Romeo and Juliet Journal Act 2

Lovers face many obstacles to their relationships. From the very beginning of the play the audience is warned that Romeo and Juliet’s love will not end well. There is much evidence in Act II that foreshadows the lover’s fate. One instance of this is when Romeo asks the Friar for consent to marry him with Juliet and the Friar shocked says “Holy Saint Francis! What a change is here! / Is Rosaline that though didst love so dear /so soon forsaken? Young men's love then lies/Not truly in their hearts/but in their eyes” (Act 2.3 65-68). This foreshadows a bad end to Romeo and Juliet’s love as the friar is saying that he was so quick to get over Rosaline that obviously he has never been in love and is merely physically attracted to Juliet and doesn’t actually care about her the same way he was with Rosaline. As if this is true their relationship most probably won’t last long. Another example of foreshadowing there terrible fate is when the friar is about to marry them and he gives the advice to the couple saying “These violent delights have violent ends/and in their triumph die, like fire and powder/which as they kiss consume. The sweetest honey/ is loathsome in his own deliciousness/and in the taste confounds the appetite/Therefore love moderately: long love doth so; /too swift arrives as tardy as too slow.” (Act 2.6 9-15). This foreshadows their fate as he warns Juliet not to obsess and fascinate over Juliet as he did with Rosaline or his love won’t last as long and obviously Romeo refuses to head his warning. This passage does a great job predicting the befall of the characters as it pinpoints one of Romeo’s exact problems and one that he will not listen to the friar about and take his advice. One other example foreshadowing failure in Romeo and Juliet’s relationship is when Juliet is trying to get the nurse to tell her what Romeo had said about their marriage and how they plan to do it and the nurse says “Well, you have made a simple choice; you know/not how to choose