Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare is a classic literary work that features characters that can be interpreted in different ways. Shakespeare, through the use of literary devices, creates very complex characters who represent different aspects of Elizabethan values, including Romeo Montague. In Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare leads the audience to see Romeo as a passionate man with a complex and evolving relationship with love and masculinity. Shakespeare carefully created Romeo to represent a figure whose masculinity is challenged by Elizabethan normalities. The audience is manipulated into disliking Romeo at the beginning of the play due to his immaturity. Then, as he grows, they will begin to see him as a genuine and passionate lover. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Shakespeare carefully positions the audience to see the development of Romeo's maturity and ideas of love through his interactions with other characters. At the beginning of the play, Mercutio refers to Rome's insincere love for Rosaline by stating "now it is for the numbers in which Petrarch flocked." Petrarch being a famous poet of the time, Mercutio alludes to the fact that Romeo's words for Rosaline are euphuiistic and lack depth and passion. The artificial nature of Romeo's word choices to describe Rosaline implies that his feelings for Rosaline are also artificial. This encourages the audience to view Romeo as insincere and immature. However, Romeo's maturity begins to develop when he begins to fall in love with Juliet. When Romeo and Juliet first interact, Juliet comments on Romeo kissing "by the book." With this remark, Juliet suggests that Romeo's kiss is generic and expresses little authenticity or passion. However, as the play progresses, Romeo begins to become a more expressive and authentic lover, speaking with substance and depth. This is shown in the quote “Heaven is here, where Juliet is…”. Through this use of blank verse poetry, Shakespere depicts Romeo's love as becoming more authentic without the need for Petrarch's structure. As Romeo's ideas about true love develop, the audience begins to see that his feelings for Juliet may be more than just puppy love. Romeo has evolved? The romantic relationship inspires the audience to see his feelings for Juliette as genuine. Shakespeare created a dramatic film between Romeo and Mercutio, two of his key male characters, to help the audience see Romeo as a loving and passionate character. Mercutio is described as viewing love as lust. This counters Romeo's tendency to confuse lust with love, as he did with Rosaline. Mercutio's advice: "Prick love for the sake of pricking, and you beat love" suggests that he is thinking in terms of debauchery. This quote contrasts with Romeo's words of love that he speaks for Rosaline saying: "Love is smoke raised by the smoke of sighs." Mercutio also tends to speak of love in a rather cynical manner, proclaiming "...for this talkative love is like a great natural [fool], who runs lounging to hide his bauble." This quote again refers to love in more sexual terms and, in context, is intended to ignore Romeo's feelings. These two opposing characters were created by Shakespeare in order to highlight the actions of both characters and show a juxtaposition..