Beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear.
When Romeo woos Juliet for the first time, she also does not know his name. He is simply a very forward young man, who pledges his love for her and leaves her fallen. Later, when Juliet does learn of Romeo's true identity, a Montague -- it is her turn to be distraught. What is to be done when the one you love is your family's enemy? Can she help how she feels? And should he being a Montague change how she feels? Juliet's aside explains this beautifully:
My only love sprung from my only hate!
Too early seen unknown, and known too late!
Prodigious birth of love it is to me
That I must love a loathed enemy.
(1.5.135-8)
So, what's in a name? Romeo and Juliet are perfectly free to fall in love, but when their last names come into the picture, everything changes. Complications arise. Their families would forbid a union and while their marriage could mean the end to years of feuding, the possibility seems unlikely. Thus, Romeo and Juliet must find a way to break free of their names in order to be together - "'Tis but thy name that is my enemy" (2.1.80).
In the balcony scene between Romeo and Juliet in Act II, Scene 1, both lovers forsake their names for the other. To do so appears to be the only way for them to be together. So long as their family names remain Montague and Capulet, the two cannot be together as years of feuding have formed a wall reinforced with lingering hate. But so strong is the love that Romeo and Juliet feel, that they are prepared to cut ties with their families in order to forge a future together.
O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?
Deny thy father and refuse thy name,
Or if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,
And I'll no longer be a Capulet.
(Juliet, 2.1.75-8)
I take thee at thy word.
Call me but love and I'll be new baptized.
Henceforth I never will be Romeo.
(Romeo, 2.1.92-4)
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Shakespeare, William. "Romeo and Juliet." The Norton Shakespeare. Stephen Greenblatt. ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1996. 872-939.
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