Romeo

Question 1

‘Much to do with hate, but more with love: Why then, O brawling love, O loving hate, O anything of nothing, first create! O heavy lightness’

Answer 1

• ‘O brawling love, O loving hate’ —> oxymoronic phrases —> indicate Romeo’s inner turmoil and unsteady state of mind —> causing him to experience extreme confusion and an inability to understand reality. Very melodramatic —> instantly juxtaposes other male characters in the story by showing emotion. ‘Brawling love’ —> also introduces Romeo as a character who is a Petrarchan lover since he is in love and is unable to be with that who he loves. In the adjective —> ‘brawling’ —> portrays his negative experience with love.
• ‘o anything of nothing, first create!’ —> continually oxymoronic phrases portrays his continuous uncertainty caused by sorrow from a struggle with love. His emotional turmoil is also portrayed by the use of assonance and exclamatory language.
• continual sorrow and grief caused by love is continually explored in ‘O heavy lightness’ —> adjective —> ‘heavy’ —> describes his emotional state feeling ‘heavy’ hearted and emotionally distraught. —> portrays Romeo as a character an emotional character suffering from a lack of romance.

Question 2

‘Love is a smoke made with the fume of sighs, being purg’d, a fire sparkling on lovers’ eyes, being vex’d, a sea nourish’d with loving tears. What is it else? A madness’

Answer 2

• ‘love is a smoke made with the fumes of sighs’ —> metaphor —> ‘smoke’ —> portrays the lack of clarity caused by love and its ability to obscure vision. This implies that Romeo’s state of mind is currently unclear. Then in ‘fume of sighs’ —> the action of a ‘sigh’ —> is a visual sign of sorrow. This portrays Romeo’s understanding of heartbreak —> able to understand that sorrow causes a lack of clarity like the one that he is experiencing.
• ‘A fire sparkling in lovers’ eyes’ —> metaphor —> noun ‘fire’ —> creates imagery of love being intense and emotionally warming providing comfort for people. This can refer to sexual lust and the emotional comfort caused by love, This can portray his craving for love and his desire for lust —> portray him as superficial and shallow in his emotions.
• ‘being vex’d, a sea nourish’d with loving tears’ —> verb —> ‘vex’d’ —> understands the emotional charged nature of love through the metaphor of a ‘sea’ —> implies the extensive sorrow which can be caused from ‘love’.
• ‘What is it else?’ —> inverse syntax —> continually portrays his sense of confusion and lack of stability in his environment.

Question 3

‘O she doth teach the torches to burn bright! It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night as a rich jewel in an Ethiop’s ear - beauty too rich for use’

Answer 3

• ‘doth teach the torches to burn bright’ —> metaphor —> uses light imagery to portray Juliet’s beauty. In the verb —> ‘teach’ —> portrays her as the epitome of light and radiance. This portrays Romeo as a traditional Petrarchan lover —> portraying Juliet’s beauty intensely and being very emotionally invested in her very fast. —> verb —> ‘bright’ —> portrays Romeo’s immediate attraction and affiliation towards Juliet —> portrays her as a ‘torch’ that illuminates Romeo’s life and helps give him a sense of direction.
• ‘rich jewel’ —> adjective —> ‘rich’ —> implies the wealth of her beauty and extent of it. However —> noun —> ‘jewel’ —> portrays Romeo’s superficial nature since he is only fixated on her physical looks —> objectification of her. This portrays him as a loving but fickle character instantly changing his love depending on looks.
• ‘beauty too rich for use’ —> continues to portray her beauty portraying his extreme passion for her. This is shown by the adverb —> ‘too’ —> portraying her abundance of beauty.
• ‘bright and ‘night’ —> uses imagery of light —> can link to earlier in ‘artificial night’ —> portrays her as a cure for his sorrow portraying his strong need for love.

Question 4

‘Juliet is the sun, arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon, who is already sick and pale with grief that thou’

Answer 4

• ‘Juliet is the sun’ —> metaphorical diction —> uses celestial imagery to portray her as a powerful part of his life. This is because the ‘sun’ creates connotations of life and is central to the universe. —> This deifies her as being centralised to his life but also portrays her as being radiant in her beauty —> explores Romeo as a loving but Petrarchan lover.
• ‘kill the envious moon’ —> ‘moon’ —> connotes to the goddess of the moon Diana, who was the patroness of virgins. —> verb —> ‘kill’ —> portrays his want for Juliet to not adhere to her virginity. Portrays his lust and sexual desires with Juliet. Portrays his passionate nature. This is further reiterated by —> ‘sick and pale’ —> can refer to an illness assumed to be caused by virginity in the Renaissance.

Question 5

‘Is this better now than groaning for love? Now art thou sociable, now art thou Romeo; now art thou what thou art’

Answer 5

• portrays the strong impacts of love and his embodiment of a romantic lover.
• ‘now art thou sociable’ —> temporal marker —> ‘now’ —> portrays a change in the character of Romeo. Highlights the positive impact of love since the adjective ‘sociable’ —> portrays his sense inflicted isolation as having ended from love.
• ‘art thou Romeo’ —> consistently portrays positive impacts of love —> provided him with his identity allowing his character to thrive and be true to himself. Portrays love as a cure for his character and emotional turmoil.

Question 6

‘O sweet Juliet, thy beauty hath made me effeminate, and in my temper soften’d valour’s steel!’

Answer 6

• Highlights his impulsive and hasty nature —> emotionally driven.
• ‘O sweet Juliet, thy beauty hath made me effeminate’ —> adjective —> ‘effeminate’ —> portrays Romeo’s impulsive nature since ‘effeminate’ —> implies that he feels emasculation by love. This causes him to act in a harsh manner by killing Tybalt. This portrays his hammartia of being impulsive causing his downfall. Also, —> adjective —> ‘beauty’ and ‘sweet’ —> portrays Romeo as an easily influenced character.
• ‘temper soften’d valour’s steel’ —> metaphor —> ‘valour’s steel’ —> can refer to a sword where ‘valour’ —> portrays swords and the act of violence as intrepid. In this, he portrays himself as being emasculated in ‘softened’ —> portrays loves impact on him —> causing a positive charge —> no longer conforms to violent behaviour.

Question 7

‘Art thou a man? Thy form cries out thou art; thy tears are womanish, they wild acts denote the unreasonable fury of a beast.’

Answer 7

• ‘art thou a man’ —> noun —> ‘men’ —> in the Renaissance men were expected to be stoic, unemotional and aggressive. However, in the question of Romeo’s masculinity, it portrays him as contrasting the stoic expectations of men in his deep sorrow in being banished —> shown by ‘tears’. This portrays love’s strong impacts on him since it causes him to feel desperate and grieved when separated from it. —> over-reliant on love.
• ‘wild’ and ‘unreasonable’ —> lexical field of irrationality and impulsiveness —> implies that Romeo is too brash and uncontrolled in his actions. Portrays his hammartia as a character and the dangers of love in its impact on him. His erratic nature is shown in ‘beast’ —> dehumanises him implying his lack of intelligence and self-control.

Question 8

‘I will tear thee joint by joint, and strew this hungry churchyard with thy limbs. The time and my intents are savage-wild’

Answer 8

• shows how love has caused his unravelling of character.
• ‘I will tear thee joint by joint’ —> uses visceral imagery and verb —> ‘tear’ —> portray Romeo’s barbaric nature caused by a craving for love and unity with Juliet. Portrays the negative impacts f love. —> ‘will’ —> modal verb —> indicates his conviction in his actions portraying his barbaric nature since he is willing to harm anyone who opposes his journey towards his lover.
• ‘my intents are savage-wild’ —> phrase —> ‘savage-wild’ —> explicitly mentions his feral and uncontrolled nature. When this is used to describe his ‘intents’ and purpose, it portrays a detachment from his humanity —> portrays how love has deconstructed his character and unravelled his mindset.

Question 9

‘Bitter conduct, come, unsavoury guide! Thou desperate pilot, now at once run on the dashing rocks thy sea sick weary bark! Here’s to my love!’

Answer 9

• ‘desperate pilot’ —> metaphorical diction —> ‘pilot’ —> can represent him and his understanding that he has succumbed to his impulsive and emotional nature allowing it to navigate him. In this, he understands his own downfall and accepts his impulsive nature. Highlights the negative impacts of love.
• ‘dashing rocks’ —> metaphorical for his death by describing a pilot crashing. In this, he accepts the notion of death —> indicates his passion and commitment to Juliet even when out of control —> committed to suicide in order to be re-United with her.
• ‘here’s to my love’ —>