Is Romeo truly in love with Rosaline?
In Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, Romeo is a true romantic and has a real love for Rosaline, but has a more passionate love for Juliet.
At the end of Rosaline, she accepts that the ideal relationship she is still holding on to does not exist. She finally sees how Romeo and Juliet are really in love, for they are willing to abandon everyone for the sake of their relationship, and she chooses Dario instead.
Rosaline is first mentioned by name in Act I Scene I, as Romeo Montague reads Capulets guest list for Capulets' servant. She is noted as Capulets' "fair niece." Immediately following the servants exit the Benvolio and Romeo discuss Rosaline.
Romeo and the Real Girl
Directors who cast a Rosaline can use the actresses to play up these differences; in Zeffirelli's 1968 film adaptation of Romeo and Juliet, Rosaline is lovely but she's also very stiff and at least a decade older than Romeo.
Rosaline, the red-haired Capulet with a flair for rebellion enjoys her share of the forbidden romance, which soon comes to a halt when Romeo cheats on her with her younger cousin Juliet.
Apparently he's afraid that Romeo has been sinning with the girl he has long longed for, but Romeo reassures him that he's forgotten all about Rosaline, has fallen in love with Juliet, and wants to be married that very day.
Although an unseen character, her role is important: Romeo's unrequited love for Rosaline leads him to try to catch a glimpse of her at a gathering hosted by the Capulet family, during which he first spots her cousin, Juliet. Scholars generally compare Romeo's short-lived love of Rosaline with his later love of Juliet.
Lord Capulet tells Juliet she must marry a man called Paris, not knowing she is already married. Friar Laurence gives Juliet a potion that will make her appear dead so she does not have to marry again.
Rosaline, the girl Romeo is in love with before he sees Juliet, is a foil for Juliet's character. Rosaline is aloof, quiet, and has sworn off marriage and pleasures of the flesh. She is uninterested in Romeo and his adoration. Contrast this with Juliet, who is neither quiet and remote, nor disinterested and chaste.
Rosaline is an unseen character in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet who is also a Capulet. While she is never seen in the play, Rosaline is a consequential character. At the beginning of the play, Romeo, who is in love with Rosaline, is devastated because Rosaline does not feel the same way.
Was Rosaline a Montague?
She's a Capulet, a member of the Montagues' enemy clan, which is why he sneaks into a party hosted by the Capulets in the hopes of catching her eye.
In Shakespeare's original story, Romeo is given the age of 16 years and Juliet is given the age of 13 years.
The law is so named after the fictional young lovers in the classic William Shakespeare play "Romeo and Juliet." In the play, you may recall that Juliet was 13 years old while Romeo was several years older, though their actual age gap was not specified.
In Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, Juliet was 13 years old. Romeo's age is never specified, but some say he was anywhere from 16 to 21 years old. Most agree he was several years older than Juliet. The story goes that the two find forbidden love, secretly marry, and end up taking their own lives.
Because actors ostensibly need training and skill to navigate Shakespeare's words, most productions of Romeo and Juliet cast performers who are older than the characters as he wrote them: Juliet is 13 (“she hath not seen the change of fourteen years,” according to her father); Romeo's age is unspecified, but he's ...
In Act I, Scene 4, when Romeo describes his love for Rosaline using the image of love as a rose with thorns, Mercutio mocks this conventional device by punning bawdily: If love be rough with you, be rough with love; Prick love for pricking and you beat love down.
In Rosaline, the character eventually moves on from Romeo and ends up with her suitor, Dario, part of the happy ending that changes events from Romeo and Juliet.
Firstly, Rosaline is the one who broke Romeo's heart in the first place. If it was not for Rosaline breaking his heart, Romeo would still be happy with her, and they would probably be getting married already.
Romeo and Juliet, Act 1, Scene 5, line 94. To smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss. Romeo says that if his touch offends the holy shrine of Juliet's hand, he is willing to commit "the gentle sin" of kissing her hand to soothe any disrespect.
Juliet's love for Romeo seems at least in part to be a desire to be freed from her parents' control by a husband who can't control her either. More experienced characters argue that sexual frustration, not enduring love, is the root cause of Romeo and Juliet's passion for one another.
What did Romeo do to woo Rosaline?
Romeo attempts to woo Rosaline with gold, passionate eye contact, and sweet talking her.
Rosaline doesn't return Romeo's affection because she wants to join a convent. ("With Cupid's arrow, She hath Dian's wit" [Dian's wit = Dian's wisdom; goddess of chastity. Meaning she was struck with love but rejected it because she wanted to live a life of chastity.)
Balthasar, a friend of Romeo's, brings him news that Juliet is dead and lies in the Capulet tomb.
One aspect of the parent/teen relationship (perhaps not as prevalent today) is the surrogate parent. Juliet was not raised by her mother but by the Nurse. to the point that the Nurse even breastfed Juliet when she was a baby.
Lady Capulet tells Juliet about Capulet's plan for her to marry Paris on Thursday, explaining that he wishes to make her happy. Juliet is appalled. She rejects the match, saying “I will not marry yet; and when I do, I swear / It shall be Romeo—whom you know I hate— / Rather than Paris” (3.5. 121–123).