ROMEO & JULIET

• "Give me, give me! O' tell not me of fear" - Juliet
• "Give me, give me! O' tell not me of fear" - Juliet

  Friar Lawrence just told Juliet about the potion

  • Repetition - shows her desperation
  • exclamation mark emphasises this
  • exclamatory "O" - shows heightened emotion of speech
  • abrupt short sentence mimic the panic she feels
  • loves romeo so much she is willing to drink a potion to be with him
  • Friar Lawrence calls fear "womanish"
  • subverting the gender stereotype where a woman would be to afraid to take the potion
• "Beautiful tyrant, fiend angelical! / Dove-feather'd raven, wolfish-ravening lamb! / despised substance of divinest show!" - Juliet
• Juliet: '"Beautiful tyrant, fiend angelical! / Dove-feather'd raven, wolfish-ravening lamb! / despised substance of divinest show!"'
• "Beautiful tyrant, fiend angelical! / Dove-feather'd raven, wolfish-ravening lamb! / despised substance of divinest show!" - Juliet

  Oxymorons

  • Sequentical use
  • Conveys the conflict that plagues Juliet
  • Echoes Romeo's Petrarchan suffering
  • Juliet laments the opposing familial and romantic love
• "Beautiful tyrant, fiend angelical! / Dove-feather'd raven, wolfish-ravening lamb! / despised substance of divinest show!" - Juliet

  Revolutionary for Elizabethan Era
• "Beautiful tyrant, fiend angelical! / Dove-feather'd raven, wolfish-ravening lamb! / despised substance of divinest show!" - Juliet

  Juliet uses oxymorons attributed to Romeo
• "Beautiful tyrant, fiend angelical! / Dove-feather'd raven, wolfish-ravening lamb! / despised substance of divinest show!" - Juliet

  Juliet is able to use language to invert Romeo's imagery
• "Beautiful tyrant, fiend angelical! / Dove-feather'd raven, wolfish-ravening lamb! / despised substance of divinest show!" - Juliet

  Juliet's proficiency in language shows that of an educated man
• "Beautiful tyrant, fiend angelical! / Dove-feather'd raven, wolfish-ravening lamb! / despised substance of divinest show!" - Juliet

  Juliet uses Romeo's language against him in order to purposely hurt him
• "Beautiful tyrant, fiend angelical! / Dove-feather'd raven, wolfish-ravening lamb! / despised substance of divinest show!" - Juliet

  Broken syntax

  • Evokes violence of this turmoil
  • Makes dialogue more potent
  • Expresses her anger
• "Dove-feather'd raven"

  • her animosity towards Romeo is such contrast to the passionate love she has expressed for him
  • semantic field of nature --> evokes imagery of dark vs light
• "is it e'en so?" Then I defy you, stars!" - Romeo
• "is it e'en so?" Then I defy you, stars!" - Romeo

  • Caesura - "so? then i..." indicates assertion of agency & self-autonomy in order to defy the will of heavens
  • symbolises the "stars"
  • shakespeare creates conflict between individual & fate
• "Then I defy you, stars!" - Romeo

  • declarative - connotations of insolence/deliberate insubordination
  • "you" direct address - personifying stars --> believe they are indicating his fate --> dictators: Hitler, Stalin --> makes stars seem ruthless
  • self assured habris --> Romeo defiance against stars
  • Elizabethan audience were quite religious/superstitious
  • Romeo thoughtlessly attempting to change his fate would've caused audience to frown upon him
• "O brawling love O loving hate" - Romeo
• "O brawling love O loving hate" - Romeo

  • uses powerful oxymorons
  • emphasise his extreme emotions which suggest immaturity & inexperience
  • highlights ineffable quality of love ; full of contradictions & don't make sense
  • irregular rhyming couplets
  • indicates unpredictable nature of love
  • romeo fantisises about love he hasn't experienced yet
  • leaves him in anguish
• "O brawling love O loving hate" - Romeo

  • immperfect sonnet
  • relfects Romeo's experience with love is incomplete & flawed
  • suggests Romeo's confusion of love
• "O, I am fortune's fool" - Romeo
• "O, I am fortune's fool" - Romeo

  • alliteration of 'f'
  • emphasises his empathic sadness after killing Tybalt
  • uses exclamatory sentence
  • converys his sorrow & misery after being banished, won't see Juliet again
  • emphasises his obssessive nature as it reveals Romeo always needs to be with Juliet to be happy
• "fortune's fool" - Romeo

  • Romeo feels as if gods are using him for their entertainment
  • conveys Romeo feels fate is out of his control
  • creating sympathy for Romeo --> Reader's feel bad for Romeo
  • makes himself the object --> communicates his passive stance on life & inability to accept responsibility for his actions
• "these violent delights have violent ends" - Friar Lawrence
• "these violent delights have violent ends" - Friar Lawrence

  • warns Romeo
  • The 'violent' and rash delight he feels in his love for Juliet could be met with an equally violent end
  • the same way a spark makes gunpowder explode
  • some way the first taste of sweet honey momentarily seems to vanquish the most voracious appetite
  • Foreshadowing
  • he speaks with narrator-like the, using repetition to show the apprehension
  • attempting to meditate the conflict
• “for this alliance may so happy prove, to turn your households' rancor to pure love" - Friar Lawrence
• “for this alliance may so happy prove, to turn your households' rancor to pure love" - Friar Lawrence

  • through the character of Friar Lawrence, Shakespeare explores conflict between individual conscience and institutional authority
  • highlighting the themes of morality & responsibility
  • Friar Lawrence agrees to marry R & J with good intentions
  • hopes that the lover's marriage will put an end to the fued between their families
  • however, in the end, it was the death of the two lovers that united the Montagues and Capulets, instead of their marriage
• "where is my daughter? call her forth to me" - Lady Capulet
• "where is my daughter? call her forth to me" - Lady Capulet

  • connates she is a strict mother & has lots of power over Juliet
  • The fact that she calls her in a breif & concise manner clearly states how her mother is of an upper-class & could suggest she cares more abt her appearance than her actual daughter
  • does not refer to her as Juliet but "daughter" which further distances LC from J, highlights the weak relationship between the two characters
• "where is my daughter? call her forth to me" - Lady Capulet

  • a reason Juliet is close to nurse could be that her mother does not care for Juliet
  • her mother is incapable of having an intimate conversation with Juliet therefore she turns to the nurse for motherly advice
• "I was your mother much upon these years that you are now a maid. Thus then in brief: The Valiant Paris seeks you for his love" - Lady Capulet
• "I was your mother much upon these years that you are now a maid. Thus then in brief: The Valiant Paris seeks you for his love" - Lady Capulet

  • Juliet's mother talks about what is expected of Juliet in terms of marriage because it was what was expected of her & all women
  • Lady Capulet is also very excited about Paris not just because he is "valiant" but also because of what his high social standing could do for Juliet and the family
  • one of the main reasons nobles got married from a young age, to secure more wealth ; marriage used as business partnerships
• "Hang thee, young baggage, disobedient wrench!" Lord Capulet
• "Hang thee, young baggage, disobedient wrench!" Lord Capulet

  • noun "wretch"
  • someone who is though to be a troubled person
  • correlates to Juliet as he believes she is foolish for not wanting to marry Paris, who has great qualities
  • adjective "disobedient"
  • emphasise the power he has over Juliet, however she doesn't obey
• "Hang thee, young baggage, disobedient wrench!" Lord Capulet

  • conveys his wrathful anger to Juliet when describing her as "baggage"
  • connotations suggest Juliet is a burden and only there to drag him down --> views her as a mere property
  • exclamation mark connotes conflict between R & J as it suggests Capulet is shouting
• "Hang, beg, starve, die in the streets" - Lord Capulet
• "Hang, beg, starve, die in the streets" - Lord Capulet

  • Asyndetic listing
  • emphasises idea that Capulet is becoming increasingly erratic & distraught as Juliet continues to disobey him
• "Hang, beg, starve, die in the streets" - Lord Capulet

  • harsh terms "hang" "beg" "starve" "die"
  • agglomerate to create semantic field of death
  • reinforces impression that Capulet is a bad father
  • more concerned about reputation & honour than his own daughter's life
  • "hang" --> shock Elizabethan audience
  • hanging only occured in case where crime had been committed
  • as if Lord Capulet views Juliet as a criminal for going against his orders
  • reinforces impression Juliet is trapped by the Patriarchal, abusive views of her father
• "A plague O' both your houses" - Mercutio
• "A plague O' both your houses" - Mercutio

  • almost seen as prophetic in this case as he foreshadows the tragedy to come
  • implies as though this tragedy will come very soon like a "plague" amidst the span of mere days which also labels him as inituitive despite his initial comedic character
• "A plague O' both your houses" - Mercutio

  • abstract noun "plague"
  • used to condemn the Montagues & Capulets as it lives through unsanitary conditions
  • implying both the Petrarchan love, toxic musculinity & futile conflict amount the families is reckless
  • "plague" is ruthless & relentless & takes control of your body
  • suggests how intoxicating their behaviour has become and how infectious a simple conflict has become towards now catalysing tragedy
• "A plague O' both your houses" - Mercutio

  • Elizabethan era - plague was responsible for many deaths in England, however there were higher mortality rates for those who were young
  • Mercutio highlights vulnerability of R & J due to conflict and their eventual death
  • when affected by plague --> the body itself kills itself as a trigger response
  • irony --> R & J own flesh and blood that catalyse this tragedy & as an escape drank poison themselves out of freewill & desperation