Romeo and Juliet's first meeting, Act I, Scene V

In this scene the Capulets are giving a party and Romeo and Juliet are joining it. This is the first time Romeo sees Juliet so this is their first meeting.

Romeo doesn't know who Juliet is. Juliet is hand to hand with a knight. He's attracted by her beauty so he ask about her to a serving-man. It is interesting to analyze how Romeo puts the question to the man. Juliet's beauty surprises Romeo who says that her hand, hanging the knight one, is enriching him (the knight). The beauty of the girls is so intense that it spreads to the other people near her. The knight becomes important just for the reason he's close to Juliet. Juliet enriches the knight on the moral level and not on the mere physical level. Anyhow the serving-man answers he doesn't know who the girl is.

Not considering the answer Romeo goes on making hyperbolic metaphors about Juliet and about how special she is. Romeo says Juliet give light to him like a torch: he connotes the lady as an angelic being who has the power to give light and lead him trough darkness. What's more she “teaches” the torches hot to give light. Her luminosity connotes her as a positive essence, since the light was the symbol of god and of divinity. Moreover Juliet is denoted as a “jewel in an Ethiop's ear”, so she is like an exotic beauty, rare and precious. For this reason her beauty is too rich to stay on heart. This recalls and confirms the previous supposition of Juliet as an angelic, divine being. Uniqueness and beauty are reinforced by the following simile: Juliet in between of other ladies is just like a white dove standing near crows. Juliet is so special that she immediately stand out even if she is near other good looking ladies. These are all the reasons why Juliet is so extraordinary for Romeo.

Romeo wants to met Juliet so he states he's going to follow her in order to touch her hand, as the knight did. Romeo notes that his hand, compared to the lady's one, is so rude: his hand will be blessed and overfilled with grace touching Juliet's one. Romeo still does not believe Juliet is real so he ask to his own eyes to assure him he's looking at a something real: he has never loved a lady so much so he wants to be sure is not just imagining her.

Romeo uses a lot of similes and metaphors to describe how beauty Juliet is. The semantic field is filled with positive and divine words that recall to light, white purity and divine rarity.

Romeo follows Juliet and he's now dancing with her.
Romeo represents the question of his rude hand that would profane Juliet in touching her. Romeo tells Juliet he's ready to make that touch sweeter kissing her with his lips. Comparing his lips to a pilgrim and stating lips to be an instrument for prayers Romeo uses his lips to pray (kiss Juliet). Kissing her Romeo is praying because Juliet is a divine essence, near to God for her perfection and incredible beauty. Romeo, kissing Juliet, is pulls his sin out from himself, but, this way, he deposes them on Juliet's lips: he must take them off her, he must take them off such a beauty, so he kisses her another time.

Romeo is a skillful and pure lover and, using his sweet words, he conduces Juliet to the kiss. The language used in the ball sequence is related to the religious field. Anyhow their real meaning is far from a religious one: in the renaissance religion has less power on human's life so these words are laic ones.