Question Home

Position:Home>Arts & Humanities> Who was Rosaline, in Romeo and Juliet?


Question:

Who was Rosaline, in Romeo and Juliet?


Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: Rosaline is the woman who Romeo is madly in love with at the beginning of the play. Even before he makes his appearance we are told he pines away in brooding solitude over Rosaline's rejection of him as when his dad speaks thus; "Many a morning hath he there [in a grove of sycamore trees] been seen, with tears augmenting the fresh morning's dew, adding to clouds more clouds with his deep sighs.... Black and portentous must this humor [state of mind] prove, unless good counsel may the cause remove." The depth of his self torture is made even more apparent when he responds to Benvolio with "sad hours seem long..." and "....Out of her favor where I am in love."

I have wondered at the point of having Rosaline in the play at all. I think it would have been better if Shakespeare had made Romeo's sadness due to loneliness instead. As a plot device it seems to take away form the believeability of Romeo's words when he goes head over heels over Juliet. To me, this makes the value of his love at first sight questionable. I think, was he not just as smitten only the week before over some other girl? And, (had he not so impulsively done himself in), was there not enough evidence to suggest that he would suddenly be equally captivated by the milkmaid some few days later?

So in essence, when I think of the character Romeo I am reminded of my highschool days, ....a time when I would fall in and out of love at least a half dozen times between classes. The value of that love being so little that now, some zillion odd years later, I cannot remember who the hell they were, even though for a very [very] brief moment I thought those pretty faces made the world turn round. Was this the intended effect Shakespeare wished to bring about with that character? Who knows? If you have only seen a movie adaptation or haven't read the play I suggest you get a Signet Classic version of it because it has plenty of footnotes to help out with archaic words and phrases [which there are not that many, actually]. It is Shakespeare at his romantic best. Much of the dialog is written in couplets done with such skill that the words practically flow off the page.