Act 2 Scene 2, - the balcony scene -, which, in my opinion, shows the lovers’ affection at its strongest. This scene, both in romantic setting and language, is so universally appreciated that it has been recreated in many formats as the ultimate in romantic courtship. The lovers, having learnt who each other are, exist outside the feuding and quarrelling and immediately dismiss the family feud as less important than their love: “I’ll no longer be a Capulet”(Juliet)/”Call me but “love”, and I’ll be new baptized”. (Romeo). Having once proclaimed her love, the font of Juliet's eloquence is unstopped, and she becomes the dominant figure in the rest of the scene. Their love is eternal and pure, aided by physical desire and lust, as opposed to money and status grabbing. This is reflected in the kind of language and imagery that the lovers use, for example, “the exchange of thy love’s faithful vow for mine” “all this is but a dream” “a beauteous flower” and she uses a simile to compare her love to the sea, “My bounty is as endless as the sea.” Again, Romeo brings in religious connotations to enhance the sincerity of his devotion. Romeo uses beautiful metaphors and similes to express his affection for Juliet, “O, speak again bright angel, for thou art as glorious to this night, being o'er my head as is a winged messenger of heaven.” Metaphors are a very frequent form of speech used by Romeo and Juliet and this helps them compare each other to wondrous objects. In Act 2 Scene 3, he conveys his emotions and feelings towards Juliet by using a metaphor when saying that he has fallen in love and it feels like he has been wounded, “Where on a sudden, one hath wounded me, that’s by me wounded.” This obvious sincerity gives Romeo a new air of maturity. Once again, as in the party scene, heavenly and cosmic imagery is used by Romeo, “Two of the fairest stars in all the heaven,” “Her eyes to twinkle in her spears,”and“winged messenger of heaven” The first two lines of Romeo's final speech in Act 2 Scene 2 make it clear that lovemaking is still very much on his mind, “peace in thy breast! Would I were sleep and peace, so sweet to rest!” Zeffirelli picks up on these consistent references to sex to justify showing the young lovers being extravert in their physical expressions of love. In Act 3 Scene 2, Juliet says that if she may have Romeo until she ‘dies’ then she will share him with the entire world as many ‘little stars’ that will put the light of the sun to shame. This use of star imagery echoes that used by Romeo in his first speech in the balcony scene in Act 2 Scene 2. This shows that her feelings of love towards Romeo are not of an earthly nature, but something more celestial.
The vivacious Mercutio endeavours to laugh the melancholy and depressed Romeo out of his sadness in Act 1 Scene 4. It is obvious that Mercutio has never experienced true love, because he cannot understand why Romeo is so depressed over a girl. There is an anti-romantic culture among the young of Verona. Luhrmann’s movie version portrays this perfectly, as no young person (apart from Romeo) is seen with a girl in the whole movie and the only girls we see are at the Capulet’s party. Mercutio’s first line in the play doesn’t empathise with Romeo to allow him to have time to recover from his rejection and insists that he must enjoy himself with them; “Nay, gentle Romeo, we must have you dance.” In Act 2 Scene 1, Mercutio calls Romeo a moody lover, a “madman! Passion! Lover!” He plays with words and teases Romeo with sexual puns, referring to sexual organs and sexual intercourse etc., showing that he thinks there is only one side to love; the passionate, lustful side as opposed to the romantic side, for example, “If love be blind, love cannot hit the mark, (‘target’, or sexual intercourse) now will he sit under a medlar tree” (a brown, apple-like fruit which was said to resemble the female sexual organs) and, states the time by declaring, “the bawdy hand of the dial is upon the prick of noon.” Mercutio talks about Cupid and Venus, two pagan symbols of love, but speaks about love in the most physical of terms, referring to Rosaline’s “scarlet lip” and “quivering thigh.” Mercutio always talks about the human body, as he did in the queen Mab speech, in very physical and bawdy terms. This is why Mercutio believes Romeo will think of Rosaline in these terms, because love for Mercutio is the same as physical lust. He and many other characters in the play cannot understand that love can be pure and passionate. Romeo and Juliet are isolated in the play because others do not understand their love from the romantic and lustful points of view. Romeo remarks that Mercutio can easily make fun of him because Mercutio has never been in love; ‘he jests at scars that never felt a wound’. This is ironic, as Romeo is referring to the scars of love but Mercitio is soon to be scarred and fatally wounded in his fight with Tybalt.
The Nurse, like Mercutio, has a bawdy sense of humour, however, the Nurse’s is much more mild. They both concentrate on the physical and often sexual side of life: the Nurse’s summary of Romeo in Act 2 Scene 5 is focused on physical description – his face, his leg, his hand, his foot and body – echoing Mercutio’s earlier description of Rosaline. Nurse affectionately and subtly calls the lover Juliet’s room “a bird’s nest”. However, unlike Mercutio, the Nurse values love very highly, as she understands and respects its true meaning and importance, however she may not understand the love between a man and woman, only love between a mother and daughter. In Act 1 Scene 3, the Nurse explains how she once had a daughter of her own, who died aged fourteen, “Well, Susan is with God, she was too good for me.” Her hasty language, not lingering and diving into great detail of the subject could indicate that she no longer mourns for her daughter, and has come to terms with her death, or alternatively, Shakespeare could have intended that the Nurse still mourns for her deceased daughter and does not want talk about the ordeal and express her true feelings in front of Juliet, who would provide the Nurse unwanted sympathy. “Susan and she – God rest all Christian souls – were of an age.” And “But as I said…” The Nurse is very protective of Juliet and in Act 2 Scene 4, she warns Romeo not to “lead her (Juliet) into a fool’s paradise.”
Parental love is in short supply. The Capulet and Montague parents seemingly love their children, as we can see from their final grief, “O heavens! O wife, look how our daughter bleeds”, “I will raise her statue in pure gold”, Lord Montague asks Benvolio in Act 1 Scene 1 to find out what is troubling Romeo, “Could we but learn from whence his sorrows grow, would we willingly give cure as know.” Lady Montague loves her husband dearly and restrains Lord Montague from fighting, “(Lord Montague) Thou villain Capulet! – Hold me not, let me go. (Lady Montague) Thou shalt not stir one foot to seek a foe.” Lady Capulet is relieved Romeo was not involved in the fighting in the first scene, “O, where is Romeo? Saw you him today? Right glad am I he was not at this fray,” and when Romeo is banished to Mantua, Lady Montague so unhappy, she dies of heartache, “(Montague) my wife is dead to-night;
Grief of my son's exile hath stopp'd her breath.” However, both sets of parents have other priorities and have neglected their children. The Montague’s family life is simply omitted from the play, but we can see from Romeo never mentioning them and never at his home or around his family that his parents take little interest in him. The Capulets show little love as parents and also have a false idea of love for Juliet. Making a conventionally successful marriage is what matters to them, “The gallant, young, and noble gentleman, the County Paris, at Saint Peter’s Church, shall happily make thee there a joyful bride”. Paris seems to view marriage, as her father does, as a form of medical treatment for Juliet's sorrow. They think she is too young to know what's good for her. However, in the last scene of the play, Paris, paying homage to Juliet and opposing the supposed grave robber, hints at greater devotion than Shakespeare has previously chosen to reveal. This could show that his love for Juliet is strong, but he keeps his emotions quiet and does not express his emotions in the way that Romeo does. When he is slain, he expresses his true emotions for the first time by exclaiming, “Open the tomb, lay me with Juliet.” Lord Capulet believes that Juliet loves him dearly and will always obey him, “I think she will be ruled in all respects by me”. Act 3 Scene 5, is the best illustration of the failings of parental love within the play; even the Nurse, who has offered the equivalent of parental love, lets her down. Juliet’s parents mistake her grief for Romeo’s banishment as instead anguish for Tybalt’s death. This shows their complete misunderstanding of Juliet and her feelings. Capulet cares so little for his daughter’s happiness, he flies into a terrible rage at Juliet when he realises she is disobeying him and tells her she is a traitor and says he will force her to marry Paris even if he has to drag her to church on a “hurdle”. He says Juliet will never look him in the face again if she disobeys him and says that his ‘fingers itch’ (to strike her). He says “Graze where you will, you shall not house with me” and tells her that before he is disobeyed, he will have her “beg, starve, die in the streets”. Capulet behaves tyrannically and refuses to listen to anyone else. They cannot understand why Juliet does not want to marry a rich husband and she sees all of the practical advantages of Paris and tells Juliet, “So shall you share in all that he doth posess, by having him, making yourself no less.” This was clearly Lady Capulet’s attitude when she married Capulet, and she thinks that Juliet should do the same, “Talk not to me, for I’ll not speak a word. Do as thou wilt, for I have done with thee.” She does not care if Juliet is not happy in her marriage. Lady Capulet irrationally exclaims, “I would the fool were married to her grave.” This shows a very severe attitude, lacking in love towards her daughter. Here, Capulet has contradicted himself from Act 1 Scene 2, when he says, “Let two more summers wither in their pride, ere may we think her ripe to be a bride,” and he also says that Juliet should have a say in whether she marries Paris, and says if Juliet agrees to marry Paris, he will agree too, “and she agreed, with her scope of choice lies my consent and fair according voice.” Arranged marriages were common in the London of Shakespeare’s day, and many fathers of this period gave their daughters' hand to the man whom could best provide for her. Shakespeare obviously thought this was unjust and wanted to bring awareness to the unreasonable and discontented lives the women had to go through with an unwanted husband. In Luhrmann’s movie version of the play, he makes the viewing more gripping and exciting by portraying Lord Capulet as violent and Luhrmann includes frequent close-ups of Juliet’s tearful face and has the bellowing Lord Capulet push Juliet her up against the wall and hit her.
The Nurse and the Friar partially take the place of parental love, however, they ultimately fail Romeo and Juliet. The Friar is loving and caring towards Romeo, and takes interest in his day to day activities, “What early tongue so sweet saluteth me?” “Our Romeo hath not been in bed tonight.” His view of love states that too much will or passion can turn to vice. “Wisely and slow, they stumble that run fast”. This is an underlying theme in the play and one which the friar is always repeating and emphasising. He believes that young men’s love lies in their eyes. I believe that they are both in error in trying to keep Romeo and Juliet happy without thinking enough about what is right. Juliet is terrifyingly committed to what is right in a way that shames the older people. The Nurse in Act 3 Scene 5, attempts to persuade Juliet to marry Paris, “Romeo is banished”…”I think it best you married with the county. O he’s a lovely gentleman.” As a representative of Christian love, Friar Lawrence tries hard, but never solves the conflict between Christian teaching and worldly desires.
Both the language of love and the language of death play important roles in the tragedy. They cooperate with light and dark imagery to make the play the masterpiece it is, a play of paradoxes and oxymorons, good and evil, neither one whole without the other. For without love there would be nothing to lose, and without death there would be no way to lose it.