When speaking of love with respect to "Romeo and Juliet" one tends to only to think of the 'Romantic' and 'True' love shared by the young couple. However, in the play the overall theme of love can also be seen to include familial, lustful and dutiful love. Each of these variations stem from the major theme of love.

The first type of love that we see in the play is with the lead character, Romeo, a young man of the family of Montague. He believes that he is in love with a girl, Rosaline. This is frustrated and lustful love. Romeo knows that he can never have Rosaline as she doesn't return his affections, he describes his love using a series of oxymoron's: "feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick health." From this scene comes the moving and evocative line: "Love is a smoke raised with the...