Love In Less Than 3 Days!
Lust can never amount to love; but it sure acts as a great springboard for a meaningful relationship.
I've never really watched Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet before. Though a big fan of the bard, I've never found the time to watch or even read the famous tragedy. (the only thing I've seen is the "Leo Di Caprio looking at Claires Danes through an aquarium" scene) Though, of course, I know the basic plot and ending (who doesn't); I've never realized the deep philosophical lessons it contained.
From a mere observer's point of view, the whole play is but a ball of cheese. The kind that makes you want to puke every ten minutes. There's a whole lot of smooching, and flirting, and a barrage of potential-pick-up-line dialogues. Angsty and perenially depressed people are adviced not to see it.
Anyway, the plot is quite simple. Playboy sees girl. The world stops for a few minutes. They start kissing within the hour and decide to get married a little while after. Boy kills girls cousin and gets banished from the city. Both of them can't take it; and so, finally, they decide to kill themselves. Ah, yes... True love indeed! Or is it, really?
The whole plot happens in three days; a real mind-boggler for conservatives all over the world. What the hell is three days, right? That's a fling. Hell, it's worse than that. It's a freaking one-night stand! Only, it happens in 3 days and there's a lot of really weird english dialogue in the middle. I guess it's a 3-night stand, or something. Fact of the matter is, everything happened too fast. Add into the mix the tiny detail of Romeeo and Juliet being teenagers (Juliet was 14!); and we have a pretty good (and immoral) mess in our hands.
Is it possible for such a setting to produce true love? The plain answer would be a resounding "Hell NO!" First off, teenagers know shit about love. Next, the two protagonists know snot about one another and merely based their entire relationship on looks and carnal instinct. Also, love must definitely need something more than 3 days in order for it to bloom. And there's a lot more reasons why Roemo and Juliet's love could not possibly be one that's true. (ask those conservatives, they'll tell you)
Thing is, I'm not one who sticks with the "plain answer". I say, their love was indeed true. And this is where the really heavy philosophical shit comes in. Romeo and Juliet's love had THE key ingredient, and that is, CHOICE!
Yes, true enough, it all started out with lust. That whole dialogue on the first kiss and how Romeo kisses "by the book" (i should really read that book sometime); it was lust, plain and simple. They saw each other on the dance floor, and their hormones told them they had just found a great piece of meat. That's it. But it did not end at lust.
If their love was indeed merely lust in disguise, then they should have backed off after they had done the carnal act. They should have walked away and had their marriage annulled, since they had no legal capacity being below 18 and all (granting that their laws are the same as ours); or they could have just agreed to being f*ck-buddies or something. The thing is, though; they did no such thing. They pursued their relationship, short-lived though it was. Both of them had golden opportunites to say, "Enough with this stupidity. Let's go on with our lives." Juliet could have wed the rich count. Romeo could have lived in some other place and resume his life of playboy-hood (again, there is no such word boys and girls). However, they never did. Instead, they chose to continue the relationship. A choice that ended up in the death of both parties.
Some people might argue passion. That the two star-crossed lovers had acted out of impulse and that they never thought things through. So what if they hadn't?! Passion is what drives us all. The moment we lose passion, we become robots. The young lovers were passionate and that's what made their story so interesting. How many people fight for what they believe to be true? Very, very few. It took a lot of courage to do what Romeo and Juliet did; and it was passion that had fueled this courage. Lust begot passion begot courage begot love.
And as for the argument that they did not think things through: of course they did! How else would they be able to conjure such complicated plans? When Juliet had been confronted by her parents, she had the grace under pressure to plot a course of action. As Romeo returned to Verona, he had time to think of what to do. And they both decided the same way: that life would mean shit without one another. Sure, it was not the most pragmatic of decisions; but remember "Le coeur a ses raisons que la raison ne connait point." (the heart has its reasons, whereof reason knows nothing) It might not be so wise for us; but place yourself in their shoes. A captain, who realizes his ship is sinking, would go down with it. A samurai who loses his honor commits hara kiri. An army officer during a great war would rather die in the battlefield than limp home wounded. What makes Romeo and Juliet's case any different. Sometimes, we do not understand things becuase of our practicality; but when placed in a particular situation, we ourselves lose this same practicality and act according to what we know to be right.
This argument is even consistent with the theological/philosophical teaching that love is not about finding someone to complete you. Romeo and Juliet never told one another that they complimented each other. From what I saw in the play, they were quite fine alone before they met; both teenagers perfectly content with their lives. Together, though, they had found something of such great power and intensity, of such truth and indescribable perfection, that life itself and everything it was promising to offer had paled in comparison to that which they had found.
Think about it this way. Remember the question, "What is the meaning of life?" Well, imagine finding an answer to that question. That was the way it was (well, at least from what i surmise) with Romeo and Juliet. Once we find the answers to all the questions we ask; nothing alse really matters. We just smile.
I can go on and on defending the love displayed by Juliet and her Romeo; but i suppose we all see the point. (or not) Bottom line is, love, in addition to being indescribable and undefinable, is never time-bound. It may surface now; or it may already have surfaced; or it may never show at all. Whether it occurs in 3 days or 3 lifetimes doesn't matter. What does matter is that the choice is made. The enlightenment might occur immediately (as in the case of Romeo and Juliet), or it might take several reincarnations; but I am sure, in each of our lives, it will come. Probably not in the same magnificence as found in literature, though it would still be life-altering. We just have to keep our eyes, minds and hearts open. We'll never know when the need to make THE choice shall arise.
I've never really watched Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet before. Though a big fan of the bard, I've never found the time to watch or even read the famous tragedy. (the only thing I've seen is the "Leo Di Caprio looking at Claires Danes through an aquarium" scene) Though, of course, I know the basic plot and ending (who doesn't); I've never realized the deep philosophical lessons it contained.
From a mere observer's point of view, the whole play is but a ball of cheese. The kind that makes you want to puke every ten minutes. There's a whole lot of smooching, and flirting, and a barrage of potential-pick-up-line dialogues. Angsty and perenially depressed people are adviced not to see it.
Anyway, the plot is quite simple. Playboy sees girl. The world stops for a few minutes. They start kissing within the hour and decide to get married a little while after. Boy kills girls cousin and gets banished from the city. Both of them can't take it; and so, finally, they decide to kill themselves. Ah, yes... True love indeed! Or is it, really?
The whole plot happens in three days; a real mind-boggler for conservatives all over the world. What the hell is three days, right? That's a fling. Hell, it's worse than that. It's a freaking one-night stand! Only, it happens in 3 days and there's a lot of really weird english dialogue in the middle. I guess it's a 3-night stand, or something. Fact of the matter is, everything happened too fast. Add into the mix the tiny detail of Romeeo and Juliet being teenagers (Juliet was 14!); and we have a pretty good (and immoral) mess in our hands.
Is it possible for such a setting to produce true love? The plain answer would be a resounding "Hell NO!" First off, teenagers know shit about love. Next, the two protagonists know snot about one another and merely based their entire relationship on looks and carnal instinct. Also, love must definitely need something more than 3 days in order for it to bloom. And there's a lot more reasons why Roemo and Juliet's love could not possibly be one that's true. (ask those conservatives, they'll tell you)
Thing is, I'm not one who sticks with the "plain answer". I say, their love was indeed true. And this is where the really heavy philosophical shit comes in. Romeo and Juliet's love had THE key ingredient, and that is, CHOICE!
Yes, true enough, it all started out with lust. That whole dialogue on the first kiss and how Romeo kisses "by the book" (i should really read that book sometime); it was lust, plain and simple. They saw each other on the dance floor, and their hormones told them they had just found a great piece of meat. That's it. But it did not end at lust.
If their love was indeed merely lust in disguise, then they should have backed off after they had done the carnal act. They should have walked away and had their marriage annulled, since they had no legal capacity being below 18 and all (granting that their laws are the same as ours); or they could have just agreed to being f*ck-buddies or something. The thing is, though; they did no such thing. They pursued their relationship, short-lived though it was. Both of them had golden opportunites to say, "Enough with this stupidity. Let's go on with our lives." Juliet could have wed the rich count. Romeo could have lived in some other place and resume his life of playboy-hood (again, there is no such word boys and girls). However, they never did. Instead, they chose to continue the relationship. A choice that ended up in the death of both parties.
Some people might argue passion. That the two star-crossed lovers had acted out of impulse and that they never thought things through. So what if they hadn't?! Passion is what drives us all. The moment we lose passion, we become robots. The young lovers were passionate and that's what made their story so interesting. How many people fight for what they believe to be true? Very, very few. It took a lot of courage to do what Romeo and Juliet did; and it was passion that had fueled this courage. Lust begot passion begot courage begot love.
And as for the argument that they did not think things through: of course they did! How else would they be able to conjure such complicated plans? When Juliet had been confronted by her parents, she had the grace under pressure to plot a course of action. As Romeo returned to Verona, he had time to think of what to do. And they both decided the same way: that life would mean shit without one another. Sure, it was not the most pragmatic of decisions; but remember "Le coeur a ses raisons que la raison ne connait point." (the heart has its reasons, whereof reason knows nothing) It might not be so wise for us; but place yourself in their shoes. A captain, who realizes his ship is sinking, would go down with it. A samurai who loses his honor commits hara kiri. An army officer during a great war would rather die in the battlefield than limp home wounded. What makes Romeo and Juliet's case any different. Sometimes, we do not understand things becuase of our practicality; but when placed in a particular situation, we ourselves lose this same practicality and act according to what we know to be right.
This argument is even consistent with the theological/philosophical teaching that love is not about finding someone to complete you. Romeo and Juliet never told one another that they complimented each other. From what I saw in the play, they were quite fine alone before they met; both teenagers perfectly content with their lives. Together, though, they had found something of such great power and intensity, of such truth and indescribable perfection, that life itself and everything it was promising to offer had paled in comparison to that which they had found.
Think about it this way. Remember the question, "What is the meaning of life?" Well, imagine finding an answer to that question. That was the way it was (well, at least from what i surmise) with Romeo and Juliet. Once we find the answers to all the questions we ask; nothing alse really matters. We just smile.
I can go on and on defending the love displayed by Juliet and her Romeo; but i suppose we all see the point. (or not) Bottom line is, love, in addition to being indescribable and undefinable, is never time-bound. It may surface now; or it may already have surfaced; or it may never show at all. Whether it occurs in 3 days or 3 lifetimes doesn't matter. What does matter is that the choice is made. The enlightenment might occur immediately (as in the case of Romeo and Juliet), or it might take several reincarnations; but I am sure, in each of our lives, it will come. Probably not in the same magnificence as found in literature, though it would still be life-altering. We just have to keep our eyes, minds and hearts open. We'll never know when the need to make THE choice shall arise.