In the play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, Shakespeare advocates for the adoption of true love as opposed to courtly love in everyday life. At the time this play was written, many people still practiced the customs of courtly love and arranged marriages as a way of life. However, Romeo and Juliet had become a monumentally influential story which supports the argument that choosing your life partner based on true love was an idea that people of Shakespeare's time were ready for. Although this play shows that true love is superior to courtly love, it also proves that love can be constructive or destructive force depending on the level of impulsiveness. During the transition from courtly love to the preferable true love, the timeline
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When Romeo loves Rosaline it is only because of her appearance making his feelings for her very superficial and shallow way: “Tis the way/ To call hers, exquisite, in question more/… What doth her beauty serve but as a note” (1.1.223-230). On the other hand, once Romeo meets Juliet, he loves her for who she is because like Juliet, he is willing to kill himself to be with her: “O here/ will I set up my everlasting rest/ And shake the yoke of inauspicious stars” (5.3.109-111). Despite the the opinion that Romeo never loved Rosaline and that he was waiting for Juliet all along, in the time that Romeo was entranced by Rosaline, he really believed that she was the perfect woman for him. Although later knew no other state of mind except the complete love and trust in Juliet. Romeo’s view of love changes for the better, during the play. In the beginning, he is hopelessly in love with Rosaline, purely based on her looks but later, he realizes that what he was feeling for Rosaline was not really love, but infatuation. The love he felt for Juliet was real and his definition of love finally lines up with hers. Even though Romeo’s understanding of love becomes more mature, his extreme feelings make his love for Juliet destructive. He acts out of impulsiveness instead of thinking about his
When Romeo loves Rosaline it is only because of her appearance making his feelings for her very superficial and shallow way: “Tis the way/ To call hers, exquisite, in question more/… What doth her beauty serve but as a note” (1.1.223-230). On the other hand, once Romeo meets Juliet, he loves her for who she is because like Juliet, he is willing to kill himself to be with her: “O here/ will I set up my everlasting rest/ And shake the yoke of inauspicious stars” (5.3.109-111). Despite the the opinion that Romeo never loved Rosaline and that he was waiting for Juliet all along, in the time that Romeo was entranced by Rosaline, he really believed that she was the perfect woman for him. Although later knew no other state of mind except the complete love and trust in Juliet. Romeo’s view of love changes for the better, during the play. In the beginning, he is hopelessly in love with Rosaline, purely based on her looks but later, he realizes that what he was feeling for Rosaline was not really love, but infatuation. The love he felt for Juliet was real and his definition of love finally lines up with hers. Even though Romeo’s understanding of love becomes more mature, his extreme feelings make his love for Juliet destructive. He acts out of impulsiveness instead of thinking about his