#valentine escalus

bobamon
bobamon

Each main house (Montague, Capulet, Escalus) having one surviving heir each at the end of the play (Benvolio, Rosaline, Valentine) opens possibilities for each child to be seen as fragments of their loved ones; remnants of the kids who died to the feud. If the three survivors were to cross paths at Romeo and Juliet's funeral, a wave of memories and uncanny resemblances to those they loved and lost would probably flood to them.

Benvolio sees Tybalt’s fiery will in how Rosaline carries herself, Mercutio’s smallest features in Valentine.

Valentine sees Mercutio’s mannerisms in Benvolio as he moves, left with fragments of a brother he barely knew present in one of the only people who may have actually known who Mercutio was beneath the front he put up.

Rosaline sees Romeo being a “well-governed youth” according to word on the street reflected in the way Benvolio acts, one of the only insights she gets into the person present for both of her cousins’ final moments.

This also isn’t limited to the heirs’ perceptions of each other, as the main guiding figures in the kids’ life are also constantly reminded of the children they lost. Perhaps the one time Benvolio allows his despair to seep through at the funeral brings Friar Lawrence back to every time Romeo entered his cell, bearing his troubles to him. And Rosaline’s more stoic way of mourning reminds the Nurse of Juliet’s hopeless resignation in Act IV when the Nurse advised her to go through with the marriage to Paris; the crucial moment she felt she failed Juliet.

💔💔💔benvoliobenvolio montaguevalentine escalusrosaline capuletromeo and juliet