Montagues Flashcards
- Worried about Romeo’s behaviour (A1S1 – Montague)
“Away from light steals home my heavy son.”
• What: Describes Romeo’s withdrawal and depression
• How:
• Metaphor “steals home” = secrecy + shame
• Juxtaposition “light” vs “heavy” = emotional darkness
• Possessive “my” = paternal concern + control
• Soft iambic rhythm = sadness and confusion
• Why: Shows emotional distance between generations → inability to access son’s world
• Themes: family loyalty, generational divide, youth, appearance vs reality
- Describing Romeo’s emotions (A1S1 – Montague)
“Many a morning hath he there been seen, / With tears augmenting the fresh morning dew.”
• What: Romeo’s sadness is visible and poetic
• How:
• Pathetic fallacy → nature reflects Romeo’s emotion
• Hyperbolic metaphor = tears dominate natural world
• Alliteration “morning…many” = soft tone of mourning
• Visual imagery = Romeo’s grief becomes theatrical
• Why: Presents Romeo as sensitive and extreme → foreshadows emotional instability
• Themes: youth, impulsiveness, love/relationships, fate
- Lady Montague worries for Romeo (A1S1)
“O, where is Romeo? Saw you him today?”
• What: Expresses concern for Romeo’s whereabouts
• How:
• Interrogative tone = anxious maternal instinct
• Exclamative “O” → genuine emotion vs Lady Capulet’s formality
• Short clause + monosyllables = breathless worry
• Why: Suggests mother-son closeness → ironic, given her later disappearance from narrative
• Themes: family loyalty, youth, gender, generational divide
- Lady Montague relieved Romeo wasn’t in the fight (A1S1)
“Right glad I am he was not at this fray.”
• What: Expresses relief he avoided the violence
• How:
• Tone = tender + pacifist
• Juxtaposition: “glad” vs “fray” = peace vs chaos
• Ironic understatement → Romeo will later become central to violence
• Why: Symbolic maternal voice of peace → soon lost in feud
• Themes: conflict, family loyalty, fate, individuals vs society
- Montague defends Romeo to the Prince (A3S1)
“His fault concludes but what the law should end, / The life of Tybalt.”
• What: Argues Romeo only did what the law should’ve done
• How:
• Formal language = logical defence
• Juxtaposition “fault” / “law” → crime vs justice blurred
• Alliteration “fault…final…end” → echoes finality
• Why: Suggests Romeo’s violence was morally justified → tensions between justice and law
• Themes: honour, conflict, individuals vs society, fate
- Pleading against Romeo’s death (A3S1)
“Romeo slew him; he slew Mercutio. / Who now the price of his dear blood doth owe?”
• What: Attempts to reason with Prince after Tybalt’s death
• How:
• Balanced syntax = controlled logic
• Parallel structure “he slew…he slew” → mirroring violence
• “Dear blood” = euphemism for costly death
• Why: Highlights tragic symmetry → all sides pay in blood
• Themes: fate, justice, honour, love vs hate
- Silence of Lady Montague (Act 3–4)
She does not appear in these acts. (Stage absence)
• What: Disappears from the narrative entirely
• How:
• Structural absence = women’s emotional voices erased
• Juxtaposition to earlier concern → lack of resolution
• Silence = symbolic of emotional neglect in patriarchal world
• Why: Lady Montague’s role reduced → family fractured
• Themes: gender, family loyalty, generational divide
- Romeo grieves in exile (A3S3 – offstage link)
His parents are unaware of his inner turmoil (implied distance)
• What: Romeo is alone, parents absent
• How:
• Structural irony → family fails to comfort him
• Juxtaposes Capulet’s invasive control with Montague distance
• Symbolic → lack of parental guidance leads to collapse
• Why: Tragedy amplified by emotional absence of adults
• Themes: generational divide, youth, individuals vs society
- Prince announces Lady Montague’s death (A5S3)
“Grief of my son’s exile hath stopp’d her breath.”
• What: Lady Montague has died from heartbreak
• How:
• Euphemism “stopp’d her breath” = gentle image of death
• Irony → dies for love, while others die by violence
• Passive tone → voiceless ending for a silenced woman
• Why: Her death shows emotional cost of feud → love can kill as powerfully as swords
• Themes: death, love/relationships, fate, generational divide
- Montague after Romeo’s death (A5S3)
“O thou untaught! What manners is in this, / To press before thy father to a grave?”
• What: Mourns Romeo, shocked by his death
• How:
• Exclamatives + rhetorical question = anguished disbelief
• Metaphor “press before” = premature death, reversal of natural order
• Tone = grief and powerlessness
• Why: Final collapse of patriarchal control → fathers cannot protect sons
• Themes: death, fate, family loyalty, time
- Offering peace with Capulet (A5S3)
“I will raise her statue in pure gold.”
• What: Offers to honour Juliet
• How:
• Hyperbole “pure gold” = extravagant repentance
• Symbolic → love turned into legacy
• Juxtaposition → wealth used for memory, not marriage
• Why: Feud ends through death → tribute replaces reconciliation in life
• Themes: honour, love/relationships, fate, appearance vs reality
- Present for the Prince’s final speech (A5S3)
Silent during the closing lines. (Stage direction)
• What: Present, but says nothing
• How:
• Structural silence = guilt + grief
• Contrasts with loud mourning earlier
• Final image = broken families united only by loss
• Why: Tragedy leaves no one untouched → grief becomes the great equaliser
• Themes: fate, death, generational divide, individuals vs society
