Romeo

• "There lie more peril in [her] eye/ Than twenty of their swords" - A2

  Youth + Individual vs society + Violence + Family + Love

  A violent image is crafted through "swords" suggestive of Romeo's subconscious recognition of the violence intertwined with his love for Juliet. Their defiance of societal and familial boundaries positions their love as a violating act, filled with "peril". • Romeo acknowledges this peril of love goes beyond the threat of physical harm from the "swords" of enemies, but doesn't realise it has the potential for societal isolation and familial bloodshed - the young eponymous characters are blinded by passion and are ignorant to the perils of this prohibited love.
• "But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun." - A2

  Love + Individual vs society + Youth +

  Chance/Fate

  Romeo constructs a celestial metaphor likening Juliet to "the sun," an act of aggrandisement that elevates Juliets position by suggesting she possesses the ability to illuminate the sky. This portrayal not only compounds Juliet's significance but also emphasises Romeo's belief that both his love for her transcends mortal limitations, akin to celestial bodies. Given the Elizabethan fascination with fate and astrology, Shakespeare's audience is prompted to scrutinise examine the naive idealism of the youthful lovers - they tragically perceive their love as boundless.
• "With love's wings did [he] o'erperch these walls, for stony limits cannot hold love out" - A2

  Youth + Individual vs Society + Family vs Duty + Love

  Romeo's metaphor, "love's wings," has a classical allusion to Cupid, the Roman God of love, often depicted with wings. This shows that for Romeo love is a transcendent force capable of defying physical limitations and boundaries. The term "wings" also carries a classical allusion to the wings of Icarus, the figure from mythology who met his downfall when his wings, made of wax melted as he flew too close to the sun. Thus, the wings once a symbol of liberation have a morbid undertone.
• "Thy beauty hath made me effeminate" - A3

  Individual vs society + Love + Violence

  Within a patriarchal Elizabethan society, violence was synonymous with masculinity. Romeo's initial reluctance to fight, fueled by his love for Juliet, shows how he prioritises love's tenderness over the expected norms of aggression. However, Mercutio's death acts as a catalyst for a dramatic shift in Romeo's character. As 'effeminate' creates a womanly image, he becomes aware of the potentially devastating consequences of his reluctant propensity towards violence. His vow to avenge Mercutio through violence can be seen as a desperate attempt to reclaim his masculine identity he lost to love.
• "Then I defy you, stars!". - A5

  Chance/Fate + Youth + Individual vs society + Love + Violence

  The apostrophe, where Romeo directly addresses the stars, personifies them as tangible forces capable of replying to him. This shows both Romeo's deteriorating mental state, and also illuminates the immense power he gives to these celestial bodies. The exclamative sentence emphasises Romeo's descent into despair and his recognition of the tragic fate that awaits him. Despite his youthful defiance against societal, religious, and familial boundaries, his defiance proves futile. The stars, once symbols of destiny, now feel like a malevolent force actively working against him.
• For stony limits cannot hold love out - A2

  Family + Duty

  'Stony limits' acts as a metaphor for their families, preventing them from being together. But Romeo dispels any notion that he is not willing to clear any wall for her and is thus, by extension, willing to ignore his family's feud with hers, and be with her. Generational feuds are shown to cause much unnecessary collateral damage. This illustrates the potency of their love as they are willing to defy their families, and thus by extension, the GC of Being to be with each other
• For beauty, starved with her severity,. Cuts beauty off from all posterity - A1

  Love

  Romeo is forlorn and despondent, the emphasis that he places on Rosaline's aesthetics shows him to be materialistic and vain. His depthless, ornamental view of women depicts him as childlike and overly romantic in his perception of love. 'Posterity' demonstrates that often women of this era were seen, by young men, as simply vessels for childrearing. Romeo has a de-humanising, objectifying view of women, valuing them purely for their physical and allure and their maternal capabilities
• 'Exile hath more terror in his look' - A3

  Love

  Romeo is devastated that he will be parted from Juliet when he is banished. He humanises "exile," rendering it more tangible and, hence, more terrifying. He equates being banished to "purgatory," which he says is actually "hell itself." Using religious imagery, he draws a comparison between the absence of heaven and purgatory and a fate akin to hell, and thus, the absence of love.
• Thus with a kiss I die - A5


  Love + Family + Duty

  Shakespearean characters regard their families deeply and think that they are more significant than any other kind of relationship. Romeo, however, prioritises love here. The syntactical closeness between "die" and "kiss" indicates that he values Juliet more than his family, illustrating how generational conflicts can distance parents from their naïve offspring. In essence, it demonstrates how their love is unbounded by mortal constraints like familial ties. 
• O here/ will I set up my everlasting rest,/And shake the yoke of inauspicious stars/ From this world-wearied flesh - A5


  Fate

  Romeo tries to elude fate once more; "shake the yoke" is to "resist the domination". As one of the "star crossed lovers" who "take their lives," it was inevitable that he would ultimately forfeit his life, which makes this situation profoundly ironic. Romeo may have thought swiftly, which might have been perilous and illogical, based on the enjambment of this quotation. It is a hint at Romeo's demise at the end of the soliloquy, which is the insurmountable conclusion
• O brawling love, O loving hate - A1


  Love

  The verb “brawl” is used as an adjective here and has connotations of fighting. The oxymoron between “brawling” and “love” represents the contrast between Romeo and Juliet’s love with the quarrelling and violence of the family feud. It also foreshadows the amount of violence that will occur throughout the course of the play between the families, and links with the important theme of the coexistence of love and hate.