True Love never ends!: An Example from Romeo and Juliet
At the beginning of the play, Romeo is completely infatuated with Rosaline. We learn from his friends and family that, when he's not daydreaming about Rosaline in his room, Romeo mopes around in a grove of "sycamore" trees, where those who are sick amour tend to hang out (1.1.4). The thing is, Rosaline has absolutely no interest in Romeo, but he pursues her anyway. This suggests that Romeo isn't so much in love with Rosaline as he is obsessed with the idea of being in love.
ROMEO Love is a smoke raised with the fume of sighs; |
At the beginning of the play, Romeo describes love in abstract extremes.
ROMEO Well, in that hit you miss: she'll not be hit |
Romeo admits that Rosaline has vowed to remain "chaste" like "Diana," the goddess of virginity and hunting. In other words, Rosaline has sworn off boys and sex, which means that Romeo has no chance of winning her heart. What's interesting about this passage is that Romeo sounds a whole lot like a typical "Petrarchan lover." Petrarch, by the way, was a fourteenth-century Italian poet whose sonnets were all the rage in Renaissance England. In fact, Shakespeare's own collection of Sonnets are, in part, inspired by Petrarch's love poetry, which was written about "Laura," a figure who was as unavailable and unattainable as Romeo's current crush (Rosaline). Petrarchan poetry happens to contain a lot of metaphors that equate the pursuit of love with hunting and/or battle. In this passage, Romeo says that Rosaline is well "arm'd" against the "siege" of his love and "Cupid's arrow," which is an elaborate way to say that Rosaline is physically and emotionally impenetrable.
ROMEO [talking about Rosaline] |
Romeo uses religious language to talk about Rosaline
MERCUTIO |
Romeo and Mercutio describe love in violent and painful terms.
ROMEO |
Now this is interesting. Romeo forgets all about his "love" for Rosaline the VERY moment he sees Juliet, which seems to suggest that Romeo was never really in love with Rosaline to begin with. The question is, does this also mean that Romeo's desire for Juliet is nothing more than meaningless infatuation?
ROMEO |
This is one of the most famous passages in the entire play, so let's take a close look, shall we? When Romeo and Juliet talk for the first time at the Capulet ball, Romeo uses his best pickup line: touching Juliet's hands and lips, he says, would be a kind of religious experience. (We've heard that before, haven't we? He used to say this kind of stuff about Rosaline.) Angling for a kiss, Romeo refers to his lips as a two "pilgrims" that would worship at a holy "shrine" (that would be Juliet's lips). A pilgrim, by the way, is a person on a religious pilgrimage to a holy place. Pilgrims were also called "palmers" because they often carried palm leaves on their journeys.
In response, Juliet teasingly puns on the word "palmer" to suggest that touching hands, "palm to palm," is like kissing (so Romeo, presumably, should be content with touching her hands instead of making out). But Romeo refuses to be shot down. Instead of walking away with his tail between his legs, he uses Juliet's hands=lips logic to argue that kissing the lips of Juliet (who has reached "saint" status by this point) would be just like praying, which involves placing ones palms together. Juliet seems playfully willing to go along with all this and allows Romeo to kiss her.
What's interesting is that, before Romeo can lock lips for a second time, Juliet says "you kiss by the book," which suggests that all of Romeo's moves (his pickup lines and even the way he kisses) are a bit scripted and cliché. So, Juliet's clearly smitten with Romeo but she also recognizes that Romeo isn't exactly original.
At the same time, however, the dialogue between Romeo and Juliet takes the form of a sonnet (up to the point where they kiss), which is incredibly romantic. So, while Romeo's moves are a bit predictable, we can also recognize that Romeo and Juliet's romance has the potential to be anything but conventional.
ROMEO |
In this monologue, Romeo elevates Juliet to heavenly status by aligning her with the "sun" and the "stars." At this point, Romeo's language of love has become slightly less abstract and begins to focus more tangibly on Juliet herself.
ROMEO |
Again, Romeo uses over-the-top religious language to describe the experience of looking at Juliet but we get the sense that he's sincere and deeply in love.
JULIET |
Romeo is eager to prove to Juliet that he loves her, while Juliet – despite the confession that Romeo overhears – is hesitant to reveal that she likes him right away.
Well, do not swear: although I joy in thee, |
Juliet is certain that she loves Romeo but she's also a bit cautious because her love seems "too rash, too unadvised, too sudden." So, while Juliet is clearly a very passionate girl, she's also pretty smart and realizes that head-over-heels passion can be dangerous.
JULIET |
Reluctant to part company, Romeo and Juliet have kind of a "You hang up," "No you hang up" kind of moment. They have also abandoned the flowery language of love and are content simply to stare at each other and say whatever comes into their heads.
ROMEO |
Romeo asks Juliet to use language to express the love that they feel for each other, but Juliet tells him that's the wrong approach. The love they share has grown so great that they can no longer express it. (A similar idea occurs in King Lear, when Cordelia refuses to quantify her love for her father and says that language is not capable of expressing her devotion.)
ROMEO |
Death becomes an act of love for Romeo, because he thinks that suicide will enable him to be with Juliet (he thinks she's dead). Check out "Symbols" for more on this.
JULIET |
Juliet never considers not loving Romeo because he is a Montague. She loves him, and even the fact that he is her enemy cannot change her feelings.
JULIET |
Is it just us or is Juliet beginning to sound like Romeo. Here, she uses the language of religion to describe her love for Romeo. Check out "Symbols" for more on this.
JULIET |
Juliet is both excited and nervous about losing her virginity. She feels that her love for Romeo is so strong that it could overpower the sun.
LADY CAPULET |
Juliet cannot tell her mother about her true feelings for Romeo, so she expresses her feelings in veiled language that makes her mother believe she hates him.
JULIET |
All the things that used to frighten Juliet are now unimportant compared to the horror of betraying Romeo and marrying another man.
MERCUTIO |
To Mercutio, love is ridiculous and gets in the way of real life. Not only that, but Romeo's passion for Rosaline has alienated him from his friends.
PARIS |
In the face of Tybalt's death, Paris can mourn only his lost opportunity to court Juliet, rather than mourning the dead man.
Holy Saint Francis, what a change is here! |
Friar Laurence makes a convincing argument that Romeo's love for Juliet could be mere infatuation, don't you think? Mere days ago Romeo was crying his eyes out over another woman, the unattainable Rosaline. What's more, the "salt water" tears Romeo shed for Rosaline haven't even dried yet and he's now talking about a new love interest, Juliet.
OK, Friar Laurence has good reason to be skeptical of Romeo's newfound "love." But, if he's so skeptical of the relationship, why the heck does he agree to secretly marry the young couple? For that answer, we'll have to turn to Friar Laurence, who has this to say a few lines later:
But come, young waverer, come go with me.
In one respect I'll thy assistant be;
For this alliance may so happy prove
To turn your households' rancour to pure love. (2.2.9)
In other words, Friar Laurence is hoping that a union between Romeo and Juliet will force the feuding families to reconcile. It seems like the Friar has good intentions but, as we know, his meddling has disastrous consequences for the couple. There's also some irony at work here – Romeo and Juliet's love will eventually bring the two families together (as the Friar predicts) but only after the two misguided lovers commit suicide in Act 5, Scene 3.
CAPULET |
After Romeo and Juliet are found dead, Montague offers to erect a "statue" of "pure gold" in Juliet's honor and Capulet promise to do the same for his dead son-in-law, Romeo. Although the young lovers' deaths unite the warring families and put an end to the feud (just as the Chorus promised back in the first Prologue), the efforts of the Capulets and the Montagues are a day late and a dollar short.