Using three different types of passion, Shakespeare's ‘Romeo and Juliet’ describes love: the unrequited love between Romeo and Rosaline, the true and sincere love between Romeo and Juliet, and the pessimistic love between Mercutio and the Nurse. Using traditional notions of love specific to the era helps convey the message that it can take many forms. Since Romeo and Juliet are sincere, the play implies that true love is found beyond love. Romance changes their perspectives on love.
The genuine romantic love shared by Romeo and Juliet is the principal subject of the play. Romeo completely turns from an inexperienced dreamer into a devoted lover upon falling in love with Juliet. “Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight! For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night”. Romeo does not use flowery, premeditated speech anymore. He articulates all he needs to without all the decorations of a Poetic conceit, he knows just what he is feeling. He acknowledges that whatever he had felt before that was totally different, and as a consequence, he wonders if he had ever been in love previously. Romeo does not use inconsistencies or ornate words when thinking of Juliet. He calls her a “true beauty”, as opposed to “wisely too fair”.
Romeo and Juliet demonstrate a love that is pure and truthful, but the more deceptive and lustful kinds of love, as represented by Mercutio and the Nurse, must not be forgotten. Whose views on love vary significantly from those of Romeo and Juliet which seems to focus only on the superficialities of the human body. He brushes off the love sickness of Romeo, suggesting that sexual pleasure is absolutely important for Romeo. “For this driveling love is like a great natural that runs lolling up and down to hide his bauble in a hole”. Mercutio doesn't want women's emotional ties; instead, he wants to experience the pleasures of women. “This is the hag, when maids lie on their backs, that presses them and learns them first to bear, making them women of good carriage”. It is clear that Mercutio is unable to grasp the passion Romeo has for Juliet. He sees the connection Romeo and Juliet have as just another notch to add to the bedpost. Mercutio is persuaded that love “is as thin as the air” and “more inconstant than the wind”.
While it is regarded that Romeo and Juliet is a timeless saga of romance, it really should be noted that perhaps the play is essential because of how true love is depicted. We are changed by true love. It frees us to look out at the soul outside the body. Conversely, the desire for true romance would go unmet when the wonders of love are replaced by desire, the mystique of which is just skin deep.