Time Flashcards
on a sudden, one hath wounded me that’s by me wounded.’
• Romeo appears forthright when sharing details of his encounter with the Friar. His love for Juliet appears to have altogether eclipsed any caution he may have had previously in that he is not afraid to declare his love for someone from a rival family.
• Use of the phrase ‘on a sudden’ foreshadows the haste of their relationship whilst the repetition to ‘wounded’ is indicative of the conflict which will permeate the play and eventually result in their untimely deaths
We met, we wooed, and made exchange of vow‘
• Brevity of the description of Romeo’s encounter with Juliet is indicative of the haste of their relationship. Their entire meeting is captured within one line - just as their blossoming relationship, subsequent marriage and eventual death is described with only a few acts.
• Mention of ‘woe’ in earlier lines is quickly replaced by ‘woo’ which brings attention to Romeo’s fickle nature.
‘Let me have a dram of poison’
• Use of the command “let” highlights Romeo’s frantic desire to sacrifice his own life as he cannot be with Juliet.
• Underscores Romeo’s impulsive nature in that his first instinct in these circumstances is to take his own life.
• Shakespeare uses dramatic irony (highlighting the potent nature of fate ) to demonstrate how their hastiness
has inadvertently worked against them and ultimately leads to their demise.
the trunk may be discharged of breath as violently as hasty powder fired doth hurry from the fatal cannon’s womb.’
• Romeo wishes for a quick demise – clear irony in that even his own death must be hasty which mirrors the pace of the lovers’ relationship throughout the play.
• Use of the explosive nouns ‘powder’ and ‘cannons’ is indicative of Romeo self-implosion in direct response to the news of Juliet’s passing. He is now in the pursuit of his own destruction.
‘Things have fall’n out, sir, so unluckily, That we have had no time to move our daughter’
• Lord Capulet sees Tybalt’s death as somewhat of an inconvenience in that it has slowed his progress in marrying his daughter to Paris.
• The use of the verb ‘move’ demonstrates Lord Capulet’s awareness that his suggestions may not match the desires of Juliet and so he will need to persuade her to comply.
• It could also be argued that Tybalt’s death has caused a change in Lord Capulet’s character, demonstrating how the older generation get caught up in the rapid passing of time due to the actions of the younger generation.
O’ Thursday let it be: o’ Thursday, tell her, she shall be married to this noble earl.
• Lord Capulet acts in haste when setting up Juliet’s wedding. This is emphasised through the repetition of “O’Thursday”.
• Furthermore this demonstrates how Lord Capulet doesn’t take in the considerations of Juliet which is detrimental to the play because Juliet now has to act in haste for her plan.
‘All things that we ordained festival, turn from their office to black funeral’
• His haste to marry off Juliet to Paris amidst the chaos and grief following Tybalt’s death and Romeo’s banishment underscores his desire to restore order and uphold social expectations.
• Lord Capulet sees the marriage as a way to get rid of sorrow, maintain family honour, and secure Juliet’s future
Come, come with me and we will make short work’
• Though given all his warnings, he still commits to joining the couple together in marriage whereas he should have believed in the sanctity of marriage instead of rushing the ceremony himself, since being a holy figure who society would look up to for doing the right thing.
• Adjective ‘short’ refers again to the speed and hastiness of the process, bringing attention to the morally ambiguous nature of the Friar who overlooks his own warnings in order to appease Romeo.
On Thursday, sir? The time is very short’
• This shows how the pace of the play is increasing as the play reaches its ending, which is shown by the phrase ‘very short’.
• The Friar acknowledges the haste in Juliet’s marriage with Paris, however this is ironic as he previously married Romeo and Juliet some time ago.
• This demonstrates how characters are not aware when they themselves act in haste, and speed up the passing of time.
‘Poor living corse clos’d in a dead man’s tomb’
• Friar expresses his conflicted emotions through the oxymoronic ‘living corse’, as he realises that his plan, made in haste and without deep consideration, will fail.
• Shakespeare may be alluding to the consequences of not taking time when making decisions, by using the Friar’s plan as an example of the repercussions of this.
• This also is an example of how the older generation gets embroiled in the rapid passing of time due to the younger generation, as the Friar was trying to help Romeo get married to Juliet, but may have only made the situation worse with his hasty decision-making.
married them, and their stol’n marriage day // Was Tybalt’s doomsday, whose untimely death’
• The Friar reveals here that Romeo and Juliet’s marriage and Tybalt’s death occurred on the same day, which eludes to the haste with which all these events occurred. This indicates how the rapid passing of time was responsible for the unfortunate events of the play.
• This is backed up by the adjective ‘untimely’, as if they had taken more time, and everything hadn’t happened in such a short time span, then such a fate might not have befallen them.
• Shakespeare might be suggesting that being hasty, and not using time to consider your actions carefully can have fatal consequences.
