10) Romeo is in love at the beginning of the play and at the end. How, though, does our perception of Romeo in love change between the beginning and the end?

	'Romeo and Juliet' is a play containing many facets of love. Correspondingly, the main character, Romeo, is shown displaying at least two different types of love--A childish infatuation for Rosaline in the beginning of the play, and a deep, true, love, for Juliet, which develops as the play moves along.

	In the beginning of the play, Romeo is shown pining away. He 'private in his chamber pens himself', and 'locks fair daylight out', distressing his parents, who do not know the cause of his ill humour. It is not until Benvolio seeks him out does he reveal the cause of his behaviour--Romeo is in love. 
	 
	Love, in the beginning, appears to be a sort of burden to Romeo, as he says, 'this love feel I, that feel no love in this'.  He displays all the typical traits of a Petrarchan lover, with his melancholy behaviour and exaggerated speech which utilizes many oxymorons, like 'heavy lightness', 'serious vanity', and 'bright smoke'. 

	We find out that the object of his affections is a girl, Rosaline, who has sworn herself to chastity--again reinforcing the image of Romeo as a Petrarchan lover, pining after an unattainable lady. He continues to speak with many cliches and exaggerations when describing her to Benvolio. "She is too fair, too wise; wisely too fair, to merit bliss by making me despair." It displays a self-centeredness even in his desire for Rosaline--she does not even know who he is, and they have not met, as she does not even appear in person in the play, yet he speaks as though her vow to chastity was but to deal a blow to him--"She hath forsworn to love, and in that vow, do I live dead that live to tell it now". 

	Romeo's love for Rosaline is obviously nothing more than an infatuation. He is posing, and artificial in manner and speech, sighing, moaning and generally feeling sorry for himself, in direct contrast of what we would expect love to bring a person, and also in direct contrast to the way he acts after he meets and falls in love with Juliet. Romeo at the beginning of the play is not in love with Rosaline, he is in love with love.

	Romeo's behaviour changes drastically after he meets Juliet. He forgets Rosaline quickly, upon seeing her. The first exchange that they make is in the form of a Shakespearean sonnet, romantic and sincere. He speaks differently, in a much less self-centered manner, asking Juliet if he may 'profane with his unworthiest hand this holy shrine'. He does not use those cliched and exaggerated phrases that he was using when talking about Rosaline. Rather than going into flowery description, the sonnet is mostly straightforward, and rather than being gloomy, it is flirtatious.