Romeo's Presentation Of Love In Romeo And Juliet

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In the world, people express their love towards others in countless different ways. A popular way to do this is through literature or language. In the play Romeo and Juliet the characters similarly express their love for each other. In the beginning of the play, Romeo is in love with a woman named Rosaline who is becoming a nun. Romeo is depressed about his hopeless love for Rosaline. Juliet is Romeo’s second love who is also part of the family that his family has an ancient rivalry with. Romeo’s different use of metaphors and diction when articulating his love for Rosaline and Juliet suggests that Romeo has a childish demeanor when it comes to love.
An example of a difference between the ways that Romeo expresses his love for Rosaline versus …show more content…

Romeo expresses his love for Rosaline by saying how much greater her beauty is than other women’s. When Benvolio is trying to convince Romeo to forget about Rosaline and look at other women Romeo says, “what doth her beauty serve but as a note/ where I may read who passed that passing fair” (1.1.244-245). Romeo is unwilling to see other women because of his infatuation with Rosaline. Although he refuses to go after other women Romeo does not consider waiting to see if Rosaline switches her decision. Romeo uses the word passing to suggest that Rosaline is out of reach for him because she is becoming a nun. Romeo does not wait for Rosaline he just moves on in the course of less than a day to a new crush. On the other hand, Romeo is willing to almost anything to be with Juliet. When in Juliet’s garden talking to Juliet Romeo says, “For stony limits cannot hold love out” (2.2.72). By going to see Juliet Romeo practically risks his life due to the rivalry that their families have. Despite the threat of death, Romeo is so in love with Juliet that it does not matter to him that he is risking so much. The words stony limits could be taken as meaning that the people in the Capulet house are stony or angry or cold towards the Montagues. Therefore the people of the Capulet house are no challenge for Romeo or the walls around the house to get to Juliet are