Shakespeare makes it pretty clear through Romeo and Juliet that love at first sight is not true love. First of all, Romeo is hopelessly in love with Rosaline at the beginning of the story, but the moment he sees Juliet, he forgets Rosaline and falls in love with Juliet before even hearing her speak. Romeo remarks on Juliet's beauty: "O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright!" meaning she is brighter than the torches that light up the room. Romeo claims to love her for this intense beauty: "Did my heart love till now? forswear it, sight! / For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night." He loves her because she is more beautiful than any girl he has ever seen before.
After a short conversation and a kiss, Juliet also loves Romeo. She says to her Nurse, "My only love sprung from my only hate! / Too early seen unknown, and known too late!" This line means that the only boy Juliet could ever love is the son of her family's enemy. She fell in love with him before she knew who he was, and she found out who he was when it was already too late to change her feelings. This happens at the Capulet party over the course of a few minutes. But what is it about Romeo that Juliet 'loves'?
Juliet also seems to be drawn to Romeo for his physical attractiveness. In the balcony scene, Juliet talks to herself, expressing a wish that Romeo were not named Romeo Montague, because it is his name and not any other part of him that is her enemy. She mentions several physical parts of a man: "What's Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot, / Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part
Belonging to a man." But she doesn't mention any non-physical attributes that attract her to Romeo.
Friar Lawrence later affirms this idea that 'love at first sight' is purely physical: "...young men's love then lies / Not truly in their hearts, but in their eyes." This means that young men love beauty, without real emotion.
Because the lovers only knew each other for three days before they were both dead, we certainly can't conclude that 'true love never dies' from this story. In fact, Friar Lawrence indicates that Romeo and Juliet's love is but a passing infatuation: "...like fire and powder, / Which as they kiss consume" compares Romeo and Juliet to fire and gun powder. When fire is introduced to gun powder, a fantastic explosion takes place that 'consumes' or uses up the gun powder, leaving no fuel for the fire, which then extinguishes. Like a quick explosion that eats up all the fuel for the fire, Romeo and Juliet's love would be brilliant but not last long.
There is a lot of talk of flowers in Romeo and Juliet, and Juliet even compares their love affair to a flower: "This bud of love, by summer's ripening breath, / May prove a beauteous flower when next we meet." Like young love, a flower is certainly a beautiful thing, but it does not last for very long.
So we can see that one could argue Romeo and Juliet is not a love story, and does not support the notions of 'love at first sight' or 'true love never dies.' If anything, it is a warning against rushing into love: "Wisely and slow; they stumble that run fast." (Friar Lawrence)
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