Discuss your feelings about the speed of Romeo and Juliet’s romance. On the one hand, it is a two-hour play meant for the stage, and Shakespeare obviously had to scrunch the timeline. On the other hand, does this kind of “love at first sight” romance (which again, is constantly referred to even in today’s culture) help reinforce a false expectation in young people (girls maybe more than boys?)?
As always, support your thinking with evidence from the text.
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I think Romeo and Juliet are moving to fast in their romance. At the beginning of the book, Romeo is in love with Rosaline, and 24 hours later he is married to Juliet. What if Rosaline had not been chaste and had accepted Romeo? He would have probably been married to her that morning. I think love at first sight can be an illusion. When one person meets another that they are in love with, the person’s flaws may not come out right away, and once you get to know the person, maybe love wasn’t actually what you once thought it was. This could apply to Romeo and Juliet, because maybe they are acting on instinct without much thought. The two hardly know each other. Maybe this expectation is that people often judge based on looks at first, which is why some people fall head over heels so quickly. But, personality and character are what is actually important.
I believe that Romeo and Juliet are moving too fast. It seems to me that Romeo doesn’t really know what he wants. One second he is falling head over heals for Rosaline, and the next all he can think about is Juliet. Though, I also believe that how devoted Romeo is and how they love each other right away adds to the story. It makes the story even more romantic and interesting because the second they see each other they believe they have found their other half. The story does portray young people as foolish, but younger people often do act to quickly. Another thing to factor in is that Romeo and Juliet could probably not have dated for very long with out someone noticing, so though we may think, “They are getting married? How stupid!” they did have to rush things because of the danger they would be in if either family found out. So even though they were a bit foolish to get married after barely knowing each other, they did have some good reasons for doing so.
Greta, I agree with you that later on in the marriage (if it had gotten that far) they would have found out more flaws about the other person, and it may not have ended well. They should have gotten to know each other a little bit better.
I think that Romeo and Juliet’s love at first sight thing was really bad. They had said less than 50 words at the party and thought that they were in love. Love is made out of how two people can talk truthfully together and know eachother. Romeo and Juliet are talking truthfully, but they don’t know what they are talking about. Romeo and Juliet don’t know anything about eachother, and they just think they’re in love because Romeo knows the right words to say.
What Shakespeare did was reasonable, because this was written at a different time. They believe in things, like love at first sight, that we don’t. The things that were okay and thought of true, we in the modern world think they aren’t real.
This has an impression on younger people because they will start to believe that looks show who they will really love. They will believe they are seriously in love, and then get dumped and heartbroken.
Casey, Good job. You showed different sides to the argument and supported each point. You made a good point with why Romeo and Juliet were rushed into marriage.
Greta, you proved excellent points with Rosaline and a person’s flaws. Good Job.
I agree with Jess that part of love is knowing the other person. Also she makes a good point about Romeo. He is smooth. If he hadn’t swept her off her feet right away with some charming words, she may have never given him a second chance. Good Job.
I am adding on to the point both of you talked about that love is about knowing one another. Romeo and Juliet barely do know each other but yet they think they are in love. So maybe they are both just smooth as some of you say, but their marriage may actually have turned out better if they waited a bit, for maybe in a year they would both be alive, and their marriage would have ended well.
Love at first sight does seem to reinforce unrealistic expectations. Romeo is the perfect example of how moving so fast makes thing unstable. When Friar Lawrence says that they need to move slow, because things will burn out soon, he is right. When you first like someone at first you are just seeing everything great about them, but crushes are very different from love. Most likely, Juliet is just another Rosaline. Romeo supposedly loved Rosaline, but got over her in an instant. He didn’t build the relationship, it was just suddenly there. But like Friar Lawrence basically says, what is quick to come, is quick to leave.
Jess, I agree that love is about knowing someone, and I think that Romeo and Juliet should get to know each other more before they get married. I think that family peace can wait. At first, Juliet thinks that she and Romeo should slow down, but several lines later, she says that she and Romeo should get married. The two haven’t even known each other for very long, and they want to be together for the rest of their lives. I do not believe in love at first sight, but I do think two people can have a physical attraction to each other at first sight, and I think that Romeo and Juliet are mistaking this for love. Most of us agree that Romeo is very unstable, but very few have said that about Juliet. I think she is very emotionally unstable because one minute she wants Romeo to slow down, and the next she wants to marry him. (2.2.95-155)
I agree with what everyone has been saying so far, and I’ll elaborate on that later. But yes, to me they are at a quicker pace then they should be but on the flip side, there were reasons behind it all. With disputes between families, maintaining it would be tough. Shakespeare also planned this to be performed in a few hours as mentioned before. We all speak as if there are guidelines for love. In a sense there is, what the media portrays and that fantasy that people, usually girls, always wish to have. But love is different for every person and this is in a different time period as well. But that’s just the positives I can think of. Personally I do think they are going too fast for true love to develop.
Casey, I agree in what you mean by Romeo doesn’t know what he wants. He is clearly confused about his desires.
Jessica I totally agree with what you mean by Romeo and Juliet don’t know each other. They’ve barely met and don’t even bother thinking about the stupidity in marrying the person you met two nights ago at a party.
I think that Romeo and Juliet are taking it way too fast. I think that they do actually love each other, but considering how fast it happened, probably for all the wrong things. True love at first sight is impossible because loving somebody should be about what’s on the inside, and when people say its ‘love at first sight’, they are looking at what’s on the outside. I also think that Romeo’s perspective of love at first sight is pretty bad, considering he’s had two of them in the same day. Even though Shakespeare had to fit it into a two-hour play, he could have made it at least a few more days (or weeks) until they realized that they really loved each other. I think that love at first sight isn’t possible, even for Romeo and Juliet.
Casey, you pointed out some interesting stuff. They are moving fast, but maybe they have to because of their situation.
Aaron, I agree that Juliet is unstable. I think she’d probably be more stable when she was older, but now she is just immature.
Maile, your paragraph is really well written and uses really big words. I like it!
Greta, I agree that love at first sight is an illusion.
I think Romeo and Juliet are moving way to fast with their relationship. After 5 minutes of knowing Juliet, Romeo kisses her twice. Love is not something that can happen at first sight. You have to know a person for a long time to be able to say you love them. They didn’t even have a full conversation at the party and suddenly they are declaring their love for each other. Also, think a bout the age difference. Romeo is in his late teens and Juliet is thirteen. She is just a bit too young if you think about it.
I don’t get these two at all. They see each other and immediately fall in love. And then the first thing Romeo does is try to kiss Juliet. And then sees all fine with it. What the heck! I want to destroy romeo. Love at first sight is a joke. If you tried to use Romeos tactics to pick up girls, you would utterly fail.
Kim, I don’t agree that Romeo and Juliet actually love each other. They haven’t known each other long enough to really know each other.
Will, I agree that no one would be able to get a date using Romeo’s tactics.
I agree with jack. They are moving to quickly
Greta: I agree with you that they are going way too fast with this whole thing. Romeo also seems a bit confused as to who he is actually in love with.
Casey: I don’t agree with you that it makes the story more interesting. I think it makes Romeo seem like a creep who is emotionally unstable.
I think Romeo was a sick puppy. In my opinion their supposed “love at first sight” was just Romeo being a jerk and taking advantage of a 14 year old girl. Juliet was young and naive. It was wrong for Romeo to charm her into marrying him. It alot of problems later on for them. Realistically when they killed themselves over each other they had been together for maybe to weeks. If Romeo hadn’t convinced himself that he was totally in love with Juliet, and charmed her into feeling the same, none of that would have happened.
I think that Romeo and Juliet are moving way to fast for their age. They have only known each other for about a day and they are already getting married! Love at first sight is really overrated, you can think you know someone so well and get married right after you meet, but you really don’t know anything about the person. Romeo is so in love with Rosaline one minute that he can’t eat or sleep, and the next he is in love with Juliet and they are getting married. You should not judge a person by their cover. I think one of the reasons Shakespeare did this because if he wanted to do a long time relationship between Romeo and Juliet it would be a very long play. With the disputes between the families they pretty much had to act on impulse to be together or their families would have found out and they would not have been able to see each other. They are young and acting on impulse, which is not very smart.
Love, it is such a powerful word. Love can make people crazy, make them do things that are horrible. Love can be good, but it can also be bad. Juliet I believe wanted to get married to fast. One reason why she might have rushed the marriage could be for attention. I dont believe she truly loves Romeo, but she wants to get married for a sense of power. She wants to feel loved wants attention.
I agree with jess. their love at fist sight thing is stupid. that would never really happen.
I agree with you will. Maybe flirting tactics were different back then, but it anyone tried that now days they would get slapped so fast.
Absolutely it distorts peoples perception of love. You may fall in love not at first sight. People make the mistake of thinking if it is true love you will know that the first time you look at them. This is not the case you may like the person at first sight and fall in love with them later on in life. True love may take a while to obtain. Love can not be obtained in 10 minutes so love at first sight is inaccurate.
Jess,
I think that you show some really good points. I think that they said only 50 words to each other and then pretty much got married was crazy and irresponsible. I think that you wrote your comment very well and it was full of facts from the book.
Jack I agree with you that you need to be in a relationship with a person and get to know them before you run off and get married with them. I also think that the age difference is a big deal. Juliet is not even 14 and Romeo is 19. The difference is crazy.
“These violent delights have violent ends,” said Friar Lawrence to Romeo (2.6.9). The quote he said pretty much sums up my whole answer to the question. Romeo and Juliet most certainly should have eased into their marriage, or at least taken more than a day to get it settled. They immediately loved each other at first sight – before they even heard each other speak. I think that this “love at first sight” concept is a bit frivolous. I’m not going to say the ending, but their hasty love might have had something to do with it, as the Friar foreshadowed. However, Shakespeare’s play supported love at first sight because Shakespeare made Juliet and Romeo love each other, not break up. It reinforces that false expectation of love that we have today even though most of us can agree that it is a bad idea. Also, I can’t really say that I don’t blame Shakespeare himself for having them marry so quickly. It may be a two-hour play, but he could at least somewhat try to lengthen the time between meeting and marriage. He might have wanted to show how much they loved each other by having them marry instantly, but marrying a day after meeting is just ridiculous.
I believe that Romeo and Juliet’s love gives a false hope to young girls that might read it. I think this because it is not at all realistic. It also establishes false hopes in young boys because after seeing how easily Juliet was wooed over they might think all girls are that easily. Which in some cases are true but in most is not. Most people get to know each other and in most cases know what the person is about before they get married, where as in Romeo and Juliet they rush into marriage way to quickly based on there artificial love that is composed only on looks. I do not think though that Shakespeare intended to say marry people just because they look hot or anything like that but instead we have to remember that this is only a two hour play so he had to cram everything in which is understandable and to make it as entertaining as possible.
Matt, I agree that two people getting married after a day of knowing eachother is very rediculous. I think that Shakespeare was trying to show how much they loved each other, but he showed it in a very accelerated way.
I absolutely agree with drew Romeo and Juliet totally distorts everything because like drew said you might like the person when you first see them but love is earned it’s not just given.
In the half real half animated movie Enchanted the main character Giselle falls in love with the handsome Prince Edward. It was love at first sight for them, and they decide to get married the next day. This love only lasts for a few days before Giselle decides to move on to someone new. This I find is like Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet because in both stories the characters fall in love at first sight, but in the end the two never get to stay together. Shakespeare rushes their love when they shouldn’t even be together. Their families don’t want them together, and they don’t even think anything through before they go gallivanting off into the sunset to live happily ever after. They are very naive about love. If they really get to know each other before they decide they’re soul mates the story wouldn’t have ended so tragically. But I guess if they did wait Romeo and Juliet wouldn’t be much of a story.
Greta, I agree about how love at first sight can sometimes be an illusion. You can’t judge (or marry) people before you even know them because those people might not end up being the people you expect them to be. You can’t judge a book by its cover.
Chris, that is a good point about how Romeo and Juliet were rushed partly because of their families’ dispute. They probably thought that they wouldn’t be able to marry later due to the fight, so they decided that they might as well marry now. It reminds me of Harry Potter. In the sixth book, once Voldemort was back, Bill and Fleur wanted to get married really soon. They thought that they might die at any time, so they decided to marry quickly before that might happen.
Abi, I disagree with your comment that their age difference was to far apart. They are olny 4 years apart, and besides lots of people are married with a much higher age difference.
Shawn, I agree that Romeo and Juliet should get to know each other before getting married. I also think they are confusing physical attraction, like many of us have said, and I also think that rushing this marriage will not be a good thing.
Brandi, I agree that Romeo and Juliets love was unrealistic, but you also have to think about the fact that this was many years before our time. It might have been more realistic back then.
Brandi, I agree that this book is nothing like real life. It could possibly convince people to act like Romeo to get a girl, and in my opinion, that is not a good thing.
“Hi I’m ____”
“Hello there_____, Im_____”
“I love you _____”
“I love you too ______!”
“Wanna get married?”
“Ok!”
I think we all know what’s missing here in my example. Sure it was possibly common in some ways for married couples to do this many years ago, and like Shawn said before, age wasn’t that much of a concern back then.
In this book “love at first sight” plays a big part for the characters but come on! At least get to know each other! Otherwise Romeo and Juliet are moving way too fast.
Drew, I agree that true love is not an instantaneous thing. It has to be developed over time. Romeo and Juliet my “like” each other, but they definitely do not love each other. They barely know each other. They probably don’t know the other’s interests.
Abi, I agree that Romeo and Juliet are moving way too fast. Like I said, they probably don’t know what the other likes to do. All they know is that they “love” each other.
I think that love at first sight may be the case for Romeo and Juliet but I feel that the speed of their relationship is way too fast. When Romeo met Juliet for the first time he kissed her twice before they had even had a full conversation. A few hours later they decided they wanted to get married. This shows how fast a relationship they had. If it was true love they wouldn’t have felt the need to rush into marriage, they would have been confident in their feelings toward each other and know that they had time to work things out. Also the speeed in which Romeo forgot about Rosiine when he saw Juliet makes you wonder what Romeo might do if he sees someone prettier that Juliet.
I’m sure almost everyone here has read a book or seen a movie that involves love at first sight, and that’s exactly where it belongs. We have to remember that this IS a book and a play, and this did not actually happen. If this was a true story, it might be a little bit strange, but it’s not. This was meant to entertain people. It was supposed to show that these two people from two enemy houses want to overcome their enmity for each other and fall in love.
I think that this play could convince people that “true love” really exists, but they have to realize that it is just a play, and this did not actually happen.
In my opinion, Romeo and Juliet are moving way too fast. On the first day of knowing each other, they decide to get married. What if Rosealine had been interested in him, too? Would they be married? And what if Romeo finds a girl he thinks is more beautiful that Juliet? Will he go off and get married to her too? I also think the age difference plays into it, too. Romeo is over 18, so it’s understandable for him to be getting married, but Juliet is only 13 or 14. The thing I really wonder is does she really know what she wants at this age? All the girls in out class are around the same age as Juliet was when she got married. Could any of us imagine getting married? I don’t think the answer would be yes for anyone. Many of us are just getting into dating, and if you ask me, I think dating is mostly about “experimenting” with what you do and don’t want in a husband. And Juliet agrees to marry Romeo after knowing him for only a few short hours. I realize Shakespeare didn’t have much time to work with a theatre production, but I think he could have showed more time passing if he wanted to, so I think this moving quickly was intentional.
Beth, I think it would be very strange if all or at least most of the girls in our class were married. I also think that Shakespeare could have shown the passing of time. He could’ve had two different actors for all of the characters, so they would look older.
I believe that there can be love at first sight, although it probably wouldn’t move so fast and it most likely wouldn’t last. With Romeo and Juliet being so very young, I don’t think they know what true love is. For the purpose of this play, they never had time to see it through. It was not intended to last as demonstrated by the drastic and tragic ending.
While there was lots of love described in this book, I think one of the stories purposes was to show how differences can be over come for something even greater.
Romeo and Juliet’s love for each other is beyond the ample amount of love. They are utterly obsessed with each other, and they are very dramatic. We see plenty of this even when they first meet. When Romeo was searching for Juliet’s room (after they met at the masquerade ball only an hour ago), the depths of his heart sang. It sang so loudly. He would dream about her loveliness out-loud. On page 69, Romeo dramatically speaks about his precious Juliet with such love for her. He says, ‘But soft, what light through yonder window breaks? It is the East, and Juliet is the Sun. Arise, fair Sun, and kill the envious moon, who is already sick and pale with grief that thou, her maid, art far more fair than she. Be not her maid since she is envious. Her vestal livery is but sick and green, and none but fools do wear it. Cast it off. It is my lady. O, it is my love! O, that she knew she were!” That is just a small amount of what he says. In the quote, he uses a metaphor, making her the bright Sun. He adores her. He claims that she is his love. He just met her! It was not even three hours ago! She loves him just as much. And remember, Romeo couldn’t live without Rosaline. And now, He can’t live without Juliet. His dramatic character made him love, love a lot and fast at that! He met Juliet, apologized for his rough hands, and then kissed her twice in a matter of forty-five seconds. That is rushed love for sure! And only an hour later (if that), he was searching for Juliet’s room to praise her and love her some more. Juliet also was in love with Romeo in only an hour. They were flirting with each other, kissing, and dramatically praising one another on Juliet’s balcony. Even though Juliet loved Romeo, she wanted to take it more slowly than Romeo wanted to take it. However, that definitely changes. They were completely enjoying each other when the nurse came to Juliet’s door knocking. Quickly they said good bye, kind of. A couple more, “I love you! … no, I love you more!” Then randomly, Juliet has an urge to marry Romeo and bear his children. So their last words were talk of marriage and arrangements. Romeo then left (at that time it was almost morning). Romeo went to Friar Lawrence to ask him if he would marry Romeo and Juliet together. WOW! Was that not fast!?! They knew each other for less than a night and wanted to quickly get married. Friar Lawrence wisely said, “These violent delights have violent ends and in their triumph die, like fire and powder, which, as they kiss, consume. The sweetest honey is loathsome in his own deliciousness and in the taste confounds the appetite. Therefore, love moderately. Long love doth so. Too swift arrives as tardy as too slow.” Here he says that “love will run out”. Yes, it could with some people. He does not want them to love each other to death and then be bored of each other later on. I believe that they were moving at too much of a fast pace. You can’t even really know the person completely in that short time. A person could be something entirely different than what meets the eye. One must know a person wholly before marriage. Love at first sight could have actual power, but one must truly know who they are marring. A person could make you feel good just by looking at each other. But remember to take it slow. I think that Shakespeare did need to scrunch the time-line, but there were plenty of things that could have happened while they were dating.
Alex, that is a very good synopsis of the entire book so far. I think that Romeo and Juliet should have dated before deciding to get married.
Beth yes, I also agree they are moving very fast and it was intentional. Maybe he wrote it that way to show that things can happen drastically and the world is often unpredictable.
Alexa,
I completely agree with you. Your example was perfect. It entirely described the relationship between Romeo and Juliet. It showed the depth of the knowledge that they had with each other. They barley met and are ready to get married without even really getting to know each other that well.
Alex, I do disagree with part of your comment because I don’t think that Juliet loved Romeo. I think that she just was going off instinct. In short, she liked him, but she definitely did not love him that quickly.
Greta,
I completely agree with your statement about what whould happen if Rosealine had fallen for Romeo. If you read my first post, I was discussing some of the same ideas that go anlong with that.
Aaron, I am sorry, but I disagree with you. I think that Juliet did love Romeo. After all, she was the one who decided to have the marriage the day after they met.
Matt, I think that Juliet just wants to be with Romeo to solve the problems between their two families. She might love him for what’s on the surface, but she doesn’t know what’s underneath.
Matt & Aaron,
I was looking at the last couple of post you posted, and I think it is a combination of both. I think Juliet loves Romeo but also has the peace treaty that will form between the two families in her head, too.
First, I thought that Romeo was very wierd guy. Because, he always loved Rosaline but gave her up so easily and made new love. Also, I liked that he became very happy not only fall in sorrow. I don’t know how many days did he really love Rosaline but he changed his love very quickly. Also, if that was in play, that will be only 5 to 10 mins, so that would not look really good. Such as 4 minutes later, he was tired because of Rosaline, and 5 minutes later he kisses Juliet and they had secret meeting. By the way, for nowadays, “love at first sight” romance occurs. And, Juliet will be the good example for some girls(Juliet didn’t want to marry Paris, and found her love. Also, she really doesn’t have lover with her.) However, the case of Romeo, he just changed his love easily. Then what was the result? Finally, they could meet in the sky, with they suicided. Conclusive, I think that their romance weren’t good example for nowadays, and if Romeo and Juliet was made in today. Maybe the lesson for young boys and girls, that will be the sad ending of “love at first sight” romance.
Greta,
I really agree with you. When you say that love at first sight is like an illusion, I think about what you say and really take it into consideration. You are right. Seeing a person and instantly loving him, is not what true love is about. Like you said, loving a certain person can make you realizing that this love is not like what it seems when you instantly want to marry that person.
Beth, I can agree with your opinion. Maybe Juliet really does “love” Romeo, but I think she also has other plans on her mind.
Aaron,
I think at first all Juliet cared about was the merging of the two families, but as time went on (or minutes), she realized he may not be so bad after all.
Philip, think about “love at first sight” in today’s terms. That would be like a girl in our grade instantly falling in love with a freshman in college, and the freshman falling in love with girl right after they met each other. Don’t you think that would be odd?
Beth, I agree that Juliet probably has feeling for Romeo, and that makes marrying him much easier, but love has to be built up over time, and that time is not minutes or hours.
Justin, I disagree with you. First of all, they could have marriage quickly because their families fought against each other. Also, he would not fall in love if some girl is prettier than Juliet. We don’t know how much Rosaline was pretty for Romeo. And, Juliet liked Romeo and was very kind. Well, if someone who is kinder and prettier than Juliet, it would work. By the way, I like your opinion.
Aaron,
I agree with you on saying love has to be built over more time than a couple hours. Which is one of the reasons I think they are moving way to fast. I also think that they do have strong feeling for each other, and that is judged by reading what they say to each other, and it is quite pasionate. That leads me to believe it is much more than the two families merging, thought that is still part of it.
Kendra, I agree with you. For Romeo and Juliet they both were young to know real love (only Juliet). Because Romeo was pretty old to know real love and that was 400 years ago or more. Also, I think Juliet was so young to know real love. But, don’t you think Romeo was kind of wierd because he was old enough to know love but he changes his mind so easily. And, I think he loved Rosaline same as Juliet.
I definetly beleive that Romeo and Juliet are taking things way too fast. They just meet each other and are wanting to go get married they should just slow down. Its all good if you love somebody that you want to spend alot of time with them and what not, but they are taking it ot the extreme times 10. They arent giving it enough time. Their is some cases where love at first sight may be real alot of people including my self do not beleive in it. Although i do think that their is special occasions where this might be possible and migth happen.
Yeah, I agree, Rome and Juliet’s love at firt sight was kind of pathetic. I mean love at first sight is kind of a saying. This book is a fantasy, and something like this would never happen. Well never say never, but USUALLY you marry someone when you have known them for a long time, He met Juliet for one night and both had masks on as well and they are moving faster than a bowling ball flying down the lane. As i said this book is a fantasy, boys dont really dream for love at first sight, I’m not going to stereotype girls into saying they go out to their balcony like Juliet did. I do not know what girls think about if it is about “Love at first sight” or not. But I would have to say girls think about it more than guys.