Love Stories
Recall a classic love story between two people that you have read (this can include children’s stories, historical figures, or fictional characters) or have seen in a movie or television show. In 750-1,000 words, describe the attraction between the two characters using the concepts of associated effects of emotion, proximity, repeated exposure, similarity, physical beauty, and familiarity.
Use two to three scholarly sources to support your thinking, your textbook can be used as one of the resources.
Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center. An abstract is not required.
Sample Answer
Love and Attraction
The love story of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare is a popular gothic story where several members of the engaging families ended up dying. The two main characters, Romeo and Juliet, fought to have a love life together despite facing the many challenges of their relationship being outlawed. Unfortunately, they ended up killing themselves over their love for each other. Throughout the story, there are different ways through which attracted the characters to one another.
Romeo had an instant love for Juliet, which was pushed by physical attractiveness. Romeo and his friends Mercutio and Benvolio resolved to go to Juliet’s party of being introduced to his new suitor, Paris. The main agenda of entering into the party in disguise was for Romeo to meet with his beloved girlfriend, Rosaline, at the party. Instead, he meets with Juliet and instantly falls in love with her, something that is so much instant, and that can be related to physical attractiveness. Juliet was attractive to him and thus instantly replaced Rosaline and started making a move for a secretive marriage. According to Stangor et al. (2017), people with physical attractiveness are mostly loved more and offered favors in their families by strangers, and a likely to meet numerous suitors. Juliet, on that night of spousal introduction, had two suitors who were attracted to her. Romeo and Paris wanted to marry her, but she was physically attracted to Romeo since she also loved him within a day. Romeo expressed his love for Juliet after being mesmerized by her beauty. Through his affectionate statement, Romeo said, “As a rich jewel in an Ethiop’s ear, Beauty too rich for use, for Earth too dear. So shows a snowy dove trooping with crows. As yonder lady o’er her fellows shows.” This shows that Juliet was so beautiful to him, and thus he was pulled into loving her. The motion of movement and dance was a common feature of Juliet’s attractiveness to Romeo.
The similarity between two people brings them close and provides an opportunity for love and engagement. According to Jones (2017), a person will want to follow and remain close to another person with whom they share beliefs, interests, and values. This can be an additional element that would bring the two much closer above the physical attractiveness. There are some things that Romeo and Juliet had in common that contributed to the love between the two. One of the similarities is that they were both ready for engagement and marriage. Juliet’s family was arranging for her marriage with a Count, Paris. This shows she was already in the mood to be engaged and married. Romeo entered the party in disguise to meet her lover, Rosaline. This shows they shared age and also intentions at the particular time, and thus it was easy for them to marry. They were ready for marriage. The other similarity is that they felt strained at the party. Romeo and friends were hiding to be in the party and being kicked out of the party by Juliet’s cousin, Tybalt. At the same time, Juliet was not comfortable with her father’s intention to marry her off to Paris. She says that “O, bid me leap, rather than marry Paris, From off the battlements of any tower, or walk-in thievish ways, or bid me lurk. Where serpents are, chain me with roaring bears, or hide me nightly in a charnel house, O’ercovered quite with dead men’s rattling bones.” This shows that she never wanted to be married to Paris and thus would do anything to escape. On meeting Romeo, she found a person who was also in a strained condition. They both found an opportunity to comfort one another, and through that, they were more attracted to one another.
The factor of proximity to Juliet and Romeo’s love was minimal since they spend few moments together. The value of proximity in attractiveness provides more time for the partners together and thus glues them more (Zibrek et al., 2020). Romeo maintained proximity overnight, talking with Juliet whenever she appeared through her window. This enabled the pair to develop a strong attraction and love for one another. The level of familiarity between the two was short-lived and thus was not that much before they were engaged and married secretly. Despite loving one another within a day and planning to marry, the level of familiarity was enough to make them know one another, even though not that much.
