Toxic co-dependency masquerading as true love

Romeo-Juliet, Heer-Ranjha, Sohni-Mahiwal - what is the recurrent theme in all these love stories which have been glorified as the pinnacle of true love? The common thread is that these lovers loved each other so much that they could not live without each other.

- SUPREET GILL

These tales have been passed down through generations to naive people like us, who start believing in this misconstrued narrative of true love. Add to this, the cinematic tropes of 80's and 90's Bollywood movies, which kept hammering ideas like “sachcha pyar” into vulnerable and often impressionable youth. Shakespeare's genius lies in creating multiple layers of meaning in his works mixing tragedy, comedy and social commentary. While on the surface Romeo and Juliet appears to be a passionate love story, it can also be interpreted as a cautionary tale against the dangers of losing oneself entirely in another person - a hallmark of toxic co-dependency. Some scholars even argue that Shakespeare was in fact critiquing the idea of love at first sight and hasty romantic decisions rather than glorifying them depicting how quickly things spiral out of control due to the lovers' impulsive actions; mirroring the destructive patterns we see in co-dependent relationships which are eerily similar to the unhealthy dependence we often mistake for deep love.