Romeo and Juliet - Act I, scene 5

 

Summary

In the great hall of the Capulets, during the feast, Romeo sees Juliet, and was catched by her beauty. Later on, he approached her and in particularly he touched her hand.

In a dialogue laced with 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. So, in the terms of their conversation, she takes his sin from him. Juliet then stated that if she has taken Romeo’s sin from him, his sin must now be in her lips, and so they must kiss again. Just as their second kiss ends, the Nurse arrives and tells Juliet that her mother wants to speak with her.

Analysis

As Romeo saw Juliet, he remained struck by her beauty. Even though the number of people in the hall in fact, he was able to notice her. She was different from the other ladies. All the metaphors used for her description underline her uniqueness and the gap between her and the average. She is special, way far from the other lady, brighter than a torch, a sort of angel. Her description, moreover, may recall the “stilnovistic” tradition, where the women had the miraculous capacities.

The meeting of Romeo and Juliet it’s the real core of the scene. Their first conversation is entirely made up of a single metaphor from a Christian context. Using this metaphor, Romeo ingeniously manages to convince Juliet to let him kiss her. However, this choice has other implications. In this way, their love becomes associated with the purity and passion of the divine.

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 a perfect, idealized poetic form often used to write about love. Portraying the moment of origin of Romeo and Juliet’s love within a sonnet connotes their love as the “perfect” love, both formally and emotionally.