Despite what many people think, Romeo and Juliet is not a love story; rather a story of desperation and obsession. People have been reading Shakespeare for hundreds of years and many people have mistaken it for a love story, as Romeo loves Juliet so much that he is ready to commit suicide when he finds her supposedly dead; she does the same when she wakes up to find him dead. But in fact, Romeo is more taken aback by her beauty than he is in love with her. Juliette is intrigued that someone could love her because her parents aren't supportive at all. When the two meet again, they immediately become obsessed, mistaking it for love at first sight. Romeo has an obsessive personality. The morning before meeting Juliette, he is obsessed with Rosaline. To see Rosaline, Romeo sneaked into a Capulet party; once there, he meets Juliette and instantly forgets his obsession with Rosaline, thinking that Juliette is the most beautiful creature in the world. Brother Lawrence even recognizes this when he declares: “The love of young people therefore resides / Not really in their hearts but in their eyes” (II iii 67-68). Romeo's affections easily shift from Rosaline to Juliet. Romeo and Juliet are not meant to be together. Seeing Romeo, Juliet sends the nurse to find out who he is. The nurse returns saying: “His name is Romeo and Montague, / The only son of your great enemy” (I v 36-37). They instantly despair of seeing each other all the time, ignoring the fact that their families are fighting. Juliet loves the proverbial forbidden fruit and says, “What’s in a name?” What we call a rose / By any other name would smell as good; So Romeo, if he was not called Romeo, would preserve this dear perfection that he must / Without that... in the middle of a paper ...... yes for years, believing that it was a play about love, but the way Shakespeare wrote the play, it's far from being a love story. As Romeo moved from Rosaline to Juliet, the simple fact that he thought Juliet is more beautiful than Rosaline sets the perfect example of how the play is based on despair. Juliet says to Romeo, showing her despair: “Good night, good night! To part is such a sweet sorrow / that I will say good night until tomorrow” (II ii 188-189). When Romeo and Juliet say that they cannot spend another night away from each other, this serves as a perfect example of obsession in the play. Even Romeo knows he is eager to force love when he says, “The exchange of thy love's faithful vow for mine” (II ii 127). Works Cited Shakespeare, William. Romeo and Juliet. Language of literature. Ed. Arthur N. Applebee. Evanston: McDougal Littell, 2002. Print.