love, but it is obvious at this early point in the play in the way that the sonnet is shared between both Romeo and Juliet, that the spell that has been cast over Romeo has been cast over Juliet as well. This sets the scene for what is to follow in the rest of the play, and that the relationship will be the main focus point within the play.
When Romeo speaks to Juliet he compares her hand to a holy place "a shrine- which he may defile "profane- with his hand. He uses a simile to compare his lips to pilgrims that can "smooth- away the "rough touch- of the hand with a kiss. "Gentle sin- is an example of an oxymoron (a contradiction); "gentle- meaning noble or virtuous (in the 16th Century) while a "sin- is usually the opposite of noble. Juliet explains that handholding is the right kind of kiss for pilgrims, while lips are for praying. Romeo's witty response is to ask for .
permission to let his lips do what his hands are allowed to and Juliet agrees to "grant- this for the sake of his prayers. When Romeo kisses her, Juliet says she has received the .
sin he has "purged- from himself. Romeo insists at once that he must take it back - and kisses her again!.
The powerful nature of the love in this play is shown in the language Shakespeare uses to describe it, or to be more precise the way his descriptiveness fails to capture its entirety. The love they share at the end of the first act is that based on looks, beauty and idolisation, and for Romeo this is no longer an unrequited love as was his love for Rosaline. Although we are fully aware of Juliet's feelings for Romeo at the end of the first act, Romeo is now totally besotted by Juliet. He idolises her, he is full of adulation and is head over heels in love with a heavenly creature.
Later that evening consumed with love and lust, he scales the Capulets' wall and hides below a balconied window. What follows is the aptly named balcony scene, perhaps the .
