Romeo And Juliet Love Essay

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In today’s day and age, love is something that every human wants to experience but some people fall in love at too young an age. In his play Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare critiques young love by showing that loving someone at a young age is unreasonable and that young lovers often end up making decisions that can ruin their lives. He gives this message to his readers by proving that Romeo and Juliet make the wrong decisions because of their immaturity and by showing that the couple only loves each other for their looks; this is not true love but lust. One way Shakespeare critiques young love is by portraying the young lovers as immature because they act on their passions over their reason. They do not care what the consequences might…show more content…
Shakespeare depicts Romeo as a young man who is willing to love a woman if she is beautiful. It is evident that Romeo loves Juliet for her looks as he says “Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight./For I never saw true beauty [Juliet] till this night.” (1.5 51-52) before even talking to her. This shows that Romeo loves Juliet just because she is beautiful. He loves this complete stranger without even meeting her or knowing her personality. Romeo thinks that his love for Juliet is true love but this love is actually lust as it is based on looks. Another scenario where Shakespeare reveals that Romeo and Juliet’s love is not true love, is when Tybalt kills Mercutio because Romeo is not willing to fight Tybalt. After Mercutio dies, Romeo blames Juliet for Mercutio’s death by saying “O, sweet Juliet,/Thy beauty hath made me effeminate/And in my temper softened valour’s steel.”(3.1 108-110). This shows that Romeo blames Juliet for making him soft and unmanly. Rather than taking the blame himself, he blames Juliet which shows that this is not true love as Romeo is not ready to take the blame for Juliet even though it is Romeo’s own fault for being soft. Shakespeare critiques young lovers by revealing that Romeo and Juliet’s love is not true love but just based on
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