuation with these women. I believe that love has to develop over time between two people. It can‘t be determined just by looking at someone and by knowing them for just several minutes. I don’t think that Romeo has “fallen more into love” with Juliet, but instead he is just more attracted to her. On page 40, Romeo is describing how he views Juliet’s beauty in a way that shows how greatly attracted he is to her, and he is probably getting confused with lust and love. An attraction to a person can definitely help with the development for love, but you have to get to know someone on a deeper level than just attraction to be in love with them. Many people say that they have experienced love at first sight. I don’t think it began with a love but rather with a good chemistry between two people that grew over time into love.
Re: Chelsea bojewski
I completely agree with Chelsea’s response to this question. Romeo does not know what real love is. He mistakes love for infatuation, meaning he was absorbed by Juliet’s beauty. To truly love someone, you must know every aspect of their personality and be comfortable with their flaws. Seeing as Romeo and Juliet have known each other for only one day, I don’t think it’s possible that they are already in love. Romeo also thought he was in love with Rosaline. As Chelsea mentioned, if he was really in love with Rosaline, it wouldn’t be so easy to forget about her once he met Juliet. I believe they are too naïve to know what love actually is. Juliet is only thirteen years old and has never been in an actual relationship before, so how does she know he is the one? Personally, I don’t believe in love at first sight, because at that point, it’s merely a physical attraction.
In this particular case, I believe that what Romeo feels when he first sees Juliet is not love at first sight. I only think this because Romeo is basically a man-whore to be blunt. Romeo has liked lots of pretty ladies, but he never seems to be able to make a commitment to any one of them. But just because Romeo does not experience love at first sight, does not mean that it doesn't exist. I do believe in love at first sight. I believe in it because of my mother. When my mom's friend Carm introduced her to the man that is now my father, my mom left that experience knowing she was going to marry him. My parents and Carm were at a college party and Carm was friends with both my mom and my dad. Carm introduced my mom to my dad, and when my mom went back to her table of friends, she told her friends "That's the man I'm going to marry." And sure enough, my parents have been married for 20 years. My mom had only known my dad for 5 minutes tops, but she loved him just the same. Love at first sight does exist, even if it takes time to further develop that love.
Four different levels of love exist.
1. Agape love- this love is the most intense love imaginable. It consists of self-sacrifice and a choice. This is the love that ties a man and woman together in marriage.
2. Philos love- this love is brotherly love. Philos love is similar to agape love because they are both a choice. The love between best friends would be considered philos love.
3. Acquaintance love- This love is that of classmates. You'll hold the door for your classmates, but you wouldn't take a bullet for them.
4. Eros love- Eros love is basically physical attraction, crushes, and lust combined. This is the love that Romeo initially experiences when he firsts sees Juliet, but Eros love can develop through all the stages, or types of love to grow into agape love.
RE: Chelsea
I agree with this comment 100%. Romeo is not in love with either of these women. He is mistaking lust and infatuation for love. In fact I think Romeo is actually in love with the idea of being in love. To truly be in love with someone you must first build a meaningful relationship and really get to know a person which contradicts the idea of love at first sight. I feel that Romeo wants to be in love so badly but does not want to put in the effort of building a relationship. Quite simply, Romeo is a bored, lazy teenager who thinks he should be in love.
re: RJ
I beleive your take on Romeo's first glimpse of Juliet is a bit marred by the rest of the story. I beleive he feels only attraction to her physical appearance at first, considering his "O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright!/ It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night/.." etc. He only speaks of her beauty and he knows nothing about her. He 'falls for her face', for lack of another word.
I think he grows to love her fully when he speaks to her for the first time, only a few moments later, but a lifetime away in maturity. In his own words " Did my heart love till now?" No, I don't believe it did. From his first glimpse to his first kiss, he mature, significantly.
RE: RJ Petrella: I agree with RJ that Romeo does fall in love at first sight. After talking and getting to know Juliet Romeo affirms that his initial love felt for Juliet is true. Proof of Romeo and Juliet's true love lies within the fact that both are willing to put their family differences aside and marry each other. The Capulets and Montagues have a hatred that has been felt for years. No sensible person, unless one truly in love, would risk the consequences of marrying their family's on true enemy. Although both Romeo and Juliet are young, the love they feel for each other is real, and both are willing to risk majorly upsetting their families for this love.
Re: Nick O’Dell:
I really like and agree with how Nick answered this question. Nick, like many others who commented to this post, believes that the connection Romeo has with Juliet is not love at first sight. I agree with this statement because I don’t think you can love a person just from looking at them. You have to be able to have a conversation and learn about their personality before you can say that you are in love. If you just base your relationships on physical attractions then you aren’t experiencing love but infatuation. Also, like Nick mentioned, Romeo does seem to jump from Rosaline to Juliet very quickly. Romeo spends practically a whole day, from morning until the party, expressing his grief over not being able to have Rosaline. However, once Romeo sees Juliet he doesn’t give Rosaline a second glance. If Romeo jumped so quickly from Rosaline to Juliet, then he could probably just as easily jump from Juliet to someone else. On pg. 65, the chorus even says, “Now Romeo is beloved and loves again, alike bewitched by the charm of looks.” This shows that Romeo is drawn in by Juliet’s beauty.
I believe Romeo is just physically attracted to Juliet. Juliet is a beautiful young woman and I can understand why Romeo is attracted to her. In order to be in love with someone, you have to get to know them. In this case, with Romeo noticing Juliet from afar, Romeo has no idea what Juliet is like. Although Romeo can observe Juliet’s mannerisms, he has yet to discover her true personality. For example, in modern times, boys see attractive women on TV, the internet, etc., but five minutes later, the boys forget about what they saw and they move on. I have seen attractive men numerous times in my life, but I never fell in love with any of them at that moment. I am not saying it is going to take months to fall in love, but I am saying that time is needed. Once Juliet is finished dancing, her and Romeo speak to each other. At that moment, they could possibly be in love, but they still have a lot of learning to do about each other. At this point in Romeo and Juliet’s life, their hormones are raging and they want specific things. It is human nature to feel this way about somebody else’s appearance, but that does not mean it is love.
There is a fine line between lust and love, and William Shakespeare seems to know how to make that line even thinner. Upon first reading the scene in Romeo & Juliet where the two meet, I believed that Romeo had just fallen in lust with Juliet. I came to this initial conclusion because of the ever present teenage angst that occurs in this story, and the way Romeo jumped immediately from Rosaline to Juliet. The very instant Romeo saw Juliet, he had fallen head over heels for her, and they had never even spoken before; he had fallen in “love” with a then-empty face. This situation is almost comical, because he manages to do so without even realizing she is a Capulet, or her first name for that matter. However, after the two exchange greetings, then kisses, the two lovebirds stayed up all night proclaiming their love for each other, and eventually settling on marriage. Do I believe these two are truly in love, or that love at first sight exists at all? Honestly, no I don’t. Though it does seem the two are rushing into the marriage, we do need to remember that this is a completely different time period and that marriages such as these are completely acceptable.
I think in order to truly fall in love you must first take time to get to know the person. Although I believe to a certain extent that love at first sight is possible. Romeo tends to go with whatever his current emotions are at that moment. For him it is a good and a bad thing. His love towards Juliet may seem absurd, but there may be a little truth to it. There are two parts to every person’s decision making mind, one part is the conscious decisions, and the other is the unconscious decisions. The mind can subliminally take in, process, and infer about a potential situation/person in two seconds. Studies have shown that students watching two second, soundless clips of professors could accurately judge the teaching performance. The accuracy of the subconscious is often marred by emotions or other factors.
Therefore I can only determine whether or not Romeo listens to his subconscious accurately by his other subconscious decisions. For example on page 40 Mercutio goes into a long rambling speech. Romeo subconsciously realizes something is wrong and gently calms Mercutio down without angering him. Based on the subconscious decisions he made while interacting with others Romeo tends to make the right choice often, regarding people. When Romeo saw Juliet most of what he felt was infatuation, but a small part of the infatuation was the subconscious inferring something before he consciously did.
The small part is the love at first sight.
I think that love at first sight is something that only a few people in this world get to experience. A lot of people are under the impression that you have to get to know someone first in order to love them. It seems logical, but I feel like sometimes someone just knows when they love someone by looking at them. I think that love at first sight is under the stereotype of being physically attracted enough to someone’s looks that you feel that strong connection known as love. After analyzing Romeo’s experiences with “love”, one might doubt love at first sight. Never did it say that Romeo had loved Rosaline at first sight. Yes, Romeo stated that he loved Rosaline, but he could’ve made that decision after talking and being with her overtime. When Romeo comes across Juliet, he describes his feelings towards her so richly and certain (page 40 lines 46-55). Romeo possibly could’ve not known what love felt like until he saw Juliet. Whenever Romeo saw Juliet, he could’ve been hit with a feeling that he never got when “in love” with Rosaline. Love at first sight may seem impossible, but I believe it is out there.
Re: R.J. Petrella
I agree with what RJ said. I don’t think that someone who is just physically attracted to someone else could say something as touching as Romeo did when he saw Juliet. Also when Romeo is at the party, he is not even looking for someone he could get with he is just looking at Rosaline, and probably thinking of a way to get her back. But then he sees Juliet and sees that she is way more beautiful then Rosaline. And later when Romeo and Juliet speak for the first time and they speak in a sonnet. That right there should tell you that this person is meant to be with you.
At first I do think that Romeo was just a little more physically attracted to Juliet but then when he talks to her later and gets to know her a little more it just confirms that he is more than physically attracted to Juliet, he is in love with her.
Re: Alison
I disagree for the most part with Alison’s comment on true love. I agree that a lot of what Romeo is feeling is an infatuation. I disagree that there is no such thing as true love. Romeo picks Juliet out of the whole crowd of people at a full party. Rosaline is there, and almost certainly other girls that are beautiful, but for some reason Romeo picks Juliet out of all of them. She is most likely not the most beautiful girl there because the definition of beauty is different depending on anyone you talk to. I think that even if she was beautiful to Romeo that by the way she interacted with others Romeo’s subconscious inferred that she would be a match. The inference was partially the reason he picked her out of the crowd of people.
Re: Jenna Klemm
I have to agree with how Jenna states her opinion on this topic. I believe that every relationship or romance you are in takes time to develop. Now for some people this might take a few years while for others it may only take a few months. You might be attracted to a person at first sight but I think you fall in love as you get to know them. You might fall in love with their looks or personality but I think it is smart to get to know what the other person is really like. I like how Jenna points out how when Juliet and Romeo first talk to each other they might think that they really “love” each other, but they never even talked about each other’s interests or about their personal lives.
When you see someone you really like are you really in love with them? Or, are you simply just feeling that simple happiness of enjoying someone’s presence. I don’t know the answer, but I think it’s different for everyone to find out.
RE: Chelsea Bojewski:
I agree that Romeo’s “love” for Juliet is merely a physical attraction. He notices her at the party because of her physical appearance. Suddenly, he falls in “love” with a girl whom he has never spoken to before. I also agree that his past love towards Rosaline was not true love if he was able to forget about her so easily. He sobs for a short while and then he has fallen in a deep “love” with a new young girl. Like many others have said, I do not believe that people can fall in love at first sight. There has to be an emotional connection alongside the physical connection. I also agree with your point that love develops over time. Romeo and Juliet cannot be considered in love if they have known each other for less than one day.
Re: Sydney Lesseski: I agree with Sydney to an extent. I also feel that the love between Romeo and Juliet was mostly based on lust. Sydney made a great point about how love lasts forever and how he claimed he loved Rosaline but that did not last long. However, I feel that his love is greater for Juliet and it happened in short amount of time. Romeo feels so strongly about his love for Juliet that he is compelled to do great things for her, climb her balcony, marry her in secret and eventually kill himself over her. Romeo sees Juliet at the party and is immediately stricken for her, first from his lust, which is what causes him to love her. Just as Sydney says it takes a time for a true relationship to grow but it still does not debunk that Romeo’s feelings for Juliet are true love. Romeo’s actions later I think are what proves if his love at first sight is real
Upon first glance, Shakespeare seems to be writing a play about love at first sight and the tragedies of love. Romeo seems to fall in love with Juliet the instant that he sees her. I do not believe this to be a case of love at first sight, but simply a strong physical attraction.
In Act I, scene 5, Romeo sees Juliet for the first time. In lines 46 to 55, he describes Juliet’s beauty. In this scene, Romeo demonstrates his lust for Juliet. I do not think that he could possibly be in love with her after spotting her from across the room. The attraction that he feels for her is simply a sexual, lustful attraction. When one defends the notion that Romeo is in “love”, one often quotes the first conversation between Romeo and Juliet. They do say a sonnet together, suggesting that they are meant for each other, but I don’t think that they are indeed in love because of the way Shakespeare writes his play.
The way in which the two of them “fall in love” so quickly is almost laughable, and it leads me to conclude that Shakespeare is actually mocking teenagers in his play. Shakespeare has several characters, such as Friar Laurence, point out the fact that Romeo and Juliet have fallen in love awfully fast for people who just met. In some ways, the play is a satire making fun of youths who think they are in love, but in actuality are only physically attracted to each other.
In conclusion, I do not think Romeo and Juliet are truly in love, but they do think that they are. The two of them are simply physically attracted to each other. I do not believe in love at first sight, and I think that it takes a lot of time and devotion to become truly in love with someone. All of the reasons I have stated above lead me to conclude that Romeo is not in “love” with Juliet, and that love at first sight does not exist.
Re: 12klemmj
I agree with your bolg. I think to really love somebody, you need to get to know them first. Romeo might feel something for Juliet; it might be lust, it might be love. We don't know from him just looking at her. He seems to believe in love at first sight. Every pretty girl Romeo sees, he falls in love with them. I don't think Romeo understands what real love feels like. Only time will tell if they're truly in love or not. The have to get to know eachother. (Like you said.)
Romeo does go from being in “love” with Rosaline to being even more in “love” with Juliet the moment he sees her. I don’t think this is really love though. I don’t believe that love at first sight is possible. You can look at a person and think wow! They are really pretty or extremely handsome. I think that is what Romeo does here. He sees Juliet and immediately claims he is in love with her even though just a few moments before hand he was sullen and just feeling down because he could not have Rosaline. Upon seeing Juliet, Romeo automatically begins to say, “O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright! It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night As a rich jewel in an Ethiop’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.” Now, Romeo feels that because Juliet is the prettiest girl he has ever seen, and he wants her, then that must mean he loves her. Though Romeo hasn’t even talked to Juliet before, her beauty seems to be enough for him. I don’t think you can really fall in love with some the instant you see them. You have to take time to get to know them. You may end up loving what you see on the outside, but what if you hate who the person really is. They could be totally conceited and mean person, but still be very good looking. You need to take time with a person to figure it all out. Love grows stronger with time and effort. Romeo obviously used the word “love” quite lightly.
Re: Jeremy Brinling
Jeremy, I feel like you have made an excellent point when you say that the word ‘love’ has a very meaning today then it did many years ago. I feel like that today, the phrase ‘I love you’ is tossed around much more carelessly than it might have been years ago. Today we see instances where even 10-year olds claim to be ‘in love’ with someone, but they are really just growing up; it is only the effect of preteen hormones that makes them say this.
Personally, I feel that, while Romeo and Juliet are not experiencing lifelong love at first sight, they do feel a deeper connection than just lust. Romeo’s attraction to Juliet appears to be much stronger that his attraction to Rosaline, and we see that Juliet is at least trying to find a good relationship for herself when she tells her parents that she will not marry Paris.
RE: RJ
You brought up a great good point that I didn’t really think about. You can’t deny an immediate strong feeling towards someone, but I do not think that is love at first sight. I agree that you need time and experience with the other person to confirm your love for them. I do have to disagree with you by saying I don’t think Romeo experienced love at first sight for Juliet. It is pretty impressive that they can speak a sonnet together though. Initially Romeo is only describing her physical aspects and I think is just lusting after her. He hasn’t even spoken to her before. I think Romeo uses the word love a little too lightly. Just before the party, Romeo is still upset over his supposed “love” for the fair Rosaline that will never be returned in his favor. This is immediately changed when he sees Juliet. Love is not dropped from person to person so easily. For this reason I find it hard to believe that he really loves Juliet so spontaneously. If not for the case of his “love” of Rosaline beforehand, I might have said that Romeo truly loved Juliet.
re: Jeremy Brinling a.k.a. Jer Bear
I do agree that while today different services (you say you need to know each other's interests to truly be in love, but what real interests could Romeo and Juliet possibly have had?) and fake lust can gum up the works to true love, Romeo and Juliet legitimately experienced it. From the moment they started to converse with each other, their words flowed out as a flirtatious sonnet. Romeo even stated that he had never felt love until he laid his eyes upon Juliet. Juliet, who played shy and knew she should not give into her feelings so quickly, instantly realized that Romeo was her true love. Even though both lovers were extremely young and were somewhat in a daze (Romeo from his past infatuation, Rosaline, and Juliet, being so young and not knowing what she wants quite yet) both know their feelings for each other; love at firt sight.
At first glance, is it really possible to know whether or not you truly love someone? In Romeo’s case, his love for Juliet surpasses that which he has for Rosaline the moment he sees her enter the room. This rapid judgment can only be seen as physical attraction between two young, hormonal teenagers. However, after their first encounter and a full conversation, even Juliet is able to see that they are meant to be together. Although they come from feuding families, Romeo and Juliet are so sure of their love that they are willing to defy their parent’s wishes for one another. This can be read on page 59 lines 132-133 when Romeo says, “Is she a Capulet? Oh dear account! My life is in my foe’s debt,” and on page 61 lines 152-155 when Juliet says, “My only love sprung from my only hate! Too early seen unknown, and known too late! Prodigious birth of love it is to me That I must love a loathed enemy.” Although I believe that really getting to know someone is the only way to determine if you love them or not, Romeo and Juliet lived in a time when love wasn't necessarily a factor in marriage. Because of this, even their love is uncommon, and I find it acceptable that they grasp this extraordinary opportunity. In order to love someone, you must accept them inside and out, and I believe Romeo's initial feelings were simply lust for Juliet, but we were soon able to see that transform into young love. In Act 2 Scene 3 Friar Laurence says, “So soon forsaken? young men's love then lies Not truly in their hearts, but in their eyes.” This he says in response to the news of Romeo's love for Juliet, and the request that the Friar marry the two. The Friar sees their love as most of us do, too sudden and based on physical attraction. If you were in either Romeo's or Juliet's situation, what would you do?
RE: Jenna Klemm Post
I do agree to a point with Jenna except some boys have a longer memory than 5 minutes (it is more like 15 minutes). Kidding aside...I do not believe in love at first sight. First attraction is just that. Physical features and hormones play a major role in helping us find the right one. However, love is built upon many things. Love is something that we learn. We have to find out what we like and don’t like. It is like your favorite food. You may not have liked it at first. But before you know it you can’t get enough of it. Infatuation is like the food you loved at first taste and then you eat so much of it you can’t stand it.
I chose to comment on this question because I believe it to be one of the reasons that Romeo and Juliet comes off as being unrealistic to me. The fact that Romeo and Juliet proclaim their love for each other, after meeting each other once, is a little drastic. The reason Romeo proclaims his love is because he doesn’t know what the word means. The friar says to Romeo, “Thy love did read by rote, that could not spell.” Here the friar tells Romeo that he knows the word love, but doesn’t understand its full meaning. The reason Juliet proclaims her love is because she hasn’t experienced guys coming on to her yet and she feels that Romeo is her true love because he showed an attraction to her that no one else has.
Romeo jumps from girl to girl and proclaims that he feels “love” for each of them. At the party he sees Juliet once and immediately proclaims his love for her. Personally, I believe that Romeo isn’t experiencing love, but rather his hormones that are kicking in during his teen years. The simple fact that he has confessed love before Juliet with Rosaline makes me come to the conclusion that he doesn’t really understand what love is. Being as young as I am, I as well as Romeo still don’t understand what unconditional love is, but I have enough knowledge to know that you can’t proclaim love for another human being without completely knowing them at first. With saying this I express my belief that there is not love at first sight, but instead extreme attraction. Romeo, when he first laid eyes on Juliet, experienced this sense of extreme attraction. Some clues indicate that Shakespeare wanted the viewer/reader to see Romeo as this love confused character. The mentioning of him “loving” Rosaline shows that Romeo truly doesn’t understand the meaning of the word. Another example is in the second act the Chorus states that, “Now Romeo is beloved and loves again, alike bewitched by the charm of looks.” Here the Chorus indicates that he also believes that Romeo is driven by an attraction rather than true love. Finally when Romeo is talking to the friar about Juliet the friar tells Romeo “Young men’s love then lies not truly with their hearts, but with their eyes.” Along with the Chorus, the friar sees through Romeo’s so called “love.”
Over all I believe that Romeo and Juliet don’t express love, but rather and extreme attraction that is new to both of them. I find it hard to believe that two teenagers, after meeting one time, can fall in love. To be convinced that they were truly in love, the story should have had a longer timeline where the “love” between the two youths could grow into something real.
I had very mixed emotions about this topic I think that it is very possible to experience love at first sight. I don’t think that you should assume that it is love until you take the relationship a little further, but the love at first sight might trigger the start of the relationship. In the Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet Romeo feels that he has fallen in love with Rosaline. The description of Romeo’s love for Rosaline sounds like it is just infatuation. He loves her only because of her looks and her beauty. He may think that he loves her but it is really just a thought in his head resulting from his physical attraction.
I think his love for Juliet is far stronger than it was for Rosaline. After reading the passage of Romeo outside of Juliet’s window on pages 42 and 43 Romeo really had great feelings for her. They talked of their love for each other. Not only did Romeo love her at first sight, but Juliet loved him as well. Also I think for a couple to get married they must truly love each other. If they did not I think that they would at least take time before getting married right away. So Juliet and Romeo must have a least some feelings of love for each other to even think about getting married.
Another part of me feels that a little lust may exist in this relationship. As soon as Romeo lays eyes on Juliet he goes to talk to her. Then one of the first things he asks her while they are behind the curtain when the young boy is singing is for a kiss. Juliet didn’t want to partake in this action but Romeo importuned and pleaded for a kiss from Juliet. I think this does show some signs that Romeo may only be in for the physical action. I think as we read a little bit more it will be easier to tell if they are truly in love
Re: Jeremy
Jeremy I liked the way you interpreted it. You said that Romeo loves Juliet before he has even spoken to her. This I do believe is a definite characteristic of lust or infatuation. I think that he does possess a little bit of lust for Juliet, but at the same time he may truly love her. After all he puts aside the fact that the Montagues and the Capulets are enemies. If he really didn’t love Juliet would he go for a mortal enemy of his family? I don’t think he would take the risk of disappointing his family. It is confusing to me because the situation shows distinct qualities of infatuation at the same time that it does for love at first sight.
Re: RJ
Also I agree with RJ in that he describes many ways that Romeo talks of Juliet’s beauty. I think Romeo is trying to convey how much heart he puts into what he says of Juliet. It’s kind of hard to say that you truly love someone without mentioning something that could be portrayed as being infatuation. I think we as the audience have gotten lost in the fact that people can talk about a women that they love in such a way that Romeo does and just because he is talking about her physical features means he doesn't love her. It’s not like he’s going to say your hair is ugly and you smell, but I still love you anyway. My point is that just because he is talking about her beauty doesn't mean it still can't be love.
Love is a complicated thing. Romeo, a young man who is growing in maturity and wisdom is easily blinded by the beauty of Juliet. His love for Rosaline was obviously all in her beauty, as we see him drop out of favor with her very easily. I think his love for Juliet is more sincere just by the fervor he displays in her presence. However, this is only possible from the physical attraction she has on him. He says that she “doth teach the torches to burn brighter,” he’s saying that she lights up the room with her elegance, and her charm. I think his love goes from physical attraction to a more personal appreciation very quickly as he first speaks to her. He doesn’t really know what love is, but he hopes that he can explore this notion with his fair lady, Juliet. Romeo doesn’t find love at first sight; rather, he never gets a second look. He becomes so infatuated with Juliet that that’s all he can think about from the moment he first sees her. Personally I think love at first sight is possible, but not likely. It is possible for someone to see someone and realize “Wow! This person is amazing. I want to spend the rest of my life with them!” but more often we are just attracted by the lust we have for that person. I think Romeo and Juliet’s love was true love at first sight, but they were foolish about it and could have dealt with their relationship in a more responsible manner.h
Re: Holly's Comment
Holly brought up a great point. To love someone, you have to love their whole being. Although a physical appearance can make you become attracted to a person, you need to get to know them. Lust is a good word to use describing Romeo’s feelings. Romeo is a young, teenage boy whose hormones are raging. Most boys that age are the same way. Once Romeo and Juliet start to know each other, then love may develop.
Having read and observed Romeo and Juliet’s story thus far, I feel that it is not love that Romeo is feeling, but rather lust and physical attraction, as Alison stated previously. Page 53, Act 1, scene 5 Romeo lays his young eyes on Juliet for the first time and is overwhelmed with ‘love’. Not a word did they speak to each other, nor had Juliet even laid her eyes upon his when he had decided that he was in love with her. I find this rather odd and implausible because I do not personally believe in love at first sight. In order to truly love someone, as Romeo so readily says he loves Juliet, I believe that you must know not only what he or she appears to be, but also what he or she is entirely, inside and out. Romeo would not have known Juliet in this way at first sight, nor would he have by speaking with her for the few times he had in the first act. However, I do believe in physical attraction and lust in the beginning stages of knowing a person, it’s human nature. Juliet is obviously gorgeous and Romeo is a young, hormone raged teen boy, so to me it makes more sense that he is feeling lust at first rather than love at first sight.
I concur with you when you stated that a mother is not necessarily someone who gives birth to you, though that is a form of a mother, but is also someone who raises and cares for you. The nurse is truly more of a mother to Juliet than Lady Capulet could possibly be, having offered her what sees to be friendship, love and guidance. Juliet appears to be quite close with the nurse as well, going to her for advice and favors, such as finding Romeo and conversing with him for her. The fact that the nurse is the one who breast-fed Juliet also plays a role in their close, mother daughter like relationship due to the hormones that Juliet took in while feeding, which is key to mother-daughter closeness. Lady Capulet is quite distant from Juliet in the sense of being a mother, and I believe this could be in part that Lady Capulet had Juliet at such a young age and maybe felt almost robbed of her child hood because of Juliet. This could cause some distance in their relationship because the mother did not have the chance to grow up in the stage Juliet is in because she did have her so young. Hence, Lady Capulet does not know how to relate to her since she never experienced thoroughly that part of her life.
Re: Christina's Response
I agree with Christina that Romeo and Juliet’s attraction is more than just lust, that it is strong enough to pull her toward marriage. However, I also think that she could have chosen Romeo over Paris because Romeo seemed like the better, more attractive option. Juliet had not been exposed to many men, so she probably had never been seduced by one. Romeo is most likely one of the first boys her age she has met and he was attractive, so one of the things Juliet felt toward him is most definitely lust, but I do think she felt something greater toward him when she met him. As for Romeo, the thing that pulls him toward Juliet is lust, but as his infatuation grows, it is enough to make him forget about Rosaline and he claims he has never loved before seeing Juliet. Romeo’s initial attraction to Juliet is definitely only skin deep, but I think as the plot continues, he really does fall in love.
Re: Carl Nerthling: Carl, Oh Carl. Where art thou Carl! Carl made a great point that there is a fine line between love and lust, and I fully agree that Shakespeare realized this and decided to exploit it in this play. Shakespeare writes that Romeo and Juliet fall for each other so quickly and then jump right into marriage. Shakespeare even addresses the fact that they are young teenagers who don’t quite know what love is. The Friar tells Romeo that he was just in love with Rosaline and he should be careful with a new girl, especially a Capulet. Carl refers to this important fact that Romeo falls for Juliet without even knowing her name, and the fact that she is an enemy of his. However I see this example as meaning for another view. Carl alludes that this enmity between the families makes the relationship between the two of them weaker, I beg the converse. The fact that Romeo’s love is a Capulet makes him want her more and shows that he loves her even through the feud.
RE: RE: Alison:
To a certain extent, both Alison and Dan are correct. Romeo has never been able to experience true love with a woman, so every beautiful girl he sees, he believes he loves her. The man can never seem to keep his interests on one certain girl, he jumps between Rosaline to Juliet with literally ten seconds in between the two. It just seems that true love can’t happen like that. You would need to stay faithful to one person.
Love is something that is very easily confused with infatuation. Of course I believe in love at first sight; however I do not think Romeo knows exactly what love really is. Some people take their entire life to know just what love is and what it feels like to be in love. In Romeo’s case though, it seems as if it just a physical attraction to Juliet. Romeo loved Rosaline and then loved Juliet the instant he saw her. A person, in my opinion, a person does not fall out of love. It is a beautiful thing that takes time for it to grow; it does not happen instantly or even over night. In the case of Romeo and Juliet, I believe it is just a physical attraction. When Romeo and Juliet first meet they do not even know each other's names. In my opinion it takes time to get to know someone, and time to learn to love them. Love isn't something that just happens, it takes time to become something bigger than what it started as. Over time this feeling of infatuation with each other may grow into something bigger, maybe even true love.
“So soon forsaken? Young men’s love then lies
Not Truly in their hearts, but in their eyes.”
-Friar Laurence
Act II, scene 3
Romeo’s relationship with Juliet is pure infatuation. Romeo goes from liking Rosaline to liking Juliet in a second. He even describes her beauty and not her personality. He needs to get to know her first and then ask her to marry him because looks are deceiving. She could be very beautiful but very unkind. If he marries her and ends up not liking her personality, they would both end up unhappy. Romeo sees someone, thinks they’re pretty, and thinks he’s in love. That is not the way love works. Love is when you’re willing to die for someone else and when you’re willing to go through anything to be with them. At this point in the story, Romeo obviously doesn’t feel that way about Juliet.
Re: Alex
I agree with Alex’s point of view that this play is not about love. It is more about lust. As he said, love takes time and has to be worked on by both members of the relationship for it to be successful. Though, I would not go as far as to say that Shakespeare was trying to mock the lust teenagers had for each other at that time. I think he was being completely serious in what he was writing. Marriage then was common around Romeo and Juliet’s ages, so I do not think it would be astounding for the audience to see them marry. Also, I think that the main point of the play was to be the first tragedy of the time, given the ending. Its purpose was not to be a satirical comedy but to be a meaningful, significant play. Shakespeare does prove his sense of humor throughout the story. For example in Scene 1, he talks about how the men had to walk close to the wall in order to protect the ladies from waste poured from the windows. These small anecdotes are meant to be small additions to the play so the audience will continue to pay attention to the real theme of the story. Shakespeare’s intent was not to make these the main focus of the play, but minute interludes in it. Shakespeare wanted to focus on the attraction Romeo and Juliet felt for each other in a serious way. Alex has made an interesting point concerning Shakespeare’s intentions with his play, but I do not think Shakespeare’s intentions were purely comedic.
Re: Jenny Kanarskaya's comment:
I like this post Jen, and I agree with you. I mean don't you start talking to someone because of their looks? You don't like their personality at first because you don't necessarily know them. So the first thing that draws your attention is their attractiveness. After you get to know them though, I believe you can fall in love. But I'm saying the first reason you talk to them is because of lust. Like Jen said, this is what happened to Romeo. He fell in love with Juliet's beauty. It wasn't love but pure infatuation. I mean Romeo didn't even know anything about Juliet when they first met. All he was caring about was her appearance. The first conversation they had was about kissing. He wanted to start a physical relationship with her before he even got to know her. I agree with you Jen! It is definitely lust! They could have fallen in true love if they got to know each other first, but I feel they started their relationship too fast and in the wrong way.
Jeremy, I definitely understand what you're saying. Romeo first thinks he is in love with Rosaline when he sees how beautiful she is. Then when he sees Juliet, he is again in love with beauty. What I took out of your comment Jeremy is that Romeo pretty much got lucky when he picked Juliet for looks. I also agree on your idea of "young love" because they are so wrapped up in just finding that special someone to say you're in love.
In my personal opinion I feel that Romeo is just physically attracted to Rosaline and Juliet. I don’t believe that you can truly love someone just by setting eyes on them. In order to be in-love with someone I feel that you have to love everything about that person whether it’s good or bad, and I don’t think that you can know that just based on physical appearance. Romeo was in love with Rosaline just as he claims to be in love with Juliet. Who is to say that Romeo wouldn’t have married Rosaline if she didn’t decide to become a Nun. Juliet could just be a rebound to Romeo. Although I don’t think that you can love someone at first sight, I do think that physical attraction plays a part in loving someone. If you aren’t physically attracted to someone in a relationship, it may be hard to see past that and truly fall in love. Even Friar Lawrence thinks that Romeo is just physically attracted when he says: " Is Rosaline, that thou dist love so dear, so soon forsaken? Young men’s love then lies not truly in their hearts, but in their eyes."
Re: Alison
I have to agree with what Alison said, I don't believe in love at first sight. I think Romeo is confused about his feelings for Juliet. At first he seemed only to be attracted to her beauty because that is all he spoke off when he saw her. He declared that he loved her even before their first conversation, which i find impossible. Romeo may have been physically attracted to Juliet but i don't believe that he truly loved her.
Re: Carlyn
Carlyn I agree with you when you say that Romeo is just a love sick puppy. You cannot be in love with someone because of the way that they look. You mentioned how at first he was so deeply in love with Rosaline, but as soon as he saw Juliet he was in love with her. I also agree with in order to love someone you must really know them. Romeo and Juliet obviously do not know each other so they cannot be in love. The only way that Romeo describes the girls who he is love with is by their physical beauty. True love is not about looks but a person’s character.
Re: Laura: I agree with you Laura when you say that often times youths can confuse infatuation with love. Infatuation is a strong emotion, and many times can be mistaken for love at first sight. Romeo believed himself to be in love with Rosaline, but his emotions for her simply disappear when he lays eyes on Juliet. People cannot simply fall in and out of love on a whim, things like that take time to mature and develop. The feelings that Romeo has for Juliet may in time develop into love, but for the moment at least, he is just a childish fool who speaks of love that he does not have.
Re: RJ:
I agree with what you said about expirience with a person being necessary. I believe the attraction between Romeo and Juliet was just based on looks. The initial attraction that was based off of Romeo falling in love with Juliet's beauty is the basis of the relationship, but not necessarily a bad thing. Juliet's looks attracted Romeo and from that they can get to know each other and build a relationship through expirences.
Re: Derek Kruse
I agree with you until the point about them being in love at first sight. In my opinion, it is not true love at first sight. My reason for this is that being the young age that the two of them are, I do not see how they could possibly know what it feels like to be in love. I do agree, however though that his feelings toward her change as he beings to talk to her. Romeo is a boy that seems as if he doesn’t know exactly what he wants or the way he is feeling. He is feeling something; he may think it is love when it is most likely lust. I’m not saying I don’t believe in love at first sight, because I do, just in this case it is highly unlikely that that was what it was.
RE: Jer Bear
Jeremy’s post is an excellent mix of his own opinion, backing from the book, and even includes an awesome song by The Darkness. I agree with his opinion and his ideas about Romeo and Juliet’s love. Being in love brings Romeo large amounts of joy; however, as Jeremy said, he seems to first fall in love with Juliet’s beauty rather than her personality. Does Romeo and Juliet’s love fit the bill? It seems that Romeo believes this. Before he even learns Juliet’s name, family, or anything more about her, he declares that he is in love and that they are meant to be together. I agree with Jeremy when he says that it is necessary to get to know a person before loving into such deep a love, and that love is a mystery to all people. Maybe Romeo and Juliet were truly soul mates and were truly destined to be together. How is it possible to know? I love that Jeremy combines his opinions with a quote of I Believe In a Thing Called Love. It is a great song and in some cases can accurately describe how a person in love is feeling, perhaps Romeo felt this way. Even if Romeo and Juliet did rush into their love, maybe it was true and they were meant to be together. Due to their untimely deaths we would never be able to know, but who are we to judge their feelings?
RE: Nick O’dell Comment: I agree with Nick’s comment about how Romeo does not look past the looks of the girl he falls in love with. He had not even met Juliet, but had already expressed his love to her. Although, I cannot blame him because of how hold he is. With age comes knowledge and experience about love. He is still young and does not know that in order to really to build a strong and secure relationship you must get to know your partner and build a strong friendship first, Nick’s comment that stated, “Romeo is craving beauty in a woman, and unwisely believes he is in love,” is a very strong comment in my opinion. It sums up Romeo’s character and the way he acts. Overall, Nick’s paragraph was very well written and I agreed with everything he had to say.
RE:Chelsea Bowjeski
I have to disagree with Chelsea she say that she doesn't believe in love at first sight and that it is usually confused with lust. teenage boys have insane amounts of hormones and never have an idea what their doing. Some people call it love but to a teenage boy it is love.
RE: Joe Kocan
Joe, I agree with several of your points. You mentioned the fact that Romeo does not know what love is, that he is simply a confused, hormone-filled teenager. I totally agree with you on this point; but who really knows what love is? Love is one of the greatest mysteries of the human psyche. No one can exactly tell you what it means to be in love with someone. While I agree that Romeo was most likely acting on sheer lust when he stated that he loved Juliet upon first seeing her, who is to say that after that first conversation, the two teens weren’t in love with one another? While many peoples’ love takes time to grow, there are certainly couples who have seen each other once, had one conversation, fallen in love, gotten married and lived together happily ever after. To anyone who claims that love at first sight does not exist, I challenge you to tell me what exactly love is. Who is to say that love at first sight does exist? Who is to say that it doesn’t? It all depends on your opinions on love and, most of all, on your personal experience. While I see many responses denying the existence of love at first sight, a group of people that have been married for thirty years or more might have extraordinarily different responses. While no one knows exactly what Romeo was thinking when he first laid eyes on Juliet, I believe that he did indeed fall in love with her at first sight.
RE: Taylor
I don't really agree with what you are saying, but I see where you are coming from. I don't see how the "love" that he was going through with Rosaline is any different then the "love" he was going through with Juliet at first. You make a point to say that he said “Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight! For I ne’er saw true beauty till this night,” but as everyone knows, Romeo is known for sweet talking the ladies. Romeo probably said similiar things about Rosaline when he first met her as well.
The “love” that Romeo is feeling is simply lust, and not love at first sight. Romeo has a strong physical attraction for Rosaline, and an even stronger attraction for Juliet. However, he really does not know either girl very well, and could not possibly “love” them already. For example in the text, Romeo recites the line, “For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night" (when he first sees Juliet). He displays his lust for her, saying he had never seen someone so beautiful before Juliet. Yet just before he met Juliet, he believed that he was deeply in love with Rosaline. Romeo does not show any real signs that he truly “loves” these girls. Instead, he deeply admires their beauty. Romeo is quite naïve, he does not understand what real love is, at this point in his life. Personally, I do not believe in love at first sight. I think you must get to know someone very well before you can determine whether you actually love another person. Anyone could easily have false first impressions about another person. You may end up growing to love a person, or dislike them, despite your initial thoughts on someone. True love requires time and commitment, something that Romeo did not go through.
Re: Bekah Pratt
I really like how you incorporated the four levels of love into your response Rebe. I personally agree with how you said that, although love at first sight is possible, generally what a person first feels upon seeing a person is simply lust. Still, to make things more interesting, I feel the need to challenge you. What if it is possible for you to love more than one person with your whole heart? Although Romeo says that he no longer loves Rosaline, what if in reality he still loves her, but the excitement of falling in love at first sight again is enough to temporarily blind his judgment? A wise man once told me that when you are really in love with your spouse, it seems as if every ounce of your love is being directed towards that one person. Then you have your first child. Your love for your child is just as strong as it is for your significant other. He then told me that the amount of love you have changes over time. With the next child your heart will then love three people with all of your love, meaning the quantity of love you expel is actually increasing. It’s not like a pie that you divide into smaller pieces; it’s closer to a small pond that keeps flooding over, until eventually a lake stands where the pond once stood before it. I’m just throwing out there the possibility that maybe Romeo’s ability to love is increasing as well.
RE: Holly O'Brian
I agree with Holly. There is no way you can just look a someone and decide that your in love with them. It takes time and effort from both people. Romeo and Juliet’s relationship will most likely not last and both of them are probably going to end up unhappy. Both of them are young and naïve. They have no idea what love really is. But does anyone? They took a big step very quickly when they got married. They didn’t even have a plan after the marriage was performed. They should have told their parents or at least made a plan for after they got married. It was a very irresponsible thing to do and shows their level of maturity is low.
Re: Jeremy’s comment:
I couldn’t have said it better. I too believe that there could possibly be love at first sight. Who am I to say that it is not possible? However I am also a very factual person and like to be sure of things. I have never had a girlfriend before but in the future I know I would not be like Romeo and get married the day after I met a girl I liked. For me personally, I would like to be sure that she is the one that I would want to spend the rest of my life with. I would want to date her for a wile to get to know her and be sure that she is the one.
I really like how you incorporated a part of the lyrics to a song that says just the message that you are trying to convey. There are so many songs that deal about love and relationships and I think that it was a great idea to include one.
RE: The general consensus
Throughout this discussion, it is very apparent that the accepted belief is that the love between Romeo and Juliet is merely physical attraction. However, is it improbable that both Romeo and Juliet glance at each other, feel a strong attraction or “love” between them, and, upon engaging in a truly uncanny verbal exchange, know that something truly unique exists between the two of them? Besides, to Romeo and Juliet, love at first sight may be merely seeing the most beautiful girl or most handsome boy (physical attraction). Love is very different to different people. Perhaps the children’s initial love is simply augmented and deepened by their discourse, supporting the belief that love at first sight is possible.
Re: Chelsea’s Comment:
I like the way that Chelsea answered this question. It is very common for people to just be infatuated with someone and jump to the conclusion they are in love with that person. Romeo had only seen Juliet and already vowed his love for her, without knowing the simplest thing about her such as her name. I like the comment that Chelsea made, “Romeo loves the aspect of falling in love so much, the first girl he has any strong attraction to he believes she’s his one and only.” This really captures Romeo in regard to love. Romeo loves the idea of being in love so much that it has taken him away from reality. He may not know what love is, but any feeling that he thinks is love, he is going to assume that it is love. Romeo sees a girl that he is really attracted to and suddenly his eyes have never seen true beauty. He lets his hormones take control of him. Romeo’s case of being in love with Rosaline and then suddenly being in love with Juliet is just physical attraction. Love may grow between as they spend time together, but at the first moment he saw Juliet, Romeo could not have been truly in love with her.
Re: Alison Jelicks and R.J.:
While both Alison and R.J. make very valid points on whether or not love at first sight is an accurate portrayal of true love, I believe it can be both. Feeling a strong attraction to a stranger can happen to anyone, and whether it is lust or love is debatable, but in the case of Romeo and Juliet, I believe that Romeo truly thinks that he is in love with Juliet. While he is attracted to her sexually, he also loves who she is, or at least his perception of her. In that aspect, it is love at first sight. What Romeo lacks, however, is experience. His deep infatuation with Rosaline was not real love, but because he had no experience to back it up, he thought it was true. Being rejected by an aspiring nun doesn't given much in the way of exposure to a substantial relationship, but Romeo has a little background to realize his feelings toward Juliet are much deeper than to Rosaline. Juliet with no experience at all thinks she is in love with Romeo too. To Romeo and Juliet, their love is true, like R.J. said, but for those with more knowledge on the subject of love, it may appear to be lust or puppy love, as Alison expressed.
P.S. I love the Les Mis reference by R.J.
This encounter is lust at first sight for Romeo that happens to develop into a perfect match. Obviously, Romeo sees that Juliet is prettier than Rosaline, “O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright! – It seems she hangs upon cheek of night – As rich as a jewel in an Ethiop’s ear – Beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear,” (40) the so he makes a bold move to engage at the party, which leads into a quick, but very meaningful conversation. This seems like a one in a million chance, Romeo sees a pretty girl and it just happens to be a true, true love. Love at first sight is impossible because you can’t love someone just by their looks. In that case you would be “in love” with their physical attributes, there is no way to know how they think or what they are interested in. I think that the following conversation at Juliet’s balcony shows that they definitely have compatibility.
Re: Sydney Sullivan: I totally agree that Romeo tosses the word "love" around way to easily, however I think that due to how society was like back then, "love" back then could have consisted of a combination of good looks and social rank. Also because men and women back in the day didn't share many common interests such as sports or music, there wasn't much that they could really share. Therefore maybe a "true love" for Romeo is a pretty girl who he can get along with.
Re: RJ's comment: Very well said. I liked when you said that a boy saying such heartfelt things about a girl isn't merely physical attraction, but it goes much deeper than that. RJ elaborated on the fact that Romeo is just a normal teenage boy, but a boy that is in love. I liked that because he proved that you can love at any age, and when it is true love you will know.
Re: Carl:
I really like your comment about the general discusson. Like you said, the general belief here is that the love between Romeo and Juliet is only physical attraction. However, if it was physical attraction, they would not feel a such a strong connection and instant bond like they did. For if it was lust, the connection would not have been there and we wouldn't be able to tell just by reading the words on the page.
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