Question

What is the significance of Romeo and Juliet’s first interaction taking place within the form of a sonnet? What does the use of an extended religious metaphor indicate about their feelings? In the space below, write a 150-word response analyzing why Shakespeare chose to structure Romeo and Juliet’s initial meeting this way and what he intended to convey about the characters and their relationship. Include at least three specific references to the text.

Answer 1

When Romeo sees Juliet for the first time, he is struck by her beauty and breaks into a sonnet. The imagery Romeo uses to describe Juliet gives important insights into their relationship. Romeo 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." As the play progresses, a cloak of interwoven light and dark images is cast around the pair. The lovers are repeatedly associated with the dark, an association that points to the secret nature of their love because this is the time they are able to meet in safety. At the same time, the light that surrounds the lovers in each other's eyes grows brighter to the very end, when Juliet's beauty even illuminates the dark of the tomb. The association of both Romeo and Juliet with the stars also continually reminds the audience that their fate is "star-cross'd."

Romeo believes that he can now distinguish between the artificiality of his love for Rosaline and the genuine feelings Juliet inspires. Romeo acknowledges his love was blind, "Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight / For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night."

Romeo's use of religious imagery from this point on — as when he describes Juliet as a holy shrine — indicates a move towards a more spiritual consideration of love as he moves away from the inflated, overacted descriptions of his love for Rosaline.