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[Caesara Gill]

The play 'Romeo and Juliet' centres around the love story of the two
young protagonists who fall deeply and completely in love with each
other. Shakespeare presents the male and female relationships in
various ways throughout the play, concentrating not only on the young
lovers but also their relationships with others. This essay will
concentrate on Romeo's initial love, his love for Rosaline, the
unobtainable and chaste woman who he can never have.
At the beginning of the play Romeo is infatuated with Rosaline and
this relationship consumes him, so much so that after the initial
brawl in the street, Romeo's mother exclaims, "O where is Romeo?"
which suggests to the audience that he must normally be at the centre
of the action. However, in this case Romeo is distraught by the fact
that his 'lover', Rosaline "hath Dian's wit", this mythical imagery
relates to the goddess of Diana, a symbol for virginity and chastity.
The lunar imagery continues throughout the play when Romeo meets
Juliet and exclaims that the moon is 'envious' of her and her beauty.
Similarly, Romeo’s gushing emotions towards Rosaline are apparent in
his exchange with Benvolio at the start of the play,
“O heavy lightness…Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick
health”
This emphasises his extreme confusion at this moment in the play, he
is deeply in love with Rosaline but the array of oxymorons Shakespeare
utilises in this part of Romeo’s speech indicate that he is completely
out of his depth with these emotions. Shakespeare creates a very
definite view that male and female relationships are fraught with
angst during this moment in the play and the subsequent romance that
blooms between Romeo and Juliet. He also exclaims that he loves a
woman ‘in sadness’ which indicates that Romeo is not enjoying the
feeling of being in love here. He is languishing in sadness at his
unobtainable prize. The fact that Rosaline will remain chaste also
poses greater problems for Romeo and the constant repetition of the
exclamatory ‘O’ in his reference to Rosaline further portrays his
extreme sadness at his impossible situation.