At this point in the play Romeo comes across to me as a weak almost pathetic character. He is weak in the sense that he cries over his unreturned love to a girl he does not know, and he can not face anybody so he hides away. Towards the end of Act 1: Scene 1 Romeo goes on and on about is sadness, and by doing this drags Benvolio into a state of sadness. Romeo then feels responsible and now has that Burdon to carry.
When Romeo finally tells us he is in ‘love’ with a woman he tells Benvolio the qualities of this woman that he loves her for. ‘She hath Dian’s wit, and in a strong proof of chastity….O she is rich in beauty, only poor, that when she dies…’ Romeo loves her for her wit, strong faithfulness, her beauty and the fact that she is not impressed by fortune of riches.
In my opinion Romeo is ‘over the top’ in the sense that all that he talks is sadness and depression. If Romeo was in love with Rosaline he would talk more of ways in which to see her or more of happiness with/about her, instead he talks of how he can’t live with out her and how devastated he is. His language is ‘course’ and when he uses oxymorons he can talk of nothing but negative, depressing issues. ‘Feather of lead….cold fire, sick health.’ I think he loves her more because has never even properly spoke to her, he is curious of what he can’t have he is almost infatuated with her.
Benvolio some advice ‘….forget to think of her…. Examine others beauties.’ Romeo tells Benvolio that he can’t forget about Rosaline, even though there other beautiful girls he can’t forget his love for her.
I think Romeo words in Act 1: Scene 1 about how his eyes will burn out if he sees a woman more beautiful than Rosaline. ‘Transparent heretics be burnt for liars.’ is a little extreme and I still believe Romeo is infatuated and is once again going ‘over the top’ for a girl he hasn’t even met!
Romeo says he is going to the party not to be shown girls but to have a good time with his friends. This is a very different to the behaviour of Romeo at the beginning of the play because instead of wanting to be locked away alone he wants to go out and enjoy himself. He is so set on his ways about this (going not to meet girls and dance) because he still believes he is deeply in love with Rosaline.
Romeo is ‘down’ at the journey to the party because he thinks he is in love. He believes he is so weighed down by his love for Rosaline he will not be able to dance ‘….you have dancing shoes, with nimble soles, I have a soul of lead, so stakes me to the ground I cannot move’
Romeo is not only worrying and concerned by his love for Rosaline, at the very end of Scene 4 he discusses is with Mercutio and Benvolio. He fears as a result of him going to the party an ‘untimely death’ will occur. He cannot understand or explain his feeling he just fears that one or more people (he is unsure of who) will die at an unknown time to him ‘Some consequence yet hanging in the stars’
At the end of Scene 4 we are left on a very ‘down’ worrying note. Act 1: Scene 5 changes that note to more of a positive happy note with the servants at the party joking amongst themselves.
The first time Romeo see Juliet (Act 1: Scene 5: Line 31) he compares her to a bright torch burning at night implying her beauty is so great that she stands out against the large crowd of people at the party. ‘O she doth teach the torches to burn bright: it seems she hangs upon the cheek of night.’
Earlier on in Scene 1 when Romeo is describing Rosaline to Benvolio he does not talk much of her beauty but more of her personality e.g. her wit, but now before evening meeting this girl or know her name he speaks of her as though she is the most beautiful thing he has ever seen. I thing his words seem more sincere when he is discussing Rosaline with Benvolio in Scene 1 because he describes the qualities which do not concern her looks.
Romeo says he will watch her and attempt to approach her and touch her hand. I think that Romeo is sincere with the rhyming couplet ‘Did my heart love till now forswear it sight, for I never saw true beauty till this night.’ And he really has experienced love at first sight because Romeo had loved Rosaline for a lot longer and didn’t get a chance to speak to her, where as here Romeo believes that Juliet is approachable.
When Romeo carries out his promise to approach Juliet they speak a love sonnet so he can compare to a shrine or a saint, saints are seen as very holy and pure people and to think of Juliet as a saint would put her as a very important person not just to Romeo. Romeos language is quite different compared to the way we see him describing Rosaline to Benvolio. When describing Juliet in the sonnet he sees her as so beautiful, he sees her as a saint. Where as Rosaline was never considered holy. I believe Romeo is in love because he talks so fluently to the girl he has just met, straight away he tells her what he thinks of her, where as with Rosaline he does not get a chance. Here Juliet is returning his compliments ‘good pilgrim you do wrong your hand too much which mannerly devotion shows in this’ I think Juliet feels the same as Romeo at this point almost love at first sight. When she receives a compliment from Romeo she returns it by complimenting him. The feeling between the two of them is very positive and they seem to be able to talk to each other with great confidence. The sonnet is not concluded because they are interrupted by the nurse asking for Juliet.
Romeo is devastated to find out that Juliet is a Capulet! ‘ Is she a Capulet? O dear account! My life is my foe’s debt’. Romeo realises if he wishes to marry Juliet he will need consent from Capulet, and Romeo knows that Juliet’s father will never give away his daughters hand in marriage to a Montague.
When Juliet says ‘ my only love sprung from my only hate ‘ she means Romeo ( her ‘only love’ ) is a Montague making him her only hate because her family hates his. The genre of the play is tragedy and thi is the first point of the play in which we realise and understand the problems that the two young lovers are going to face.
The chorus says Romeo loved and then loved again, it says he approaches his love affairs very quickly and falls in ‘ love ‘ with a person just by seeing them, ‘now Romeo beloved , and loves again, alike bewitched by the charm of looks.’
In conclusion to my essay I believe that an audience is convinced that Romeo is in love by the end of Act 1. At the beginning of the play he claims he is in love but that love was based on looks only which shows Romeo to be a very shallow character. He also thinks he loves her because he can’t have her. He then meets Juliet and talks of her as being a saint. He sees her as being the most beautiful woman he has ever seen. He talks with and about Juliet confidently and fluently, which suggests to me and to an audience that he is truly in love at the end of Act 1.
