Romeo and Juliet: Love V.S. Youthful Rashness

Everyone knows the tale of “Romeo and Juliet” by William Shakespeare. A boy named Romeo from the Montague’s and a girl named Juliet from the Capulet’s meet and fall in love at first sight. However, their love is destined for failure, as it is fate that they will die young. In the end, Juliet fakes her death in hopes that Romeo would knowingly go along with it, however, the plans do not reach him, and he believes Juliet is truly dead. He commits suicide, and Juliet awakes to find his dead body next to her, to which she kills herself as well. The story is the quintessential tale of love, as it exemplifies the power love possesses over many. Recently, however, there have been many arguments proclaiming Romeo’s love for Juliet was brought about by youthful rashness. I, on the other hand, believe Romeo’s love for Juliet was true because of their fate, and how they brought about the ending of the rivalry between the Montagues and the Capulets by dying together.

            Firstly, Romeo’s love for Juliet was true because it was their destiny that they would end up dying together. To start, Romeo references the stars many times, showing how he was destined to fall in love with Juliet from the start. “I fear too early, for my mind misgives Some consequence yet hanging in the stars Shall bitterly begin his fearful date.” Here, Romeo is talking about how he knows his life will end in some tragic way. He is prefacing going to the party with explaining he knows how it’ll end. To no surprise, this is the party where he meets Juliet, and his love for her first unleashes. To add on, fate is present when the letter telling Romeo the plan about Juliet never gets to him. It shows how destiny cannot be cheated, and it further establishes that Romeo and Juliet were meant to fall in love with each other, and ultimately die together. If Romeo’s love for Juliet wasn’t true, none of this would have unveiled. Romeo would not have died in the end for Juliet, which wouldn’t have ended the fight between the Capulets and the Montagues. This shows how vital of a role Romeos love for Juliet plays for the tale, illustrating how real his love is for her.

            Secondly, Romeo’s love for Juliet is true because it ended the feud between the Montagues and the Capulets. In the end of the story, the two families come together over the loss of their children, showing that love is stronger than rage. For example, even thought Tybalt and Mercutio died, both people who were extremely close to either family, their deaths did nothing to stop the fight. Their death’s saddened the families, but it didn’t create a big enough impact. However, when Romeo and Juliet died, it made the families reevaluate the purpose of fighting for so long. The ending conclusion drawn from this was that it took something as strong as pure love to defeat the bitterness between the families. In addition, what brought the families together was that the deaths of Romeo and Juliet were causal to their feud. If the families hadn’t been so hostile towards one another, then Romeo and Juliet wouldn’t have had to get married in secret and have their plan fail. The households were finally able to realize that they were the problems, and what brought this epiphany upon them was the destruction of Romeo and Juliet, bound by true love. This shows how one strong bond of love can conquer all, making Romeo’s love for Juliet more than real.

            In conclusion, Romeo’s love for Juliet was true, and not an act of youthful rashness. Even though Romeo was young, his love for Juliet was just as real as a love by someone older. His decisions were not impulsive; they were marked by true love, which is illustrated at the ending when they die for one another. Without Romeo truly loving Juliet, the tale of the story wouldn’t be true, and the ending wouldn’t be fulfilled. From reading “Romeo and Juliet” I have learned how love can have many powers over an individual. Romeo’s love for Juliet was so strong that he died to be with her, and her the same, an idea that can only be explained by unconditional mutual love. Romeo’s love for Juliet was true, and it remains as a model for society to this day as to what love in its true form can really do.