Prologue Flashcards
“Two households, both alike in dignity,”
Meaning: The Capulets and Montagues are equally as bad as each other.
Dignity: class and nobility. At the top of the social hierarchy, yet violence and animosity is rife.
Dignified: composed and respectful. Ironic juxtaposition to their social standing and, therefore, their expectations from others in society
“From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,”
Meaning: Ancient disagreements present modern retaliation.
“Ancient” and “new”: Generational divide is evident between the families.
“Ancient grudge”: no clear reason given for how the feud began. No irreconcilable differences mentioned. Escalated and worsened over time.
“Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.”
“Civil blood makes civil hands unclean”: the blood of those unwilling to be involved in violence makes the hands of the fighters unclean.
“From forth the fatal loins of these two foes”
Loins: testes
The fathers of Romeo and Juliet (Lord Montague and Lord Capulet), whose violence has killed the lovers.
“A pair of star-cross’d lovers take their life;”
“Star-cross’d”: ill-fated. Doomed from the start; the conflict they faced would never end well
“Take their life”: They cannot exist separately. Unified and together forever, despite dying on Earth
“Two households, both alike in dignity,” (2)
“Both alike”: equally-assigned responsibility to families. Parallelism between them
Capulet and Montague are not diametrically (completely or absolutely) opposed. They can reconcile their differences.
“Whose misadventur’d piteous overthrows / Doth with their death bury their parents’ strife.”
“Misadventur’d”: unfortunate
“Piteous”: deserves pity
“Overthrows”: disasters.
“Strife”: angry, bitter disagreement; conflict
Meaning: Romeo and Juliet should be mourned and pitied for unfortunately committing suicide as a direct result of the conflict and feud between Lord Montague and Lord Capulet.
“Which but their children’s end nought could remove,”
Nothing else would have changed the mind of the two families. Fate.
“What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.”
“Toil”: hard work and effort
Anything not mentioned in the prologue is made clear in the play.
Reveals that the play is didactic, meaning it has a message. Intended to teach
What is the purpose of adding a prologue?
The prologue explains the basic plot of the play, allowing the audience to focus on the didactic purpose of ‘Romeo and Juliet’.
What are some themes found in the prologue?
Love
Conflict
Fate
Generational difference
“Whose misadventur’d piteous overthrows / Doth with their death bury their parents’ strife.” (2)
Romeo and Juliet act as sacrificial figures for the families.
The plural at the end further highlights the parallelism between the two families, as well as between Romeo and Juliet, in order to outline the compatibility of the two lovers.
