Romeo and Juliet – love or infatuation?
The question of whether the emotion between Romeo and Juliet is one of true love or childish infatuation, is a difficult one to answer as their "violent delights has violent ends" in only three days. I conclude, however, that there is not a question that their ‘violent delight’ was an attraction based on physical love, rather than a lasting emotional attachment. It is thus my opinion that the emotion these two teens felt, was mere infatuation, and not love.
We can see the infatuation in quite a few examples throughout the play. The first is that only moments before Romeo saw Juliet, he was desperately in love with Rosaline. This shows that he falls in and out of love very quickly, and therefore doesn't know what true love really is.
When Juliet first meets Romeo, she is in his presence for only a short time, but she already thinks she is in love with him. She has not developed a relationship to foster love. She is speaking of her first reaction to him, being infatiuation.
In Act II it speaks of Romeo and Juliet being "bewitched by looks," meaning that their emotion for one another is really based on physical attracti...
