For years, humans have looked at love as the source for our existence. Millions search for it, but only few find and experience the meaning of true love. For Romeo and Juliet, love was present. It was love that brought them together, and it was love that set them apart, but in the end, love wasn’t the dagger that pierced Juliet, or the poison that drained the life from Romeo… It was ignorance.

Throughout the telling of Romeo and Juliet’s love story, nothing is planned out. Everything is done spontaneously and without conviction. No one considered the consequences of their actions and in doing so, people made choices that didn’t need to be made. An example of this is when Tybalt kills Mercutio. This creates a chain reaction of doing without thinking and sends the story into a spiral of chaos. Later, after Mercutio’s death, Romeo invites rage in, forgetting what’s at stake. Not only out of ignorance, but now rage, Romeo is banished. Thus the beginning to Juliet and Romeo’s short end.

Parents long for their children’s happiness. At times, their desire for that happiness turns into their own. Because of this, they take over and forget the needs of their child and in return give the child theirs. This happens with the mother of Juliet as she attempts to cheer her up after the coming news of Romeo’s banishment. With misunderstanding, the mother thinks Juliet is mad about her cousin’s death. Rather then consider her child’s behavior, she decides she knows what’s best and tells Juliet she will be marrying Paris. This lack of knowledge and understanding for her daughter results in worse behaviors as Juliet searches for a solution. One that like ice, turned her numb.

As humans grow up, love can be a new feeling. At first, no one knows what it feels like or how to act about it. This is considered when looking at Romeo and Juliet’s relationship. Juliet is just thirteen when the two start dating. Instead of taking time and getting to know each other, the two jump to conclusions and get married within the two days of knowing each other. People claim that this is a sign of true love, but if it was, why don’t people get married right away? Based off the book, Romeo seems like the type of person that devotes all of his emotions and feelings to someone, but then the second someone better comes along he forgets they’re not his feelings anymore to take away, but proceeds to do it anyways as seen with Rosaline. Since Juliet had never been in a relationship before, any feeling that was remotely related to love could be mistaken for the real thing. Due to impatience, this first relationship for Juliet ended up being the last as it was the death of her.

The saying goes until death do us apart, but for Romeo and Juliet, not only love, but death brought them together. With help from ignorance, the two die in eachothers arms, breaking the feud that resulted in hardship.