In Act 1 scene 1 Benvolio sees Romeo is very depressed and talks to Romeo about how love can be a nice thing, but it is actually very rough when you experience it, but Romeo tells him that he is in love with Rosaline, but she does not love him. Shakespeare uses several oxymorons like ‘O brawling love, O loving hate’ to show us that Romeo is feeling confused and rejected by Rosaline. Benvolio feels sad because Romeo is depressed, Romeo then tells him what love can do to someone. Romeo is Petrarchian character in this scene; he finds unrequited love painful like Petrarch did and the audience would have realised this. Romeo says ‘Griefs of mine own lie heavy in my breast, which thou wilt propagate to have it pressed with more of thine; this love that thou hast shown doth add more grief to too much of mine own’ this means that Romeo tells Benvolio that his sadness feels heavy in his chest, and now you want to add your own depression to mine. I have too much sadness to face, and now you're going to make me feel worse by making me feel sorry for you. Benvolio is making it worse for Romeo because he is crying for Romeo’s depression and now Romeo feels even further depressed when he sees Benvolio crying. Shakespeare uses hyperbole to show that Romeo is a different man, the quote ‘Tut; I have lost myself, I am not her, this is not Romeo he’s some other where’ meaning that he is preoccupied with the thoughts of Rosaline, furthermore he is no his usual happy self. Also, that the old Romeo is somewhere else. Romeo then says that ‘love is a smoke made out of lovers' sighs. When the smoke clears, love is a fire burning in your lover's eyes. If you frustrate love, you get an ocean made out of lovers' tears’. What else can love be? It will just make you do anything it wants and then you will end up getting hurt. At this point Romeo is so miserable and to a certain extent he is being negative about love, them he describes love as if it was made out of smoke. Benvolio tells him to not think about Rosaline. Romeo asks how to forget about Rosaline. Benvolio says look at other beautiful girls, but Romeo says that it will only make him think more about how beautiful she is, also a man who goes blind can never forget their precious eyesight, furthermore you can not teach me to forget. Therefore Romeo is obsessed by his painful love for Rosaline at the beginning of the play.
Romeo’s opinion in Act 1 scene 5 is very different from the speech he gave in Act 1 scene 1 when he told us that he could never ever forget about Rosaline no matter what he does, this changes when he sees Juliet for the very first time. Romeo says upon seeing Juliet ‘She doth teach the torches to burn bright’ this gives us the impression that Juliet is the light that frees him from darkness. Shakespeare uses a key theme, which is the light theme. Romeo compares her to the brilliant light of the torches, which lights up the Capulet’s hall. Also, Shakespeare uses hyperbole, which shows that he is trying to exaggerate to shows how incredibly pure and beautiful Juliet is. Also, Romeo suggests that Juliet is the most beautiful human being that stands out from everyone else. Romeo represents a jewel as Juliet by saying, ‘As rich as a jewel in an Ethiops ear’. In Shakespeare’s time, an ethiop is what was used to call a black African, plus a jewel is shiny. Shakespeare emphasizes this to illustrate how much Juliet would stand out. Another example, is in Act 2 scene 2, in the balcony scene. Romeo connects Juliet with sunlight by saying, ‘It is the east and Juliet is the sun’ which tells us that the stars would be shamed by the brightness of her face. Going back to Act 1 scene 5, Romeo says ‘Beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear: So shows a snowy dove trooping with crows, as yonder lady o'er her fellows shows’ meaning that Juliet’s beauty is too good for this world; she's too beautiful to die and to be buried. She outshines the other women like a white dove in the middle of a crowd of crows. The doves represent peace and light as for the crows, they represent death and darkness. He then says ‘The measure done, I'll watch her place of stand, And, touching hers, make blessed my rude hand’ meaning that when this dance is over, I will see where she stands, and then I will go and talk to her. This part is important because Romeo is trying to say when he touches Juliet, his unworthy hand will be blessed as he considers Juliet to be so holy and pure. Romeo also says ‘Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight! For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night’ meaning that did my heart ever love anyone before this moment? My eyes were liars, then, because I never saw true beauty before tonight. At this point of the story, in the epigram where Romeo sees Juliet, he has already forgotten about Rosaline and has fallen in love with Juliet. This shows that Romeo’s eyesight tricked him before seeing true beauty, and that he is fickle.
Shakespeare Presents the meeting of Romeo and Juliet dominant by using a sonnet and the extraordinary language it uses captures both the excitement and the wonder of what the two characters feel. This was very popular in the Elizabethan times.
A sonnet’s expression lets Shakespeare make a dramatic performance. This is an unique sonnet, but at the same time quite unusual because normally, men expressed their love in the form of a sonnet. But, Juliet as well expresses her love for Romeo.
Romeo says ‘If I profane with my unworthiest hand this holy shrine, the gentle sin is this’ meaning Romeo is saying that your hand is like a holy place that my hand is unworthy to visit it. The first conversation between Romeo and Juliet is an extended Christian metaphor, Romeo compares Juliet to an image of a saint that should be worshiped, this tells us that Juliet is holy and he worships her like a pilgrim. Using this metaphor, Romeo cunningly manages to convince Juliet to let him kiss her. However, the metaphor holds many further purposes. The religious overtone of the conversation clearly means that their love can be described only through the religion with God. In this way, their love becomes associated with the purity and passion of the divine by using religious language to describe their feelings 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. This sonnet is perfect; it is the ideal poetic form to write about love. To sum up the moment of origin of Romeo and Juliet’s love within a sonnet, therefore creates a perfect match. The first Prologue also is a single sonnet of the same rhyme scheme as Romeo and Juliet’s shared sonnet. The first prologue sonnet introduces the play and through its description of Romeo and Juliet’s eventual death, it also helps to create the sense of fate that infuses Romeo and Juliet. The quote ‘A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life’ explains that their fate will be death. The shared sonnet between Romeo and Juliet therefore creates a link between their love and their destiny. With a single sonnet, Shakespeare finds a means of expressing their perfect love and linking it to an awfully tragic fate.
In Act 1 scene 5, Shakespeare’s theme of love and hate is an important theme, which runs throughout the play. Shakespeare contrasts love and hate. For instance, when Romeo first sees Juliet, and the hatred when Tybalt wants to kill Romeo after he realises that he is a Montague and has come to the Capulet’s party. Tybalt says ‘This, by his voice, should be a Montague. Fetch me my rapier, boy. What dares the slave come hither, covered with an antic face’. This shows that Tybalt is full of rage and wants to kill Romeo. The phrase means that hearing the voice, it must be a Montague. How dare does the enemy come to the Capulet’s party. Shakespeare uses Tybalt’s phrase about hate, which contrasts with Romeo’s epigram about love because he is showing us that the speeches are completely opposite to each other.
When Juliet sees Romeo for the first time, she to falls in love with him, but as soon as the nurse takes Juliet away from Romeo, Juliet tells her ‘Go ask his name – if he be married, my grave is like to be my wedding bed’. Shakespeare uses dramatic irony, as we know that she dies shortly after her wedding. Once the nurse tells Juliet that Romeo is a Montague, Juliet feels hurt by the truth. There is a very strong remark from Juliet, for instance Juliet says ‘My only love sprung from my only hate. Too early seen unknown, and known too late’. This means that Juliet fell in love early not knowing and the nurse tells Juliet too late. It can be also interpreted as the discovery of a unique, pure and strong love for someone else, who happens to be a member of a very much hated family. By carrying on with this strong feeling, it also suggests the danger ahead of hurting someone else (their own families).
Shakespeare tells us many things about love for instance it is a beautiful feeling that can happen to you when you are in love, but the most important point Shakespeare is telling us is how dangerous love can be when you experience it. It also shows the love shown amongst the family, as the case is between the cousins Benvolio and Romeo, who obviously care for one another. Shakespeare even uses Tybalt and Mercutio to show us the different types of love, Tybalt and Mercutio are like a ying-yang, completely opposite of white and black, Tybalt is hot tempered and belligerent and Mercutio is calm and very caring. They each have that same kind of feeling inside that keeps them each from comprehending the true love between Romeo and Juliet. Tybalt causes conflict by picking a fight with Mercutio in the street. This led to the death of each character, but Tybalt provoked Mercutio, which led to his death and then Tybalt’s death by Romeo. Shakespeare uses the tragic play of Romeo and Juliet as an example of what love can do to you. Overall, Shakespeare is telling us an important lesson, with the purpose of when you experience love control it, do not let love control you.
