Definitely lust, not love.

    Romeo and Juliet is probably one of the most famous plays ever written, and it tells us about love at first sight. How Romeo and Juliet meet each other one night at a party and a few days later they are so captivated and in love with each other that they are ready to give up their own lives. But there is always one question that arises when we talk about their relationship, was it truly love or was it just lust? No one can define love because everyone has a different perspective on this subject. The definition of love to one person can be different from what someone else thinks. But Romeo and Juliet’s relationship was definitely just lust, it was never true love.
    

    Just before crashing the Capulet party, Romeo was talking to Benvolio about how he “loves” a girl that doesn’t love him back, and about how he is really sad over it. “Out of her favor, where I am in love.” “Yes, this is what love does. My sadness sits heavy in my chest.(Act 1, Scene 1)” He tells Benvolio about how he can’t even look at another girls because they remind him of her. “By giving liberty unto thine eyes. Examine other beauties.,”(Act 1, Scene 1) says Benvolio. “ 'Tis the way. To call hers, exquisite, in question more,”(Act 1, Scene 1) replies Romeo. Benvolio learns about the Capulet party, and convinces Romeo to attend because Rosaline will be there. But as soon as they enter the party and he sees Juliet, he forgets all about his former lover, and is intrigued by Juliet’s beauty and starts to question if his heart ever did love someone before this moment. “It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night Like a rich jewel in an Ethiope’s ear, Beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear. So shows a snowy dove trooping with crows, As yonder lady o'er her fellows shows. The measure done, I’ll watch her place of stand, And, touching hers, make blessed my rude hand. Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight! For I never saw true beauty till this night.”(Act 1, Scene 5) Just minutes before meeting Juliet, Romeo was so heartbroken over Rosaline. But the minute his eyes spotted Juliet he forgot all about his past lover and started to say that he thinks that he has never been in love before this moment. He hasn't even talked to her and doesn't even know her name, but he is already starting to talk about being in love. He is only attracted to her because of her beauty. He has learned nothing about her personality, for all he knows she could be rude and very arrogant. A person “in love” doesn't change their lover in one day. When you truly were in love with someone, it takes a long time to get over them and an even longer time to imagine yourself with someone else.
 
    For Juliet, it’s neither lust nor love that attracts her to Romeo. Romeo was just her escape plan from the life her family had planned for her. Without even a discussion, her father gives her hand to another man who is much older than her. Even though he tells Paris that he needs her permission, later on you can see that Lord Capulet had already made up his own mind and is enraged when Juliet refuses to marry Paris. Just before the party, her mother comes in to talk to her and tells her about the marriage proposal. She says she hasn’t even dreamt of being married, but if that is what her parents want, she would consider it. No child wants to get married at the age of 13, and even though she said yes, she couldn’t have been too happy inside. During the party, she meets Romeo who is obviously very good looking, very drawn to her, and most importantly he was not Paris.  Juliet could have an attractive man all to herself who fancied her a lot; she wouldn’t have to marry the man that her parents had chosen for her which meant that she could get out of the marriage proposal. So it was a win- win situation. Surely though as their relationship developed, it became lust. And even after she found out he was from the family of their enemies she decided to stay with him because she knew that would anger her parents. That could be her form of punishment for them for making her marry so young.

    At the end of this tragic play, we see that Romeo and Juliet both kill each other. Romeo feels the passion of lust just as strongly as one feels love. So when he sees Juliet “dead”, he is completely heartbroken and in that moment thinks that he can never get over her so he decides to end his own life. For Juliet, she ended her life for a different reason. She didn’t kill herself because she thought she would never be able to get over him, she killed herself because Romeo was her ticket to a happy marriage. With him gone, she would have no choice but to go back to her parents and marry Paris. So she picked the easy way out and took her own life. To some people, them committing suicide over each other is really romantic, but it depends with what you agree on. If you feel that they were really in love then it could be romantic. But if you feel like their relationship was purely lust, then no. Them committing suicide over each other was simply foolish and stupid. The idea of death is not romantic, even if it is someone that was truly in love who commits suicide. Taking your own life because you can’t be with the person you love is a very dumb thing to do, not everything is going to work out. Even if you think that you will never be able to love someone again, you have to just put up with it and move on. You have to force yourself to be happy because time stops for no one. All wounds are healed as time goes on.

    “Love isn't something that happens in 5 minutes. It’s when you are attracted to someone and then when you get to know them over a period of time, you start to become infatuated with their every small detail. You overlook their flaws simply because you can’t imagine your world without them.”-Sam. As mentioned previously, no one can really define love. Peoples opinion on this subject differs from one person to another. There are many different kinds of love, for example the type between you and your parents, between you and your siblings, between you and your pets, between you and your friends and etc.  The play displays different kinds of love too, like for example the love between Mercutio and Romeo. Romeo loves and cares for Mercutio in a completely different way than he does with Juliet. No one love is more valuable than the other, they are all important in their own way. 

    So its easy to see that their relationship wouldn't have lasted because it was never true love.

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