*curtsies* Mighty duke, I've been taught at school that the balcony scene in Romeo and Juliet is actually a sonnet, but you recently assured that this is incorrect. Could you please explain why? I'm starting to doubt everything my teacher says

*Curtsies* First things first: There is no such thing as ‘the balcony scene.’ Calling it ‘the balcony scene’ is a misnomer because there’s no actual balcony involved. ‘Balcony’ wasn’t even really used as a word until about the 1610s; Romeo and Juliet was written in the 1590s. Romeo says “What light through yonder window breaks?” She’s at a window. Not on a fuckin’ balcony. That’s people conflating what we have of the text and what we *think* we know of early modern theatre architecture and creating a balcony where no balcony exists in the world of the play. So that’s the first problem. Second problem: Romeo and Juliet do speak a sonnet together but it’s in the scene at the Capulets’ ball when they first meet, not in the incorrectly-termed ‘balcony’ scene. (It’s Act I, Scene 5 and it starts with If I profane with my unworthiest hand if you’re looking for it.) Yes, there is a sonnet. No, there is no balcony. And there definitely isn’t a sonnet on a balcony at any point.