Benvolio is convinced Romeo's love is easily replaced, and it is his idea that they should crash the Capulet's party where Rosaline will be, and there, Romeo will be able to compare Rosaline's beauty to many other available girls, to which Romeo utters the most beautiful lines in the play: "One fairer than my love! the all-seeing sun ne'er saw her match since first the world begun
" Ay me! If only he said those words of Juliet! But, I digress. As it turns out, everyone else is right about Romeo. What he feels for Rosaline is infatuation, and it was easily replaced when he saw the next beautiful woman. He certainly never contemplated killing himself because Rosaline preferred a life of chastity over our young hero.
Hatfield and Sprecher further state, "If the relationship is not established or is uncertain, anxiety or other displeasure centers may be quite active as well, producing a situation of great emotional turmoil as the lover swings between hope and torment." (Hatfield and Sprecher 385). It's Romeo's lucky night. His relationship with Rosaline is not established, however, Juliet's thud is just as loud as Romeo's when she falls for him, resulting in requited love, and a relationship is established. All Romeo wants is for his love to be returned. Add in the little detail that Juliet is the daughter of his father's most hated enemy, and we have ourselves a nice juicy plot. What teenager can resist a little rebellion? I couldn't when I was their age. Romeo and Juliet's solution to this glaring problem is to get secretly married. Friar Laurence is all for this plan, as he believes " this alliance may so happy prove, to turn your households' rancor to pure love." (Shakespeare 743). And it does eventually. Oh, the best laid plans.
Romeo is a lover, not a fighter. He has no desire to fight Tybalt, until he kills Mercutio. He has no desire to fight Paris at the end of the play, until Paris refuses to leave and provokes him.
