William Shakespeare – Romeo and Juliet, Act II, Scene II

The Balcony scene: analysis

Romeo and Juliet is one of Shakespeare’s most famous works and it is about the love between Romeo and Juliet, hindered by controversies that divide their families: Montague and Capulets. The second act of the tragedy, to which belongs this passage, is set right after the feast  where Romeo and Juliet met first and, in particular, this scene is set in Capulets’ orchard, under Juliet’s balcony.

The scene can be divided into three sections according to the plot:

- The first sequence focuses on Romeo’s soliloquy;

- In the second sequence,  Juliet is the person who speaks, but she does not know about Romeo’s presence and his comments;

- In the last sequence, there is Romeo and Juliet’s dialogue.

The first sequence is opened by a statement made by Romeo: he hints to pain and sufferance due to the feeling someone has towards a person and, in particular, he hints at his own sentiment and sensations. Romeo keeps himself in the distance from people who “jest at scars” because he experienced it and this is why he uses the word “he”, which is different from the first person and is more general.  What’s more, Romeo uses the word “he” and so he refers to the male gender: Romeo may allude to courting, because at that time only men were allowed to court women for first and not vice versa: a woman was allowed to court a man only in response to a man’s courting. So, the “scars” mentioned by Romeo are linked to the word “he” because only men were allowed to court a woman and therefore they were the ones who suffered, in case their courting was not returned.

The atmosphere of sufferance of the first lines creates a contrast with Juliet’s appearance at the balcony, which is narrated through Romeo’s words. Romeo compares Juliet to the Sun, recalling elements such as his passion for her and the positive effect she has on his scars: Romeo’s exclamation “but soft!” indicates the speed with which he shifts from one thought (scars) to another (Juliet), but also the surprise and relief due to Juliet’s unexpected appearance.

Romeo’s love towards Juliet is emphasized by some elements in his soliloquy: the metaphor Juliet – Sun, the use of the word “lady” (which ennobles Juliet, in order to say that to Romeo she is the Woman, not just an ordinary woman), and the metaphor about Juliet’s eyes. Romeo’s passion is expressed by recalling senses (hearing, sight, touch, etc.) with metaphors.

To Romeo, Juliet represents not only love, but also the hope to “kill” the moon. The moon is a metaphor and what’s hidden behind this word may be an obstacle in Romeo and Juliet’s love, because Romeo speaks about the “envious moon”: at that time, marriages were mostly combined and hardly never people involved in marriages loved each other. Moon’s envy may be a reference to this point: the envious glance people cast them may be due to the fact that they didn’t have this possibility and so, for this reason, they may want them not to be together and happy. But Romeo trusts Juliet and, if she loved him back (he doesn’t know yet), their relationship will be one step closer to the goal. However, Juliet represents an obstacle too, because she hasn’t said nothing about her feelings towards Romeo and he fears that this is due to his great passion. This is why Romeo recalls the attention and focuses it on Juliet’s eyes, because they are the only way Romeo can get to Juliet’s thoughts (“her eye discourses; I will answer it”). Romeo compares her eyes to two bright stars and so he recalls again the metaphor Juliet – Sun, his passion and Juliet’s beauty (see “The brightness of her cheek would shame those stars”).

Romeo’s soliloquy ends with his desire to touch Juliet: he is so in love with her that it isn’t enough for him just to see her – he needs to touch her and it seems that he may want to verify whether she is real and not just a vision.  The desire to touch her is expressed in the text by the use of the words “cheek” and “hand”, repeated two times each and placed to create a chiasmus: “her cheek upon her hand”, “that hand […] that cheek”. The use of the word “that” refers to the distance between Romeo and Juliet, but it does not only concerns the physical distance, but also the distance from their  relationship and between their families. Chiasmus is a figure that usually recalls a contortion and in this case it recalls the complicated and difficult path that divides Romeo and Juliet and whose goal is the fulfillment of their love.

The second sequence, as said before, focuses on Juliet’s soliloquy. She is unaware of the presence of Romeo, who is right under her balcony and hidden in the darkness of the night.

Juliet’s appearance at the balcony isn’t a coincidence: in her soliloquy, Juliet principally speaks about her feelings towards Romeo and she is conscious that their relationship would be embarrassing for their families. This is why Juliet appears at the balcony when she has to open her heart and mind: the controversies between the two families prevent Juliet from revealing her mood and feelings, because she doesn’t want people to know about her secret in order not to cause embarrassment to Romeo or their own families. So it is the love Juliet feels towards Romeo that makes her hold back the truth and not Romeo’s feelings, as he believed. Therefore, Juliet is not allowed to talk to anyone and she has to speak to something: indeed Juliet appears at the balcony as if her interlocutor is the nature (it also may be the stars, or the night itself, we don’t know);  she reveals her thoughts to an inanimate interlocutor and this makes her sure that no one will know about them, because it can’t talk. All the matters that trouble Juliet’s mind are summarized by the sigh “Ay me!” she gives when she appears at the window.

Juliet’s soliloquy starts with an invocation to Romeo, which reveals her mood: the situation is very difficult to Juliet and this makes her sad. Juliet suggests a possible solution to the problem that is to part with the name of the family.

Juliet’s opinion about the matter of the name can be summarized in the simile of the rose, which is used by Juliet to downsize the importance of the names people give to things, in favor of what they actually are.

Juliet’s soliloquy is accompanied by Romeo’s comments he makes aside, while he keeps apart. At first, as said in the text, Romeo’s intention is only to see Juliet and to listen her voice and so to feel her closer. Romeo compares her to an angel messenger: the words used in the text (white, eyes, etc.) recall again metaphors from Romeo’s soliloquy and so they recall again Romeo’s opinion of Juliet. Indeed Romeo believes that Juliet’s words will be positive and that they will be a guide to him. However, her words, her clear appeal to Romeo and her mood convince Romeo to make the first step and, in fact, the third sequence starts with  Romeo’s reply.

When he starts to speak, Romeo introduces himself to Juliet by denying his identity (“I will never be Romeo”), because it is an obstacle between them.

Initially, Juliet does not recognize Romeo – at that time there wasn’t electric lighting and this is confirmed by the fact that later Juliet recognizes Romeo by his voice. When Juliet finds out about the presence of someone in her garden, she is caught unawares and she fears that that person will reveal her secret to people (this confirms the previous hypothesis about why Juliet wanted to talk to a “silent interlocutor” in order not to reveal her secret).

Romeo addresses her by calling her “saint”: in this way, Romeo ennobles her more and makes evident the sincerity of his love: Romeo’s love towards Juliet makes him prepared to do anything just to manage to reach her.

The language used in this passage corresponds to the characters’ mood: Romeo uses a lot of metaphors and his words belong to different semantic fields such as spirituality, light and so on. On the other side, Juliet expresses her thoughts with a sigh, a vocation to Romeo and she poses herself a lot of questions. From the analysis, the reader understands that Shakespeare’s purpose is to place each character in a different area: Romeo’s words show that he is on the side of love, so he is more on an abstract side. Of course Juliet is in love with him too, but on the other hand she shows her worries in her soliloquy and this places her on a side which is more linked to reality.