R + J Key Quotes (light bulb revision) Flashcards
‘O brawling Love! O loving hate’
Oxymoron/ antithesis- opposite ideas-confused/ depressed (melancholy, sensitive Romeo)- (first impression) childish nature->in love with he idea of being in love (unrequited love with Rosaline)-immature, exaggerated love. Life is surrounded by love
In relation to Juliet: “My only love sprung from my only hate”–>direct contrast of love and hate: hate from love and love from hate;
-Tybalt kills Mercurio- love for friendships=revengeful reaction
-love for winning petty quarrel= sense of pride and honour
“Either you, or I, or both must go with him”
Beforehand, Romeo has a sensible confrontation with Tybalt in Act 3 scene 1 “villain am I none”
Reacts it of grief=terrible consequences. Link to fate/ bad luck: “O I am fortunes fool”- bad luck it laughing at him- manipulated by its powers– foreshadowed tragedy in the prologue “death-Mark’s love” (predetermined death)
“I will never be Romeo”
Family controversy-offers to turn away family name– set in Verona around the 14th Century–> seen as a way to further family status + for fortunes (didn’t consider marrying for love)- Italy was a strong Catholic country so this would’ve been strongly opposed against for a man to take a away his family name knowing it is presented as a patriarchal society (evident through Lord Capulet)
Rejecting duty for love demonstrates his role: more submissive/less dominant=feminine traits (lovesick+romantic=would do anything for love)==> defying gender expectations
“My naked weapon is out”
Act 1 scene 1: conflict expressed in a comic manner- sexual innuendo. Comedy to entertain audience (sexual appeal)- Gregory and Sampson use a lot of puns and mockery- childish behaviour
Stichomythia- alternating witted responses (energetic rhythms)–> impulsive
Mercutio also teases Romeo choosing vulgar vocabulary: “That she were an open-arse”–>dramatic irony
“A crutch! A crutch! Why call you for a sword”
Shakespeare uses humour to raise themes of youth versus age.
Difference in age= lack of warmth between them
In relation to Juliet and Paris (arranged marriage) though to a modern audience Juliet is too young but in the context of the period of the play= expectation to marry young
“Ask for me tomorrow and you shall find me a grave man”
“Grave” shows Mercutios wit even as he dies (serious and buried)
Black humour illustrates his intelligence and sense of wit- mind able to do wordplay as his body fails him.
Uses black comedy to highlight to tragedy of Mercutio’s death and that of Tybalt
“With Cupids arrow”
“Rich in beauty”
Unrealistic lust/ believes Rosaline is wasting her legacy by refusing to love him back–> self pity and immature
Romeo relies heavily on the PETRACHAN language of courtly lif- when a man worships a lady from afar(writing love poems to a woman he cannot get close too) as seen in sonnet. Elizabethan era and today’s audience- laugh at the human folly (foolishness) - Romeo’s self indulgent
Hyperbolic phrasing of Rosalind
Cliche of the love-struck young man
“Peace? I hate the word as I hate hell, all montagues and thee”
Reveals Tybalts dark corrosive hatred that weaves itself through the play. Any comedy in the play is corrupted by the tragedy. Tybalt is seen as a the idol of masculinity in the play as he dares to challenge anyone that comes across his path “draw, if you be men”
“But soft, what light through yonder window breaks”
Although Romeo sneaks into the garden to see Juliet at night, her beauty makes him compare her to the light of the sun (light/ dark imagery)- sense of her bringing hope to his life as he can’t imagine life without love- she turns the darkness cast by the corrosive hate in Verona to light- guiding light- sense of invincibility. “Kill thy envious moon”– referring to his ‘love’ (impulsive lust) for Rosaline
“Wherefore art thou Romeo”
WHY not where. She asks him to deny his family name (montague) so they can be together due to the rivalry separating them. She thinks of him as a man rather than a montague- life overrides conflict between family “death Mark’‘d love”- their deaths bring alliance and peace of feuding families. Shakespeare presents her as a more defiant masculine role as she develops throughout the play- proposes to Romeo. “I will never be Romeo”- Romeo=submissive role- family controversy
“I defy you stars”
Fate is the idea that ones life is predetermined. In the prologue:”star-cross’d lovers”- their love for each other is written in the starts however is not easy. Revolves around fate- Romeo revolves around Juliet as he calls her ‘sun’. Their love for each other will be their downfall.
Says this when he hears Juliet dies from Balfazar: he tries to defy fate but sadly brings about his own demise- fate wins: supernatural spiritual power
