Romeo Did Not Love Juliet

[Romiet]

I'm sorry to burst people's bubble, but I don't buy for a second he really loved her. He was obsessed with her. He was obsessed with Rosaline before that, and I imagine with several other girls before that.

People always say how Romeo's love for Juliet was different from that with Rosaline, but I don't see it. Think of it this way, if Rosaline HAD accepted him, would he have married her? If they went through all the problems he and Juliet did, would he had done the same. I think he would.

On the other hand, had Juliet rejected him like Rosaline had, what would have happened. He would become depressed about it like he did Rosaline, until he saw some other girl he liked and gone after her. I don't believe in love at first sight, and these two never really had a single conversation except exchanging some beautiful words to one another. But that isn't love. If either of them had been intelligent enough to realize that they didn't have to kill themselves just because their spouse was dead, they would have ended up together.

This play sends a really bad message to young people.

[mir]

hm, i don't know. they made each other happy, they died together - the way they wanted, which not many people get to do - and while i agree that he may not have loved her truly, they loved as much as any two people can - even if i don't beleive in anything but contentedness beyond the first passion. and it certainly doesn't send a "bad message to young people" - what kind of message do you think it sends?! do you think kids aren't old enough to know about love, or at least what attempts to portray love? when do you think they are?

[genoveva]

This play sends a really bad message to young people.

This is a really interesting perspective on the play that I don't think I've ever considered. I'll have to read the play again with this in mind. I do agree that it is a bad message to send to young people (or anyone) to commit suicide over a loved one (or perhaps, someone you are obsessed with).

Do I think it should be banned or censored from schools? No.

It is interesting that there are two opposite views of this type of "love". A woman can love a man so much that she can't live without him. In one way, this is very respectable. She is so devoted! (In India, it is not uncommon for the wife to throw herself on the funeral pire when her husband has passed away.) On the otherhand, how weak and codependant it is for someone to give their own life over another. This example is also found in Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon. Is it an admirable trait or is it a despicable, weak action?

[ElizabethSewall]

Romiet your post made me sad... Not for me but for you because I, at least, have my beliefs.
As for the message to young people I definitely don't agree. I'm 20 and don't consider myself as an adult. Romeo and Juliet guided me, they were here when no one else was. Once I have loved so much I could have died for my beloved in the same situation. It turned out I was wrong since he was not Romeo at all. But no matter what, I don't want to live a love if it doesn't bring me strong rushes of feelings, as Romeo and Juliet must have felt. Even illusion sounds better than that...
Excuse me, I probably don't make any sense tonight... Anyway, I want to believe, above all.

[RobinHood3000]

It's true that Romeo may not have truly loved Juliet by today's standards, but you should note that by Elizabethan standards, there was relatively little distinction between love and lust. Thusly, while had the two of them met and courted in real life, it would probably be only lust, within the context of the play it can be taken as love.

There's also the fact that whenever Romeo speaks of Rosaline, he praises her with statements, whereas when he speaks of Juliet, he praises her with superlatives. Juliet isn't AS pretty as something else (as Rosaline is); she puts it to shame.

[Xamonas Chegwe]

Just lust? So Romeo killed himself because he thought he wasn't going to get a shag?! Pull the other one Robin!

[tn2743]

"This play sends a really bad message to young people." - Romiet

You are a brave man/woman Romiet, criticising one of Shakespeare's best works with this ruthless conclusion having only provided us with about 200 words of explanation. I will accept the argument you put down, but it needs heavy reconsideration. Maybe Romeo was in love with Rosaline. Why can't he fall in love more than once? He is just a man who is capable of love. If he is capable of loving Juliet, then he must have had that capacity before he met her. The fact that he was in love before only fortifies my belief in his love for Juliet. Are you saying that Romeo's former feelings for Rosaline voids his love for Juliet? What nonsense!

They are very unfortunate young people, who fell in love when society does not allow their love. We are all governed by circumstance, aren't we? Maybe they are young and stupid, but their stupidity is given by their age. The stupidity of the society in which they were, however, is caused by so many people who had no idea what love means. If Romeo and Juliet were so naive and stupid to chose love over life, then why did their deaths bring peace to the world that forced them to die?

Anyway, whatever the message might be, teaching Shakespeare in school can only be benefitial.

Please read the play again Romiet.

PS. You didn't burst anyone's bubble. We're all believers in here

[Mace Sin]

I agree with Romiet. I think that Shakespeare is simply a genius, and me believing that Romeo did not really love Juliet does not change my opinion at all. It's a brilliant play, but we must not hold all things that are conspicuously, and too easily, seen to be true.

I've been taught through the course of this play that hasty youth is theme of the great work of art. Romeo and Juliet is an excellent reminder that history repeats itself, and even 400 years ago, Shakespeare still captures the immense ignorance and lightning like decisions of the youth today.

And this is coming from a fourteen year old male.

[emily655321]

I agree with Romiet and Mace. I recall having the same discussion when we read the play in my ninth grade class, in fact. Something that occurred to me then, and I've always wondered about, was whether Shakespeare didn't hold the same opinion himself? I think it makes it an even better tragedy if the violence between the families compelled their kids to act so rashly, where otherwise they may have grown apart from each other with time. The quality of the play, as far as story and writing goes, doesn't hinge on the presumption that R&J's love for each other was more than a crush. One could even ask whether it was the forbidden nature of the affair that actually perpetuated the interest beyond initial attraction. For fourteen- and seventeen-year-olds, excitement plays a big part in love.

[Scheherazade]

This reminds of a play I saw many years ago: http://www.josef-weinberger.com/wein...lay/romeo.html

It was wonderful! If you get a chance to watch/read, please do so as it looks at what could have happened if they hadn't died at the end of Shakespeare's play!

[RobinHood3000]

Lesse...if I were to write the sequel with the alternate ending in place, I'd say that Romeo gets a dull 9-to-5 job in Lord Capulet's insurance firm, has an affair with the Nurse after Juliet buys a chastity belt ("very good meat in Lent," after all...), and ultimately pulls a Richard Cory. The end.

[Mace Sin]

I agree with Romiet and Mace. I recall having the same discussion when we read the play in my ninth grade class, in fact. Something that occurred to me then, and I've always wondered about, was whether Shakespeare didn't hold the same opinion himself? I think it makes it an even better tragedy if the violence between the families compelled their kids to act so rashly, where otherwise they may have grown apart from each other with time. The quality of the play, as far as story and writing goes, doesn't hinge on the presumption that R&J's love for each other was more than a crush. One could even ask whether it was the forbidden nature of the affair that actually perpetuated the interest beyond initial attraction. For fourteen- and seventeen-year-olds, excitement plays a big part in love.

Well said. I think that Shakespeare knew all too well of teenage angst when he wrote the play.

History repeats itself through literature.

[Virgil]

"This play sends a really bad message to young people." - Romiet

You are a brave man/woman Romiet, criticising one of Shakespeare's best works with this ruthless conclusion having only provided us with about 200 words of explanation. I will accept the argument you put down, but it needs heavy reconsideration. Maybe Romeo was in love with Rosaline. Why can't he fall in love more than once? He is just a man who is capable of love. If he is capable of loving Juliet, then he must have had that capacity before he met her. The fact that he was in love before only fortifies my belief in his love for Juliet. Are you saying that Romeo's former feelings for Rosaline voids his love for Juliet? What nonsense!

Nguyen states my opinion perfectly. So he loved Rosilind once, and then loved Juliet. I bet that happens to everyone. I've been in love more than once in my life.

[Mace Sin]

Nguyen states my opinion perfectly. So he loved Rosilind once, and then loved Juliet. I bet that happens to everyone. I've been in love more than once in my life.

But are we generalizing love here, forsaking it for mere pragmatic means--and not paving a road for the worn beliefs of the traditional? As in a poetic sense, in the play I mean,* love would be a fate described by the heavens themselves, and not the stars moving in alignment every few days, to make a way for contemporary transgressions of well-meant loving.

*I don't mean this in direct route to your personal life. "I won't attempt to explain what I don't know."

[Virgil]

But are we generalizing love here, forsaking it for mere pragmatic means--and not paving a road for the worn beliefs of the traditional? As in a poetic sense, in the play I mean,* love would be a fate described by the heavens themselves, and not the stars moving in alignment every few days, to make a way for contemporary transgressions of well-meant loving.

*I don't mean this in direct route to your personal life. "I won't attempt to explain what I don't know."

I have no idea what you said. I'm sorry.