Lust In Romeo And Juliet Essay

Romeo and Juliet are not the only ones reflecting lust in Shakespeare’s time. William Shakespeare, the author of The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, also reflects lust in his own marriage. When they married, Shakespeare was only 18, while his spouse, Anne Hathaway, was 26. Shakespeare and Romeo were both lustful teenagers who did not marry for love. Shakespeare was under the same conditions as Romeo was; a lustful, impulsive teenager craving a relationship built on sexual relations (“Shakespeare’s Wedding and Marriage”). Hathaway and Juliet are both victims of a relationship based on teen desire. Both Romeo and Juliet have traits of lust that lead to their ultimate downfall. Both Romeo and Juliet exhibit characteristics of irresponsible teenagers,

and the unfortunate circumstances that they are in are a major factor leading to the downfall of themselves and many others. Romeo and Juliet’s relationship reflects lust and physical desire as proven by Romeo’s change of mind about Rosaline after seeing Juliet, their poor knowledge of what marriage is, and their reactions to Romeo’s banishment and Juliet’s presumed death.
When Romeo first sees Juliet, he admires her beauty.

This elicited their demise because their lust for each other “occurs with a glance and enters them through their eyes” (Dupler 265). Romeo and Juliet thought they were experiencing love at first sight, but Juliet’s unfortunate circumstances and Romeo’s need for a woman added to their teenage lust is what creates that feeling. Both Romeo and Juliet were “bewitched by the charm of looks” (II.Prologue.6). Whether they are aware of it or not, Romeo and Juliet’s relationship is not even yet a relationship. They meet once, exchanging only a few words, and get married the next day. One cannot truly fall in love with another if they know nothing about each other. All that Romeo and Juliet know is that they crave each other and need to get out of tough situations. As soon as Romeo lays eyes on Juliet, he is enchanted by her beauty. He wishes “that [he] were a glove upon that hand/that [he] might touch that cheek” (II.ii.23-25). Romeo believes the feeling to be love at first sight, while it truly is just lust and physical attraction. Even Friar Lawrence does not believe that Romeo and Juliet’s relationship is made of love. When Romeo tells Friar about Juliet, Friar Lawrence says that their relationship is “for doting, not for loving” (II.iv.82). Friar understands that this relationship is not a reflection of love because of his impulsiveness and his sudden transfer from Rosaline to

Juliet.
Hours before Romeo meets Juliet, he is still devastated about Rosaline. He has such a physical attraction for this woman, though there is no evidence that he has ever met her. The immense lust he experiences causes him to lock himself away and act miserable. When Romeo moves from Rosaline to Juliet so suddenly, it is proven that “young affection gapes to be his heir” (II.Prologue.2). Romeo’s ego is crushed when Rosaline denies him so she can live a life of chastity. It is clear that Romeo just uses Juliet to boost his sense of self and prove to himself that Rosaline was wrong to deny being with him, which is proven since Shakespeare does not show “any change in Romeo, for the same images occur to him when he lights on Juliet as before, when he was courting Rosaline” (Bond). Shakespeare never shows Romeo moving on from Rosaline; he merely replaces her with Juliet. Romeo’s desire for Juliet “had taken the same form: this is still the devout religion of the eye” (Bond). Romeo leads Juliet to believe that he “ne’er saw true beauty till this night” (I.v.51-52), while he is really just using his charm to make her want him. It is made very clear that Romeo is not truly in love with Rosaline since he only ever admires her from afar and it is never mentioned that he ever talks to her. Shakespeare portrays Romeo as so enamored for Rosaline, and he believes that “he has fallen in love with this young woman, who never appears on stage” (Dupler 774). Along with not truly loving the women he claims to, Romeo does not treat women as human beings. He just treats them as sexual objects, and he wants nothing more from Rosaline and Juliet than sex. Romeo also treats the women that he claims to be in love with as objects of beauty, and he sees the switch from Rosaline to Juliet as “The replacement from one amatory object for another” (Bond). Once again, an adult figure in the play does not approve of their idea of love. Friar Lawrence’s immediate reaction to the shocking news of Romeo getting over Rosaline is the same as many readers of Romeo and Juliet. He is shocked that his desire for Rosaline was “So soon forsaken?” Friar then tells Romeo that “young men’s love then lies/Not truly in their hearts, but in their eyes” (II.iv.65-68). He has the same beliefs that their relationship is much too quick of a movement from Rosaline to Juliet to be true love.