Romeo’s relationship with Rosaline also makes his love for Juliet more secretive and it helps to emphasis the feud between the two households. ” Therefore, it is possible that Romeo may have never conversed with Rosaline, thus the basis for his love would lie in her physical appearance.Ĭomparing with a pre-destined love, Romeo’s reason for loving Rosaline appears childish and weak. However, Friar Lawrence remarks to Romeo that “Is Rosaline, whom thou didst love so dear, /So soon forsaken? Young men’s love then lies/Not truly in their hearts, but in their eyes. There is no doubt that Romeo and Juliet are a pair of star-crossed lover who are meant to be together, and in many ways, Juliet influences Romeo. The origin of Romeo’s attention for Rosaline is questioned by critics and readers. Friar Lawrence remarked that Romeo’s affection for Rosaline is not real as Romeo is repeating the poems that he memorised however, the poems he makes for Juliet is spontaneous and far more affectionate. There is a noticeable difference between the poems he writes for Rosaline and Juliet the former focuses more on Rosaline’s beauty while the latter focuses more on the love they share between them. Most characters use poetry to express their feelings, and Romeo is no exception to this, especially when declaring his feelings. Romeo’s love for Rosaline has been dismissed by literary critics as childish and many believe that Shakespeare uses Rosaline’s unattainable love to contrast with Juliet’s feelings. Therefore, Rosaline is often seen as a plot device as her presence at the Capulet party convinced Romeo to seek for her, where he would ultimately fall in love with Juliet. While at the party, when he is looking for Rosaline, he sees Juliet for the first time and falls in love with her immediately. Order custom essay Role of Rosaline in Romeo and Juliet However, when a Capulet servant asks them to read the guest list for the Capulet’s party, from which Romeo finds out that Rosaline, is expected to attend Benvolio then suggests Romeo to crash the party in order to look at other beauties of Verona, and Romeo reluctantly agrees. Subsequently, Benvolio, cousin of Romeo, attempts to make Romeo forget about Rosaline by telling him to examine other beauties of Verona, which Romeo refuses to do. This affects him greatly as he becomes depressed and he alienates himself from his friends and families indeed, all he can think of is his rejected love. When the audience first meet Romeo, he is seen moping around Verona because Rosaline cannot return his love as she chose to be chaste for life. To the audience, Romeo’s love for Rosaline helps them to understand the depth and nature of Romeo’s relationship with Juliet. So would anything be gained or lost if Rosaline is removed from the original play? Theoretically, Rosaline is only important in this play for Romeo’s past with her, but if she is removed, Romeo wouldn’t have attended the party where he meets Juliet, and consequently he would appear less impulsive and passionate. Now, this is rather paradoxical as Rosaline is not important enough to be portrayed by an actor, yet she is always mentioned by Romeo. In most film adaptations, she is usually omitted, yet Romeo is always grieving for his rejected love at the beginning of every adaption. Would anything be lost (or gained) if Rosaline were never mentioned? Rosaline is the niece of Lord Capulet whom Romeo falls in love with prior to the play, Romeo and Juliet however, she doesn’t reciprocate Romeo’s feelings as she has chosen to remain celibate.