It’s said that true love is unwavering devotion to your partner which could never be broken, however it seems as if Romeo and Juliet’s love wasn’t as strong as steel, yet as brittle as glass. In Romeo and Juliet, Romeo created his own downfall, leading to the death of himself and the one he ‘loved.’ His downfall was due to his lust and uncertainty: he became obsessed far too quickly with certain female characters. Firstly, if Romeo was obsessed with Rosaline, then his feelings for Juliet could not be true love. Secondly, Romeo’s obsession blinded him and Juliet couldn’t even recognize Romeo’s voice yet also claimed she would rather die than marry someone else beside Romeo. Lastly, Romeo had become completely corrupted by his emotions and can’t control his own actions, killing meaninglessly.
Romeo was just obsessed with another girl Rosaline and said he could never get over her. However Romeo quickly falls in love as soon as he meets someone new, which shows his lack of love. “for I ne’er saw true beauty till this night” (1,5,50) Romeo states that he had never seen true beauty untill that day, despite the fact that mere moments ago he was expressing he’d never be able to get over Rosaline and that she was his one love. “Forswear it, sight!” (1,5,49) This phrase is key to our perspective on Romeo because it expresses that Romeo hasn't ever been in love and is engulfed in lust. He was obsessed with one female, then said his eyes had been lying to him and that he’d never actually seen true beauty untill now. Though in reality he’s just an uncertain teenager. “So shows a snowy dove trooping with crows” (1,5,45) Shakespeare’s use of a simile furthermore displays Romeo's lust and expresses that she is like a dove in the middle of a flock of crows. Before these moments, soon after they began to dance at the party, Shakespere makes Romeo talk strictly to his serving man and asks “What lady is that which doth enrich the hand Of yonder knight?” (1,5,38) This is interesting because during this moment he was still in fact ‘obsessed’ with Rosaline but with one look at another woman he instantly forgets about Rosaline. “The most common interpretation of the myth is that it exposes a conflict between lovers’ individual desires.”(Kottman, Paul A. “Defying the Stars: Tragic Love as the Struggle for Freedom in ‘Romeo and Juliet.’) This quotation is very interesting as it was from a reliable source published by Oxford University Press and is in Shakespeare Quarterly. This quotation discusses that these ‘lovers’ care more about their desires rather than each other which supports the fact that Romeo was filled with lust rather than love. Although Romeo’s lust might be affecting his decision, one could say that it’s just his indecisiveness which is the problem and could also explain why he fell for Juliet right as he saw her.
Romeo’s obsession with Juliet blinded him that even after Juliet didn’t even know who he was he continued to go after her. “It is the east, and Juliet is the sun,” (2,2,3) and after Romeo's monologue, Juliet asks: “What man art thou that.” (2,2,52) He gives Juliet a large speech however even after this Juliet didn’t recognize him asking who he is. Instead of giving up Romeo continued to pursue proving his obsession. “I’ll no longer be a Capulet” (2,2,36). Juliet states that she would even give up her name just to be with him. In this moment Juliet shows a large amount of unloyalty towards her family, however more importantly we’re shown how quickly she can make massive decisions, similarly to Romeo. “O, speak again, bright angel!” The use of a metaphor when Romeo calls Juliet a bright angel insinuates that she gives off a holy presence. Romeo has just met her and doesn’t know anything about her yet describes her in a religious way. Shakespere could have done this purposely to make fun of the Catholic or to promote the Protestant to make his viewers like his theatrics. “As is a winged messenger of heaven” (2,2,38) Romeo continued to depict Juliet as being angel-like, however Shakespeare made Romeo speak aside which means no one except the audience can hear him. Shakespeare did this to show Romeo’s anxiety because he’s new to love and was too nervous to say it to Juliet. This furthermore adds to his lack of love because he doesn’t truly know what he’s doing and he's actually just an inexperienced kid. Goldberg gives evidence to support his opinions and this work was also published by The Antioch Review which has been publishing since 1940 which shows their knowledge. "Among Shakespeare's plays, Romeo and Juliet is one of the most popular, most beloved-and misunderstood. The misunderstanding, I suspect, emerges from a confusion between the subject of romantic love and Shakespere’s nonromantic handling of that subject." (Goldberg, The Multiple Masks of Romeo: Toward a New Shakespearean Production, 405)
This article discusses that the love Shakespere depicts isn’t actually romantic love and is non romantic, which proves Romeo’s not in love but rather enveloped in lust. Goldberg could have been referencing that Romeo and Juliet’s love was actually platonic and that they did actually feel strongly for each other.
Romeo’s lust and uncertainty has begun to completely take him over and he can no longer control himself and his emotion bringing him to his end. “Oh, I am slain! If thou be merciful. Open the tomb. Lay me with Juliet'' (5,3,73) Romeo has come to his breaking point and is now even willing to take another's life just to lay dead next to his late wife. Romeo has gone from a man who couldn’t even get out of bed to fight for his family, to: getting his friend killed, getting revenge for his friend, and even killing the man who thought was going to be Juliet’s husband. “Or am I mad”(5,3,80). This phrase is very important to Romeo’s downfall because it shows that Romeo even questions whether or not he’s gone mad, which is Romeo's anagnorisis and Aristotle states that every tragic character has one. “For here lies Juliet, and her beauty makes This vault a feasting presence full of light.” Romeo states that Juleit’s beauty fills the room with a presence filled with light which reinforces that he believes that Juliet emanates a holy presence. One could even make the observation that it was because he was so close to his death that he felt he was already going to heaven and Juleit was the angel greeting him which shows he was at the end of his downfall. “Romeo opens the tomb to reveal Juliet inside.”(5,1) This stage direction is so important because he had just killed Paris as if he was in a viking’s frenzy and then continued to open Juliet’s grave. However this isn’t just Juliet's grave, he was unable to control himself and it’s now also Romeo’s, it symbolizes the end of romeo and the end of his downfall. “Not love but lust” (Lemay, Star-Crossed Something-or-Others, 17) This piece was published by Harvard Review which is a well known and very trustworthy source. This author doesn’t bais and they also speak from experience with how they teach their kids and how to further engage them. The author states that it wasn’t true love and it was actually Romeo's lust which is exactly what brought him to his demise. Lemay could’ve been referencing both Juliet and Romeo lust rather than just his own which could mean that Romeo’s lust wasn’t just to blame.
Romeo created his own downfall leading to the death of himself and the one he ‘loved.’ His downfall was due to his lust and uncertainty, he became obsessed far too quickly with certain female characters. Romeo expressed that he’d never seen true beauty till today despite the fact that mere moments ago he was complaining he’d never be able to get over Rosaline and that she was his one love. Juliet didn’t recognize him asking who he was. Instead of giving up Romeo continued to pursue proving his obsession. Once Romeo had come to his breaking point and is now even willing to take another's life just to lay dead next to his late wife. Is this truly love? Or is this just the lust of a boy thinking without his head, and something rather different.
Work Cited
Goldberg, M. A. “The Multiple Masks of Romeo: Toward a New Shakespearean Production.” The Antioch Review, vol. 28, no. 4, 1968, pp. 405–26. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/4610951. Accessed 6 June 2023.
Kottman, Paul A. “Defying the Stars: Tragic Love as the Struggle for Freedom in ‘Romeo and Juliet.’” Shakespeare Quarterly, vol. 63, no. 1, 2012, pp. 1–38. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/41350167. Accessed 5 June 2023.
Lemay, Eric. “Star-Crossed Something-or-Others.” Harvard Review, no. 33, 2007, pp. 17–29. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/40346736. Accessed 5 June 2023.
Shakespeare, William. “Romeo and Juliet: No Fear Translation.” SparkNotes, 2003, https://www.sparknotes.com/nofear/shakespeare/romeojuliet/. Accessed 18 June 2023.
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