In Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare presents the Prologue as a sonnet in order to point to the play's themes of love and the feud because sonnets were often used to address the subject of love in conflict. The sonnet also draws on the audience's expectations of the kinds of imagery that will be used. In his sonnets, Petrarch established the following pattern for love: A young man falls in love at first sight with a beautiful woman, but the woman resists his love in order to prolong the courtship and test his devotion. This results in the lover becoming melancholy, avoiding his friends and family, and using poetry to express his feelings of rejection. In the opening scenes of the play, Romeo is presented as a typical Petrarchan lover, rejected by Rosaline, the lady he admires. Romeo uses artificial-sounding language to describe his emotions: "Love is a smoke made with the fume of sighs." Shakespeare continues to use the Petrarchan model when Romeo and Juliet fall in love at first sight at the Capulet ball. In this instance, Romeo realizes that his love for Rosaline was blind: "Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight. / For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night."
Connect with CliffsNotes
