Juliet
Romeo and Juliet
Notes on Juliet
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
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, ready stand
To smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss.
Juliet
Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much,
Which mannerly devotion shows in this:
For saints have hands that pilgrims' hands do touch,
And palm to palm is holy palmers' kissAntanaclesis or Paronomasia.
Romeo
Have not saints lips, and holy palmers too?
Juliet
Ay, pilgrim, lips that they must use in pray'r.
Romeo
O then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do,
They pray—grant thou, lest faith turn to despair.
Juliet
Saints do not move, though grant for prayers' sake.
Romeo
Then move not while my prayer's effect I take.
(Kisses her)
Thus from my lips, by thine, my sin is purg'd.
Juliet
Then have my lips the sin that they have took.
Romeo
Sin from my lips? O trespass sweetly urg'd!
My only love sprung from my only hate!
Read the QuoteMy only love sprung from my only hate!Paradox
Too early seen unknown, and known too late!Epanalepsis
Prodigious birth of love it is to me
That I must love a loathèd enemy.Irony
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But soft, what light through yonder window breaks?
Read the QuoteRomeo
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.
See how she leans her cheek upon her hand.
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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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Lady, by yonder blessèd moon I vow
Read the QuoteRomeo
Lady, by yonder blessèd moon I vow,
That tips with silver all these fruit-tree tops—
Juliet
O, swear not by the moon, th’ inconstant moon,
That monthly changes in her circled orb,
Lest that thy love prove likewise variable.
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My bounty is as boundless as the sea
Read the QuoteMy bounty is as boundless as the sea,Simili
My love as deep;Ellipsis the more I give to thee,
The more I have,Anaphora, Paradox for both are infinite.
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Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow
Read the QuoteGood night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow,
That I shall say good night till it be morrow.
Sleep dwell upon thine eyes, peace in thy breast!Ellipsis
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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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These violent delights have violent ends
Read the QuoteFriar Lawrence
These violent delights have violent ends,
And in their triumph die, like fire and powder,
Which as they kiss consume.Simili The sweetest honey
Is loathsome in his own deliciousness,
And in the taste confounds the appetite.Metaphor
Therefore love moderately: long love doth so;
Too swift arrives as tardy as too slow.
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Gallop apace, you fiery-footed steeds
Read the QuoteGallop apace, you fiery-footed steeds,
Towards Phoebus’ lodging. Such a wagoner
As Phaëton would whip you to the west
And bring in cloudy night immediately.Alliteration & Allusion
Spread thy close curtain, love-performing night,
That runaways’ eyes may wink, and Romeo
Leap to these arms, untalked of and unseen.Personification
So tedious is this day
As is the night before some festival
To an impatient child that hath new robes
And may not wear them.
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