Love has been seen to make tremendous impressions on individuals and on society, and there is no exception in William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. According to Greek philosopher, Sophocles, "One word frees us from all the weight and pain of life: That word in love." This means that no matter what problems and obstacles lay in the way, love can overcome them. In Romeo and Juliet, the love that the two adolescents share with one another is more powerful than the years of feuding between the Montague and Capulet families, demonstrating that love is a more dominant force than hatred.

In the play, Romeo, a hopeless romantic, is often found talking about his love. At the start of the tragedy, he is depressed because his love, Rosaline, has decided to live a life of chastity. He says, "…This love that thou hast shown/Doth add more grief to too much of mine own"(Act I, sc I, lines 186-187). Although this seems that love has hurt him in this situation, it is later shown that he did not really love Rosaline. The one thing that made him realize that he was not in love with this woman is his love for another girl, Juliet. He falls in love with her at her father’s house during a party. He falls in love with her immediately, but because of the feuding between his family and hers, he says "Is she a Capulet?/O dear account! My life is my foe’s debt"(Act I, sc v, lines 117-118). He further expresses his love when he decides to marry her and forget his previous love of Rosaline. He tells Friar Laurence, "The plainly know my heart’s dear love is set/On the fair daughter of rich Capulet"(Act II, sc iii, lines 53-54). Then finally, in the closing stages of the play, Romeo kills himself because of his love for Juliet when he believes that she may be dead. Although an argument can be made that suicide is not a positive outcome of love, his suicide does free him from his pain when he believes his young bride is dead and the pain of the constant fighting of the families in Verona.

Similar to many teenage girls of her time, Juliet is looking for a husband whom she loves. Her parents force Paris upon her and plan for their marriage, but she marries Romeo and rids herself of that dilemma. In that situation, she frees herself from her obligation to marry by marrying her love. When she marries Romeo, she tells him, "But my true love has grown to such excess/I cannot sum up half my wealth"(Act II, sc vi, lines 33-34). She is saying that no matter how rich she may be, there is nothing more valuable to her than her love with Romeo, and all the positive effects of it. Juliet, too, frees herself from the pain of a lost loved one and the feuding between the Montagues and Capulets by killing herself.

The suicides of Juliet and her groom cause major impacts throughout the city of Verona. Friar Laurence had predicted earlier in the play that the marriage of Romeo and Juliet would "turn [Romeo and Juliet’s] households’ rancour to pure love"(Act V, sc iii, line 88). This prediction came true, as the fighting ceased between the Montagues and Capulets. This is apparent when Capulet offers his hand and says, "O brother Montague, give me thy hand:/ This is my daughter’s jointure, for no more can I demand"(Act V, sc iii, lines 295-297). Montague, too, shows his respect for Capulet when he says, "For I will raise [Juliet’s] statue in pure gold,/That whiles Verona by that name is known,/There shall no figure at such rate be set/As that of true and faithful Juliet"(Act V, sc iii, lines 298-301). It is shown that according to Friar Laurence, Montague, and Capulet, the fighting has ended due to the death of the teenagers and that pain has been lifted due to their love.

Love can cause great pains to be lifted and cause great change, as exhibited in William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Sophocles agreed with this when he said, "One word frees us from all the weight and pain of life: That word in love." He meant that love can finally end the weight that is present in the world. This takes place in many places throughout the play. Romeo is heartbroken until he falls in love with Juliet, and struggles with the feuding of the families and when he believes his bride is dead, but is freed when he kills himself because of his love. Juliet’s love causes her to not have to marry another man who she doesn’t love, and she is also saved from the feuding and pain of Romeo’s death when she kills herself because of her love. Also, the love that the two share helps the greater good when Verona’s years of fighting and violence come to an end at the deaths of Romeo and Juliet. Although love can bring about many occurrences that may at first appear to be negative, Romeo and Juliet shows most of the end results of a relationship filled with love are extremely positive.