Romeo And Juliet Relationship

Before Romeo meets Juliet at the Capulets’ party, Shakespeare portrays him as a romantic, melancholic, and emotional young man involved in an unrequited relationship with another young women. When a fight between Capulets and Montagues in Act One, Scene One finally disperses, Benvolio claims his cousin did not participate in the quarrel, and Montague acknowledges his son’s sorrow and that he encloses himself in his room, yet he does not know why [1.1.135-145]. This implies that Romeo, unlike the other young men of the two conflicting families, favors pacifism and keeps his issues secret. Montague adds, “But he, [his] own affections’ counselor” [1.1.150]. Although he is explicitly shown as depressed, Romeo does not share his concerns with

The heartbroken Montague also knows he will never be with Rosaline because of the conflict between their two families. When they walk upon the scene where the fight occurred on the streets of Verona, Romeo claims, “Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick health, still-waking sleep that is not what it is! This love feel I, that feel no love in this” [1.1.185-187]. The poetic, lovesick teenager uses oxymorons to describe his love for Rosaline. He explains that love is opposite things, implying the internal conflict between his unreturned affection for the young Capulet woman and his depression. As they talk further of his problems, Romeo expresses, “Love is a smoke made with the fume of sighs; being purged, a fire sparkling in lovers’ eyes; being vexed, a sea nourished with loving tears. What is it else? A madness most discreet, a choking gall, and a preserving sweet” [1,1,197-201]. The young man tells Benvolio that love is melancholic and emotional, showing his romantic and sensitive personality after he told his cousin of his unrequited love. Since it is in rhymed verse, this also shows Romeo’s education and status in Verona, in which it reveals his devotion for sentimental poetry and that the Montagues are of a higher