When someone is in love, it is natural to behave out of the ordinary. More importantly, many factors lead them to think about things they usually wouldn’t do if they weren’t in love. A great example of this plays out in Shakespeare’s play, ‘Romeo and Juliet’. Initially, Romeo was depressed after getting rejected by another girl, but his perspective of love changed for the first time upon meeting Juliet. However, their relationship wasn't supposed to happen because they were from rival families. Meanwhile, the movie ‘Shrek’ exhibits this concept as well. After he rescues Princess Fiona, Shrek falls in love with her even though she was supposed to marry Lord Farquaad (the man who ordered Shrek to rescue Princess Fiona). Both stories portray how love can change someone's thinking and cause them to follow the path that their heart makes.
In the movie, Shrek realized he had to accept Lord Farquaad’s demand to save the princess in order to save his home; he proceeded to team up with Donkey to go on the expedition they were assigned to by Lord Farquaad. They entered the Dragon’s base and attempted to locate Princess Fiona. They fought valiantly against the beast and used cunning tactics to trick it. At first, Princess Fiona was thankful for being saved, but Shrek later admitted he was an ogre. Her feelings towards Shrek changed after his confession due to her expectations of a knight in armor rescuing her-certainly a damsel in distress. The two had an icy relationship throughout the day she was saved, and as the night crept in, Fiona requested to be alone in a cave near their base. The second night, Princess Fiona demanded to be alone again, and that's when the Donkey discovered that Princess Fiona was cursed by a witch and became an ogre every night. The Princess confided her secret to Donkey and warned him not to tell Shrek. Unknown to them, Shrek had been eavesdropping on their conversation and had heard their entire exchange; he proceeded to gather the wrong meaning from it, under the impression that she thought he was the ugly beast she had described. Feelings hurt, he decided against professing his love to the princess. This movie scene implicitly shows how love overtook his thoughts, along with actions, and made him only think about Princess Fiona, despite often swearing off any positive emotions in the movie. After this revelation, Shrek started to use his heart and his brain to make decisions that eventually helped him rather than with only his heart.
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Looking upon Romeo and Juliet, we can see they have an interesting backstory to their relationship. They are from rival families who have a torrid relationship. What is rather peculiar about this was that typically Juliet wouldn’t marry someone from the Montague family- in fact, not allowed to. It is important to note that Juliet was an obedient girl who did not break any rules and was respectful to her peers for most of the book. Upon meeting Romeo at a ball hosted by her family, Juliet’s character changed. She began to follow her heart, which resulted in the formerly obedient girl abandoning the previously lived by rules. In Act 3, Scene 5, she declares: “I pray you, tell my lord and father, madam, I will not marry yet. And when I do, I swear. It shall be Romeo, whom you know I hate, rather than Paris”. She reacted this way because this was the first time, she was in love with someone; she knew that her happiness wasn’t with Paris. She took things to the next level by faking her death-for she was blinded by love - as to run away with Romeo. Unfortunately for her, it did not work due to a tragically late misunderstanding. On the other hand, Romeo became weaker in his personality after his affection for Juliet. It is noticed that he became quite emotional when making any and then all of his decisions. In Act 3, Scene 1, Romeo claims: “O sweet Juliet, thy beauty hath made me effeminate. And in my temper soften'd valor's steel!” This indicates that Juliet’s beauty has made him weak and his being weak led to his cousin Mercutio’s death. He was a coward because he felt hurt by Tybalt’s insults and did not fight him and let Tybalt kill Mercutio.
Last but not least, both ‘Shrek’ and ‘Romeo and Juliet’ show signs of love affecting their thinking and cause them to make decisions that they usually wouldn’t have done. When Shrek fell in love, all of his decisions were not of his character. He appeared to be tough and confident on the outside, but he was reclusive and full of insecurities on the inside. With Princess Fiona, he made decisions that weren’t tied to his personality. He was more outgoing as a person and took more risks when talking to other people. Comparatively, Romeo used to always be down whenever a girl didn’t love him back and always seemed to be lost. One quote that explains this well is, “Tut, I have lost myself. I am not here. This is not Romeo. He’s some other where”. He said this right after Rosaline (the first girl that Romeo asked out) rejected him. He felt lost and not himself and became depressed. As soon as Juliet came into his life, he changed completely. He was not sad but rather joyful now. Although the message is similar in both ‘Shrek’ and ‘Romeo and Juliet’, they were not all successful. Romeo and Juliet, unfortunately, died because they were deeply in love that they did not understand the dangers they were facing. In contrast, Shrek went on to marry Princess Fiona and live a happy life forever. Nonetheless, they both had flawed thinking and could’ve been better if they had been more mature and thought through all of their decisions.
In both of these stories, they show a common connection of where love changes how they think and how they behave. This can be connected back to reality, where people act on their heart’s desires instead of thinking logically. All in all, following one’s heart, can be good in some instances. However, one must look over their decisions wisely and logically predict the outcomes. Next time you think about love, try thinking back to this analysis and wonder if you’re acting based on your heart alone and how you could improve your future decisions.
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