How does Shakespeare use language and imagery to reveal Romeo and Juliets admiration for each other?

        When Romeo and Juliet meet they speak just fourteen lines before their first kiss, these fourteen lines make up a shared sonnet, with a rhyme scheme of ababcdcdefefgg. They use words such as, ‘hand’,‘stand’,‘this’,‘kiss’ , A sonnet is a perfect, idealized poetic form often used to write about love. Shakespeare enhances the admiration they both feel for each other by showing they are both intelligent and equal. The use of the sonnet, however, also serves a second, darker purpose. The play’s Prologue also is a single sonnet of the same rhyme scheme as Romeo and Juliet’s shared sonnet. The Prologue sonnet introduces the play, and, through its description of Romeo and Juliet’s eventual death, also helps to create the sense of fate that permeates Romeo and Juliet. The shared sonnet between Romeo and Juliet therefore creates a formal link between their love and their destiny. With a single sonnet, Shakespeare finds a means of expressing perfect love and linking it to a tragic fate.

That fate begins to assert itself in the instant when Romeo and Juliet first meet: Tybalt recognizes Romeo’s voice when Romeo first exclaims at Juliet’s beauty, ‘This, by his voice, should be a Montague’, Shakespeare further highlights the dispute by using Tybalt. Tybalt is fueled by the quarrel and becomes angry at Romeo for ruining the party and goes on to justify killing Romeo because he is in the Capulets house. The builds tension and reminds the audience of the primary distance between the couple. Capulet, acting cautiously, stops Tybalt from taking immediate action, ‘content thee, gentle coz, let him alone’, However Tybalt’s rage is set.

The first conversation between Romeo and Juliet also provides a glimpse of the roles that each will play in their relationship. In this scene, Romeo is clearly the aggressor. ‘to smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss’, Here Romeo uses all the skill at his disposal to win over a struck, but timid, Juliet. During their first kiss she simply lets Romeo kiss her, ‘Saints do not move’ this suggests she is still a young girl, and though already in her dialogue with Romeo has proved herself intelligent, she is not ready to throw herself into action. However Juliet is the aggressor in the second kiss, ‘grant for prayers sake’,  It is her logic that forces Romeo to kiss her again and take back the sin he has placed upon her lips. In a single conversation, Juliet transforms from a proper, timid young girl to one more mature, who understands what she desires and is quick-witted enough to procure it. Juliet’s later comment to Romeo, “You kiss by th’ book,” can be taken in two ways. First, it can be seen as emphasizing Juliet’s lack of experience, as if she is saying what a wonderful kisser she is, but it is possible to see a bit of wry observation in this line. Juliet’s comment that Romeo kisses by the book is akin to noting that he kisses as if he has learned how to kiss from a manual and followed those instructions exactly. Here she could be suggesting that although he kisses well, he kisses without or with very little emotion. Juliet is clearly smitten with Romeo, but it is possible to see her as the more incisive of the two, and as nudging Romeo to a more genuine level of love through her observation of his tendency to get caught up in the forms of love rather than love itself.