Act 2

Act 2 presents a rehabilitation of an ancient “art of love” in a Christian setting and against the grain of a modern or Machiavellian conception of desire and therewith of the human being. The characters of Rosaline and Juliet emerge as intertwined in a philosophically/theologically significant way. Nominalism (and therewith voluntarism), personified by the likes of Mercutio, stands as the student of poetry’s cardinal stepping-stone on his way to maturing an appreciation of classical Platonism as a way of life leading to the perfection of desire or desire’s complete liberation from strife. The intervention of Friar Laurence (Romeo’s “ghost”) helps us understand the relationship between ancient paganism and Christianity in the interests of a spiritual alliance or poetic “ring” allowing for the communion of Romeo and Juliet.