Romeo displays a passionate spirit throughout Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, for good and for bad. He is particularly passionate about love, but, in Act III and Act V, he also demonstrates passion in his loyalty to his friend Mercutio and then to his love, Juliet. This passion reveals itself in four particular scenes. In Act I, Scene 1, Romeo is intensely passionate over his love for Rosaline, who has spurned his affection. He does not understand the girl's ability to seemingly live without love and he laments the fact that she has refused his advances. He tells Benvolio,
She’ll not be hit
With Cupid’s arrow. She hath Dian’s wit,
And, in strong proof of chastity well armed,
From love’s weak childish bow she lives uncharmed.
She will not stay the siege of loving terms,
Nor bide th’ encounter of assailing eyes,
Nor ope her lap to saint-seducing gold.
O, she is rich in beauty, only poor
That, when she dies, with beauty dies her store.
Benvolio attempts to convince Romeo to forget about Rosaline and "examine other beauties." He claims there are plenty of women in Verona who are much more beautiful than Rosaline. Romeo, however, will not be dissuaded and his passion for Rosaline is only extinguished after he sees Juliet at Capulet's party.
In Act I, Scene 5, Romeo's passion and appreciation of beauty are on full display as he falls instantly and madly in love with Juliet, a girl he has never seen before. He comments that she lights up the room and is easily the most beautiful girl at the party. He approaches her and reveals not only physical passion for Juliet, but also a spiritual passion as he claims he is like a pilgrim worshipping at a religious altar when he first speaks to her:
If I profane with my unworthiest hand
This holy shrine, the gentle sin is this:
My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand
To smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss.
Unlike Rosaline, Juliet is equally passionate for Romeo and within minutes the two are kissing. When the party breaks up, Romeo's passion will not let him leave, and in the opening of Act II, he sneaks back to Capulet's property to see Juliet again. He immediately pledges his love to her. Later in Act II, they marry.
Romeo is not just passionate about love. He also shows his passion for his close friend Mercutio in Act III, Scene 1. Because he has just married Juliet, Romeo backs down to Tybalt, who has challenged him to a fight. Not knowing of Romeo's marriage, Mercutio mistakes Romeo's acquiescence to Tybalt as a sign of cowardice and fights Tybalt in Romeo's place. After Mercutio is killed, Romeo is enraged and displays passion in his lust for revenge against Tybalt:
Alive in triumph, and Mercutio slain!
Away to heaven, respective lenity,
And fire-eyed fury be my conduct now.—
Now, Tybalt, take the “villain” back again
That late thou gavest me, for Mercutio’s soul
Is but a little way above our heads,
Staying for thine to keep him company.
Either thou or I, or both, must go with him.
Even though Romeo must have realized he was jeopardizing everything, his loyalty to Mercutio would not allow him to again back down to Tybalt. He kills him in a fit of hatred, setting up the complications which will lead to the tragic ending.
Finally, Romeo's passion and loyalty for Juliet is on display in the play's final act. When Balthasar brings news of Juliet's (supposed) death, Romeo is not defeated—"Then I defy you stars!"—and pledges to "lie" with Juliet that very night. Once again, Romeo's passion gets the best of him. As in his fight with Tybalt, Romeo needed to display more calculation and less passionate intensity. The audience may decide in the end that passion is the cause of Romeo's ultimate undoing.
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