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Cards (14)

  • In act 1 scene 5 and act 2 scene 2, the audience sees Juliet's first interaction with Romeo. In the scene Romeo is transfixed by Juliet and her beauty. In a dialogue laced with religious imagery potraying Juliet as a saint, the two kiss before learning of each other's identities.
  • Firstly we get the impression that Juliet is a better person than Romeo when he says, "If I profane with my unworthiest hand this holy shrine".
  • Additionally when Romeo suggests Juliet can "smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss", he implies that a kiss from Juliet will cleanse him of sin and purify him also.
  • Secondly, the audience gets the impression that Juliet is somewhat rebellious when she begins to question her family's rivalry with the Montagues and why Romeo has to be her enemy.
  • "Prodigious birth of love it is to me... that I must love a loathed enemy"
  • The modal verb "must" suggests that Juliet will pursue her love for Romeo despite her family's long standing rivalry with the Montagues.
  • Furthermore, Juliet provides the audience with a hint at her deception when she creates a conflict between her identity as a Capulet and her love for Romeo.
  • As well as this, her failiure to consider the consequences of her choice to "no longer be a Capulet" hints that Juliet is quite ideallistic.
  • Finally, the audience gets the impression that Juliet is cautious and rational despite how determined she is to marry.
  • This is supported by the simile "too like the lightning" which may imply that Juliet believes their love is only temporary, whereas she wants their love to last; through marraige.
  • Juliet is determined to marry Romeo because she believes this is her opportunity to conform to the expectations of the Elizabethan period for young women to marry while achieving the love she desires
  • "If I profane with my unworthiest hand this holy shrine"
  • "O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy father... and I'll no longer be a Capulet."
  • "It is too rash, too unadvised, too sudden; too like the lightning"