Subjects:
displayed . Benvolio believes women are interchangeable, while, at the
beginning Romeo bel ieves love is pain. At the beginning Juliet does not
even have a definition of love. Paris's and Lady Capulet's definition of
love is in appearance. It is obvio us that Shakespeare wants the audience
to believe that the only "true" or "real" love is the love that exists
between Romeo and Juliet. The first type of love the audience is introduced
to is the "interchangeable" lo ve of Benvolio. According to Benvolio, a man
should "love" a woman for only the duration of their relationship. If their
relationship should end, the man should feel no grief. If the woman rejects
the man initially, he should still feel no grief. In either situation, the
man should simply start a relationship with anot her woman. Benvolio's
definition of love shows the audience two things about Ben volio: he is a
womanizer and he has never before experienced "true love." The next
definition of love comes from Romeo, but before the time he met Juliet.
. . .
It proves all except one other "love" in the play wrong. In our society the difference in names would
be equal to two people of different races. When two people are in "true love"
they are not selfish to one another, do not care about appearances, and cannot
live without one another.
Paris has a similar view of love. He "loves" Juliet as much as he can love anyone, but
his love cannot be considered "true love" because of his selfishness. If his goal was to influence the
audience to believe that the only real love is the type of love that existed
between Romeo and Juliet, I believe he accomplished it.
Finally, in Act II, the audience sees what is defined as "true love" in our society. " I believe Romeo is both right and wrong: not returned love is
pain, but Romeo doe s not truly love, as he is merely infatuated by a
woman.
Another type of "love" we are exposed to during the same scene is the love of Lady
Capulet. It also states that when two people
are in true love, there is no pain unless they are permanently separated. The definition
of "true love" Shakespeare provides the audience with states that all the other
characters' definitions of love are wrong. Capulet, Montague,
Lady Capulet, and even the Nurse shows that they love either Romeo or Juliet in t
his way. It also shows that real
love is not affected by distance or convenience.
Essay's Topics
All research is for reference purposes only.