Romeo’s blinding love for Juliet is overriding and develops from love at first sight in Act 1, Scene 5 to suicide at her death in Act 5, Scene 3. As soon as Romeo sees Juliet, his first words, to a Capulet servant are, “What lady’s that which doth enrich the hand Of yonder knight?”, which shows that it was instantaneous love, or ‘love at first sight’. Romeo and Juliet’s first conversation is a ‘sonnet’, which they share:
ROMEO: If I profane with my unworthiest hand
This holy shrine, the gentle sin is this.
My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand
To smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss.
JULIET: Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much,
Which mannerly devotion shows in this.
For saints have hands the pilgrims’ hands do touch,
And palm to palm is holy palmers’ kiss.
This is the beginning of their conversation. It is a sonnet which the two have formed and which continues to line 109 in Act 1, Scene 5. The fact that they have both formed this sonnet together makes the scene very romantic and vividly shows love at first sight for the both of them. After this conversation, the two express their reactions of the meeting. They share the same reaction when they discover that they are enemies, “Is she a Capulet? O dear account, my life is my foe’s debt”, is Romeo’s reaction, and, “My only love sprung from my only hate, Too early seen unknown, and known too late! Prodigious birth of love it is to me, That I must love a loathed enemy,” is Juliet’s reaction. These reactions tie in with oxymorons that Romeo used in Act 1, Scene 1 like ‘loving hate’ and ‘brawling love’, like loving an enemy.
In Act 2, Romeo and Juliet’s love progresses to marriage. In Act 2, Scene 2 Romeo has crept into Capulet’s orchard and speaks to himself of Juliet. Juliet, unaware of Romeo’s presence, says, “O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy father, and refuse thy name. Or if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, And I’ll no longer be a Capulet,” which is her expressing her woe at Romeo’s being a Montague as well as showing the extent of her love that she would change her name from Capulet for Romeo. When Juliet discovers Romeo’s presence her practical love is shown as she fears that the kinsmen will catch him and kill him. This is in contrast with Romeo’s reaction which is simply that his love will defeat any of the kinsmen, which shows how he is blinded by love. Romeo continues to use flowery and long-winded language to express his love for Juliet, whereas Juliet asks for him to say it plainly, as in just ‘I love you’ and not “Lady, by yonder blessed moon I vow, That tips with silver all these fruit-tree tops -” as Romeo says before he is cut off by Juliet. Juliet cuts him off because she wants him to say that he loves her plainly, and not with the flowery language that he uses. The scene ends with the arranging of their marriage for the following day, “If they thy bent of love be honourable, They purpose marriage, send me word tomorrow…What o’clock tomorrow Shall I send to thee?” and they arrange for it to be at 9 o’ clock. Juliet’s strong love is shown here in contrast to her practical and logical love where she says, “I will not fail. ‘Tis twenty year till then.”
Later in Act 2 the Nurse confirms the love between the two, first with Romeo, and then with Juliet. In Act 2, Scene 4, Romeo convinces her despite of her bawdy view of love that he truly loves Juliet, “Good heart, and i’faith I will tell her as much. Lord, Lord! She will be a joyful woman,” says the Nurse, when Romeo convinces her. Then in Act 2, Scene 5 Juliet starts by waiting for the nurse to hear what Romeo said to her. When the Nurse arrives, Juliet is desperately trying to make the Nurse tell her what Romeo said. The Nurse does not tell Juliet until the end of the scene so that she knows that Juliet really loves Romeo, “I’faith, I am sorry that thou art not well. Sweet, sweet, sweet Nurse, tell me, what says my love?” says Juliet as she shows the Nurse her true love for Romeo. Juliet’s persistence through this scene shows her enthusiasm as a result of her strong love for Romeo.
Act 2, Scene 6 is the wedding of Romeo and Juliet. Before Juliet arrives, Friar Lawrence says to Romeo, “These violent delights have violent ends,” which means that this kind of love that Romeo has for Juliet often ends violently, which it does as the two end with suicide.
Romeo’s love for Juliet, as suggested by the prologue, “The fearful passage of their death-marked love,” ends in his suicide. Even when Juliet is ‘dead’, Romeo speaks of her in a romantic way, “For here lies Juliet, and her beauty makes This vault a feasting presence full of light,” which shows their eternal love. Romeo drinks the poison and dies ‘with a kiss’, to give a romantic end to Romeo. Juliet’s love for Romeo equals his for her. When Juliet awakens, she has no time for a long speech like Romeo has done. In an earlier speech Juliet is more worried about what will happen if she awakens before Romeo arrives. Romeo and Juliet’s passionate love for each other contrasts with Lord and Lady Capulets’ unromantic view of love.
The Capulets’ marriage is arranged so they have an unromantic view of love. Capulet’s wants Juliet to marry Paris is purely for social status. Paris is a noble man and therefore marrying him to Juliet would increase her social status. In Act 1, Scene 2, we see that Capulet appears reluctant to let Paris marry Juliet because she is too young, “My child is yet a stranger in the world,” Capulet says. It seems that Capulet is protective of Juliet and has a fatherly love for her, so it seems that Capulet only wants what is best for Juliet. Capulet tells Paris to continue to ‘woo’ Juliet as he wants them to marry, but just does want them to marry so soon. In Act 3 Scene 4 Capulet arranges the marriage for Thursday between Paris and Juliet because he wants them to marry quickly as Juliet is unhappy after Tybalt’s death. Capulet believes that marrying Paris will please Juliet which shows his unromantic view of love as the two have hardly even met each other. Lady Capulet shares the same view as Capulet as shown in Act 3, Scene 5 where she reveals the news of the marriage to Juliet, “Marry, my child, early next Thursday morn The gallant, young, and noble gentleman, The County Paris, at Saint Peter’s Chruch, Shall happily make thee there a joyful bride.” The words ‘joyful bride’ shows that Lady Capulet also believes that marrying Paris is the best thing for Juliet. Capulet’s reaction to discovering that Juliet does not wish to marry Paris is anger in a caring way, “Doth she not give us thanks? Is she not proud? Doth she not count her blest, Unworthy as she is, that we have wrought So worthy a gentleman to be her bride?” says Capulet. This shows that Capulet thinks Juliet is disrespecting him by refusing to marry Paris. Capulet’s disbelief and anger soon turns into fury as he insults his daughter with names such as ‘baggage’ and ‘tallow-face’. He threatens to drag her to the Church to marry Paris, which perhaps suggests that he only cares about himself. After this tantrum Juliet turns to her mother, who, in fear of Capulet, says, “Talk not to me, for I’ll not speak a word. Do as thou wilt, for I have done with thee.” This shows that Lady Capulet will not help Juliet out of her dilemma as she is afraid of Capulet. She also wants what is best for Juliet, but knows that ultimately what Capulet wants, he will get. From the evidence it seems as though Capulet has an unromantic view of love and has probably influenced his view upon Lady Capulet. The Friar has a moderate view of love, unlike Lord and Lady Capulet, Mercutio and the Nurse, or Romeo and Juliet.
The Friar’s moderate view of love ties in with his neutrality in the play. He sides with Romeo and Juliet but does not oppose the Capulets or Montagues. In Act 2, Scene 3 when Romeo asks Friar Lawrence to marry him and Juliet, the Friar reminds Romeo that he was in love with Rosaline just a day ago, “Holy Saint Francis, what a change is here! Is Rosaline, whom thou didst love so dear, So soon forsaken?” the Friar says. He says this to show Romeo that his love for Juliet is probably the same as his love for Rosaline. He says that Romeo’s love is only an infatuation, “Young men’s love then lies Not truly in their hearts, but in their eyes,” says the Friar. In Act 2, Scene 6, the marriage scene, the Friar says a line which sums up his view of love:
“Too swift arrives just as tardy as too slow.”
This means that he thinks Romeo and Juliet should not go too fast or too slow, showing his moderate view of love. In Act 2, Scene 3 the Friar stops Romeo from committing suicide, “Hold thy desperate hand. Art thou a man? Thy form cries out thou art. They tears are womanish,” says the Friar. The Friar is telling Romeo that banishment from Verona, or banishment from Juliet as it would seem to Romeo, is not enough for suicide. This means that the Friar sees love as not enough to justify death. However, the Friar says that Romeo killing himself is in theory killing Juliet too, “Hast thou slain Tybalt? Wilt thou slay thyself? And slay thy lady in that thy life lives, By doing damned hate upon thyself?” says the Friar. This is ironic as when Romeo kills himself in the end, it does cause Juliet’s suicide.
In Act 4, Scene 1, the Friar makes some plans for Juliet which would result in her not marrying Paris and her being with Romeo:
“If, rather than to marry County Paris, Thou hast the strength of will to slay thyself, Then it is likely thou wilt undertake A thing like death to chide away this shame, That copest with death himself to ‘scape from it. And, if thou darest, I’ll give thee remedy.”
This shows that he realises that Juliet and Romeo would literally do anything for each other, even undergoing the closest thing to death itself. His plans do cause the death of the two, because of the problems with timing and the letter not getting to Romeo.
From the play ‘Romeo and Juliet’ we can see that Shakespeare’s view of the power of love is that true love can take two people to any depths. The end of the tragedy is ironic as the characters hint on it throughout the play and the reader can see it coming, without even reading the prologue. The Friar says the Romeo killing himself would in theory kill Juliet too, which is what happens in the end. The Friar also says, “These violent delights have violent ends,” which is what happens in the end as they both die, as well as Paris. Paris’ presence as Romeo arrives to see Juliet comes as a surprise, but his grief and woe for Juliet is real, and therefore he has earned a place next to Juliet. Shakespeare has used different types of love in the play to show that true love is the most powerful of all, as none other could defeat the love of Romeo and Juliet.
