Key Quotes Flashcards
“For this alliance may so happy prove,
To turn your households’ rancour to pure love”
(Friar Lawrence, Act 2 scene 2) Shows how he believes that Romeo and Juliet’s love may lead to the two households finally uniting and absolving their “rancour”. Uses technique of foreshadowing to resonate with the preternatural beliefs of the period.
“Two households, both alike in dignity”
(Prologue) Shows that despite the Montague and Capulet households sharing similarities, they endlessly feud.
“A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life”
(Prologue) Fate - Romeo and Juliet are destined to perish and the audience are made aware of that from the beginning, which leaves us wondering what their hamartia’s are. Links to a preternatural, divine power that is present throughout the play.
“She hath not seen the change of fourteen years”
(Lord Capulet, Act 1 Scene 2) Lord C is a nonconformist - he deviates from the social norms we would expect from an Elizabethan patriarch, believing Juliet too young to marry.
“Earth hath swallowed all my hopes but she”
(Lord Capulet, Act 1 Scene 2) Personification shows his fatherly protectiveness taking course, however later contrasts with his sudden change in attitude (Act 3 Scene 5)
[About marriage] “It is an honour that I dream not of”
(Juliet, Act 1 Scene 3) Shows her heroine nature: she is strong-headed and mature despite her age (contrasts Romeo), but also emphasises her youth as she sees herself not yet fit to marry.
“O, I am fortune’s fool”
(Romeo) Fate - Romeo believes he is merely a jocular being acting as humour for a divine power. Fricative alliteration creates a sense of mystery and supernatural, meanwhile the caesura adds emotional weight to the sentence, causing the audience to resonate with and feel a sense of empathy towards him.
“It is the east, and Juliet is the sun”
(Romeo) Romeo speaks in hyperbolic language (blazons) to describe Juliet. “The sun” connotes brightness, illustrating that Juliet is like a shining light in Romeo’s life.
“O brawling love, O loving hate”
(Romeo, Act 1 Scene 1) Here Romeo speaks in oxymoronic language to convey his inner turmoil stemming from his Petrarchan love towards Rosaline. Both Romeo and Juliet speak in oxymoronic language throughout the play to represent the struggle between the conflict and their love.
“A plague O’ both your houses”
(Mercutio) Idiom - Mercutio blames both the families for his imminent death. He, like the audience, is frustrated with the constant battling.
“These violent delights have violent ends”
(Friar Lawrence) Fate - even the Friar, who helps the couple, is aware of their inevitable destinies of doom. The repetition of “violent” foreshadows the nature in which the two character perish, and links to the overarching theme of conflict.
“To strike him dead I hold it not a sin”
(Tybalt about Romeo) Shows his belligerent, bellicose nature. “Sin” connotes religious imagery, how Tybalt is so loathing towards Montagues that he believes killing Romeo is just and morally correct.
“Rebellious subjects, enemies to peace”
(Prince Escalus, Act 1 Scene 1) Assonance and repeated short vowel sounds heightens tension, emphasising the Prince’s resentment towards the conflict and the two households. “Rebellious” suggests they disregard his instructions, a heterodoxy.
“Out, you baggage!” “Disobedient wretch!”
(Lord Capulet, Act 3 Scene 5) He has become the antithesis of himself; he becomes enraged towards Juliet for disobeying his orders. This contrasts to the earlier metaphorical language Capulet uses to describe his daughter.
“My only love sprung from my only hate”
(Juliet, Act 1 Scene 5) Juliet juxtaposes the ideas of love and hate to convey the plight she faces due to loving a Montague. Repetition of “only” suggests she is loyal, yet faces turmoil due to the family feud.
“Happy dagger”
(Juliet, Act 5 Scene 3) The oxymoronic language represents a cyclical structure: the same lexical techniques are used at the end of her life, conveying a message that the love has done no good. Adjective “happy” suggests Juliet is embracing death in order to be with Romeo again.
