Shakespeare's story of Romeo and Juliet is often accepted as the tragic story of two lovers who cannot be together. Romeo is part of the Montague family, which has a long history of feuding with Juliet's family, the Capulets. Romeo and Juliet meet and instantly fall in love. The tragedy is that they cannot be together because of their feuding families. In their attempt to escape their families and be together, they both end up tragically dying. In this view of the story as the tragic tale of two lovers, it is accepted that Romeo and Juliet are simply destined to be together and cannot ignore the love they have for each other. While this is a commonly accepted view of the story, it is not the only way the story can be seen. The characters of Romeo and Juliet can also be considered on a psychological level, with this analysis looking deeper at the real reasons for their decisions and their behavior. If Romeo and Juliet are considered in this way, it can be seen that the story is not one of star-crossed lovers, but one of two teenagers trying to deal with the anxiety in their lives. Romeo and Juliet will now be considered from this psychological perspective, with this analysis showing that their story is one that deals with love and anxiety.

             One of the first critical points in understanding Romeo is that Juliet is not the first woman he has been in love with. In the first scene he describes his love for Rosaline. Most importantly, like Juliet, Rosaline is also a Capulet. In the first scene, Romeo describes how Rosaline is sworn to chastity saying, "Well, in that hit you miss: she'll not be hit With Cupid's arrow; she hath Dian's wit; And, in strong proof of chastity well arm'd, From love's weak childish bow she lives unharm'd" (I,i 206-209). This shows that Romeo has selected a person to love that is a completely unsuitable match for him. It is also important that Romeo speaks as if his love is pure and will never die.