Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy--no doubt about it. In the end, as Prince Escalus declares that "All are punished," we know that he doesn't have to lift a finger to carry out any punishments: fate and natural consequences have done that for him. When we see or experience a tragedy (real-world or fictional), eventually, we often find ourselves asking the question "Whose fault is it, though?" For this tragedy, that's an especially tough question.
Before we can tackle any question of "fault," though, we need to first consider what was actually going on between Romeo and Juliet. According to Taylor Swift, it's a love story--but perhaps she isn't the best authority on healthy romantic relationships (¯\_(ツ)_/¯). If it were true love and R&J would have likely led a happy, healthy life together, then characters like Fr. Lawrence and the Nurse certainly did the right thing in helping them get married. If their relationship was just a teenage crush that they both took too far, then who is a wise hero and who is a reckless villain changes. Of course, we can't predict the future or know for certain how things might have turned out differently for R&J, but after last week's reading assignment, you do know a bit more about the difference between love and a crush, and using that knowledge, you can think more critically and accurately about the relationship between our two main characters. At the end of the week, you'll be replying to this post (leave your own comment by filling in the boxes under "Leave a Reply;" you should not enter anything for "Website"), making your case as to whether Romeo & Juliet is a case of true love or whether it is a simple teenage crush. In the meantime, however, check out class calendar above for a few challenges that need to be tackled before you're ready to make your case.
23 Comments
Olivia
4/3/2020 11:32:39 am
In my opinion, Romeo and Juliet is a story about a crush. It is about a crush that started a spark that could have become something more. I don't believe in love at first sight, but I do believe in true love and soulmates. Love is something that develops over time. It does not happen in the first instance of seeing someone attractive. In act 1 scene 5, Romeo says "The measure done, I’ll watch her place of stand, and, touching hers, make blessed my rude hand. Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight! For I ne’er saw true beauty till this night." In this quote, Romeo says that he has never seen beauty like Juliet, and that his heart has never felt this way before. He thinks this is love. He is wrong because he has never felt love before, so he has an immature view of love. Even though Romeo and Juliet's relationship started as a crush, there was something different about it. If the relationship had lasted longer and been able to grow, it could have developed into the most amazing kind of love. I believe Romeo and Juliet were meant to be together. If they would have been able to live the rest of their lives, I believe they would have spent them together.
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Brock
4/7/2020 10:04:08 pm
I agree that they could be in love I disagree that there relationship is true love. For instance when Juliet says" I have no joy of this contract to-night: It is too rash, too unadvised, too sudden;" she is saying that her and Romeo are going to fast. So this means that Romeo and Juliet are crushing not in love.
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Mackenzie E
4/3/2020 12:30:41 pm
I think that Romeo and Juliet's relationship is a case of true love. In scene 2 act 2 Juliet says: "My bounty is as boundless as the sea, My love as deep; the more I give to thee. The more I have for both are infinite. " Meaning that her love for Romeo is as deep as the sea, and it continues to grow the more she spends time with him. Along with that they both kill themselves just because the one they love is dead. (they think) This shows how strong their feelings that they have for each other are.
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Mackenzie
4/3/2020 12:40:15 pm
Upon further research I changed my mind. I think that Romeo and Juliet had a sort of mix between love and a just a crush. In act 2 scene 2, Romeo says: "See how she leans her cheek upon her hand, O that I was a glove upon that hand I might touch that cheek." This shows that Romeo is young and wants to rush things, as the diagram showed a crush is often more selfish and rushed. On the other hand,Juliet says this: My bounty is as boundless as the sea, My love as deep; the more I give to thee.The more I have for both are infinite. This among many other romantic quotes shows that it may be more than love. Juliet is saying that her love for Romeo is as deep as the sea and it continues to grow with time. The fact that these are two young teens who in some cases made irrational decisions, leads me to believe that they didn't have enough time to develop true love. However, they both died for each other, showing the strong feelings they had, this is why I am kind of in the middle of this argument.
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Rachel Boyd
4/3/2020 12:33:04 pm
I think that it was a crush that they both took to far. They new each other a couple minutes and Juliet said "My only love sprung from my only hate!
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Lyndsey
4/6/2020 08:46:25 pm
While you do have a good argument that Romeo and Juliet are not in love I think otherwise. I understand that maybe you can't love someone after you talked for just 2 minutes, but I think that their connection from the start was something special. They were falling in love, true true love. They did everything for each other. Romeo again says "I take thee at thy word: call me but love, and I'll be new baptized; henceforth I never will be Romeo." He would have changed his beliefs for her. Because they were in love with each other they then kill themselves because they couldn't live their lives without each other. I find it really hard to believe that you would kill yourself for someone you just have a crush on. So in other words Romeo and Juliet fell in love with each other even though it was in a short period of time.
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Carson
4/7/2020 10:15:45 am
While I agree that Romeo and Juliet like each other and can love each other in future, but I disagree that they are in love. I rather think that Romeo and Juliet have crushes on each other. For instance Romeo says "My love as deep; the more I give to thee. The more I have for both are infinite." To express his love but he can't be in love with someone after one night and also he was just in love with Roseline right before he started to like Juliet. One place we can see this when Romeo tells Juliet at the balcony "My love is stronger than 20 of the kinsmen and there swords." This means he loves her a lot and also he over uses the word love. So in other words Romeo and Juliet can't be in love rather they have crushes on each other at this point in there relationship until their death. 4/3/2020 05:07:04 pm
I feel that it's both of a mix between a love story and a crush because of how they wanted to get married thats is how is mainly crush. But when they met it was kind of love but they didn't really know that until they saw each other at the party. So that is my option and that is how I'm am going with this because I feel that it's not just a love story but a crush and love story.
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Payton
4/6/2020 08:32:09 am
While I do agree that this story is about a crush, I disagree with that it is love after they just met. I say this because Romeo was "in love" with Rosaline just before the party until he saw Juliet. You can not fall in love with someone just for their looks but you can have a crush on someone for their looks. Before the party Romeo had even said "Show me a mistress that is passing fair, What doth her beauty serve, but as a note Where I may read who pass'd that passing fair? Farewell: thou canst not teach me to forget." He was talking about Rosaline here. He then met Juliet for less then an hour and said he was in love with her. So in other words Romeo is just a young boy who believes that whenever he sees a pretty girl he is in love with them.
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Jeremiah
4/6/2020 09:15:25 pm
I agree that it is about a crush but I disagree that it can also be true love. I don't think that you can see someone at a party and then all of a sudden 'fall in love' with them, right after you just fell out of love with a different girl not that long ago. When Romeo says "I ne'er saw true beauty till this night" in Act 1, Scene 5 he could keep saying that for a new girl every time and keep changing his mind on who he is in love with. So, I don't think Romeo is in love, I think he just saw a pretty girl at a party and has a crush on her.
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Rachel
4/7/2020 10:42:23 am
I agree that Romeo and Juliet is just a crush. I agree that he could keep saying to the next girl that he was in love with her. I think that they both are just in love with the idea of love and in Act 2 scene 3 the Friar says "young men's love then lies not truly in their hearts, but in there eyes." I completely agree that you can't just stop loving someone and start loving someone else. Like in Act 2 scene 4 Romeo says "I am sore with his light feathers; and so bound I cannot bound a pitch above dull woe. Under love's heavy burden do I sink." This was said right before the party where he met Juliet. I don't think that someone can change his mind that fast about who he loves. I do believe in true love which I think that if Juliet and Romeo would have had longer to get to know each other it could have became more. I think that the reason they killed themselves for each other is cause they thought that what they felt was love but they barley had gotten to know each other, I believe that to love someone you have to know there flaws and there amazing attributes and to me I don't believe that they had enough time to learn all that from just knowing each other a couple days.
Lyndsey
4/3/2020 09:09:49 pm
I think that at first glance Romeo and Juliet may seem like just a crush, and that their is no true love between the two, but I think differently. Romeo says, "I take thee at thy word: call me but love, and I'll be new baptized; henceforth I never will be Romeo." He also says, "by a name I know not how to tell thee who I am: my name, dear saint, is hateful to myself, because it is an enemy to thee; had I it written, I would tear the word." What he is saying is that he will do anything for her even change is name, or change from being a Montague to be with Juliet. That shows love and commitment to Juliet. Also at the end of the play when Romeo thinks Juliet is dead he then kills himself because he does not want to live his life without her so he kills himself. To me personally I do think someone that has a crush on another person would just kill them self for them. Juliet then does the same. Therefor I think that their connection that they have is more than a crush, I think that it is love.
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James Mickey
4/4/2020 01:57:14 pm
I feel that the story of Romeo and Juliet is a story of true love. I think this because in act 2 scene 2 Juliet says if the kinsmen find you they will kill you. Then Romeo responds with something along the lines of love is stronger than 20 of the kinsmen and there swords.
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Olivia
4/6/2020 09:21:54 am
I agree with James that Romeo and Juliet's relationship is true love. However, I disagree with the idea that is was true love right away. Love takes time to develop, and grow. In act 1 scene 1, Romeo tells Benvolio "In sadness, cousin, I do love a woman." When he says this, Romeo is talking about Rosaline not Juliet. At the beginning of the play, Romeo thinks he is in love with Rosaline. Then once he sees Juliet, he thinks he's in love with her. How can a man go from loving one woman to loving another in the very same day? The answer is, he can't. Romeo and Juliet may have been soulmates and made for each other, but love takes time and doesn't develop in an instant.
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Mackenzie
4/7/2020 09:11:17 am
While I agree that Romeo and Juliet have a connection that could be considered love, I disagree that it's a story of true love all the way through. For instance, when Romeo moves on so quickly from loving Rosaline to loving Juliet. This means that Romeo might not be old enough or mature enough to know what true love is.
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Jeremiah
4/4/2020 07:30:24 pm
I think that Romeo and Juliet just have a crush on each other. Right away Romeo starts off with a crush on Rosaline. In Act 1, scene 2 he says "The all-seeing sun, Ne'er saw her match since first the world begun" and thinks that he is in love with Rosaline. Romeo has never been in love so I don't think he knows what it is yet. He also says in Act 1, Scene 1 "Alas, that love, whose view is muffled still,
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Carson
4/4/2020 09:44:19 pm
I believe that Romeo and Juliet aren't love but rather just have crushes on each other. I'm not saying that they won't love each other in the future, but at this point in time they aren't in love. Romeo's hormones are really rushing at his age. As you can tell he catches feelings for different girls suddenly. This happen when he said he loved Roseline then turns around and says he loves Juliet. This is why I believe that Romeo only has a crush. In scene 2 act 2 Romeo says, "My love as deep; the more I give to thee. The more I have for both are infinite." He is just girl crazy and is falling for her way to fast. It can't be true love after a couple of days, so they can't be in love after that short period of a time. They can maybe later in their relationship love each other but right now I think it is to early to love each other.
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Payton
4/5/2020 12:59:20 pm
I believe that Romeo and Juliet is about them having a crush on each other. They had known each other for less then an hour when they told other people that their love was from a different house. There is even a point where Juliet says that it is too soon to say I love you,
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Brock
4/6/2020 09:52:55 am
I think that Romeo and Juliet are just crushing. The reason I think that is because they looked at each other and fell in love, they didn't know anything about each other. It's kinda like when your a little kid and you say that you're in love but really you have a crush on him/her.
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Madeline
4/6/2020 02:20:56 pm
I think Romeo and Juliet simply had a crush on each other and were not really in love. When the two first met they were in awe of each other. They hardly knew each other, but yet they were only focused on the other person and were said to have been star crossed. In less than twenty-four hours of knowing each other they were married. Romeo says this about Juliet “Did my heart love till now? forswear it, sight! For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night.” He says this the same day her met Juliet. A crush is very similar to this. You can have a crush on someone you have never talked to, they might not even know you exist. You have a crush on them because you like the looks of them, but you don't even know what type of person they are. The same goes with Romeo and Juliet, they barely know each other and just have a crush on each other.
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Dalayne
4/7/2020 07:14:29 pm
After I had some time to think whether that this story was a crush story or a love story and after had some time to think and I had decided that this story is a crush story because of how the story takes places. The story is basically that they are young and dumb they actually don't know how to do anything about what is true love and what is just a crush. Like when they met that is just all a crush they see each other they they both see each other and they think oh they are beautiful but they point is that they might not know them personally.
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