Romeo And Juliet
 
An Analysis Of "Love"
 
Throughout the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet various forms of
"love" are displayed . At the beginning of the play,
Benvolio believes that one woman's love is the same as
another and women are interchangeable, while Romeo believes
that love is pain. Juliet does not even have a definition
of love and Paris's and Lady Capulet's definition of love
is in appearance. It is obvious 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" love 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
another woman. Benvolio's definition of love shows the
audience two things about Benvolio: he is a womanizer and
he has never before experienced "true love." The next
definition of love comes from Romeo, before the time he met
Juliet. According to his definition, love (or, rather, not
returned love) is pain. He h ides from the sun due to the
"love" he feels, and does not act like "himself." The next
definition of love comes from Juliet, who, before meeting
Romeo, did no t even have a definition of love. She appears
not to know what love is, and, for that matter, does not
seem to care. She remains ignorant until she meets Romeo.
Another type of "love" we are exposed to during the same
scene is the love of Lady Capulet. Lady Capulet believes
love comes from appearance, both physical and political,
and has nothing to do with emotion. She shows this when she
speaks favorably of Paris's looks and his nobility. She
also shows that she does not love Capulet when she publicly
denounces him. The Nurse's opinion of love coincides with
that of Lady Capulet. Paris has a similar view of love. His
"love" for Juliet appears to be pure, but his reason does
not. He loves Juliet for her appearance and nothing else.
He regards her more as property than as an individual. He
is also selfish in his "love ." When he believes Juliet is
dead (in Act IV) he seems sorrier for his own loss than
Juliet's apparent loss. He "loves" Juliet as much as he can
love anyone, but his love cannot be considered "true love"
because of his selfishness. 
 
Finally, in Act II, the audience sees what is defined as
"true love" in our society. This "love" is the love that
grows between Romeo and Juliet. The definition of "true
love" which is provided by Shakespeare, states that all the
other characters' definitions of love are wrong. It also
states that when two people are in true love, there is no
pain unless they are permanently separated. It shows that
lovers are not interchangeable, and that love transcends
appearance. It proves all except one other "love" in the
play wrong. It also shows that real love is not affected by
distance or convenience. 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. Romeo
and Juliet's love for one another also goes beyond one
other thing: names. It shows that names do not matter. In
our society the difference in names would be equal to two
people of different races. The people would come from
racist fa milies in a modern day remake of the play. The
last example of love in the play is parental love. This is
shown in Act V scene iii. Lady Montague dies due to
separation from her son. Capulet, Montague, Lady Capulet,
and even the Nurse shows that they love either Romeo or
Juliet in t his way. 
 
In the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet many types of love are
shown. None of them are wrong, as the word "love" is
subject to interpretation, but it is obvious that
Shakespeare did not have this in mind when he wrote the
play. Shakespeare shows us that the only type of love that
is worthwhile, is "true love." He also shows us that, with
all types of love, there is pain.