Romeo And Juliet Ethos Pathos Logos

In act two, scene two of the play The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, written by William Shakespeare, the two main characters are in love, and Shakespeare is trying to convey that to the audience. Romeo, one of the two main characters, is hiding in the garden of his enemy, watching his love, Juliet, stargazing from her window. Once she starts speaking, he is mystified by her beauty, and she’s analyzing the possible pros and cons of their relationship. Romeo is driven purely by pathos (feelings and emotions), while Juliet is very analytical, most of her actions being lead by both ethos and logos (ethics and logic, respectively). In this scene, we have Romeo gazing at Juliet, who is leaning out of her window to look at the sky and think. Throughout the scene, most, if not all, of Romeo’s dialogue can be simplified into him professing his love for Juliet.

Romeo says that as long as Juliet is a virgin, she is a servant to the goddess Diana, who is the goddess of the moon as well as virginity. Romeo then compares Juliet’s beauty to the sun, going as far to say that Diana is jealous of her own servant, Juliet’s, beauty. Obviously, this means that Romeo thinks that Juliet is so beautiful that she is more attractive than a goddess, and we tend to believe that someone’s love for physical appearance is love for the entire person. However, Romeo isn’t just calling Juliet, his love, beautiful. He’s implying that she is too precious for him to use, which shows us that his love for Juliet isn’t just lust, it’s pure. His complete infatuation with her leads to his vulnerability, as he later admits, “I am too bold; ‘tis not to me she speaks.”