This Month's Romeo and Juliet Feature >>

Romeo and Juliet are distinct characters. Romeo is older than Juliet, and far more experienced in romantic affairs, as witnessed by his pre-existing infatuation with Rosaline. Because he is older and a male, Romeo does not suffer from the same parental oversight as Juliet: we see his parents only briefly when his mother frets about his distracted behavior and accepts the aid of his friend Benvolio. By contrast, we see a great deal of Old Capulet and his lady, and we note that Juliet has no friends and is under the authoritative eye of her parents (and her Nurse). Perhaps most importantly, at the start of Act II, Mercutio looks for Romeo and calls out: "Romeo! humors! madman! passion! lover!/Appear thou in the likeness of a sigh!" (ll.7-8). Romeo, at the start, is a self-absorbed, highly affected poseur who uses absurdly figurative language in the main role that he embraces, the part of the doomed lover of chaste Rosaline. When we first encounter Juliet in Act I, scene iii, she appears to be devoid of adult attitudes, telling her mother that she has not considered marriage (and presumably, love either).