Meaning of the scene where Romeo first encounters Juliet

The entire final scene from Act I of Romeo & Juliet plays out like a carefully crafted dramatic symphony, its deep meaning heavily imbued with passion. This is true mystical theatre, fulfilling the ultimate purpose behind the esoteric art of the mystery play—a play enacted as a form of initiation, where the spiritual message is transmitted to the initiate in the form of an emotional appeal that touches the depths of his inner being. Thus, like a mystery play, this dramatic scene at the Capulet’s feast is designed to bring forth a realization that is emotionally felt rather than intellectualized, such that we learn by living through the experience.

This entire scene warrants scrutiny. There is, initially, a short preliminary section showing workers frantically preparing for the feast, so that the arrival of the guests in the main hall generates the atmosphere of a curtain raiser to an important scene.

We next find Capulet jovially welcoming the guests, many in masks—among whom are Romeo and his kinsmen, the Montagues. Thus, we have an almost transcendental situation free of labels, a near mystical atmosphere free of identities, unattached to extraneous factors born of our delusions. With this freedom, the Capulets and the Montagues revel amicably together. Imputed qualities like labels, which do not inherently belong, are not distorting the reality.

In the midst of these revels, partaken by both the Capulets and the Montagues, Romeo suddenly has Juliet in his sights:

Romeo: O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright.

It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night

As a rich jewel in an Ethiop’s ear—

Beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear.

So shows a snowy dove trooping with crows

As yonder lady o’er her fellows shows.

Gone like mist in the warm light of the sun are Romeo’s former feelings for Rosaline. The vision of Juliet dispels it all with striking abruptness, and Romeo resolves to approach Juliet.

Romeo: Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight.

For I ne’er saw true beauty till this night.

Tybalt now overhears Romeo and recognizes the voice of a Montague. In a flash—like lightning in a clear blue sky—the aura of transcendental freedom is shattered. Tybalt’s horizons turn dark and menacing, thunder broils from within, and malevolent winds churn up the enmity of a deluded pride—a pride born of the failure to realize that labels do not inherently exist.

Tybalt: This by his voice should be a Montague.

Fetch me my rapier, boy. What dares the slave                       

Come hither, covered with an antic face

To fleer and scorn at our solemnity?

Now by the stock and honour of my kin,

To strike him dead I hold it not a sin.

Shakespeare has thus created a brilliant allegorical scene with the masked ball representing the state of unity prior to labels being attached. All is well when all are masked, and identities unknown. Without labels, the Montagues and Capulets are amicable. This transcendent state of unity, however, gets tragically shattered once labels intrude upon it, like a dire plague.

Yet in truth, nothing has changed, because labels are not real. They are merely imputed properties that do not inherently belong. It is only our ignorance of this fact that transforms labels into something malevolent, transforms our spiritual unity into a tragic world of separation, a world of dichotomy.

Now, in his tempestuous rush to open hostilities with Romeo, Tybalt encounters his uncle, the master of the house. Capulet who is more concerned about his feast, at this time, than his designated enemies, the Montagues, restrains Tybalt and prevents him from acting against Romeo. Tybalt, however, is so deceived by the labels that he is engulfed with hatred and plays his role as a Capulet with ominous intensity.

Tybalt: I’ll not endure him.

Capulet: He shall be endured.

What, goodman boy! I say he shall! Go to,

Am I the master here or you? Go to.

Capulet is adamant that the success of his feast takes priority over the long-standing feud, but the restraint imposed upon Tybalt only kindles the hatred within him. He is so deceived by the convention of labels that he considers it an honour to inflame his hate to a fever pitch. Tragically, Tybalt’s erroneous sense of identity is dictated by his role as an enemy of the Montagues.

Tybalt: Patience perforce with willful choler meeting

Makes my flesh tremble in their different greeting.

I will withdraw; but this intrusion shall

Now seeming sweet, convert to bitterest gall.

Tybalt leaves the scene. The whole emotional sequence now plays out again, with even greater intensity. Romeo and Juliet meet face to face, for the first time, neither knowing who the other is.

Romeo: If I profane with my unworthiest hand

This holy shrine, the gentle sin is this,

My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand

To smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss.

Juliet: Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much,

Which mannerly devotion shows in this;

For saints have hands that pilgrims’ hands do touch,

And palm to palm is holy palmers’ kiss.

The imagery concerning saints and pilgrims evokes an atmosphere of purity, and in one sense, this is the case. For Romeo has met Juliet without either being aware of each other’s names. This whole initial encounter is thus untainted with labels—the labels of “Montague” and “Capulet” that will soon cause them strife.

The nurse eventually interrupts the proceedings. After Juliet leaves, Romeo enquires after her.

Romeo: What is her mother?

Nurse: Marry, bachelor,

Her mother is the lady of the house,

And a good lady, and a wise and virtuous.

I nursed her daughter that you talked withal.

I tell you, he that can lay hold of her

Shall have the chinks.

Suddenly the plague of labels is upon Romeo. The atmosphere of transcendental purity is shattered and, once again, the horizons darken with brooding menace. The painfully awakened delusion over labels now weighs heavily upon Romeo, filling him with dissonance and despair.

Romeo: Is she a Capulet?

O dear account! My life is my foe’s debt.

Thus, we have yet another sequence of transcendental unity shattered by the intrusion of labels. It is late and the guests begin to depart from the feast.

Benvolio: Away, be gone; the sport is at the best.

Romeo: Ay, so I fear; the more is my unrest.

Romeo has a foreboding sense of the coming tribulation and is struck by the tragedy of his circumstances—a tragedy born of nothing but the delusion over labels. Juliet is about to be afflicted by this same misconception over labels. She asks the nurse to find out the name of her newfound lover.

Juliet: Go ask his name. If he be married,

My grave is like to be my wedding bed.

The nurse soon returns with the startling revelation.

Nurse: His name is Romeo, and a Montague,

The only son of your great enemy.

Juliet: My only love sprung from my only hate.

Too early seen unknown, and known too late.

Prodigious birth of love it is to me

That I must love a loathed enemy.

There is no real “enemy” here, but unfortunately, adherence to the labelling convention has created a false “enemy” for Juliet. Again, a menacing presence darkens the scene, dispelling the warm purity of the young lovers’ first meeting. Shakespeare thus closes the play’s first movement with a powerful enactment of the reason for their ultimate tragedy—that reason being none other than our delusion over labels.

This scene illustrates how Shakespeare’s messages—conveyed in Much Ado About Nothing, The Comedy of Errors and The Taming of the Shrew—are artistically honed to an astounding emotional intensity in Romeo and Juliet. The intensity continues building in the later part of the play, culminating in the tragic end of the two young lovers. Our emotional involvement in the tragedy is akin to learning by direct personal experience, which is the very nature of a true mystical theatre. 

Romeo & Juliet is perhaps the greatest piece of literature ever written that denounces the conflict between factions. The message in Romeo & Juliet resonates with a terrifying new urgency in the shadow of nuclear weaponry. Shakespeare’s plea for us to realize our spiritual unity, instead of being deluded by our misperceptions and labels, may help save us from a nuclear catastrophe.