r and j

Question 1

It is the east, and Juliet is the sun

Answer 1

• love
• act 2 scene 2
• using celestial imagery to elevate her beyond the human she becomes his source of light, life, and clarity. The metaphor of the sun suggests Juliet has displaced Rosaline, showing his shift from superficial infatuation to profound emotional attachment. It also foreshadows how this love, like the sun, will burn too intensely and end in tragedy.

Question 2

My only love sprung from my only hate!

Answer 2

• love
• act 1 scene 5
• uliet is torn between love and loyalty. The oxymoron captures the paradox of her situation her love is destined to clash with her family’s values. Shakespeare uses this moment to explore how love can be irrational and overwhelming, and how social structures (like family honour) tragically complicate human emotion.

Question 3

These violent delights have violent ends.

Answer 3

• love
• act 2 scene 6
• Friar Lawrence warns Romeo that intense passion leads to destruction — foreshadowing their deaths. The juxtaposition of “delights” and “violent ends” exposes the play’s core tragedy: love and death are inextricably linked. It reflects Shakespeare’s belief that unchecked emotion, even in love, can be as fatal as hatred.

Question 4

O calm, dishonourable, vile submission!

Answer 4

• conflict
• Act 3, Scene 1
• Mercutio mocks Romeo’s refusal to fight Tybalt, seeing peace as cowardice. His use of three insults intensifies the ridicule, showing how toxic masculinity and the honour culture of Verona demand violence. His death acts as a turning point, dragging Romeo into the feud he once avoided.

Question 5

I hate the word, / As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee.

Answer 5

• conflict
  -Act 1 scene 1
  tybalt aligns hatred for Montagues with religious damnation a powerful tricolon equating family conflict to eternal sin. It exposes how deeply violence is rooted in identity, and sets up the toxic foundations that ultimately destroy Romeo and Juliet. Shakespeare criticises how blind loyalty to honour and lineage fuels endless conflict.

Question 6

A plague o’ both your houses!

Answer 6

• conflict/fate
• Act 3 scene 1
  -As he dies, Mercutio curses both families, blaming their feud for his death. The word “plague” links the family rivalry to a disease that infects and destroys. Shakespeare presents conflict as not just personal but socially poisonous

Question 7

A pair of star-cross’d lovers take their life

Answer 7

• fate
• prologue
• This line immediately frames the lovers’ destiny as doomed by fate. “Star-cross’d” suggests their fates are cosmically opposed. Shakespeare primes the audience to see the tragedy as inevitable, making us helpless observers. The line also builds tension by revealing the ending first

Question 8

I defy you, stars!

Answer 8

• fate
• act 5 scene 1
• Romeo attempts to challenge fate after hearing of Juliet’s death. His defiance is tragically ironic: his attempt to control fate only hastens it

Question 9

Then I dreamt my lady came and found me dead.

Answer 9

• fate
• act 5 scene 1
• This eerie premonition combines dream and prophecy. It blurs the line between reality and fate, foreshadowing Juliet’s discovery of his body. Shakespeare uses dramatic irony to heighten the tragedy, as Romeo unknowingly describes what is about to happen, reinforcing the idea that fate is inescapable.