Textual analysis –Romeo and Juliet - Act 1, Scene 5

Considering the introduction and the title the reader can immediately make conjectures about the extract’s content: it might deal with a first meeting between the main characters Romeo and Juliet at a Capulet’s feast where everyone wore a mask.

The extract is divided into two parts: the first one (lines 41-53) is when Romeo first sees Juliet, while the second (lines 93-110) is a dialogue exchange between Romeo and Juliet.

Initially Romeo was supposed to be in love with Rosaline, a typical proper name of classical literature, but, when he comes to the party he notices a beautiful girl, Juliet, and asks his servant about her.

The first two lines coincide with the question Romeo poses to his servingman, even if he don’t know anything about the lady. The reader can’t forget the fact that Shakespeare writes about a “lady” has a precise meaning, because in the Renaissance the word “lady” was used to refer to a woman who belonged to aristocratic class; so Shakespeare immediately provide to ennoble Juliet: he wanted the reader to focus on the two families’ power in Verona and after to their rivalry. Another point to discuss is the word “enrich”: Romeo considers immediately Juliet as a noble woman whose hand is able to enrich everyone it touches. Romeo first notices Juliet’s body, after her hand he sees her cheek and her ear: this means it’s Juliet physical appearance which catches Romeo’s attention; he’s impressed and he gives voice to passionate considerations in the following lines (44-53)

Romeo sees Juliet and forgets Rosaline entirely; Juliet meets Romeo and falls just as deeply in love. The meeting of Romeo and Juliet dominates the scene, and, with extraordinary language that captures both the excitement and wonder that the two protagonists feel, Shakespeare proves equal to the expectations he has set up by delaying the meeting for an entire act.

Meanwhile, Romeo has approached Juliet and touched her hand (lines 93-110). In a dialogue full of religious metaphors that figure Juliet as a saint and Romeo as a pilgrim who wishes to erase his sin, he tries to convince her to kiss him, since it is only through her kiss that he might be absolved. Juliet agrees to remain still as Romeo kisses her.

When Romeo and Juliet meet they speak just fourteen lines before their first kiss. These fourteen lines make up a shared sonnet, with a rhyme scheme of ababcdcdefefgg. A sonnet is one of the three genres of the language of love, a perfect, idealized poetic form. This therefore creates a perfect match between literary content and formal style. The use of the sonnet, however, also means a second, aim. The play’s Prologue also is a single sonnet of the same rhyme scheme as Romeo and Juliet’s shared sonnet. The shared sonnet between Romeo and Juliet creates a formal link between their love and their destiny. With a single sonnet, Shakespeare finds a means of expressing perfect love and linking it to a tragic fate.