Monday, January 31, 2011

What does Juliet look like in Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare?Where can I find descriptions in the play?

In Shakespeare's play, Romeo and
Juliet
, the reader does know that Juliet is nearly fourteen, so she still has
an air of innocence and ingenuousness about her.  After all, her father, Lord Capulet
tells Paris to wait until she is fourteen to ask for her hand in
marriage:



Let
two more summers wither in their pride/Ere we may think her ripe to be a bride.
(I,ii,10-11)



Being from
Verona, Italy, she is probably of Norman descent and, therefore, is fair with light hair
(blonde, perhaps) and blue or green eyes.  (To this day, many northern Italians are of
this coloring.)


As the previous post mentions, the balcony
scene contains descriptions of Juliet that enable the reader to envision her.  Her eyes
must sparkle, for instance, for Romeo says that two stars twinkle in her eyes.  Her
cheeks are rosy and her skin glowing: "the brightness of her cheek would shame those
stars" (II,ii,20).  Even in death, Romeo finds Juliet "yet so fair" and "crimson in thy
lips and in thy cheeks" (V,iii,95).


Of course, Juliet is
reflected in the eyes of the amorous Romeo.  Yet, she must be beautiful in a tender way,
or else why would Romeo be so enraptured of her so soon after his heartache from
Rosalind?

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