The main reason Romeo goes to the ball is to see Rosaline, his unrequited love, who he thinks about all the time. His family and friends are very concerned about him because he stays awake and night, and sleeps during the day. Instead Romeo sees Juliet and instantly falls in love with her. It is then that he realises that he was never actually in love with Rosaline, but this is the first time he is experiencing true love, ‘did my heart love till now.’ Due to Romeo being spotted by Romeo, this later leads to a duel, in which Tybalt accidentally kills Mercutio. Unable to contain himself, Romeo kills Tybalt in return, resulting in banishment from Verona. In the mean time, Romeo and Juliet are secretly married by Friar Lawrence. However, Juliet is engaged to be married to Count Paris. As she is already married to Romeo, she seeks advice from Friar Lawrence on the issue. He gives her a potion, through which she will appear dead for forty-eight hours. He tells Juliet that he will then send a message to Romeo explaining the entire situation. Unfortunately, the letter does not reach Romeo in time, resulting in him committing suicide. On awakening, Juliet finds Romeo dead, and so she too kills herself with a dagger.
At the beginning of the play, there is a ‘prologue’. Shakespeare uses the prologue to narrate to the audience exactly what is going to occur during the course of the play. Although we are informed, through the prologue, all the incidents that are going to take place, we are left in anticipation as to when they are going to occur. The prologue sets the scene, and summarises the entire play in a few lines.
The first verbal exchange between Romeo and Juliet takes place in the form of a sonnet. ‘Sonnets’ were a very popular from of love poetry in the Elizabethan era. They consist of fourteen lines, with ten syllables in each line. This sonnet is one of four sonnets in the play. What seems to be the beginning of another sonnet immediately after this sonnet is disturbed by the nurse. The final couplet of this particular sonnet is shared by both Romeo and Juliet, to demonstrate the unique bond of love the two of them share,
“Saints do not move, through grant for prayers sake,
Then move not while my prayers effect I take.”
In order to express his love to Juliet, Romeo cleverly exploits religious imagery, saying that he is on a ‘religious journey to a holy shrine’, a pilgrimage. He describes Juliet as that ‘holy shrine’, because it is as if Juliet is the shrine, and he is the pilgrim, so he is completely devoted to her. Romeo is saying that the love the two of them share is pure, genuine, and sacred.
Romeo says that by touching Juliet’s hand, he may have offended her, and so he wishes to make up for this by kissing her,
“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 also wants a kiss from Romeo, as she plays along with the idea of religion and says that she is unable to move, as she is a saint, and has to grant prayers whilst remaining motionless.
Romeo then says to Juliet “My sin is purg’d”, in other words, you now have my sin. Juliet is saying this because she wants an excuse for him to kiss her yet again.
Elizabethan pilgrims used to visit holy shrines, so that whatever they ask for, would be granted to them. In the same way, Romeo is seeking permission from Juliet to kiss her,
“O then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do,
They pray, grant thou, lest faith turn to despair.”
Romeo also makes reference to ‘palmers’. These were pilgrims who made their way to Jerusalem and bought back with them palm leaves, in order to show people where they had been.
Whilst Romeo and Juliet are falling in love, they are completely oblivious to what is going on around them. Even Tybalt’s wrath does not disturb Romeo and Juliet’s ‘perfect world’. It is after the completion of this sonnet, when the nurse comes to call Juliet on the order of Lady Capulet that Romeo and Juliet find out each other’s identity. Both are devastated on the discovery. Romeo says, “ O dear account! My life is in my foe’s debt”, and Juliet says,
“My only love sprung from my only hope,
Too early seen unknown, and known too late,
Prodigious birth of love it is to me,
That I must have loathed enemy.”
As part of the audience, we would get caught up in the romance of the situation. We would be glad that Romeo has finally found a lover who actually loves him just as much as he loves her. Even Romeo acknowledges this to himself.
“Did my heart love till now,
I ne’er saw true beauty till this night.”
