Romeo only came to the feast in hopes of seeing Rosaline, while he is there he never actually sees her. Romeo and Juliet are both very forward and neither seems to mind. She is intelligent though because she knows not to give away too much about herself, and be overcome by him. She has a sarcastic sense of humour, which could make her cocky. When she discovers who Romeo is saddened-
“My only love sprung from my only hate,”
Romeo reacts in most the same way-
“O dear account, my life is my foes debt”
In this scene there are lots of accounts where one character expresses disapproval of another. E.g. Tybalt towards Romeo when he discovers he is a Montague. In this case it is ignored because Capulet doesn’t want to disturb the feast.
The audience consider the meeting between Romeo and Juliet important and maybe the main interest of the play because of the amount of detail its given. Nothing important is going on in the background and only the main characters (Romeo, Juliet, Tybalt etc) are taking into account.
The people at Capulet’s feast are lively and there is excitement, maybe this is what caused Romeo to act in such a way. He seems to become overcome by all the people and what’s happening there.
The Balcony Scene
Juliet’s speech here tells us a lot about her feelings. At the start of the scene she talks aloud about her love for Romeo and the problems, which the family names cause. If they were both in the same house it would be a lot easier for them, but would they have still gone for one another? Her speech throughout the whole scene seems wiser than the words she spoke when Romeo and her first met; her attitude is also more “grown-up”. Juliet knows the problem they both face-
“Wherefore art thou Montague?”
The names between them are the biggest problem, both sides (Montague’s and Capulet’s) hate each other and there would be no way they would allow them to see each other.
Although they have now only met twice by the end of the scene the have both agreed to change vows, although they don’t know hardly anything about each other. Maybe Juliet is doing this because she knows her father will probably promise her to someone soon, and she wants to rebel against him.
Romeo feels much the same way to Juliet as she does to him, he says-
“My name, dear saint, is hateful to myself. Because it is an enemy to thee. Had I write I it written, I would tear the word.”
In this scene they are both willing to express their love for one another freely and move very quick upon each other, their advances are very forward.
