In both these scenes, Romeo is ‘in love’. How does Shakespeare show Romeo to be immature in the two extracts?

Act I Scene I Lines 151-229

Act II Scene II Lines 49-141

In the first extract Romeo expresses his love, in conversation to his cousin Benvolio, for an anonymous woman, he cannot bring himself to live life as a normal person, as he is depressed and in agony over this woman.

Romeo uses oxymoron language to she emphasise how much he wants this lady. He illustrates this through comments like ‘loving-hate’ and ‘brawling-love. By saying the two opposite words, he shows how hard love is and the chaos of a relationship.

He almost finds love itself a game or war. We see this when he says ‘She will not stay the siege of loving terms’. Repeatedly, this shows immaturity. He loves to believe he is in love and chasing the girl of his ‘dreams’. Even if this means he will end up miserable and broken-hearted.

Romeo’s ‘coz’, Benvolio, tries to advise Romeo by telling Romeo to forget her. By saying that Romeo is ‘struck blind’ who ‘cannot forget the precious treasure of his eyesight lost’. But Romeo would prefer to live ‘dead’ in anguish rather than notice there are so many other ladies out there who are perfectly good, he just doesn’t want to know as he is head over heels for this unknown lady.

Shakespeare presents Romeo as a selfish, self conscious, foolish young man.

Act II shows Romeo as the same personality who needs to realise what love actually is.

Romeo’s immaturity is shown boldly when he calls Juliet a ‘Saint’, which he used in Act I to try and ‘woo’ Rosaline, the earlier unnamed woman who Romeo was ‘hopelessly in love’ with. ‘She will not stay the siege of loving terms… Nor ope her lap to saint-seducing gold’. Romeo must still think that love can be bought by saying ‘gold’ and by saying ‘saint’ again, it shows that Romeo’s nature is unchanged.

The balcony scene really emphasises how different the two points of view are. It shows how the two cannot be together, because of the family. Romeo tries to swear his love ‘by the blessed moon’. But she replies to him ‘O swear not by the moon, th’inconstant moon… That monthly changes in her circled orb’. Juliet turns Romeo’s hyperbole on its head, by showing that just as the moon seems to change with the passing of the months, so may Romeo’s affection for her change into something less than love. This shows that Juliet has a much more realistic and mature conception of love than Romeo. She is aware that infatuation is not love, is wary that Romeo’s passion for her may cool very quickly.

Similarly, Juliet proves she has a more adult, sensible attitude to love when she dismisses Romeo’s plea that she provide him with something more than a declaration of love.

To Romeo’s question ‘O wilt thou leave me so unsatisfied?’ Juliet retorts ‘What satisfaction canst thou have tonight?’

This shows Juliet is aware that Romeo may be interested in her physically rather than emotionally. She pretends to be ignorant of his full meaning, but by her question clearly shows that she is not willing to entertain Romeo’s sexual advances.

Romeo’s immaturity – evident in the first extract – is even more exposed in the second scene, when his naïve ideas about love are juxtaposed against a much more adult view.