It is illuminating to compare the language of Romeo when he describes his love for Rosaline and when he describes his love for Juliet. The language is drastically different and more poetic when Romeo discusses Juliet. Rosaline seems more like a throwaway character in comparison, but her existence is important. The audience first sees Romeo as downtrodden and immature:
Alas that love, whose view is muffled still, / Should without eyes see pathways to his will! (169-170)
When discussing Rosaline,...
It is illuminating to compare the language of Romeo when he describes his love for Rosaline and when he describes his love for Juliet. The language is drastically different and more poetic when Romeo discusses Juliet. Rosaline seems more like a throwaway character in comparison, but her existence is important. The audience first sees Romeo as downtrodden and immature:
Alas that love, whose view is muffled still, / Should without eyes see pathways to his will! (169-170)
When discussing Rosaline, Romeo is filled with questions and bad poetry. (Few people quote his love for Rosaline, and that's for a reason.) Shakespeare does this because it allows us to take his love for Juliet seriously. While many claim his love for Juliet is foolish and immature, his love for Juliet seems incredibly mature when compared to his love for Rosaline. "O brawling love! O loving hate! O any thing, of nothing first create," (174-175) which Romeo shouts about Rosaline, is essentially Shakespeare's version of bad poetry. Romeo is grasping at love, but his feelings ultimately come across as inauthentic. With Juliet, however, the poetry he proclaims has become some of the most famous poetry of all time.
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