R+J

• Act 1.3: ''It is an honour I dream not of''
• Assonance in 'It is an honour I dream not of'


  • Creates a sense of shock
  • Reveals how defiant Juliet is
• Abstract noun 'honour'


  Reveals how Juliet understands how serious marriage is, but she does not try to seem very interested in it to her mother
• Juliet does not seem interested in marriage to her mother

  But she actually does care about marriage when she proposes to Romeo
• Act 1.5: ''I must love a loathed enemy''
• Alliteration in 'I must love a loathed enemy'


  • Emphasises her sadness that she has fallen in love with a Montague which goes against her family's wishes
  • Expresses inner conflict as there is a contrast between her love for Romeo and her loyalty to her family
• Modal verb 'must'


  Connotes a strong love
• Act 2.2: ''O, Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?''
• Repetition of 'Romeo' and rhetorical question


  • Expresses how she is obsessed with Romeo and wonders why the two families are feuding
• Act 2.2: ''Deny thy father... And I'll no longer be a Capulet''
• Imperative 'deny'


  • Suggests Juliet is ordering Romeo to go against his family and reject their feuding so they can be together
• Act 2.2: ''O, swear not by the moon, th'inconstant moon''
• Imperative 'swear not'


  • Suggests Juliet's power in the relationship and her rejection of Romeo's Petrarchan expressions of love
• Act 3.2: ''Beautiful tyrant, fiend angelical!''
• Oxymorons and exclamative sentence


  • Suggests she is confused as a 'tyrant' is somebody antagonistic and not typically 'Beautiful' but because of Romeo who she views as handsome yet also someone who has committed the act of killing her cousin which should make her hate him, but she cannot do so which leads to her inner conflict
• Act 3.5: ''I will not marry yet''
• Modal verb 'will'


  Expresses Juliet's power and rebelling against her parents and the restrictions in a patriarchal society which she is released from due to the power of her love for Romeo
• Act 4.2: ''God joined my heart and Romeo's''
• Hyperbolic statement


  • Suggests that their love is destined
• Act 4.1: ''with this knife I'll help it presently''
• Act 5.3: ''O happy dagger, This is thy sheath. There rust, and let me die.''
• Personification of the dagger as 'happy'


  • Suggests Juliet wants to happily reunite with Romeo in death as she cannot while she is alive
• Benvolio: '"What sadness lengthens Romeo's hours?"'
• Romeo is heartbroken


  Love causes negative emotional feelings
• Romeo: '"O, brawling love, O loving hate!"'
• Oxymorons


  • Reveal Romeo's inner conflict and heartbreak
• Romeo: '"Some consequence yet hanging in the stars"'
• The "stars" link to fate


  Stars are out of reach and hides unknown knowledge
• The verb "hanged" connotes death and suggests Romeo's unfortunate fate
• Romeo's hubris leads him to ignore the warning from fate, leading to the lovers' death
• Romeo: '"I ne'er saw true beauty till this night"'
• Romeo's hyperbolic language


  Reveals his rashness and doubts the sincerity of his love
• Romeo: '"O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright!"'
• Metaphor, light imagery, angelic and heavenly connotations

  • Reveal Romeo as a Petrarchan lover and his deep love for Juliet
• Juliet is Romeo's salvation

  Like a pilgrim seeking salvation
• Romeo: '"But soft, what light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun"'
• Celestial imagery of "light"

  Represents hope and Juliet as a guide for Romeo
• Romeo's obsession and dependence on Juliet


  Foreshadows his death when he believes Juliet has died
• Juliet being "the sun"

  Foreshadows the ending of their relationship as the sun only rises for a limited time
• Romeo: '"O, speak again, bright angel"'