I Now Pronounce You Husband And Wife

Act 2, scene 6

Today was the day of Romeo and Juliet's wedding. While we waited for Juliet to come, I began to think ahead the wedding process and said, "So smile the heavens upon this holy act/ That after-hours with sorrow chide us not" (2.6.1-2). While I said this, I remembered the reason why I'm marrying these two children, the after-math. When Romeo first asked me to marry him and Juliet, I was reluctant because of Romeo's fickleness with love. Shortly after that thought, I had a change of mind. I thought of the positive effects this marriage could bring about. I thought about how this marriage may be able to achieve peace between the Montagues and the Capulets. But this line also made me realize that if this marriage goes belly up, then the after-hours will chastise them forever for getting married in the first place. Not to mention that the fighting between the two houses will not only continue, but it might worsen. But Romeo's opinion is very different from mine; his response suggested that one-minute spent with Juliet would be greater and stronger than all of the sorrow that could be caused by this marriage. The short amount of time he spent with Juliet will prepare him for the greatest sorrow of all, "love-devouring death" (2.6.7). Romeo seems to think that love will make him invincible but he needs to understand that the ecstasies of love eventually die down. I advised Romeo to take love in moderations. Moderations are the key to long-lasting love but taking love too fast is just as bad as being too slow with love.

After I finished explaining moderations of love to Romeo, Juliet arrived. Running. As Juliet ran to see Romeo, I saw all of my words fly straight out of Romeo's head and disappear in the air. Their "love" almost disgusts me because not only are they ignorant of the true meaning of love, but they do not know how to make it last. They are so eager to love and see each other, but as time goes on their eagerness is going to die down and they will get bored because they are going to fast. They need to have a chance to miss each other and make the other one chase them for a little while; they are making "love" way too easy. Juliet said a quick hello to me and immediately jumped into Romeo's arms and they began kissing. My advice about moderations was lost on deaf ears. They then told me that their love is too strong and great to be expressed in words. They share an "imagined happiness" (2.6.28). This happiness is imagined not because it is nonexistent but because it is too great to be put into words. After hearing Romeo and Juliet tell me about how everything they share is too great to be expressed, it is apparent that they do not even have an idea of boundaries or amounts. They cannot come up with ways to describe things because they are nonexistent. Juliet does seem to know more about love than Romeo does because she knows that happiness is measured by reality, not by decoration of the fact. She does make a point that if you can count how much money one has, then you are poor because the amount is little enough to be measured. But love is so great that even half of true love cannot be measured. What Juliet said about love is true, but it is easy to say something and convince yourself you feel it and know the true meaning when you really know nothing about it at all.

After Romeo and Juliet finish talking about this nonsense about their boundless love and happiness, I hurry off to marry them. I tell them I think it is not wise to leave them alone until they are bound in marriage. Ha ha ha.

Romeo's New "Love"

Act 2, scene 3

Early this morning, I ran into Romeo and wondered why he was awake at such an early hour. He then told me that he did not sleep last night. I assumed he was up all night because of Rosaline but he says he has moved on to a new love, the daughter of Capulet. I told him he is too inconsistent when it comes to love and that women are not going to be able to depend on him; they need stability. This seemed to make him angry because I told him to forget Rosaline but I did not tell him to go fall in love with someone he barely knows. He says he loves her so much and asks me to secretly marry them. They need to think about all of the factors and consequences of this situation this "love" they share. It may not only trigger another brawl between their families, but it will, most likely, cause many more deaths, maybe even their own. Although I do not believe they actually fell in love in one night, I will help them with their wedding and marry them if that is what they truly want, but they need to be careful and take things slower.

Romeo is a very fickle man when it comes to love because I believe he does not know what it means to truly be in love with someone. Only yesterday he was convinced he was "in love" with Rosaline but in a matter of hours he claims to have found an entirely new and pure "love." Romeo does not understand love; he puts the woman he "loves" on a pedestal and makes too high of expectations and too high of standards for the woman to fulfill. He seems to "fall in love" in a matter of minutes with someone he barely even knows. He has not only done this once but twice now which shows incredible fickleness and instability. Now he is asking me to marry him to the thirteen year old daughter of his rival with whom he is "in love." He needs to understand that women cannot rely on an unreliable man especially when it comes to love. True loves never dies but only gets stronger through time.