Theme Of Commitment In Romeo And Juliet

While love can sometimes seem so simple, it can also be one of the most complex and intricate things in this world. Due to this, love has been the inspiration for many works in a variety of fields. Everyone has also experienced it and the fundamental question people tend to ask when they do fall in love is am I truly in love or is this a short lived admiration? According to Robert J. sternberg’s theory on the triangular theory of love, complete love is when it exhibits these three components: intimacy, passion and commitment. Love is a central theme In Shakespeare's tragedy Romeo and Juliet and is a controversial topic for the same reasons; if the love is real or infatuated. In Romeo and Juliet’s case they lack two out of the three components,
Commitment is how the relationship thrives and survives despite of any obstacles that are put in the way of the relationship(Sternberg). Commitment in Romeo and Juliet relationship faces a dilemma because commitment develops over a long span of time but the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet takes place over a three day span. Romeo and Juliet have no commitment at all because their relationship crumbles or is hanging on a string after the entrance of many obstacles. This is shown after the first obstacle they face right after their marriage, the death of Tybalt by Romeo’s hand(). Romeo gets banished by the prince because of Tybalt’s death and doesn’t know what to do and how to make this marriage work in face of this huge obstacle, this hopelessness is shown when Romeo says, “An hour married, Tybalt murderèd,/ Doting like me, and like me banishèd/ Then might thou speak, then mightst thou tear thy hair/ And fall upon the ground as I do now”(Romeo and Juliet 3.3.66-73). This show the inability of the relationship to survive when faced with an obstacle because Romeo doesn’t think about the problem rationally but is afraid he might lose the feeling of feeling good caused by infatuated love and feels anxious about the thought of separation; he feels hopeless about the situation and throws himself to the ground and lays there. This hopeless feeling towards the love surviving is also show in Juliet, this is shown when Juliet
Romeo and Juliet think they have intimacy but in actual fact they are lacking it and the intimacy they do have is confused with obsession and passion. The lacking of intimacy is first caused by the fact that Intimacy develops over a long period time, this is a problem since the play takes place over the span of three days so they really can’t get to know each other and form this bond that is crucial to intimacy. Even though the play take place in such a short time Romeo and Juliet think they have intimacy but in actuality they don’t. A good test for intimacy is placing an obstacle in a relationship and see how the relationship changes, if they get close because of the obstacle then they have intimacy but if they get further apart then they have little to no intimacy(Sternberg). Romeo and Juliet were faced with the obstacle of separation because of Romeo’s banishment by the prince(), this one obstacle causes the relationship to crumble and brings them further apart.

Romeo and Juliet’s love is unique because it is a new genre of teenage love that Shakespeare created(). Their love is infatuated but confuse it with obsession with real