The Theme in the Work
Passion is speed. In scene 5 of Act I, love is born at a ball, from a glance. In scene 2 of Act II, Juliet compares the pact of the night to lightning, which is gone before anyone can say "it lightens," and she fears the haste. In scene 3 of Act II, Friar Laurence is surprised by so quick a change after Rosaline and warns Romeo that those who run fast stumble.
In scene 5 of Act II, Juliet waits three hours for the Nurse's message and says that the messengers of love ought to be thoughts. In scene 6 of Act II, the friar warns that violent pleasures have violent ends, and neither Romeo nor Juliet seems to hear him.
After the deaths, the same energy turns into despair. In scene 2 of Act III, Juliet curses her husband and repents at once, and concludes that the word banished weighs more than the death of her cousin. In scene 3 of Act III, Romeo falls to the ground and draws his sword against himself, and the friar rebukes him and lists what he still has.
The haste does not come from the two of them alone. In scene 4 of Act III, Capulet sets the wedding of Juliet and Paris for Wednesday, asks what day it is, hears from Paris that it is Monday, and changes it to Thursday, and Paris says he wishes Thursday were the next day; Capulet, without having spoken to his daughter, accepts Paris's rhythm. In scene 2 of Act IV, Capulet, relieved at Juliet's feigned obedience, wants to bring the wedding forward to the next morning, and his wife corrects him to Thursday. In scene 1 of Act V, Romeo, hearing that Juliet is dead, orders ink, paper, and post horses and decides to return to Verona that same night; the thought of poison enters his head before any plan.
Passion in Romeo and Juliet is not a flaw of character, it is the rhythm the play gives the two of them: everything they do fits into days, and what the friar calls haste is also what brings them together. The same impulse that marries them in a day is what, in Act III, makes them treat banishment as death.
Where It Appears
- Scene 5 of Act I: At the Capulets' ball, Romeo sees Juliet and forgets Rosaline, and the two talk in lines of pilgrim and saint and kiss.
- Scene 2 of Act II: In the garden, Juliet fears that everything is too fast, but arranges that, if Romeo is thinking of marriage, he reply the next day by the messenger she will send at nine.
- Scene 3 of Act II: Romeo arrives without having slept and asks Friar Laurence to marry him to Juliet that day; the friar is surprised at the change so quick after Rosaline and warns the young man to go slowly.
- Scene 5 of Act II: Juliet waits, impatient, for the Nurse's return, which takes three hours, and the Nurse dawdles between praise of Romeo and complaints about her back before answering.
- Scene 6 of Act II: In the cell, Romeo tells the friar that no pain cancels the joy of a minute with Juliet, and Friar Laurence advises moderation in love.
- Scene 2 of Act III: On learning of Romeo's banishment, Juliet curses him, repents at once and, while the Nurse promises to fetch him from the friar's cell, sends a ring to Romeo.
- Scene 3 of Act III: On learning of the banishment, Romeo rejects the friar's philosophy and, when the Nurse brings news of Juliet, draws his sword against himself; the friar rebukes him and sets out a plan.
Passages
Friar Laurence, on receiving the request to marry:
Wisely and slow; they stumble that run fast.(II.3)
The friar, at the moment of marrying them:
These violent delights have violent ends, / And in their triumph die(II.6)
Juliet, measuring the banishment:
That ‘banished,’ that one word ‘banished,’ / Hath slain ten thousand Tybalts(III.2)