Even though the audience never really sees her or hears much about her with the exception of the end of 1.1, Rosaline may have a more vital part than most people think. Rosaline actively pursues her love of the Church and dresses in the habits of a nun. Both women go after what they want and both seem to hide their good natured and seemingly beautiful forms for some higher purpose. While Rosaline is spoken of with anguish and slight distain by Romeo, he still seems to hold her on high by his not wanting to go out and simply find another girl, which could go to show that women who have charm and grace like any object of love who put their womanly ways aside for a higher purpose should be held in high regard. Rosaline also acts as a foreshadowing force. She helps to show Romeoâ??s thoughts of love and what love is like. With the words and phrases he uses to speak of his love of Rosaline, such as â??Misshappen chaos of well-seeming forms, / Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick healthâ? and â??She will not stay the siege of loving terms, / Nor bide thâ??encounter of assailing eyes,â? the audience sees how love is such a violent situation in Romeoâ??s eyes. Also, at the beginning of Act 2, the chorus uses an interesting phrase to represent Romeoâ??s disposal of Rosaline for the attempt at Juliet. They say that â??Now ole desire doth in his deathbed lie,â? perhaps pointing to the fact his own deathbed might be very near since he has only just put his love for Rosaline there. With all this information that links it to the supposed later-written play of As You Like It and foreshadowing to the deaths of the two â??star-crossed lovers,â? Rosaline definitely has a more vital role than can be seen on the surface of the play.
