In this scene, Lord and Lady Montague express their concern for their son, Romeo, who has come across as quite depressed. They tell Benvolio that he often keeps to himself in a darkened room and does not want to speak to them about his distress. They have consulted many others to establish a reason for their son's sadness but have not had much success.
As Romeo approaches, Benvolio promises that he will make it his duty to find out what is troubling his friend. Before they depart, Lord Montague tells Benvolio that he wishes that he would successful in his quest, for he would surely like to know what is wrong with his son.
Romeo and Benvolio indulge in some small talk and Benvolio asks him why he feels that the day is so long since he remarked about it still being morning. Romeo replies that it is because he does not have that which would make his days seem shorter. Benvolio asks him if he is in love and Romeo says that he is out, which Benvolio interprets as meaning 'out of love' but Romeo says that he is out of her favour, implying that the one he loves does not return his affection.
Romeo is clearly distraught and in torment, for he uses a number of oxymoronic phrases to explain his pain:
Why, then, O brawling love! O loving hate!
O any thing, of nothing first create!
O heavy lightness! serious vanity!
Mis-shapen chaos of well-seeming forms!
Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire,
sick health!
Still-waking sleep, that is not what it is!
This love feel I, that feel no love in this.
The poor lad is obviously deeply infatuated and in romantic purgatory, for he cannot make sense of the fact that his endearment is unrequited. He obviously does not want to speak more about what he feels and wishes to go. Benvolio, however, refuses to leave his side, for he wants to know more.
Romeo tells him that he is not himself and Benvolio asks him to tell him who it is that he loves. Romeo does not name Rosaline, we only learn this later, but he does mention that it is a woman he loves and that she is beautiful (fair). When Benvolio comments that such a mark is easier to hit, his friend tells him that that is where he is wrong, for this mark refuses to be hit, saying:
Well, in that hit you miss: she'll not be hit
With Cupid's arrow; she hath Dian's wit;
And, in strong proof of chastity well arm'd,
From love's weak childish bow she lives unharm'd.
She will not stay the siege of loving terms,
Nor bide the encounter of assailing eyes,
Nor ope her lap to saint-seducing gold:
O, she is rich in beauty, only poor,
That when she dies with beauty dies her store.
He states that Rosaline has made a vow of chastity and that her determination to remain so is an unbreakable resolve. She will not allow herself to be persuaded in any way and that, although she has a wealth of beauty, she is poor since her bounty (which is her good looks) will die with her and would not have profited in any way.
When Benvolio wants confirmation that she has indeed promised to remain chaste, Romeo responds by saying that she has and for that, is wasting what she has. He says that she is too wise and too beautiful to be persuaded and, in doing so, has denied him happiness and has denied her beauty to live on forever for she is so harsh. Rosaline has renounced love and in that has brought about his death, metaphorically speaking.
Benvolio, out of concern for his friend asks Romeo to follow his advice and forget about thinking of her. Romeo asks him how he should do that and is told that he should look at other women. Romeo, who is obviously steeped in his self-inflicted misery, responds:
...Show me a mistress that is passing fair,
What doth her beauty serve, but as a note
Where I may read who pass'd that passing fair?
Farewell: thou canst not teach me to forget.
Romeo is too disconsolate to contemplate even looking at another girl for it would just serve as a reminder that he had missed out on having won Rosaline's affection. He believes that Benvolio cannot teach him to forget. The determined Benvolio, though, insists that he will definitely teach him to dismiss thoughts of Rosaline or die indebted to him if he cannot.
Romeo is clearly completely infatuated with Rosaline. She has become his focal point at this stage. He cannot get her out of his mind and his thoughts constantly dwell on her, specifically because she refuses to return his affections. He is more in love with the idea of being in love and because this sentiment does not receive a proper outlet and is not resolved, he becomes miserable. In the end, he is the reason for his misery, not Rosaline.
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