romeo and juliet - romeo Flashcards
“Why then, O brawling love, O loving hate/ O anything of nothing first create!”
Use of oxymorons in this section highlights the ineffable quality of love: it is full of contradictions and does not make sense. This speech is 13 lines, which is arguably an imperfect sonnet. This reflects the idea that Romeo’s experience with love is incomplete and flawed. Irregular rhyming couplets in the section indicates the unpredictable nature of love. This section highlights Romeo’s role as the Petrarchan lover, who suffers from unrequited love. In Baz Luhrmann’s directorial interpretation, the poetry is personified - it is made more visible, as Romeo is shown writing his dialogue. This emphasises Petrarchan self-conscious suffering.
“Tybalt, the reason i have to love thee/ Doth much excuse the appertaining rage”
Shakespeare contrasts fighting with Romeo’s newfound love for Tybalt. This effectively detaches Romeo emotionally from his contemporary crowd, highlighting his character development; the idea that love transcends societal conventions and expectations
“Is it even so, then i defy you stars”
Caesura “…so? Then I…” indicates an assertion of agency and self-autonomy, in order to defy the will of the heavens, which is symbolised by the “stars”. Therefore, Shakespeare creates the conflict between the individual and fate. Romeo’s belief that he can “defy the stars” suggests a self-assured hubris. In Greek Mythology hubris is followed by nemesis, fate and destruction. This echoes the structure of the play as Romeo’s defiance against the stars, leads to his destruction. The use of broken syntax in the line elucidates his internal turmoil.
“O i am fortune’s fool”
Simple sentence underline’s Romeo’s subjugation to “fortune”; Romeo’s language prowess have been diminished to an unimpressive syntax. Romeo makes himself the object, “fortune’s fool”, which communicates his passive stance on life and his inability to accept responsibility for his actions. “Fortune”, was perceived as a woman during the Elizabethan era, thus “fortune” may also refer to Juliet in this instance.
context
Folklore - Romeo was based on a folktale, which was translated into English for the first time in 1562 by Arthur Brooke. Brooke’s “The Tragicall Historye of Romeus and Juliet,” mainly functions as a cautionary tale of how lust, one of the seven deadly sins, leads to an “unhappye deathe”. Shakespeare’s Romeo, on the contrary, questions love in soliloquies and develops as a character through his relationship with Juliet. ● Petrarchan love - Shakespeare is also conversing with Petrarchan definitions of love. Petrarch was a poet in Italy, where the sonnet form originated. Petrarch’s poems often objectified women as Romeo does with Rosaline and Juliet. The poems also presented men as tormented lovers, as Romeo is at the beginning of the play. Petrarch’s trope of unrequited and unattainable love is undermined by Romeo, this hints at Shakespeare’s own theories about love.
