Juliet Flashcards
- Learns Romeo is a Montague (A1S5)
“My only love sprung from my only hate! Too early seen unknown, and known too late!”
• What: Conflict between love & family hatred
• How:
• Antithesis (“love”/“hate”) = tension between emotion & loyalty
• Repetition of “only” → isolation; love is rare, tragic
• Foreshadowing → “too late” = inevitable tragic timing
• Monosyllables → finality, blunt realisation
• Why: Emphasises destructive nature of inherited conflict → love born from hate = doomed
• Themes: love vs hate, family loyalty, fate, appearance vs reality
- Balcony scene – questions his name (A2S2)
“O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo?”
• What: Regret that he is her enemy by name
• How:
• Anaphora of “Romeo” = obsessive fixation, despair
• Rhetorical question → not asking where he is, but why he is who he is
• Metonymy of “name” = identity shaped by society, not self
• Disruption of iambic pentameter → shows emotional turbulence
• Why: Love challenges societal structures → Juliet caught between desire & inherited duty
• Themes: individuals vs society, fate/destiny, love/relationships, family
- Balcony scene – contemplates rejecting family (A2S2)
“Deny thy father and refuse thy name; Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, And I’ll no longer be a Capulet.”
• What: Offers to abandon identity for love
• How:
• Imperatives (“deny”, “refuse”) = bold defiance of patriarchy
• Conditional structure → control shared, mutual sacrifice
• Binary oppositions (“Capulet” vs “love”) = identity vs emotion
• Crescendo of rebellion → building tension in line delivery
• Why: Highlights conflict between personal desire & social identity → Juliet transcends expectations
• Themes: individuals vs society, family loyalty, gender, love/relationships
- First moment of vulnerability (A2S2)
“Although I joy in thee, I have no joy of this contract tonight.”
• What: Questions speed of relationship despite love
• How:
• Juxtaposition of “joy” and “no joy” = paradox of emotion
• Metaphor of “contract” = love as legal/binding exchange
• Polysyndeton later in scene = breathless uncertainty
•Mood shift from romantic to cautious → shows emotional intelligence
• Why: Juliet values depth over speed → reflects maturity vs Romeo’s impulsiveness
• Themes: love/relationships, impulsiveness, time, gender
- About to marry Romeo in secret (A2S6)
“But my true love is grown to such excess I cannot sum up half my wealth.”
• What: Describes love as overwhelming and immeasurable
• How:
• Metaphor of “wealth” = love as emotional capital
• Hyperbolic diction → romantic idealism
• Semantic field of abundance → boundless, limitless affection
• Ironic structure → “cannot sum up” love = foreshadows emotional bankruptcy (death)
• Why: Suggests that emotional excess can lead to tragedy → love as destabilising force
• Themes: love/relationships, impulsiveness, fate, time
- Responding to Romeo’s banishment (A3S2)
“O serpent heart, hid with a flowering face!”
• What: Feels betrayed by Romeo after Tybalt’s death
• How:
• Metaphor → beauty masking cruelty = appearance vs reality
• Zoomorphism (“serpent”) = biblical allusion to temptation/deception
• Juxtaposition of heart/face → inner evil vs outer innocence
• Exclamative tone = emotional eruption, betrayal
• Why: Love’s purity tainted by violence → shows collapse of idealism
• Themes: appearance vs reality, love vs hate, conflict, impulsiveness
- Moment of torn loyalty (A3S2)
“Shall I speak ill of him that is my husband?”
• What: Conflict between love and family loyalty
• How:
• Rhetorical question = inner turmoil
• Juxtaposition → “ill” vs “husband” = moral contradiction
• Use of personal pronouns → marks internal debate
• Reversal of earlier loyalty to family → shows psychological shift
• Why: Juliet redefines loyalty on her own terms → aligns with Romeo over kin
• Themes: family loyalty, love/relationships, gender, honour
- Rejecting Paris and choosing death (A4S1)
“If in thy wisdom thou canst give no help, / Do thou but call my resolution wise, / And with this knife I’ll help it presently.”
• What: Threatens suicide if forced to marry Paris
• How:
• Polite tone masks violent threat → dramatic irony
• Weapon = symbol of agency → knife as tool of control
• Alliteration (“with…wisdom…wise”) = pressure on Friar’s judgement
• Balanced syntax → false calmness over explosive emotion
• Why: Shows active resistance to patriarchal coercion → reclaiming autonomy
• Themes: individuals vs society, gender, fate, death
- About to drink potion (A4S3)
“What if this mixture do not work at all? Shall I be married then tomorrow morning?”
• What: Anxiety before taking drastic action
• How:
• Series of rhetorical questions = frantic thought spiral
• Monosyllabic phrasing = blunt reality of consequences
• Contrast between “mixture” and “married” = life vs social death
• Disjointed metre → psychological instability
• Why: Highlights depth of fear and desperation → vulnerability before illusion of control
• Themes: fate, gender, time, individuals vs society
- Drinking the potion (A4S3)
“Romeo, I come! This do I drink to thee.”
• What: Sacrifices self for Romeo, trusts love blindly
• How:
• Direct address → Romeo becomes substitute for religious faith
• Exclamation = urgency and certainty
• Imperative tone → reclaiming agency through self-harm
• Echoes marriage vow → potion = ritualistic union in death
• Why: Presents love as sacred yet self-destructive → ultimate surrender to fate
• Themes: love/relationships, fate, death, gender
- Wakes to find Romeo dead (A5S3)
“O churl! Drunk all, and left no friendly drop / To help me after?”
• What: Angry that Romeo didn’t leave poison for her
• How:
• Juxtaposition of “friendly” and “poison” = death romanticised
• Exclamative tone = blends grief, anger, love
• Direct address = intimacy even in betrayal
• Irony: calls Romeo selfish, yet intends same end
• Why: Emotional complexity of grief → Juliet still sees love as shared fate
• Themes: love/relationships, death, fate, youth
- Final line before suicide (A5S3)
“O happy dagger! This is thy sheath: there rust, and let me die.”
• What: Welcomes death, sees body as vessel for weapon
• How:
• Oxymoron (“happy dagger”) = joy in death = love/fate convergence
• Metaphor (“sheath”) → erotic undertone, weapon = masculine force
• Imperatives → full control of destiny
• Sibilance → soft, almost peaceful ending
• Why: Love, sex, and death merge → Juliet’s final act is autonomous, tragic, poetic
• Themes: death, love/relationships, fate, gender
