Rosaline(/ˈrɒzəlaɪn/)[1][2]is a fictional character mentioned inWilliam Shakespeare'stragedyRomeo and Juliet.She is the niece ofLord Capulet.Although anunseen character,her role is important:Romeo'sunrequited lovefor Rosaline leads him to try to catch a glimpse of her at a gathering hosted by the Capulet family, during which he first spots her cousin,Juliet.
| Rosaline | |
|---|---|
| Romeo and Julietcharacter | |
 Paola Tedescoas Rosaline inFranco Zeffirelli's1968 film,one of the few films to give her a visible role | |
| Created by | William Shakespeare |
| In-universe information | |
| Gender | Female |
| Family | Capulet |
Scholars generally compare Romeo's short-lived love of Rosaline with his later love of Juliet. The poetry Shakespeare writes for Rosaline is much weaker than that for Juliet. Scholars believe Romeo's early experience with Rosaline prepares him for his relationship with Juliet. Later performances ofRomeo and Juliethave painted different pictures of Romeo and Rosaline's relationship, as filmmakers have experimented with making Rosaline a more visible character.
Role in the play
editBeforeRomeomeetsJuliet,he loves Rosaline, Capulet's niece and Juliet's cousin. He describes her as wonderfully beautiful: "The all-seeing sun / ne'er saw her match since first the world begun."[3]Rosaline, however, chooses to remainchaste;Romeo says: "She hath forsworn to love, and in that vow / Do I live dead that live to tell it now."[4]This is the source of his depression, and he makes his friends unhappy;Mercutiocomments: "That same pale, hard-hearted wench, that Rosaline, torments him so that he will sure run mad."[5]Benvoliourges Romeo to sneak into a Capulet gathering where, he claims, Rosaline will be perceived like "a crow" alongside the other beautiful women.[6]Romeo agrees, but doubts Benvolio's assessment. After Romeo sees Juliet his feelings suddenly change: "Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight / For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night."[7]Because their relationship is sudden and secret, Romeo's friends andFriar Laurencecontinue to speak of his affection for Rosaline throughout much of the play.
Analysis
editName
edit"...Juliet on the balcony ponders Romeo's name and likens it to that rose that remains itself whatever it is called. 'Is Juliet that rose, and, thereby, Rosaline renamed?'"
Rosaline is a variant of Rosalind,[9]a name ofOld Frenchorigin: (hros= "horse",lind= "soft, tender" ). When it was imported into English it was thought to be from the Latinrosa linda( "lovely rose" ).[10]Romeo sees Rosaline as the embodiment of the rose because of her name and her apparent perfections.[11][12]The name Rosaline commonly appears inPetrarchan sonnets,a form of poetry Romeo uses to woo Juliet and to describe both Rosaline and Juliet. Since Rosaline is unattainable, she is a perfect subject for this style; but Romeo's attempt at it is forced and weak. By the time he meets Juliet his poetic ability has improved considerably.[11]
Rosaline is used as a name for only one other Shakespearean character—one of the main female figures inLove's Labour's Lost(1598), and Rosalindis the name of the main female character inAs You Like It.Scholars have found similarities between them: both are described as beautiful, and both have a way of avoiding men's romantic advances. Lady Rosaline inLove's Labours Lostconstantly rebuffs her suitor's advances and Romeo's Rosaline remains distant and chaste in his brief descriptions of her. These similarities have ledCharlesandMary Clarketo wonder whether they are based on a woman Shakespeare actually knew, possibly theDark Ladydescribed in his sonnets, but there is no strong evidence of this connection.[13]
Rosaline as plot device
editAnalysts note that Rosaline acts as a plot device, by motivating Romeo to sneak into the Capulet party where he will meet Juliet. Without her, their meeting would be unlikely.[14]Rosaline thus acts as the impetus to bring the "star-cross'd lovers" to their deaths—she is crucial in shaping their fate (a common theme of the play). Ironically, she remains oblivious of her role.[15]
Rosaline and Juliet
edit"Rosaline and Paris...are the subtlest reflectors of all...they are cast like a snake's skin by the more robust reality of Romeo and Juliet."
—Ruth Nevo, on the Rosaline-Juliet, Paris-Romeo comparison[16]
Literary critics often compare Romeo's love for Rosaline with his feelings for Juliet. Some see Romeo's love for Rosaline as childish infatuation as compared with his true love for Juliet. Others argue that the apparent difference in Romeo's feelings shows Shakespeare's improving skill. Since Shakespeare is thought to have written early drafts of the play in 1591, and then picked them up again in 1597 to create the final copy, the change in Romeo's language for Rosaline and Juliet may mirror Shakespeare's increased skill as a playwright: the younger Shakespeare describing Rosaline, and the more experienced describing Juliet. In this view, a careful look at the play reveals that Romeo's love for Rosaline is not as trivial as usually imagined.[14]
Critics also note the ways in which Romeo's relationship with Rosaline prepares him for meeting Juliet. Before meeting Rosaline, Romeo despises all Capulets, but afterwards looks upon them more favorably; he experiences the dual feelings of hate and love in the one relationship. This prepares him for the more mature relationship with Juliet—one fraught by the feud between Montagues and Capulets. Romeo expresses the conflict of love and hate in act 1, scene 1, comparing his love for Rosaline with the feud between the two houses:[17]
Here's much to do with hate, but more with love.
Why, then, O brawling love! O loving hate!
O any thing, of nothing first create!
O heavy lightness! serious vanity!
Misshapen chaos of well-seeming forms!
Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick health!
Still-waking sleep, that is not what it is!
This love feel I, that feel no love in this.
Dost thou not laugh?[18]
Psychoanalytic criticssee signs of repressedchildhood traumain Romeo's love for Rosaline. She is of a rival house and is sworn tochastity;thus he is in an impossible situation, one which will continue his trauma if he remains in it. Although he acknowledges the ridiculousness of the situation, he refuses to stop loving her. Psychoanalysts view this as a re-enactment of his failed relationship with his mother; Rosaline's absence is symbolic of his mother's absence and lack of affection for him. Romeo's love for Juliet is similarly hopeless, for she is a Capulet and Romeo pursues his relationship with her – the difference being that Juliet reciprocates his feelings.[19]
Performances
editRosaline has been portrayed in various ways over the centuries.Theophilus Cibber's 1748 version ofRomeo and Julietreplaced references to Rosaline with references to Juliet. This, according to critics, took out the "love at first sight"moment at the Capulet feast.[20]In the 1750s, actor and theatre directorDavid Garrickalso eliminated references to Rosaline from his performances, as many saw Romeo's quick replacement of her as immoral.[21][22]However, inFranco Zeffirelli's 1968 film version ofRomeo and Juliet,Romeo sees Rosaline (played byPaola Tedesco)[23]first at the Capulet feast and then Juliet, of whom he becomes immediately enamoured. This scene suggests that love is short and superficial. Rosaline also appears in Renato Castellani's 1954 film version. In a brief non-Shakespearean scene, Rosaline (Dagmar Josipovitch) gives Romeo a mask at Capulet's celebration, and urges him to leave disguised before harm comes to him. Other filmmakers keep Rosaline off-camera in stricter accordance with Shakespeare's script.[24]Rosaline also appears in the2013 film adaptation ofRomeo and Juliet.
Robert Nathan's 1966 romantic comedy,Juliet in Mantua,presents Rosaline as a fully developed character. In this sequel, in which Romeo and Juliet didnotdie, the pair live ten years later in exile in Mantua. After they are forgiven and return to Verona, they learn that Rosaline is now married to Count Paris, and both couples must confront their disillusionment with their marriages. Another play,After Juliet,written by Scottish playwrightSharman Macdonald,tells the story of Rosaline after Romeo dies. A main character in this play, she struggles with her loss and turns away the advances ofBenvolio,who has fallen in love with her. Macdonald's daughter,Keira Knightley,played Rosaline in the play's 1999 premiere.[25][26]
Rosaline is the main protagonist of the 2017 American drama seriesStill Star-Crossed.She is portrayed by actressLashana Lynch.
Rosaline is a featured role in theWest Endmusical& Juliet,featured only in the song "Show Me the Meaning of Being Lonely"and is portrayed by Grace Mouat.
The feature filmRosalineis described as a comedic retelling of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, told from the perspective of Romeo's ex, Rosaline. The film starsKaitlyn Deveras Rosaline and is directed byKaren Maine.It was released onHuluon October 14, 2022.[27]
References
edit- ^Crystal, David(2016).The Oxford Dictionary of Original Shakespearean Pronunciation.Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. p. 472.ISBN978-0-19-966842-7.
- ^Kokeritz, Helge (1953).Shakespear's Pronunciation.New Haven: Yale University Press. p.477.
- ^Romeo and Juliet1.2/99–100,Folger Shakespeare Library
- ^Romeo and Juliet1.1/231–232,Folger Shakespeare Library
- ^Romeo and Juliet2.4/4–6,Folger Shakespeare Library
- ^Romeo and Juliet1.2/94,Folger Shakespeare Library
- ^Romeo and Juliet1.5.59–60,Folger Shakespeare Library
- ^Goldberg, Jonathan.Queering the Renaissance.Durham: Duke University Press (1994), 221–227.ISBN0-8223-1385-5
- ^"Rosaline".A Dictionary of First Names.Eds.Patrick Hanks,Kate Hardcastle, and Flavia Hodges. Oxford: Oxford University Press (2006). Oxford Reference Online. Retrieved 25 June 2007.Oxford Reference(Registration required)
- ^"Rosalind".A Dictionary of First Names.Eds.Patrick Hanks,Kate Hardcastle, and Flavia Hodges. Oxford: Oxford University Press (2006). Oxford Reference Online. Retrieved 25 June 2007.Oxford Reference(Registration required)
- ^abWhittier, Gayle. "The Sonnet's Body and the Body Sonnetized in 'Romeo and Juliet'."Shakespeare Quarterly40.1 (April 1989): 27–41.
- ^Lewis, Alan. "Reading Shakespeare's Cupid."Criticism47.2 (April 2005): 177–213.
- ^Clarke, CharlesandMary Clarke.The Shakespeare Key.London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington (1879),pp. 651–652.
- ^abGray, Henry David. "Romeo Rosaline, and Juliet".Modern Language Notes29.7 (November 1914): 209–212.
- ^Evans, Bertrand. "The Brevity of Friar Lawrence."PMLA65.5 (September 1950): 841–865.
- ^Nevo, Ruth (April 1969). "Tragic Form in Romeo and Juliet".SEL: Studies in English Literature 1500–1900.9(2). Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Press: 241–258.doi:10.2307/449778.JSTOR449778.
- ^Bowling, Lawrence Edward (March 1949). "The Thematic Framework of Romeo and Juliet".PMLA.64(1). New York City:Modern Language Association:208–220.
- ^Romeo and Juliet1.1/180–188,Folger Shakespeare Library
- ^Krims, Marvin (November 1999). "Romeo's Childhood Trauma?—'What Fray Was Here?'".PSYART: A Hyperlink Journal for Psychological Study of the Arts.Cambridge, Massachusetts: Psyart Foundation.ISSN2123-4434.
- ^Marsden, Jean.The Re-Imagined Text.Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, (1995), 87–88.ISBN0-8131-1901-4
- ^Branam, George C. "The Genesis of David Garrick's Romeo and Juliet."Shakespeare Quarterly35.2 (July 1984): 170–179.
- ^Stone, George Winchester, Jr. "Romeo and Juliet: The Source of its Modern Stage Career."Shakespeare Quarterly15.2 (April 1964): 191–206.
- ^"Romeo & Juliet (1968)".Yahoo! Movies.Yahoo!. 2007.Retrieved28 June2007.
- ^Martin, Jennifer L. "Tights vs. Tattoos: Filmic Interpretations of 'Romeo and Juliet'."The English Journal92.1 (September 2002): 41–46.
- ^Maxwell, Tom (20 July 2007)."Keira's helpful prompt".The Scotsman.Archived fromthe originalon 1 December 2007.Retrieved27 May2009.
- ^"After Juliet by Sharman McDonald".Plays.Acquis. Archived fromthe originalon 28 September 2007.Retrieved27 May2009.
- ^Beresford, Trilby (13 November 2021)."Kaitlyn Dever Shares First-Look Image of Her Character in Hulu's 'Rosaline'".The Hollywood Reporter.Retrieved13 November2021.