Writing Exemplar
As the play begins, Romeo is in love with Rosaline; and his “love is a smoke raised with the fume of sighs” (1.1.179). Rosaline is “chaste,” therefore, she is an unattainable love and untouchable to Romeo (1.1.207). Romeo’s ‘sighs’ cannot ignite the fire, they can only produce the smoke; he is “without eyes” because they are “muffled” by the smoke. Romeo is only able to see again when he meets Juliet for the first time (1.1.159; 1.1.158). Immediately his love “being purged, [is] a fire sparkling in lovers’ eyes” (1.1.180). Romeo’s love has progressed from fume to smoke and now it is fire. Only Juliet is able to “teach the torches to burn bright” (1.4.161). It is with Juliet’s light that Romeo is able to guide himself in love.
