The idea of idealistic love is extremely prevalent in our society. Romeo and Juliet can easily be considered as one of the most popular stories portraying star-crossed lovers. Around the world, people praise this particular work of William Shakespeare for its romantic and tragic qualities. The play is centered on two feuding families; of which each of their children falls in love with the other’s. They commit suicide over the reported death of the other. With quotes floating around the internet such as “What if he’s your Romeo, but you’re not his Juliet?”, the thought of Romeo and Juliet being an idealized couple is clear. However, Romeo and Juliet are not as perfect as they are perceived; they were …show more content…
Multiple timelines of Romeo and Juliet show this span to be five days. During this time, they are only together for approximately one day before Romeo’s banishment. The idea that twenty-four hours can allow for love to blossom is unreasonable. While they may feel infatuation, or even feel lustful, a loving connection simply is rare to be made in such a short time. Juliet says in 3.2.101: “When I, thy three hours' wife, have mangled it?”. Romeo and Juliet were only married for three hours before Romeo was banished. Just a few minutes prior to seeing Juliet, Romeo is also talking about his love for Rosaline. He describes her as …show more content…
As both of these characters are teenagers, this is highly predictable. As a teenager; to little fault of their own; they may believe that they have fallen in love very easily. Capulet says: "My child is yet a stranger in the world, she hath not seen the charge of fourteen years..." (1.2.8-9) A quote that displays the notion that falling in love is almost comparable to a pastime is said by Mercutio: “You are a lover. Borrow Cupid’s wings and soar with them above a common bound” (1.4.17-18) Romeo is one of the many teenagers throughout history that seems to fly through infatuations. For love to truly be present, they should have a connection beyond a physical one. More often than not, their love involves mentions of physical beauty and physical act such as kissing. The idea of their love being forbidden possibly making it stronger is also quite naïve, yet plausible. As human nature would suggest, we respond to reactance. This refers to the Reactance Theory; which suggests that how we act can be highly influenced by how persuasive or controlling someone is attempting to come across as. While saying that human nature is naïve could be seen as cynical; it is the truth. Their naivety may not be controllable, but it does show as to why their love likely was not