After the big fight with the Montague’s and the Capulet’s the Prince comes down to break up the fight. He threatens the people in the streets by announcing, “If ever you disturb our streets again, your lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace.” By saying this, the audience will no that another fight will occur and someone shall die for doing so. Suspicions are raised within the audience as to who will pay the forfeit of the peace.
We then go on to meet Romeo for the first time. Immediately we can see that Romeo is love-sick with a lady called Rosaline, but we can see that his feelings for her are not as true as he believes. Romeo uses oxymorons to show his feelings for Rosaline for example he says, “bright smoke” and “cold fire”. He uses oxymorons to highlight the fact that he is in love, so he would be happy, but at the same time he is sad because he cannot be with Rosaline. Romeo is exaggerating by doing so because he is not in love with her as he says he is, but probably want to be, which is why is tries to act as though he truly loves Rosaline.
When Romeo talks about Rosaline, who he apparently loved, he says, “One fairer than my love! The all-seeing sun ne’er saw her match since first the world begun.” We can see that when Romeo talks about Rosaline he is exaggerating his feelings by saying that he loves her and will never love anyone else. But the moment he sees Juliet his feelings for Rosaline vanish and his heart is then set on Juliet. The audience can see that his feelings for Rosaline are not genuine but instead they are false. Subsequently, when Romeo first sees Juliet he says, “Did my heart love till now? For I ne’er saw true beauty till this night.” This shows that Romeo is passionate towards Juliet, speaks from the bottom of his heart and his feelings for Juliet are more meaningful and that he dearly loves her.
We then meet Juliet in Scene three. Juliet gives the impression that she is very obedient when she says, “madam I am here, what is your will?” it shows us that she is very polite toward her mother since she addresses her to ‘madam’ rather than ‘mother’. She also seems very submissive because she says, “but no more deep will I endart mine eye.” This shows she will do as she is told because her mother has just asked her to take a look at Paris and see if she wants to marry him. Juliet seems very innocent in this scene as she respects her elders and does as she is told. I believe that the audience will like her as she is obedient and well-mannered.
Later in scene four Romeo says he had a dream which included “some consequence yet hanging in the stars” the audience would take this very seriously because they believe in the stars. Romeo then goes on to say that he will suffer an “untimely death”. Again the audience would take this very seriously because they all believe in fate and destiny, so this is another sign showing that he will die an ‘untimely death’.
When Romeo and Juliet first meet in scene five their first conversation is also in the form of a sonnet however this sonnet is shared between Romeo and Juliet showing that their love for each other is much stronger and that they are the perfect match for each other. The prologue was also in the form of a sonnet and says that they will both serve an “untimely death”, therefore Romeo and Juliet’s first conversation helps to create the sense that fate will take over their lives.
The first conversation between Romeo and Juliet was also a comprehensive Christian metaphor. Shakespeare uses this as their conversation because it would imply that their love can only be expressed through religion and god. By using religion to describe their feelings it shows that their love for each other is how they would love god, the spiritual description of their relationship makes their love divine, holy and passionate. Nevertheless most of the audience would find their relationship to be blasphemous because Juliet calls Romeo “god of her idolatry”, replacing Romeo as God because she loves him more than she can love god. It shows how much she loves Romeo because she is willing to put Romeo before god. Romeo compares Juliet to a saint that should be worshiped, people would also find this blasphemous and it would be unacceptable in their eyes. However even though people would see the way Romeo and Juliet illustrate their feelings as blasphemy, people would see that they truly love each other because they are comparing to their religion, which shows that their love for each other is full of purity and passion.
After Romeo and Juliet’s conversation Juliet has to leave since her mother want to talk to her. When she leaves Romeo asked the nurse who Juliet was, when the nurse replies Romeo was in great shock he says, “O dear account! My life is my foe’s debt.” Romeo realises who Juliet is and knows that he can not be with her or their parents will disapprove and they will not be able to be together. When Juliet finds out whom Romeo is she is also devastated that she loves an enemy of her family. She declares before, “if he be married, my grave is likely to be my wedding bed”. This shows her love towards Romeo, because she cannot live if she cannot marry him. Both Romeo and Juliet demonstrate how compassionate the love is by showing the audience that they both cannot live without each other, as when they realised that they both love their family’s foes they were both distraught and could not bare their life without each other.
Over all I believe that Shakespeare has made the audience sympathise towards Romeo and Juliet for many reasons. He expresses their feelings more than any of the other characters which makes us understand them more and feel sorry for them. When Romeo and Juliet first meet the audience can see how passionate and devoted their relationship is. They have both found out that they are both their families’ enemies yet they both want to be together even if it means that they die. It shows just how strong their relationship is and they are truly in love.
