When Romeo and Juliet first meet each other in the Capulets’ mansion the physical and spiritual attractions arise, making it clear that it is love at first sight. They are both in love however they have different ways of expressing it. Romeo speaks to flatter Juliet, thinking that this is what will win Juliet’s heart. Romeo starts straight away with spiritual and poetic phrases to win Juliet’s heart: “This holy shrine, the gentle sin is this, my lips two blushing pilgrims ready stand”. The metaphors presented within the line contain three examples of how Romeo relates his love for Juliet in this religious manner. He is doing this to emphasise Juliet’s beauty and also to show that he views Juliet as an angel. Juliet then matches Romeo’s imagery with her own imagery: “Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much, which mannerly devotion shown in this”. The use of the same religious imagery shows how she is adeptly linking both their thoughts. This shows Juliet is very clever, as she is able to construct such sentences on the spot but also shows that she is more concise as she takes fewer lines to get the message across. We know that Romeo has adapted his language to the way he was speaking about Rosaline in the previous scene. Although Juliet is not used to this tone of speaking she is able to respond to it, showing she is more spontaneous. This again shows a subtle difference between them.
The way where they relate to one another by constructing a perfect sonnet, which makes perfect sense, tells us something about their love. They understand each other and can respond to each other following the rules of a sonnet. This shows that they are the perfect couple for their love. The language suggests this is true as there are no mistakes in the sonnet they have built on the spot. Shakespeare’s intentions were clearly to show that they are perfect for one another as they are able to construct a perfect sonnet together.
After the party, Romeo abandons his friends to see Juliet. Romeo then climbs over his enemy’s wall to meet his love. This shows the deep feelings Romeo has towards Juliet. He takes many risks just to see Juliet, abandoning his friends, climbing over a high, challenging and dangerous wall and going into enemy territory. Romeo would not normally perform all these acts, so we can see how Juliet’s love has impacted Romeo. This is when we clearly start to see a difference in the title characters Romeo and Juliet. However their love is equally strong: Romeo is risking his life so he can rush to see Juliet again but Juliet is cool-headed, takes her time and plans what she is going to do.
When Romeo enters the Garden he continues to speak in his ornate and religious tone: “ Call me but ‘love’, and I’ll be new baptized”. This shows how Romeo can only talk about Juliet in abstract terms and not in realistic terms of existing problems that affect them in the surrounding world. This differs to Juliet who enters the garden without knowing that Romeo is there. Juliet here is more direct and practical: “ Ay me! … Tis but thy name that is my enemy.” This shows Juliet is more direct as she involves herself by using words like ‘me’, ‘thy’ and ‘my’. This is showing her practicality, skill and intelligence to sort problems out: “What’s Montague? It is nor hand nor foot, nor arm nor face, nor any other part belonging to a man”. This scene lucidly shows the two different characters of Romeo and Juliet. Romeo is more immature and is still in the mood of speaking in a baroque, poetic way due to the fact he has learnt to speak about Rosaline in the scenes following up to this. However, Juliet is more practical and direct only talking about one dilemma they are in and how to overcome the problems they will face.
When Romeo approaches Juliet after listening to her, Juliet is startled but also starts to control their conversation in a more calm and mature way: “ How cam’st thou hither … and wherefore?” This shows she cares for Romeo and does not want him to get hurt. However this contradicts Romeo as he appears not to care if he gets killed just as long as he sees Juliet again: “ with love’s light wings did I o’erperch these walls” … “My life better ended by their hate, than death prorogued, wanting of thy love.” We see Romeo’s character continue with the style he would have used to speak about Rosaline, in a hyperbolic and elegiac way. However, he still continues to use this technique thinking this is what will win Juliet’s heart. We see a difference of characters as Juliet is more mature and practical and, in a sense, Romeo is more childish as he is not worried of what is going on around their love, Juliet’s practical side and intelligence persist as she shows her pride and also tests Romeo’s sincerity towards their relationship: “ If thou thinkest I am too quickly won”. We see Juliet’s intelligence as she is proud trying to gather if Romeo is fully committed. This also shows how she understands how men might think, even at her young age.
Juliet’s practicality is further illustrated when Romeo relates their love to the moon. “Lady, by yonder blessed moon”. Juliet responds to this in a composed and realistic manner, unlike Romeo, who uses this language frequently to flatter Juliet, “Oh swear not by the moon, th’ inconstant moon, that monthly changes in her circled orb”. Here, Juliet is analysing Romeo’s imagery, relating what Romeo said into the context that affects them, saying that the moon may be beautiful but during the month it changes shape frequently. Juliet does not fall for Romeo’s manner of hyperbole but for who he is. The fact that Romeo uses this embellished tone may annoy Juliet. Other girls of Juliet’s age may get easily annoyed and make this a reason to get rid of their love. Juliet is different she may get annoyed but is clever enough to see Romeo’s intentions. This also shows that the love is strong as nothing silly like this is going to get in between them.
When the two are speaking in the garden we see that Juliet is always in control: this is because she is more realistic and can control Romeo with her maturity and intelligence. Juliet is able to do this as she can interpret what Romeo is going to say almost before he does so she can lead the conversation to a point where she is in command. She wants their love to be serious and official and untouchable so she proposes for marriage the next day: “ Thy bent love be honourable … thy purpose marriage”. She also consults with Romeo on her plan so it seems they are both part of making their relationship: “what o’ clock shall I send thee?” This also shows she is well organised so nothing will go wrong. Being well organised is another sign of maturity.
By examining the different ways love is presented by the title characters, Romeo and Juliet we can see that they both are equally in love but they have different ways of presenting it. We see that Juliet possesses practicality. Which is in contrast to Romeo as he is more impulsive. This makes Juliet more relaxed unlike Romeo who finds it hard to control his feelings. This is something unusual in their era, as it is an opposite of what is expected. In the Elizabethan era the men were thought to be superior and clever. They could marry anyone they wanted and it was the females who used flattering phrases to win a male’s heart. Shakespeare’s intention here was to show that Romeo and Juliet’s love is special as they did not follow the stereotype of love in those days but started something new; this meant that it was true love making it the deepest love of all time.
