ROMEO & JULIET

By Shakespeare

Act I Scene V (L. 41-53, 93-110)

This act is the orientation of the play. Shakespeare introduces the characters, their relationships and the setting on which the story is based. By the end of this Act the spectator is aware of the characters, their main qualities and their social context:

• The Montagues and Capulets are feuding families.
• Tybalt is a passionate defender of the Capulet name.
• Romeo Montague is lovesick; his cousin, Benvolio, tries to console him.
• Paris asks Capulet for Juliet's hand in marriage.
• Romeo is convinced by Benvolio and later Mercutio to attend a party at the Capulets mansion.
• Tybalt sees Romeo at the Capulet Mansion and vows revenge.
• Romeo and Juliet fall in love.

In scene V Romeo sees Juliet and immediately falls in love (L. 42-52). This is the moment we have all been waiting for. Romeo sees Juliet and forgets Rosaline entirely; Juliet meets Romeo and also falls deeply in love. The meeting between Romeo and Juliet dominates the scene, and, with Shakespeare’s language he is able to capture both the excitement and wonder that the two main characters feel.

Romeo is struck by her beauty and breaks into a sonnet. He initially describes Juliet as a source of light, like a star, against the darkness: “She doth teach the torches to burn bright! It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night.” (L. 44-45).

In this scene Romeo questions his love for Rosaline and believes that these genuine feelings for Juliet  are true love: “Did my heart love till now? …”.

From lines 93-96 the popular love poetry of Shakespeare’s time often portrayed the lover as one who worshipped his beloved with religious devotion. At this point (L. 93-110) Romeo is having fun talking to Juliet and offers to pay the penalty for touching Juliet’s hand “this holy shrine” by kissing it. Juliet joins in the game and she is daring in her choice of words and tells Romeo that there is nothing wrong with his hand touching hers and he is showing proper devotion by holding her hand and the kiss is not required: “For saints have hands that pilgrims hands do touch, and palm to palm is holy palmers kiss” (L. 99-100). Romeo is not discouraged and they finally kiss and Romeo expresses his happiness “Thus from my lips, by yours, my sin is purged”. This gives Juliet an opportunity to tease him into another kiss, she says that if her lips have taken away his sin then her lips must now have his sin. Romeo knows that that couldn’t be right, so he takes his sin back with another kiss.

The first conversation between Romeo and Juliet is an extended Christian metaphor. Using this metaphor, Romeo ingeniously manages to convince Juliet to let him kiss her. But the metaphor holds many further functions. The religious overtones of the conversation clearly imply that their love can be described only through the vocabulary of religion, that pure association with God. In this way, their love becomes associated with the purity and passion of the divine.