Title: What are Juliet's ideas of love and marriage in act I in Romeo and Juliet? - eNotes.com
Headings: What are Juliet's ideas of love and marriage in act I in
Romeo and Juliet?

Romeo and Juliet
What are Juliet's ideas of love and marriage in act I in Romeo and Juliet?
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Content: The ensuing romance is heady, intense, passionate, and full of angst. The forbidden aspect of the whole affair gives it a titillating thrill that tosses it from a summer flirtation up to a romance of epic proportions. At the end of scene 5, Juliet is convinced that she is in love with a young lad she’d met only that night, a lad who is not only not Paris, but who is also the only son of her father’s greatest enemy. Although it wouldn’t be fair to downplay Romeo’s charm and physical attributes, I would say that circumstances have as much to do with Juliet’s feelings as any “love at first sight” chemistry do. Juliet is about to be pushed into a monumental change in her life that she is not sure she wants, and is ripe for rebellion in the matter. On top of that, she is a complete novice in love, having never experienced romance with anyone before meeting Romeo. On his side, Romeo is on the rebound from “fair Rosaline” and ready to project all those frustrated emotions onto another, which means he would have come on strong to any girl who’d caught his eye. And what pair of teenagers wouldn’t be attracted to a secret, forbidden relationship and the dizzy feeling that it’s the two of them against the world? The idea of star-crossed lovers overcoming the odds is an attractive one, even today. With all that in play, it’s fair to say that Juliet’s ideas of love and marriage are heavy on idealism and imagination, and sorely lacking in realism.