Read the following exchange between Romeo and Juliet from act I of Romeo and Juliet. What does the excerpt reveal about the love
between the two young people? ROMEO: (to JULIET) If I profane with my unworthiest hand This holy shrine, the gentle fine is this: My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand To smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss.
JULIET: Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much, Which mannerly devotion shows in this; For saints have hands that pilgrims' hands do touch, And palm to palm is holy palmers' kiss.
ROMEO: Have not saints lips, and holy palmers too?
JULIET: Ay, pilgrim, lips that they must use in prayer.
A.) Their love is based on both physical and emotional attraction.
B.) Their love is shallow and based on defying their families.
C.) Their love is driven by their intellectual needs.
Answer: The right answer is the A) Their love is based on both physical and emotional attraction.
Explanation: This is the first time that Romeo and Juliet talk to each other. It is soon revealed that their love is based on physical attraction, since they want to feel each other's hands and lips. But it is also evident that their love goes beyond physical attraction, since in their dialogue they metaphorically compare themselves to a sinful pilgrim that wishes to redeem himself (Romeo) and to a saint that is willing to absolve him (Juliet) by means of a kiss. This immediate rapport and emotional and intellectual connection between the two show that theirs promises to be an enduring love, the result of both a physical but also of a spiritual attraction.
