In addition to
's remarks above, as he first encounters , he speaks to her in a religiousin the first quatrain
of a sonnet that conveys the theme of Romantic love:
If I
profane with my unworthiest handThis holy shrine, the gentle sin is
this:My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand
To
smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss.
First, Romeo
adresses Juliet with the metaphor "This holy shrine," and personifies his lips as two
"holy pilgrims" that wish to worship the shrine by touching and kissing. Juliet
demurs, thinking his advances too strong; she suggests that the pilgrims' hands can also touch
the saints' shrines, and such a touch is equal to a kiss. Undeterred, Romeo then calls Juliet
"dear saint" and asks her if he can do what pilgrims' lips do in prayer, and he steals
a kiss. Then, in a final metaphor, Romeo suggests another kiss that, by her kiss, his "sin
is purged,'' thus continuing the metaphor of a saint who can obtain for a person the forgiveness
of sin.
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