Scene summary
The Chorus announces that Romeo's old desire for Rosaline has died and that he and Juliet now love each other. He, however, is held an enemy and cannot swear love to her, and she has even fewer means of finding him. Passion gives them strength, and time gives them the chance to see each other.
Analysis
Now old desire doth in his deathbed lie, / And young affection gapes to be his heir
(Prologue II)
The Chorus resolves in two lines what the audience would find strange: Romeo traded one love for another in one night, and the explanation is that old desire dies when the new one inherits it. Rosaline stops being a subject before Scene 1 begins, and this explains why, already in Scene 1, Romeo jumps the orchard wall of Juliet's house. The Chorus also gives what the characters do not say: the love is mutual, he has no access to her, and she has even fewer means of finding him.