Romeo and Juliet

In the story of Romeo and Juliet, a long-standing hatred between the Montagues and the Capulets erupts into a new violence. Romeo and Juliet, children of the enemies’ families, are star-crossed lovers who are destined to take their lives. Their unfortunate deaths put an end to their feuding families.Act II, scene ii is one of the most famous scenes in all literature. The two young lovers confess their feelings to each other and decide to marry. In the balcony scene in Act II, scene ii of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Romeo is shown to be impulsive and impractical whereas Juliet is more reasonable and mature. This is revealed in their attitudes toward love and the situation in which they find themselves as well as in images they use to describe their love.

Romeo and Juliet’s attitudes toward love are quite different. Romeo falls in “love” quickly and is a little juvenile. Romeo says to Juliet, “With love’s light wings did I o’erperch these walls; for stony limits cannot hold love out, and what love can do, that dares love attempt. Therefore thy kinsmen are no let to me.” Romeo was so carried away with his emotions, that he climbed the walls of the Capulet house just to see Juliet, despite the danger. Romeo wants the “exchange of [her] love’s faithful vow for [him]”. He has fallen for Juliet in a matter of hours and wants to marry her. Romeo was not being realistic in terms of his and Juliet’s near future. Juliet, however, says that the exchange of vows is all too sudden. She compares their love to lightning, explaining that their love has happened as quickly as lightning and could be gone just as fast. Between their attitudes of love, Juliet is more rational, and Romeo is impulsive and naive.

Romeo and Juliet discover that their love in Act II, scene ii. Their families are enemies, unfortunately, so they have to be discreet about the new found love. Romeo tells Juliet, “And but thou love me, let them find me here. My life was better ended by their hate. Than...