romeo

Question 1

“for ____ starved with her _____ / cuts beauty off from all _____”
A1 S1

Answer 1

“for beauty starved with her severity / cuts beauty off from all posterity”

• he is the exemplary Petrarchan lover in that he is in a constant state of self involved melancholy
• his depthless , ornamental view of women depicts him as childlike & overly romantic in his perception of love
• ‘posterity’ demonstrates that often women of this era were seen, by young men, as simply vessels for childrearing - Romeo has a de-humanizing , objectifying view of women , valuing them purely for their physical & allure & their maternal capabilities

Question 2

“did my ____ love till now? ______ it, sight! / For I ne’er saw true beauty till this ____”
fate

Answer 2

when Romeo fatefully first catches sight of Juliet he poses aloud [ “did my heart love till now? Foreswear it, sight! / For I ne’er saw true beauty till this night” ]
- the idea that if Romeo had not seen Juliet at the capulets ball, then he would of been deprived of true “love” is one that gives rise to theories of free will & determinism

• elizabethans we’re particularly interested in ideas of fate & the stars and believed that celestial bodies could determine ones destiny

Question 3

“with ____ wings did [he] ______ these walls , for ___ limits cannot hold love out”
A2 S2

Answer 3

• he declares , in response to her question how he cleared the properties walls to reach her that
  [ “with loves wings did [he] o’erperch these walls , for stony limits cannot hold love out” ]
• this dispels any notion that he is not willing to clear any wall for her & is thus , by extension , willing to ignore his family’s feud with hers to be with her.
• the metaphor he employs evokes Cupid - making a classical reference with “loves wings” & making it apparent that love is powerful enough that it can overcome physical boundaries
• he speaks in iambic pentameter & this characteristics him to be romantic & decorative in his language showing love to take precedence over family rivalries in this scene

Question 4

“death ____, wanting of thy love”
A2 S2

Answer 4

• He asserts he would rather be killed by capulet than “death prorogued wanting of thy love”
• clear he is willing to surmount any obstacle & would rather die than be w/out Juliet demonstrating clearly the dire implications of generational feuds
• the play shows these feuds to be counterproductive, as they only culminate in more violence for later generations who are blameless & naive of the initial feud

Question 5

“pray __ chide me not … ___ for ____ and ____ for ____ allow”
A2 S3

Answer 5

• he “prays” that Lawrence “chide not” like a son might to a father & asserts “grace for grace & love for love allow”
• rep of abstract nouns “grace” & “love” demonstrates Romeo to be open with his emotions to Lawrence ; to be vulnerable with him.
• Shakespeare shows religion to be a sanctuary to Romeo to express his feelings & Lawrence a father figure in place of Romeo’s real father who would not help him
• this is dramatically ironic , given the events that unfold in the rest of the play, which may be a critique of religion on Shakespeare , not overtly, but given that the lovers are doomed despite their marriage it seems even religion cannot save them

Question 6

“beauty hath made [him] ____”
A3 S1

Answer 6

• R claims Juliet’s “beauty hath made [him] effeminate” showing violence to be an inherently masculine trait & implying femininity to be inferior
• however even in his slander of femininity he is still effeminate in his language , he retains his iambic pentameter , which if beauty is associated with femininity as he claims it to be , is an effeminate expression of language

Question 7

“I ___ you star”
A5 S1

Answer 7

• still under the impression that fate is trying to keep him & his inamorata apart & addresses the stars exclaiming “I defy you stars”
• addresses them with the personal pronoun “you” as though they might reply.
• not only does this paint his mental state to be disintegrating but it also shows the vast impact the “stars” have had on him to the point where they feel like a tangible force to him that he can address.
• Elizabethans were remarkably superstitious in regard to the power of celestial bodies & while its uncertain if it is correct to attribute these views to Shakespeare himself , he most certainly uses the trope of star crossed lovers.

Question 8

“lighting before death”
A5 S3

Answer 8

• after he slews paris , Romeo’s final acts of violence he commits is against himself - speaks of the phenomena of “lightning before death” which he feels & this demonstrates the final fusion on love + violence.
• in order to feel the “Lightning” he feels at the prospect of being freed of his burdens & United in death with his lover , he must be on the verge of “death”
• 1 might assume love & violence are mutually exclusive or would at least inhibit each other , however this scene proves otherwise & that Romeo somehow ends up with a combo of both.

Question 9

“seal with a ____ kiss / a dateless ____ to ____ death”

Answer 9

• one of his final words to Juliet represent a union of love & violence in that he ““seal[s] with a righteous kiss / a dateless bargain to engrossing death”
• the juxtaposition between the verb “Kiss” & the noun “death” illustrates the final conflict between love & violence
• union of 2 seemingly contradictory terms in R&J seems to portray the concept the that humans are complex multifaceted creatures whose contradictory natures often overlap
• also hugely demonstrative of the fundamental issues inherent in love & courtship at the time , in that often it is impossible to possess true love without causing violence because of political & social factors. Shakespeare shows love to be complex & humans to be aswell