Romeo and Juliet Went Up The Hill

2021 November 11

The balcony scene in Romeo and Juliet illustrates the complexity of the play, as the play depicts them as star-crossed lovers that are inevitably closed off from each other. In the BBC version of Romeo and Juliet, Romeo's love for Juliet is bold and forthright while Juliet's love for Romeo remains vexed and mysterious since she is not ready to defy the wishes of her family. The BBC version of the balcony scene combines the trepidation of their love and the excitement of falling in love within secrecy. The mood is carried forth by their reactions to seeing each other up close and is propelled by their playful nature once they engage in conversation. It nails the impetuous nature of teens making big promises that are way beyond their scope of mind, and the boldness of trying to make their desires come into fruition by abandoning everything. The scene quells those tensions by words of wit and comedic gestures that feel in nature for the characters. Yet, at times during the scene, it carries the forebode of hopelessness and sorrow of being encapsulated by walls where their love remains invisible to those around them. The play attests to the somber nature of tempering the forbidden and the forcefulness of love as it leaves the audience skeptical about their desire to be together.

To start off, the play handles the complex theme of light versus dark by illustrating the possible dangers and hopes of coming together. When Romeo is first introduced in the scene, the audience can see is hidden in the darkness while Juliet she is reflecting about her life and Romeo's. This instant in the scene can be seen as an encounter of fate since the narrative revolves around love being the victor of the battle but fruitless in the war. To better explain this notion, Romeo expresses his passion to be with her and how happy she would be with him,

"As daylight doth a lamp. Her eye in heaven

Would through the airy region stream so bright

That birds would sing and think it were not night.

See how she leans her cheek upon her hand.

Oh, that I were a glove upon that hand

That I might touch that cheek" (2.2. 20-25).

The imagery and tone carried out from this instance conveys his feelings for him well as the actor for Romeo looks at Juliet impassioned and starred eye as he delivers the monologue. The play also uses the light and dark imagery presented in the text well, as Romeo believes her presence in his life would negate the possible obstacles the two may experience in the future. The scene also did a well with the light imagery around them as the only light source to be found is from Juliet, no stars in sight. There is also the fact that Juliet is wearing light clothing and Romeo is wearing dark clothing to further contrast the two. It really highlights the motif that one cannot coexist without the other since Juliet is the hope Romeo has been searching for and Romeo is the privacy that she craves. Subsequently, Juliet's perspective of light and dark in the balcony scene is even more interesting since it creates subtext of her own self-image. This is further expressed when Romeo climbs up occasionally to profess his love to her and her eyes looking longingly at him when he is beneath the balcony. Juliet does not have to make a grand gesture to make others fall in love with her, and she feels that she is viewed as "too easy" since she does have to go through the same lengths that Romeo must. To explain this notion, Juliet expresses that her love is real and not fictitious like the other girls,

"But trust me, gentleman, I'll prove more true

Than those that have more coying to be strange.

I should have been more strange, I must confess,

But that thou overheard'st, ere I was 'ware,

My true love passion. Therefore pardon me,

And not impute this yielding to light love,

Which the dark night hath so discovered" (2.2. 100-105)

Juliet's actor switches from a playful tone and into a serious one since love is her freedom and to downplay it would be an insult to her character. Juliet's feeling for love is more realistic and mature than Romeo and visualizes it as her only means of escape from a life where everyone views her as an open book. It is interesting that in the play they are confessing to their perspectives of love in the nighttime, surrounded in secrecy and skepticism, to breach the boundaries of their relationship. In a way, the two kind of blur the meaning of light and dark by having their speeches include them joining them in their world instead of wishing for the other to join them. It shows the power of love can overwrite such feelings of discomfort and despite the negative implications it can have in the future.

Next, the scene does well in showing the impatient nature of both Romeo and Juliet that serves as the foundation for the somber moments in the play. This is notion is amplified by expressions of Romeo's face after seeing Juliet on the balcony, which is important since he just came from being teased by his friends. Romeo still has lingering feelings for Rosaline who sadly did not return the feelings for him which caused his feelings for love to be complex in comparison to Juliet's. To verify this notion, Romeo explains his feelings upon seeing Juliet for the 1^st^ time on the balcony,

"But soft! What light through yonder window breaks

It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.

Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,

Who is already sick and pale with grief,

That thou, her maid, art far more fair than she

Be not her made since she is envious.

Her vestal livery is but sick and green,

And none but fools do wear it. Cast it off" (2.2. 1-9).

The actor for Romeo captures this line by having his manner of speech progress faster as he gets towards the end. The speech itself illustrates that he is trying to someone to fit the hole that Rosaline has made through her rejection. He sees it as best that he establishes his love early on and make sure his feelings will not be casted out early as it did before. In hindsight, Juliet would serve as his rebound, but her influence works its way to change him in the play. The play also shows Juliet being impatient when she is pleading with fate of why Romeo and she are from different sides of the spectrum. To even go as far as wanting him to change his name so that they can be together can insinuate that her yearning for true love can obscure her lover's identity. To amplify this notion, Juliet has a conversation with Romeo when she spots him appearing from the dark corner beneath the balcony,

"Tis, but thy name that is my enemy.

Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.

What's Montague? It is nor hand, nor foot,

Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part

Belonging to a man. O, be some other name!

What's in a name? That which we call a rose

By any other word smell as sweet.

So Romeo would, were he not Romeo called,

Retain that dear perfection which he owes

Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name,

And for that name, which is no part of thee

Take all myself" (2.2. 38-48).

The Juliet actor calls out Romeo's name unaware of Romeo's presence is a relief for her since this is only the time, she has privacy and could express herself. However, the way she attaches her version of love means she is in a desperate state to leave her current life in search of a new one. In a way, Romeo creates the antithesis of what Juliet is supposed to be like in the play in exchange for finding fulfilment and personal happiness with Romeo. The balcony scene depicts time in this scene well in general since the actors are frantically moving about when saying their lines as if the end is quickly approaching. These grandiose speeches can incur that Romeo and Juliet embrace their youthfulness fully in wanting the best life before they grow too old. The reality and practicality become a slow burn for them to inevitably swallow and that what makes the scene so intimate and special.

Finally, the scene capitalizes on the notion of rebelling and not going on pre-determined paths set by society. Romeo encapsulates the definition of rebellion since he is not supposed to be anywhere near Juliet due to the quarrel with his family and hers. Yet, this step towards the revelation of the thought of being married to Juliet is the key to achieving his own sense of independence and progress. To expand the reasoning of this notion, Romeo exclaims that his love for Juliet will overcome any negative reactions that her family tries to throw at him,

"Alack, there lies more peril in thine eye

Than twenty of their swords. Look thou but sweet,

And I am proof against their enmity" (2.2. 71-73).

The mood and the tone changed when the actor for Romeo shared these words since it was a proclamation that Juliet's love means everything to him. To make bold steps of rebelling against her family's wishes proves that he is willing to take the possible obstacles that come their way since it is his choice. Any other perspective in that society would have told him it is a hopeless cause but because his love for Juliet is strong, he is willing to defy societal expectation and traditional barriers to be with her. He even makes progress in the scene with him running up towards the balcony and back as opposed to talking to her below the balcony. Juliet also expresses her rebellion with the rush for marriage and proving that her love is authentic for Romeo. The actor for Juliet expresses calmness and poise in the beginning when she cannot see Romeo but afterwards her emotions turn into excitement with a hint of anxiety. Juliet knows that Romeo has experience of living a life shrouded in mystery and privacy and that prospect is in enticing to her. So much so, that Juliet is willing to defy her family's wishes of separating herself from ancestral expectation to have a life where she has a semblance of control. To exemplify this notion in the play, Juliet tells Romeo that she does not behave like this for anyone and wants their relationship to be a real experience instead of an artificial one,

"Thou know'st the mask of night is on my face,

Else would a maiden blush bepaint my cheek

For that which thou hast heard me speak tonight.

Fain would I dwell on form. Fain, fain deny

What I have spoke. But farewell compliment!

Dost thou love me? I know thou wilt say "ay"

And I will take thy word. Yet if thou swear'st

Thou mayst prove false. At lovers' perjuries,

They say, Jove laughs. O gentle Romeo,

If thou dost love, pronounce it faithfully.

Or if thou think'st I am too quickly won,

I'll frown and be perverse and say thee nay,

So thou wilt woo. But else, not for the world" (2.2. 85-97).

Julia's actor makes direct eye contact with the Romeo actor to indicate that she is determined to fulfil her personal desires over what is expected from her. Juliet knows her love for Romeo is bad and yet she is willing to accept the consequences going forward because they were choices that she made. Yet, what Juliet is really defying is her personal judgement that allows her to see the right and wrong of a situation. Juliet sees Romeo as her crux to obtaining personal freedom for herself and to simply let this chance get away would leave her helpless from her parent's control. Despite knowing the choice is wrong, she continues to make the effort for a slim chance of hope to alleviate their situation but to no avail.

To sum up, the performance of the scene enhances the understanding of what makes a tragedy play. The actors come in with bright expressions on their face to lure the audience into a sense of false security until the dialogue is spoken. The dialogue itself is felt more throughout the Romeo and Juliet balcony scene since you can feel the decrepit and senile nature of their ancestors forcing their views onto them. It also communicates the lack of choice since the two are rather in a dark place, instead of somewhere in the open where they can fully enjoy each other's company. The camera is constantly fixated on Juliet since she is the most radiant figure within the scene while Romeo is hidden in the shadows. It blends the theme of inevitable fate and love to showcase how they literally must force their love into the other's life for it to succeed. Society's irrational hatred over youth and personal freedom synthesizes the tone and manner of how they communicated to each other. Overall, desperation of their love and the somber nature it imposes leaves viewers skeptical if their relationship needs to come into fruition.

Works Cited

'The BBC Shakespeare Plays.' 1984. © 1984 BBC. Nov 16, 2021 15:04 https://videos-ambrosevideo-com.libproxy.csudh.edu/?SH.