Theme 5: Death Flashcards
- Prologue foreshadows tragedy (Prologue)
“A pair of star-cross’d lovers take their life.”
• What: Death is inevitable from the start
• How:
• **Astrological metaphor “star-cross’d” = fate controls mortality
• **Euphemistic “take their life” = softens tragedy
• **Chorus structure = audience distanced → dramatic irony set up
• **Monosyllables = tragic simplicity
• Why: Death is fate’s final tool → no escape from narrative doom
• Character: Chorus
• Themes: death, fate, love/relationships
- Romeo predicts doom before Capulet ball (A1S4)
“By some vile forfeit of untimely death.”
• What: Intuitively senses his end
• How:
• **Oxymoron “untimely death” = youth + fatality
• **Alliterative “vile forfeit” = aggressive fate
• **Lexical tone = resigned fatalism masked in casual speech
• Why: Foreshadowing builds tragic tension → personal agency eclipsed by death
• Character: Romeo
• Themes: death, fate, time
- Tybalt’s threat at Capulet ball (A1S5)
“To strike him dead I hold it not a sin.”
• What: Threatens Romeo’s life for family honour
• How:
• **Religious lexis “sin” = sanctifies murder
• **Juxtaposition of “strike” and “sin” → violence disguised as virtue
• **Short clause = confident brutality
• Why: Death becomes tool of pride → normalised in feud culture
• Character: Tybalt
• Themes: death, conflict, honour
- Mercutio dying (A3S1)
“Ask for me tomorrow, and you shall find me a grave man.”
• What: Jokes as he dies
• How:
• **Pun “grave man” = humour + literal death
• **Irony → wit persists even in tragedy
• **Tone = dark comedy masking trauma
• **Caesura = fragmented finality
• Why: Makes death shocking → emotional whiplash intensifies grief
• Character: Mercutio
• Themes: death, conflict, fate
- Romeo realises he’s killed Tybalt (A3S1)
“O, I am fortune’s fool!”
• What: Blames fate for bringing death
• How:
• **Alliteration “fortune’s fool” = helpless puppet of fate
• **Personification of fate → controls life + death
• **Exclamative tone = loss of self
• Why: Death detaches from morality → becomes tragic consequence
• Character: Romeo
• Themes: death, fate, impulsiveness
- Juliet contemplates Romeo’s banishment (A3S2)
“That ‘banishèd’, that one word ‘banishèd’, / Hath slain ten thousand Tybalts.”
• What: Grief equates exile to death
• How:
• **Hyperbole “ten thousand Tybalts” = emotional overload
• **Anaphora “banishèd” = psychological fixation
• **Juxtaposition of words vs death = power of language
• Why: Emotional death replaces physical death → loss is multilayered
• Character: Juliet
• Themes: death, love/relationships, fate
- Capulet mourns Juliet’s “death” (A4S5)
“Death lies on her like an untimely frost / Upon the sweetest flower of all the field.”
• What: Sees her as prematurely taken
• How:
• **Nature metaphor = fragility + innocence
• **Juxtaposition “frost” vs “flower” = purity destroyed
• **Elegiac tone = formal mourning
• Why: Death transforms Juliet into a symbol of lost hope
• Character: Lord Capulet
• Themes: death, appearance vs reality, family loyalty
- Romeo before suicide (A5S3)
“Here’s to my love! [Drinks] Thus with a kiss I die.”
• What: Dies beside Juliet
• How:
• **Juxtaposition “kiss” / “die” = eros meets thanatos
• **Stage direction “drinks” = ritualistic action
• **Tragic irony → she’s alive
• **Poetic rhythm = romanticised death
• Why: Death becomes final act of love → fate + passion united
• Character: Romeo
• Themes: death, love/relationships, fate
- Prince reflects on the consequences (A5S3)
“All are punished.”
• What: Declares universal suffering
• How:
• **Blunt declarative = moral reckoning
• **Passive voice = death as leveller, indiscriminate
• **No elaboration = tragedy’s weight speaks for itself
• Why: Death ends more than lives — it ends pride, feud, innocence
• Character: Prince
• Themes: death, fate, individuals vs society
