Deceiving Hallucinations

Is the love that Romeo feels true, or merely a deceiving hallucination?

Reading the story of the famous lovers Romeo and Juliet, a large topic has come up over the depth of Romeo's feelings. In fact this debate has lead me to think that he is the most "intriguing" character in the book so far. Right now Romeo seems to me as either very love-struck or very desperate and impulsive and there is evidence on both of these sides of him. It is strange that one would be able to fall in love so quickly but even stranger is that I do believe that what he feels is true. Because of this, today I will be showing my point of view as to how it is not his eyes, his desperateness, or even completely the stars, that has brought him and Juliet together.

First of all, on the very first page of the play, there is already an important piece of evidence that he is truly (or has truly become) in love with Juliet. What I am referring to is the extremely straightforward line of the prologue, line 6: "A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life". Right there Shakespeare has already stated clearly that they are lovers. Not only that but if Romeo weren't truly in love with Juliet, why would he take his life? Even a lover isn't worth that price. If you agreed with the sentence before that I wrote in bold then you would be agreeing that even lovers aren't worth one's own life which would prove that Romeo loves  Juliet so much that she isn't even the common lover, since he is so in love with her that her "death" is worth his suicide. If you disagreed then you would be agreeing that lovers are worth one's own life which would also mean that he died for her because of his love which would prove his sincerity. Either way, it would still show that his love is true.

Although many people would consider Romeo rash for his actions, there are times when things cannot be judged. An example would be line 100 of act 2, scene 4: "O, let us hence. I stand on sudden haste." This happens when the friar (Friar Lawrence) agrees to marry Romeo and Juliet and Romeo wants to hurry to get married. To many people it would make sense that Romeo would seem impulsive but being impulsive doesn't mean that his love isn't true. I'm not saying that he absolutely couldn't be loving Juliet because of her looks or the fact that he seems to think that he needs to love someone but then again, if that could be true, can't his love for Juliet be as well? Love is nothing but a word, a noun that has four letters, but the actions done because of it show the meaning of this emotion. I don't see how one can judge the actions of a person and say that their love isn't true if there is no such thing as a standard for love.

In conclusion, Romeo has a split personality. Not the type in the mind but as viewed in the book. I do not honestly find a big deal out of this "controversy" for I believe that if I read this story without judgemental views, I would be able to see the bigger picture of the play. The morals about hate and violence and things that could but weren't prevented. Why does it matter whether or not Romeo's love is true? People would still die, grief would still come and his love wouldn't have changed anything. Although I believe that he did love Juliet, if I found out that he didn't, it wouldn't matter much since the hate between the Capulets and Montagues would still be there whether love was present or not and the truth is that it is easier to ignore love than hate. It is the hate of these two families, the misunderstandings and unwillingness to forgive, that killed these two "lovers". And perhaps in the end, the reason why Romeo is to me, the most interesting character is because his "not-so-important" actions have made such an impact that people have forgotten the rest of the play.

So is it really him that has been deceived, or us?