How does Shakespeare’s Portrayal of Romeo and Juliet’s relationship become so captivating for the audience?
Act 2 scene 2 is one of the most important and well known scenes in Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’. In this scene, Romeo and Juliet openly declare their love for each other for the first time in the play, which is done partially in soliloquy and partially in dialogue.
The atmosphere that Shakespeare creates in Act 2 Scene ii is one of excitement, expectation and a little fear on the part of the audience. In this scene the audience is aware that Romeo is trespassing not only onto the private property of another family, but also onto one of his mortal enemies’, and if he were to get caught he would immediately be murdered by the Capulet
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Juliet’s soliloquy is significant in this scene because that is where, Shakespeare breaks the tradition for soliloquies, which are usually speeches where a character shares their inner thoughts only with the audience. However, Romeo overhears Juliet's soliloquy, making an invasion, on one hand, but it also serves as a reminder of their intimacy, because Juliet both allows and cherishes Romeo's interruption, reminding the audience how honest and open the two are with each other, and how if they can trust anyone, then it would be each other. That holds the audience’s attention because their love is not traditional, where they would take a while to get used to each other, but instead they truly listen and understand each …show more content…
Shakespeare uses a lot of light and dark imagery in this scene to describe the Romeo and Juliet's romance. As Romeo stands in the shadows, he looks to the balcony and compares Juliet to the sun. Then he says "Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon" . Romeo had always compared Rosaline to the moon, and now, his love for Juliet has outshone the moon. Therefore, when Romeo steps out of the moonlight into the light from Juliet's balcony, he has leaves behind his melodramatic love declarations for Rosaline and moves toward a more real and mature understanding of