superficial love
In William Shakespeare's romantic tragedy, Romeo and Juliet, the two main characters are madly infatuated with each other, but they are not truly in love. There are several differences between true love and infatuation. First, true love takes time to develop and cannot happen at "first-sight." People who are truly in love with each other have had time to learn everything about the other person and accept everything about him or her, including all of the negative qualities. When two people meet and instantly recognize that they are right for each other, they only know the superficial qualities of the other. Their behavior is directed at satisfying their raging hormones. Romeo claims to be in love with Juliet from the moment he first sees her, but his only focus is on her beauty, a superficial quality. He says, "Did my heart love till now? Forswear it sight!/ For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night." (I. v. 51-52). When Romeo gets close to Juliet, he immediately tries to convince her to kiss him, even though he does not even know her name. Who else but an infatuated boy with raging hormones could come up with a pick-up line such as: "O, then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do./ They pray; grant thou, lest faith tu
rn to despair./ ...Then move not, while my prayer's effect I take./ Thus from my lips, by thine, my sin is purged." (I. v. 102-106). Later, when Juliet learns that Romeo has killed Tybalt, she admits that her first impressions of Romeo might be wrong but she continues refer to his good looks as proof of his positive qualities. She says, "O serpent heart, hid with a flowering face!/ Did ever dragon keep so fair a cave?/ Beautiful tyrant! Fiend angelical!/...Just opposite to what thou justly seem'st/ A damned saint, an honorable villain!/...Was ever book containing such vile matter/ So fairly bound? O, that deceit should dwell/ In such a gorgeous palace!" (III. ii. 73-84). Since Romeo and Juliet experienced love at first sight, they could only see each other's positive and superficial qualities, such as beauty. They didn't have time to assess whether they were compatible and shared values and expectations, as couples who are truly in love would do. The second difference between infatuation and love is that infatuation requires no more than secret rendezvous with the other person. It can be hidden from family and friends. True love, however, is open and shared with all. The people are not afraid to display to the world their love for the other. Romeo and Juliet keep their love a secret. They lie to their families in order to get married. Romeo tells the nurse to tell Juliet to "Bid her devise/ Some means to come to shrift this afternoon,/ And there she shall at Friar Laurence' cell/ Be shrived and married..." (II. iv. 148-151). Rather than tell her family that she is already married, Juliet fakes her own death so she can run away with Romeo without her family's knowledge. She agrees when the Friar says, "Now, when the bridegroom in the morning comes/ To rouse thee from thy bed, there art thou dead./ ... and that very night/ S
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Approximate Word count = 1248
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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