The next time they meet is in the balcony scene when we find out that they love each other and they promise that they will marry each other. This is only a few hours after they first meet. At the beginning of the scene Romeo and Juliet both have soliloquies describing their love for each other. Juliet is the first to declare her love which she does quite openly, not using elaborate descriptions which is very believable and shows her maturity, as she states it clearly. Romeo, however, is extreme in his choice of elaborate words such as, ‘angel’ and ‘passion.’
The first time Romeo speaks directly to Juliet she is very embarrassed and tells Romeo that she is sorry for being so forward. She seems quite paranoid and worried about giving Romeo the wrong impression or making him go off her, as she talks about how he would want her to act and be towards him and says, ‘I must admit I was not strange,’ conveying her slightly paranoid and worried feeling and showing how she just wants Romeo to think she is perfect and not get the wrong impression of her, thus making him dislike her. She has a long speech telling Romeo that he has to declare his love to her faithfully if he does and asks him how he wants her to act and be with him showing her to want the relationship to work and she really wants him to like her. She shows maturity over Romeo in working everything out and planning where the relationship and the rest of the evening will go. Romeo just showers her with beautiful words and uses extravagant descriptions such as, ‘Juliet is the sun,’ showing his love to her, by using adjectives as often as possible and using metaphors to describe Juliet’s beauty.
They both show their love to each other in different ways. Through the scene Juliet becomes more confident and is not so shy or embarrassed in front of Romeo and Romeo starts to like her even more, and also becomes more mature, true and believable as Juliet tells him to be natural by saying, ‘swear not by the moon.’ After Juliet’s request Romeo asks and answers straight questions not having to make his words extravagant. At the end of the scene they promise marriage to each other, showing a huge step from only a few hours earlier when they had never even seen each other before. This scene really develops the relationship between the two and their feelings grow and they become very close which is very significant in the play as the rest of the play is all about their amazingly strong love for each other.
The two characters Romeo and Juliet have very different characters but this does not cause conflict between the two. Juliet definitely seems more mature, practical and sensible than Romeo, for example when she says, ‘the orchard walls are high and hard to climb.’ This shows she is thinking about what could happen and why the high walls could prove a problem for Romeo. She thinks ahead in the situation that could become dangerous or a potentially awkward situation such as when she tells Romeo, ‘if they see thee they will murder thee,’ as she worries for Romeo. The example, ‘the orchard walls are high and hard to climb,’ also shows how she is a thoughtful yet perceptive as she wonders about how Romeo managed to get over the wall.
Juliet is very sure of what she wants as she plays games and plays with words with people, not only Romeo as she says to her mother, ‘I’ll look to like, if looking liking move.’ With this line she is mixing her words so that she is not promising her mother that she will marry Paris, she is just saying that she will look at him, which is very clever. On the other hand she can be manipulative as she knows so much what she wants sometimes she tries to twist people to do what she wants, like when her father is trying to force her to marry Paris she is so against the idea she is determined to get her own way. Juliet is more private and contained, shown in the balcony scene when she tries to control her feelings and do the sensible thing in not letting Romeo take over and also by not being over passionate and regretting her actions as when near the end of the balcony scene Romeo asks ‘wilt thou leave me so unsatisfied?’ and she replies ‘what satisfaction could I give to thee tonight?’ She is shocked when she finds out that Romeo has heard her talking of her love.
Juliet remains to be a strong yet ladylike character even when she admits she has a true love for Romeo which could possibly be a weakness. She remains ladylike by not going over the top or showing off in front of Romeo as when she says to Romeo ‘I must admit I was not strange’ or with other people at the masked ball.
Romeo can be sulky when he does not get his own way, which is actually similar to Juliet as when she wants someone she complains and tries to get her own way. The difference between the two is that Romeo goes a different way about getting his own way in that he actually does nothing, he just sulks, cries and complains such as with Rosaline which we see at the beginning of ‘Romeo and Juliet.’ He also is not so versatile in that he can cope with any situation like Juliet. Romeo can be quite immature compared to Juliet as he risks his life by climbing over the orchard walls and when Juliet questions him about it he says, ‘stony limits can not hold love out,’ which is showing him not answering the question and deviating from the question asked. He uses this line to build on expressing his love He is even serious about doing the impossibly in trying to disown his family and not be a Montague anymore as he says, ‘call me love, and I’ll be new baptis’d; henceforth I never will be Romeo.’
Romeo is more open in expressing his feelings than Juliet by using extravagant and extreme language and descriptions. Because of this we do not completely believe that Romeo is that much in love. He seems weaker than Juliet, as when something goes wrong he can not keep himself together and cope with the situation; usually he breaks down and goes to someone else to put his burden on, such as his repeated visits to Friar Laurence with problems and worries.
Romeo is fickle and changes his mind very quickly firstly in ‘falling out of love’ with Rosaline, then falling straight away in love with Juliet. Next he leaves his best friends for someone he has only just met, then by deciding straight away to marry Juliet. The way he left Benvolio and Mercutio also shows he is the type of person who gets distracted easily and becomes obsessive with one thing at a time, whereas Juliet is very contained.
The balcony scene is a key part of Romeo and Juliet. In this scene the love between Romeo and Juliet is first discovered and the love is the whole point of the story making it an important scene. The scene is the lead on and point for every other scene in the whole play. Romeo’s soliloquy shows to us at the very beginning of the balcony scene his great love for Juliet and how he wishes she knew he loved her. He thinks that she doesn’t love him back as he says, ‘I am too bold, ‘tis not to me she speaks’, when he sees her gazing at the stars and talking to herself.
As Romeo talks we build a picture of him to be very extravagant, romantic and not afraid to elaborately express his feelings for Juliet, as he uses such extreme language, which we don’t quite believe because it is so extravagant, such as, ‘it is the east and Juliet is the sun.’ This is such a huge statement to be making about Juliet as he is saying she is the sun which means that she gives the light to the whole world and is always burning bright. He also says, ‘the brightness of her cheek would shame those stars,’ which is quite unbelievable as he is saying that her cheek is shinier and brighter than is star which is impossible. Romeo also talks for a long time about Juliet in his very extravagant language and descriptions which emphasizes his over exaggeration. When Juliet speaks she does not use such elaborate descriptions of Romeo she just says that she wishes he wasn’t a Montague, when she says ‘O Romeo, Romeo wherefore art thou Romeo.’ She sees the difficulties in the situation whilst Romeo forgets all the impracticalities of the situation. She doesn’t actually declare her love to Romeo although that is the impression we get, we do not find out that she does actually love him until later on in the scene, when she says to Romeo, ‘my true-love passion.’
In the scene apart from the two’s love being discovered they make promises of marriage which leads on to the next scene in which Romeo asks Friar Laurence to marry the couple. This next scene also shows us more about Romeo as it shows that other people know Romeo as being fickle and often changing his mind as Friar Laurence calls Romeo, ‘young waverer’, meaning he changes his mind a lot.
In the balcony scene we find out more about Romeo and Juliet’s characters. We find out that Juliet is more practical and level-headed than Romeo and that Romeo is braver to declare his love and is not afraid of Juliet’s family because he loves her so much. This is also showing him to be less mature and less practical, though strong and brave.
The balcony scene is the second scene in act two, which starts in scene one with Benvolio and Mercutio trying to find Romeo when he has jumped over the orchard wall to find Juliet. Benvolio is genuinely worried about Romeo but Mercutio is making fun of his way with his feelings. The balcony scene shows to us how Romeo is quick to abandon his friends when something better comes along, i.e. Juliet.
We also find out more about Juliet’s family and her nurse maid as Juliet talks about her family and we hear her nurse calling Juliet from inside the house. Her family seem to be very protective over Juliet as she says to Romeo, ‘if they see thee they will murder thee’, which is quite a big thing to do just because he is Romeo and is talking to Juliet. Her nurse in this scene calls on her three times which shows her to be a bossy, loud character as she keeps calling Juliet and it shows she is shouting quite loud because of the exclamation mark at the end of each of her words when she calls, ‘Madam!’
Overall this scene is extremely important and is a key for developing Romeo and Juliet’s love for each other and also their characters.