Not so the German critic,
Schlegel. Speaking of Romeo and Juliet, he says, 'It was reserved
for Shakespeare to unite purity of heart and the glow of
imagination, sweetness and dignity of manners and passionate
violence, in one ideal picture.' The character is indeed one of
perfect truth and sweetness. It has nothing forward, nothing coy,
nothing affected or coquettish about it;--it is a pure effusion of
nature. It is as frank as it is modest, for it has no thought that
it wishes to conceal. It reposes in conscious innocence on the
strength of its affections. Its delicacy does not consist in
coldness and reserve, but in combining warmth of imagination and
tenderness of heart with the most voluptuous sensibility. Love is a
gentle flame that rarefies and expands her whole being. What an idea
of trembling haste and airy grace, borne upon the thoughts of love,
does the Friar's exclamation give of her, as she approaches his cell
to be married:
Here comes the lady. Oh, so light of foot
Will ne'er wear out the everlasting flint:
A lover may bestride the gossamer,
That idles in the wanton summer air,
And yet not fall, so light is vanity.
The tragic part of this character is of a piece with the rest. It is
the heroic founded on tenderness and delicacy. Of this kind are her
resolution to follow the Friar's advice, and the conflict in her
bosom between apprehension and love when she comes to take the
sleeping poison.
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