Romeo and Juliet: Infatuation and Immature Love

Introduction

William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is a timeless love tragedy. They are from the city of Verona and belong to two feuding families, the Montague’s and the Capulet’s. They are both very young with Romeo being 18 years of age and Juliet being the tender age of 14. The actions of these young lovers, both as individuals and as a couple, can be viewed as immature which ultimately led to their death. Romeo and Juliet’s thinking and actions are mainly what portray them as immature teens. This is evident in the actions they took to be together.

Immature Thinking of Romeo and Juliet

Their young love, without any true understanding of these words led to rash decision-making. Rather than embracing their situation and rushing everything they could have gotten to know each other a little better but instead they made the impetuous decision of suicide. Romeo’s thinking and actions portray him as an immature person. Romeo poisons himself thinking that Juliet was dead, however, she was under the spell of a sleeping potion. If Romeo had waited a few minutes, he would have witnessed her awakening. This proves Romeo’s impulsive nature and rash decision-making. Friar Lawrence states this when he says to Romeo “These violent delights have violent ends/And in their triumph die, like fire and powder/Which, as they kiss, consume” (2.6.10). This shows Romeo cannot think clearly as all he sees is his infatuation with Juliet. In fact his infatuation is greatly shown when he first sees Juliet. He was in love with Rosaline prior to this but once he sees Juliet, he is immediately drawn to her and he forgets about Rosaline in a flash. This shows that Romeo can easily fall in love with the next woman he sees whom he deems to be more beautiful than the last.

Impact of Desire on Romeo's Decision-Making

Such actions show that Romeo’s strong desires can strongly affect his general decision making. He also views his banishment as much worse than death which shows his impulsiveness similar to a teenager. This is something young teens can all relate to as teens also feel these impulsive emotions at one point in their life. Juliet’s actions are not any better than Romeo’s actions. Her immaturity is vast and even Juliet’s own father states this in Act 1, “My child is yet a stranger in the world/She hath not seen the change of fourteen years” (1.2.8). Juliet was immature when she complains about her relationship with Romeo moving too fast, and too sudden yet Juliet agrees to marrying him only a day after meeting him. In fact, Juliet herself is not even sure that Romeo wants to marry her when she says “It is too rash, too unadvised, too sudden” (2.2.125). Juliet’s impulsiveness is similar to Romeo’s when her father ordered her to marry Paris. When she receives this news, she runs to Friar Lawrence with a knife in her hand, threatening to kill herself if she can’t be with Romeo, “If in thy wisdom thou canst give no help/Do thou but call my resolution wise/And with this knife I’ll help it presently” (4.1.53).

Tragic Consequences of Romeo and Juliet

As a couple, Romeo and Juliet were persistent with their love and against all odds and rationalization, they got married secretly by Friar Lawrence. They did not seek out consent from their feuding families and contrary to Friar Lawrence’s beliefs, this wedding will not restore any peace amongst their feuding families. Their actions were rash with no thought of their consequences, which is shown when Juliet states, “Thy purpose marriage, send me word tomorrow/By one that I’ll procure to come to thee, Where and what time thou wilt perform the rite/And all my fortunes at thy foot I’ll lay/And follow thee my lord throughout the world” (2.2.151). In the eyes of this young couple, death is a better fate than being apart. To them, not being able to be together is the absolute end of the world and this is why both Romeo and Juliet ultimately died in the end. Romeo drinks the poison given to him by the plague doctor and drinks it when he sees Juliet “dead” in the mausoleum. Once Juliet awakens, she sees that Romeo has died due to poisoning and in turn, kills herself to be with him in the afterlife. Romeo and Juliet is a prime example of a tragic love story.

Conclusion

A young immature couple, despite all odds, will do anything they can to be together even if this means death. They did not possess the necessary intelligence nor maturity or experience to face the odds and find a better solution. Their young hearts were not able to cope with the adult situations that arose during their relationship which led to their tragic demise.

Works Cited

1. Shakespeare, William, and Alan Durband. Romeo and Juliet. Hauppage, NY: Barron's, 1985.