The Collapse Of Love In Shakespeare's Romeo And Juliet

There is probably no story more prestigious and recognized as Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. Many people believe that the main point of the story other than Romeo and Juliet’s tragic love is the feud between the two families, the Montagues and Capulets. The message William Shakespeare may have been trying to get across was not the feud between the families, but the power of love, such as the ideas that love can damage people, love at first sight is unhealthy, and that pure love can still collapse because of outside forces.

The first and foremost implication that Romeo and Juliet has is the notion that love, even pure and just, can damage people because of the intense care that the people involved have for each other. In the story,

Romeo cares so much for Juliet that he rushes off to Verona after being informed about her death to dig up her grave. He kills Paris and opens her grave to find her dead. He decides he cannot live without her and slays himself so that he can lay with her in the tomb. She then wakes up to find him dead and takes her own life. This, although tragic, shows their endless devotion for each other, which although virtuous, destroys them both in the end. It supports the concept that love is of the most powerful force, and can even kill.
Another hidden moral in the story is the idea that love at first sight is unhealthy and dangerous to those involved. Throughout the story, those who are informed outside of Romeo and Juliet, that express their opinions about their love all point to the perception that their love is false, and that it is too soon. The chaos caused by their swift marriage and secrecy to both families eventually kills them. The story never states it outright, but it implies throughout the story that it played a hand in their “destined fate.”
Finally, there are the insinuations that although Romeo and Juliet’s love is decent and pure, the outside forces. The plague stopping Friar John, the family rivalry limiting their communication, and Juliet’s arranged marriage to Paris. All of these events stopped a love that in most people’s opinions would be unstoppable. Shakespeare may have been attempting to convey the idea that fate and other factors can end even the greatest of love.
Concisely, the thoughts that Shakespeare was trying to express in this tragedy are the concepts that love can damage people, especially at first sight, and although so very powerful, it can still be tarnished by external factors. This story has been analyzed for hundreds of years, and made into a plethora of different adaptations, and it may because of the many different messages that can perceived by the readers’ own opinions. After all, there will never be a more time-honored tragedy than Romeo and Juliet.