If you were Romeo or Juliet, would you do the same thing in the name of love?

I think this is an important question because it gets at the heart of a long-standing debate: Is Romeo & Julietactually a love story? There are certainly beautiful passages about love, and Shakespeare uses his sizable wit and immeasurable talent to craft beautiful, lyrical poetry to woo us into thinking it is a love story. But I fall squarely on the side of the debate that says this play is not the greatest love...

I think this is an important question because it gets at the heart of a long-standing debate: Is Romeo & Juliet actually a love story? There are certainly beautiful passages about love, and Shakespeare uses his sizable wit and immeasurable talent to craft beautiful, lyrical poetry to woo us into thinking it is a love story. But I fall squarely on the side of the debate that says this play is not the greatest love story of all time. In fact, it isn't a love story at all. Instead it is better to view Romeo & Juliet as a tragedy that explores elements of love, rather than a love story in the traditional sense.

Think about it: We begin the story when Romeo is all sad about some woman we never meet. He's heartbroken, he'll never be the same. Cut to ten minutes later, where he meets Juliet and falls in love again. It's "too rash, too unadvised, too sudden", as much young love is. Juliet is 13 years old at the beginning of the play, and the story lasts for only a series of days. It is a story of infatuation and hasty decisions, and it leaves the audience wishing they had slowed down, taken the time to plan things out together, and that's what makes it a tragedy.

To answer the question more directly: No. Because true love would not require the ultimate sacrifice.