In Act1 Scene 1 the audience first sees Romeo’s dilemma. This is where Shakespeare uses Romeo’s language to gain sympathy from the audience, this is because he is in love with Rosaline but they have fallen out. The audience have not yet met Juliet and so they are left to wonder what will happen to Rosaline.
In Act 1 Scene 5 Romeo agrees to go to the Capulets party. This is also where he fist sets eyes on Juliet, “What lady’s doth enrich the hand”. Shakespeare’s choice of words here are quite vital to the story as it means that Romeo is curious to know the name of the girl, could this be because of love? Romeo is entranced by Juliet’s beauty he uses language from the moon, stars and other heavenly objects to describe her, “As a rich jewel in an Ethiop’s ear”. This really presents how in love Romeo is with Juliet and how he feels about her as he is comparing her to a jewel. When describing Juliet in this scene he exaggerates her beauty and along with his quote for his declaration of love for Juliet, “Did my heart love till now.” This line sums up his love for Rosaline and why she was in the play for, to compare his love for Juliet with her’s. This quote shows that his crush on Rosaline was just that and nothing more.
The way Shakespeare presents love and death in Romeo and Juliet is through the help of the on going war between the Capulet’s and Montague’s. Act 1 Scene 5 is an important scene in the play as Romeo catches sight of Juliet for the first time and describes in simile, “As a rich jewel in Ethiops ear. Beauty too rich for use”. The language used by Shakespeare is effective because it gives the impression to the audience that Juliet is shining brightly like an angel.
When Romeo is describing Juliet using words from the moon, stars etc he creates a metaphor for his love for her as if it would be everlasting. Romeo’s description of her is in such a way that it seems that she is not of this world, like she is not to be touched because of her beauty, this is totally different to the way he describes Rosaline, “Feather of lead” and “Cold fire”, these are oxymoron’s that Romeo is using. They are opposites rather like his love for Rosaline compared to the love he has for Juliet.
As Romeo gets to know Juliet more and more they share their first kiss, “You kiss by the book”. Romeo then learns that Juliet is a Capulet and this creates great Dramatic irony as all has been going so well up till then, “O dear account! My life is my foe’s debt”. Juliet then realises that Romeo is a Montague and says, “My only love sprung from my only hate”. Juliet obviously feels the same way about Romeo as he does with her. Juliet goes on to say, “My grave is like to be my wedding bed”, and this shows that Juliet loves Romeo so much that she thinks their love will end only when they die. This is the first time Juliet speaks in such a sombre mood, this image of death appears throughout the play.
Act 1 Scene 5 is a vital part of the play as it sees the first introduction of Dramatic irony when Romeo and Juliet both find out that they dome form families that had deep hate for each other. Romeo and Juliet meet for the first time and instantly fall in love. The audience now realise that Juliet is a Capulet, where as Romeo is still madly in love as so is Juliet. The Capulets nurse informs them that Romeo is a Montague. The audience’s reaction would be one of shock and suspense.
In Act 2 Scene 2 Juliet is on the balcony of her home and Romeo (unknown to Juliet) is below listening to her every word. Romeo’s true love for Juliet is shown here as he risks his life to be with her by climbing over the house walls and trespassing. He compares Juliet to the heavens, “A winged messenger of heaven” and “O speak again, bright angel”. Romeo’s language here is strong and said with emotion.
As Juliet speaks, “O Romeo, Romeo wherefore art thou Romeo?” this is meant to mean ‘who are you’ relating to him being a Montague. Her love is so strong for Romeo that she would deny being a Capulet for him, “And I’ll no longer be a Capulet.” They are both willing to deceive their families for the sake of their love.
As Romeo appears to Juliet she fears for his safety, “If any of my kinsman find thee here…” Romeo replies and Shakespeare creates immense imagery, “With love’s light wings did I approach these walls” this links in with his next line, “For stony limits cannot hold love out.” This really describes how in love Romeo is with Juliet, as the walls of the house cannot keep Romeo from seeing his true love Juliet.
Juliet is embarrassed that Romeo overheard her talking about him and how she had fallen in love with him, she asks him if he loves her, “Dost thou love me? I know thou will say Ay”. Romeo tells Juliet that he loves her and swears on it.
Later on in this scene Romeo and Juliet exchange vows of love, “Th’ exchange of thy’s love faithful vow for mine”. They are both fearful but for different reasons, Juliet because she think they are both going to fast but Romeo’s reason is that he thinks this is a dream-like situation and he doesn’t fell as though this could be happening to him. Again this indicates that Romeo is deeply in love with Juliet and by getting Romeo to feel this way the audience get a real feel for how Romeo is thinking and feeling about Juliet.
This also underlines the love Romeo has for Juliet compared to the love he had for Rosaline. He doesn’t describe Rosaline in a way that really gets the audience thinking. The audience now realise that Romeo’s love for Rosaline was just a crush, an infatuation.
It is also the scene that the lovers meet for there first time. Their conversation is written in sonnet form and this presents just how much Romeo and Juliet love each other and the audience would catch on to this and realise that a sonnet is a 14 line love poem. Romeo compares Juliet to a shrine and a saint; this is shown by the line, “If I profane with my unworthiest hand this holy shrine, the gentle sin is this….”. This poetic effect gives the speech rhythm and makes it more of a sweet song than a declaration of love.
This religious imagery used by Shakespeare shows how devoted Romeo is to Juliet and how he values her equally with God. Things do happen very quickly and Juliet possibly doubts his sincerity but she cannot deny that she has fallen in love with him to. A line which represents this is, “Prodigious birth of love, it is to me that I must have a loathed enemy…” Juliet speaks in a sombre mood personifying death as her bridegroom. The line that represents this, “My grave is like to be my wedding bed”. This is ironic, as very soon she will die to her love. She literally kills herself in the tomb when she believes Romeo has died for her. This creates Dramatic irony.
There is another love scene that is important in this play and that is Act 2 Scene 2 otherwise know as where Romeo and Juliet meet on the balcony scene. In this scene Romeo is hidden from Juliet she is talking to herself about how much she loves him and vice-versa. He compares her to the sun, “Arise fair sun and kill the envious moon” and the heavens, “As daylight doth a lamp. The airy region so bright that birds would sing and think that it were not a night”. This seems again rather exaggerated like all of the language used by Shakespeare to present Romeo and Juliet’s love for each other. Romeo is without doubt in deep love and is following her every move and seems quite obsessive a line that represents this is, “See how she leans her cheek upon her hand…”. The audience now realise that Romeo is so in love with her that he would like to be anything that is close to her like her hand.
I would say that there are many lessons that run throughout the entire play. The lessons are mainly based around Romeo and Juliet. I think that Shakespeare is trying to tell us that if you are ever in love you should take it slowly and not to rush into these things. It all adds to the drama of the play as they fall in love not knowing each other’s backgrounds and the families they come from. During 16th Century the females of the families had their husbands chosen for them and the Capulet’s didn’t choose Romeo to be Juliet’s wife, this meant that there relationship was doomed from the start and I think the audience realised this, as it was the way Shakespeare wrote those particular scenes. This is another good use of Dramatic irony by Shakespeare as Romeo and Juliet didn’t slow down to look at their situation, because of this they paid a heavy price as did their families: death. Romeo and Juliet is a classic story and this is very true as most of the modern day films and drama’s follow the same outline of the plot in Romeo and Juliet.
All through the play the lover’s fate is being sealed. Through Romeo and Juliet’s words as well as the other characters their fate is being sealed. This does not ruin a surprise ending it instead makes it all the more dramatic and tense for the audience.
Ben Whitehead
