“It is the east, and Juliet is the sun!”
He says that Juliet is the sun, as if she is high up, as though she is in heaven and this metaphor emphasises Romeo’s expressiveness and how he is in complete awe of her.
In this scene, Romeo uses assonance at one point, when he speaks,
“When he bestrides the lazy-pacing clouds,”
The repeated ‘a’ vowel makes the clouds really sound lazy, it makes the language and the way he says it sound much more expressive. He also uses alliteration, repeating the ‘l’ consonant to make the sentence more lilting and passionate. He says,
“With love’s light wings did I…”
Romeo uses alliteration again, and a new use of imagery when he uses onomatopoeia in the second of these next two lines.
“How silver-sweet sound lovers’ tongues by night,
Like softest music to attending ears!”
The repeated ‘s’ consonant make his words sound lisping, lilting, and quite expressive and the adjective ‘softest’ actually sounds soft, it is a very onomatopoeic word and therefore make his words sound passionate and sincere.
Personification is the piece of imagery used most often by Romeo in this scene and in his soliloquy from the very outset he personifies the moon. He says,
“Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,”
He has personified the moon to have the emotion envy and he implies the moon to be jealous of Juliet’s radiance and beauty. Romeo also personifies love a great deal and his first personification is when he says,
“With love’s light wings did I o’erproach these walls;”
He personifies love to be cupid-like, an angel, to have a human form and with this angelic form love had carried him over the walls to Juliet. This use of personification implies that Romeo’s heart is so light that he did not bear the strain of having to climb over the high walls and he that he did so without thinking of it, only thinking of the vision awaiting him.
Romeo’s use of symbolism in this scene is very important and this symbolism continues not only throughout this scene but also all through the play. Romeo speaks highly of Juliet, referring to her as the sun, having stars in her eyes, as an angel, as a saint, which implies that she is beyond his reach, is the light of his life and something heavenly. Religion is a large part of their culture and therefore calling Juliet his angel he may be saying that she is somewhat immortal, beautiful, god-sent and truly impressive. The way they have met also symbolises Romeo’s complete awe for her, Juliet is high up above him on the balcony, implying she is beyond his reach and up in heaven whereas he is only on earth.
Whether Juliet can trust Romeo’s words is a hard question to answer because there are many ways in which she cannot trust him. One point would be that, it is very strange the Romeo disregards his family completely as soon as he meets Juliet and he does not even mention them or even begin to care about how they would feel. It is as if he has not even thought about what he is doing and that shows a bad trait in his character. Another bad trait would be that he appears to have a highly impulsive nature, Juliet says,
“If they do see thee they will murder thee.”
He is risking his life and therefore shows he has a dangerous character and these untrustworthy characteristics cannot be ignored.
The romantic scenery may also affect the way Romeo speaks and his romantic words may not truly come from his heart but from the influences around him. Romeo does not once swear his love for Juliet by himself, he only swears by the scenery around him, he says,
“Lady, by yonder blessed moon I vow
That tips with silver all these fruit-tree tops-”
He is clearly being influenced by the night and by the scenery and therefore he cannot be completely trusted by what he says.
The largest reason why Juliet should not be so quick to trust Romeo is Rosaline. Unfortunately it is dramatically ironic because Juliet does not know of Rosaline or of Romeo’s previous love for her. The language Romeo uses for Rosaline is extremely emotive, he says in Act 1, Scene 1,
“ She’ll not be hit
With Cupid’s arrow: She hath Dian’s wit;”
He refers to Rosaline as Diana, a mythical goddess, which is quite similar to the language he uses for Juliet in Act 2, Scene 2 as he refers to Juliet as being goddess-like and in this next quote (Act 1, Scene 1) he says he will live as if he was dead because of Rosaline due to his unrequited love for her.
“Do I live dead that live to tell it now”.
However, the language he uses towards Juliet appears to be stronger and more passionate and the intimate setting Romeo and Juliet are in encourages strong, intimate, true feelings which means Romeo can be trusted. He does not say a bad word about her and everything he says is full of praise for her.
Romeo values seeing Juliet so highly that he is willing to risk his own life for her (which is ironic considering the tragic ending of the play) and therefore risking his life proves his honest commitment for her. Juliet says to him,
“And the place of death, considering who thou art,
If any of my kinsmen find thee here.”
This means that if any of Juliet’s relatives found Romeo they would kill him and therefore Romeo is risking a great deal for his love for her.
Maybe the greatest and most sincere sacrifice he makes for Juliet (other than taking his own live later on in the play) is that he is willing to leave everything and everyone he loves for her. This means he is truly in love with her and Romeo proves that he is honestly in love with her when he says,
“Call me but love, and I’ll be new baptis’d;
Henceforth I never will be Romeo.”
Romeo is clearly besotted.
In conclusion, considering all the points mentioned, I would advise Juliet to trust Romeo. He obviously cares a huge amount for Juliet otherwise he would not use all the emotive and passionate language that he did. I would advise Juliet to be aware of his impulsive nature but still to feel assured that he is truly in love with her.
