Juliet of Verona
Romeo and Juliet
Notes on Juliet of Verona
Richard, Romeo, Juliet and the Sonnet
Read the NoteTwo of Shakespeare’s earliest plays, Richard III and Romeo and Juliet, open with sonnets and then employ variations on the sonnet’s structure for dramatic and poetic effect, which is not surprising. At this point in Shakespeare’s life he seems to have had dual career goals. First, he wanted to make money, which he could accomplish through theatre.
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You and Thee
Read the NoteIn Henry IV Part 1, in the exchange between Hotspur and Owen Glendower, about calling up devils from the vasty deep, Hotspur deliberately shifts from the word you to thee when he addresses Glendower. You was often used to convey respect while thee was used when speaking to someone of inferior rank,
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A Plague and a Scourge
Read the NoteMercutio’s curse, “A plague o’ both your houses!” is fulfilled, although not literally. Despite the numerous ways scores of characters die in Shakespeare’s plays, no one in this play or any other Shakespeare play dies of the plague. But the plague is the proximate cause of Romeo’s and Juliet’s deaths. When Friar Lawrence sends Friar John to deliver a letter to Romeo telling him of Juliet’s fake death,
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Quotes spoken by the character Juliet of Verona
Madam, I am here. What is your will?
Read the QuoteJuliet
Madam, I am here. What is your will?
Lady Capulet
This is the matter.—Nurse, give leave awhile.
We must talk in secret.—Nurse, come back again.
I have remembered me, thou ’s hear our counsel.
Thou knowest my daughter’s of a pretty age.
Nurse
Faith, I can tell her age unto an hour.
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If I profane with my unworthiest hand
Read the SonnetRomeo
If I profane with my unworthiest hand
This holy shrineMetaphor, the gentle sinOxymoron is this,
My lips, two blushing pilgrimsMetaphor, ready stand
To smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss.
My lips, two blushing pilgrimsMetaphor,
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What’s he that follows here, that would not dance?
Read the QuoteJuliet
What’s he that follows here, that would not dance?
Nurse
I know not.
Juliet
Go ask his name. The Nurse goes. If he be marrièd,
My grave is like to be my wedding bed.
My only love sprung from my only hate!
Too early seen unknown, and known too late!
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He jests at scars that never felt a wound
Read the QuoteRomeo
He jests at scars that never felt a wound.
Enter Juliet above.
But soft, what light through yonder window breaks?
It is the East, and Juliet is the sun.
Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,
Who is already sick and pale with grief
That thou, her maid, art far more fair than she.
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O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?
Read the QuoteJuliet
O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?
Deny thy father and refuse thy name;
Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,
And I’ll no longer be a Capulet.
That which we call a rose
By any other word would smell as sweet
Romeo, aside
Shall I hear more,
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By whose direction found’st thou out this place?
Read the QuoteJuliet
By whose direction found’st thou out this place?
Romeo
By love, that first did prompt me to inquire.
He lent me counsel, and I lent him eyes.
I am no pilot; yet, wert thou as far
As that vast shore washed with the farthest sea,
I should adventure for such merchandise.
Hist, Romeo, hist!
Read the QuoteJuliet
Hist, Romeo, hist! O, for a falc’ner’s voice
To lure this tassel-gentle back again!
Bondage is hoarse and may not speak aloud,
Else would I tear the cave where Echo lies
And make her airy tongue more hoarse than mine
With repetition of “My Romeo!”
Good night, good night. Parting is such sweet sorrow
That I shall say “Good night” till it be morrow.
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The clock struck nine when I did send the Nurse
Read the QuoteJuliet
The clock struck nine when I did send the Nurse.
In half an hour she promised to return.
Perchance she cannot meet him. That’s not so.
O, she is lame! Love’s heralds should be thoughts,
Which ten times faster glides than the sun’s beams,
Driving back shadows over louring hills.
Love’s heralds should be thoughts,
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Now, good sweet nurse
Read the QuoteJuliet
Now, good sweet nurse—O Lord, why lookest thou sad?
Though news be sad, yet tell them merrily.
If good, thou shamest the music of sweet news
By playing it to me with so sour a face.
Nurse
I am aweary. Give me leave awhile.
Fie, how my bones ache! What a jaunt have I!
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So smile the heavens upon this holy act
Read the QuoteFriar Lawrence
So smile the heavens upon this holy act
That after-hours with sorrow chide us not.
Romeo
Amen, amen. But come what sorrow can,
It cannot countervail the exchange of joy
That one short minute gives me in her sight.
These violent delights have violent ends
And in their triumph die,
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