Romeo's unattainable desire- blog 3

Emily Lagarde
Romeo's unattainable Desire



In the beginning of "Romeo and Juliet," Romeo is discouraged at love. His desire in Rosaline is not met and he spends a good portion of Act I and II mourning over how sorrowful he is, "Out of her favor, where I am in love" (1.1 line 167). From this beginning impression of Romeo he is a romantic without a lover and spends his time whining to his friends about it. Already, he is acquainted with how emotional he can be, that desire is not always mutual and that love is not fair,

Love is a smoke raised with the fume of sighs;

Being purged, a fire sparkling in lovers' eyes;

Being vexed, a sea nourished with loving tears.

What is it else? A madness most discreet, (1.1 lines 189-192).

Romeo is seen as very passionate and falls madly with desire at beautiful women, not using any thoughts, only emotion. It is interesting to note that all desire for Rosaline is forgotten the instant he sees Juliet, "did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight! For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night" (1.5 lines 53-54). This is a perfect indication on how fleeting but potent desire is for Romeo. He is wavering and flows with his desires, unaware of the consequences. Before, he was speaking of how quivering love is, how unjust, and now he is flowing to the next urge his heart has. Either Shakespeare is making jest at young love, or love at first sight in general. All Romeo sees is Juliet. He sees how beautiful, urging him to want her, an example of sexual desire. He gives up everything for this desire, even his identity, "Henceforth I never will be Romeo" (2.2 line 51). He is so impassioned he gives up his name! This gives way to problems when he is told he is banished from Verona, "There is no world without Verona walls. But purgatory, torture, hell itself" (3.3 lines 17-19). He loses his identity and his entire existence of what his 'world' really means. Since identity is key to the substance of people during this time, Romeo and Juliet are products of their family's on going feud. There is no one identity but rather what is bestowed upon you at birth. With Romeo's desire for Juliet he is throwing aside this very crucial center point in Renaissance society. Also, there is the idea of the fates and what happens to you is because of being a god's plaything. When Romeo and Juliet decide to kill themselves they are going against, 1) the duties of their families, 2) Romeo's lack of desire to leave an heir, 3) taking matters into their own hands, rather creating their own fates.
In 5.3 lines 46-48, "Gorged with the dearest morsel of the earth, Thus I enforce thy rotten jaws to open, And in despite I'll cram thee with more food," Romeo is going against the normalcy of leaving a piece of himself after he dies. He is going against that norm for his desire to be next to Juliet in death. Also, in 5.3 lines 110-112, "Will I set up my everlasting rest, And shake the yoke of inauspicious stars, From this world- wearied flesh," this is another perfect example of how Romeo and Juliet created their own fate. Since their desires could not be met in the earthly world they decide to be together in the afterlife, where identity and being played by fates will not get in the way of their desire for one another.
The irony comes when Romeo and Juliet are made into statues. They are almost god-like in themselves because of their resurrection and honor. Yet, they will also always stand on earthly soil, so apart of them will always remain true to mortal identity, yet immortalized with earthly stones and gold. It is interesting the parallels between life and death, and then they are made into statues, leading the thought that they are god-like because they made their own fate. Their desire, especially Romeo's leads to this weird lasting tale of Romeo and Juliet, of either how young desire only leads to bad outcomes or that real desire can prevail, although in strange outcomes, and that real desire is worth the monument.