ACT II - Prologue Romeo and Juliet

The Act 2 Prologue is a sonnet spoken by the Chorus that recaps the events of Act 1 and sets up the central conflict of Act 2. The Chorus announces that Romeo's old love for Rosaline has died and been replaced by a mutual love between Romeo and Juliet. However, because their families are enemies, Romeo "may not have access" to Juliet, and she has even fewer opportunities to meet him. The prologue concludes on a note of determined hope, declaring that "passion lends them power, time means, to meet," suggesting that the strength of their love will help them overcome the barriers posed by the feud.

Shakespeare includes the Act 2 Prologue to serve a transitional and thematic function between the two acts. While the Act 1 Prologue introduced the story and foreshadowed the lovers' tragic fate, the Act 2 Prologue shifts focus by recapping what has already occurred—Romeo's abandonment of Rosaline—and redirecting the audience's attention to the practical obstacles the lovers now face. It also builds suspense by emphasizing how difficult it will be for Romeo and Juliet to meet, while hinting that their passion may prove powerful enough to overcome these challenges. The sonnet form itself reinforces the theme of love, since sonnets were the defining love poem of the Elizabethan era.

The Act 2 Prologue follows the structure of a Shakespearean (English) sonnet, with fourteen lines of iambic pentameter and a rhyme scheme of ABAB CDCD EFEF GG. The three quatrains develop the argument progressively: the first announces Romeo's shift from Rosaline to Juliet, the second introduces the complication of the family feud, and the third describes the lovers' limited means of meeting. The final rhyming couplet—"But passion lends them power, time means, to meet, / Temp'ring extremities with extreme sweet"—delivers the prologue's hopeful resolution. This is the third of three sonnets embedded in the play, the others being the Act 1 Prologue and the shared sonnet Romeo and Juliet speak at the Capulet ball.

The Act 2 Prologue employs several notable literary devices. Personification is central to the opening lines, where Romeo's old desire for Rosaline is described as lying on its "deathbed" while young affection "gapes to be his heir," treating emotions as characters in a succession drama. Antithesis structures much of the poem, pairing opposites such as old and young, fair and not fair, foe and beloved, extremities and sweetness. Enjambment carries meaning across line breaks to create a sense of urgency, and paradox appears in the closing line—"Temp'ring extremities with extreme sweet"—where the dangerous situation is softened by the sweetness of love. Shakespeare also alludes to Petrarchan love poetry conventions through language of groaning, dying, and complaining.

The line "Now old desire doth in his deathbed lie" is the opening of the Act 2 Prologue and uses personification to describe the death of Romeo's previous love for Rosaline. Romeo's infatuation with Rosaline is characterized as an old man dying, while the next line—"And young affection gapes to be his heir"—personifies his new love for Juliet as a young heir eagerly waiting to inherit. The metaphor of succession and inheritance suggests that Romeo's shift in affection is both natural and inevitable, like a generational transfer of power. It also subtly raises questions about the nature of Romeo's love: if his feelings for Rosaline could die so quickly, how durable is his new passion for Juliet?