R+J Character Quotes

Romeo
1. Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight, For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night.(ACT 1 SC5)
  1. Romeo forgets all about his "love" for Rosaline the exactly second he sees Juliet, which makes us think that he was never really in love with Rosaline to begin with. But does this also mean that Romeo's desire for Juliet is nothing more than meaningless infatuation?
2. If I profane with my unworthiest hand //This holy shrine, the gentle fine is this: //My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand //To smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss. (ACT1 SC5)
  1. He says that kissing Juliet would be a religious experience, as he is unworthy to be in her presence
  2. Refers to his lips as two "Pilgrims" that would worships holy "shrine" (Juliet's Lips)
  3. Very straightforward with his first meeting, he wants to kiss her straight away
  4. The dialogue between Romeo and Juliet takes the form of a sonnet (up to the point where they kiss), which is incredibly romantic
3. It is the east, and Juliet is the sun. Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon. (ACT 2 SC2)
  1. In this monologue, Romeo elevates Juliet to heavenly status by aligning her with the "sun" and the "stars." He is using some celestial metaphors.
4. She speaks. O, speak again, bright angel, for thou art As glorious to this night, being o'er my head. (ACT2 SC2)
  1. Romeo uses over-the-top religious language to describe the experience of looking at Juliet but we get the sense that he's sincere and deeply in love.
  2. Angels are pure, we can infer that Romeo thinks that Juliet is pure and free from evil
5. Will I set up my everlasting rest, And Shake the yoke of inauspicious stars [...] Here's to my love! [..] Thus with a kiss, I die. (ACT5 SC3)
  1. Death becomes an act of love for Romeo, because he thinks that suicide will enable him to be with Juliet (he thinks she's dead).
6. Spakest thou of Juliet? How is it with her? Doth she not think me an old murderer. (ACT3 SC3)
  1. Romeo worries that his murder of Tybalt, an act of hatred, may have destroyed Juliet's love for him.
7. Thou canst not speak of that thou dost not feel. Wert thou as young as I, Juliet thy love, (ACT3 SC3)
  1. When the Romeo learns from Friar Laurence that he's been banished from Verona, he flips out and accuses Friar Laurence of being too old to understand this passionate situation.
8. Ha, banishment! be merciful, say 'death;' For exile hath more terror in his look, Much more than death: do not say 'banishment.[..] There is no world without Verona walls, But purgatory, torture, hell itself. (ACT3 SC3)
  1. For Romeo, being separated from Juliet is like death, because Juliet is his entire world.
9. Some consequence yet hanging in the stars Shall bitterly begin his fearful date [..] By some vile forfeit of untimely death. (ACT 1 SC4)
  1. Just before Romeo heads over to the Capulet ball, where he falls in love with and meets (in that order) Juliet. Romeo tells us that he has a funny feeling – he fears that something "hanging in the stars" (something destined to happen) will be set in motion that night. Romeo's premonition seems to be in keeping with what the Chorus tells us in the Prologue
10. O, I am fortune's fool! (ACT3 SC1)
  1. Immediately after he kills Tybalt in a duel, Romeo declares he is "fortune's fool." This seems to suggest that fate or "fortune" is responsible for Tybalt's death, not Romeo.
11. Is it e'en so?—Then I defy you, stars! (ACT 5 SC1)
  1. When Romeo hears from Balthasar that Juliet is dead (well, fake-dead), he declares "I defy you, stars!" True, he does have a plan to make sure that he and Juliet end up together despite the stars.
12. Till thou shalt know the reason of my love. And so, good Capulet, which name I tender As dearly as my own, be satisfied. (ACT3 SC1)
  1. When Tybalt challenges Romeo to a duel, Romeo refuses to fight because he's secretly married to Tybalt's cousin, Juliet. Here, it seems that Romeo's love for his new wife is the most important thing to him.
Juliet
1. I have no joy of this contract tonight. It is too rash, too unadvised, too sudden, Too like the lightning, which doth cease to be. (ACT2 SC2)
  1. Juliet is certain that she loves Romeo but she's also a bit cautious because her love seems "too rash, too unadvised, too sudden." So, while Juliet is clearly a very passionate girl, she's also pretty smart and realizes that head-over-heels passion can be dangerous.
2. My only love sprung from my only hate! Too early seen unknown, and known too late! Prodigious birth of love it is to me That I must love a loathèd enemy. (ACT 1 SC5)
  1. Juliet never even considers the obvious conclusion: don't date your family's archnemesis. That makes "love" sound a lot like "fate"—something you couldn't escape even if you wanted to.
3. Which is the god of my idolatry (ACT2 SC2)
  1. Juliet says that she will worship Romeo like he is a god, he is superior to her and she recognises that (Patriarchal Society CONTEXT)
4. I will kiss thy lips. Haply some poison let doth hang on them. (ACT5 SC3)
  1. Juliet thinks suicide will let her be with Romeo forever, very similar thinking to Romeo as he kills himself as he thinks this will let him be with Juliet. Poison, to her, is like a medicine, a "restorative" that could bring her back together with Romeo.
5. O, happy dagger, This is thy sheath. There rust, and let me die. (ACT5 SC3)
  1. Romeo's "dagger" is going to stay in Juliet's "sheath" forever. In Latin, "vagina" translates directly to "sheath.
6. My grave is like to be my wedding bed. (ACT 1 SC5)
  1. Juliet foreshadows her own death – her grave does become her wedding bed.
7. Thy purpose marriage, send me word tomorrow, [..] Where and what time thou wilt perform the rite. (ACT2 SC2)
  1. As soon as Juliet knows that she and Romeo love each other, she immediately asks him when they can be married. Love and marriage are inseparable for Juliet. We have to ask: would Romeo have brought it up if Juliet hadn't? This goes against society nowadays as the male is expected to be the one who asks for marriage, but it even more so goes against the Patriarchal society of R+J's time
8. My husband lives, that Tybalt would have slain, And Tybalt's dead, that would have slain my husband.All this is comfort. (ACT3 SC2)
  1. Juliet is caught between her loyalty to her family and her loyalty to her new husband. She eventually chooses Romeo and confesses that she's relieved her husband wasn't killed in the duel.
Mercuitio
1. Ask for me tomorrow, and you shall find me a grave man [..] A plague o' both your houses! [..] I was hurt under your arm. (ACT3 SC1)
  1. Mercutio blames both the Montagues and the Capulets for his death. But mostly blames Romeo as he was under "Your" arm and thought that Romeo would be there to protect him from the capulets
Tybalt
1. To strike him dead I hold it not a sin. (ACT1 SC5)
  1. When Tybalt discovers that Romeo has crashed the Capulet's party, his first response is … to start a sword fight. But Tybalt is easily provoked.
  2. He doesn't think that he will be punished by god for killing him family fued
2. O calm, dishonorable, vile submission! (ACT3 SC1)
  1. To Tybalt, Romeo is "dishonoring" himself by not fighting, Tybalt thinks be beimng violent and beiong able to defeat Romeo will bring honor to his family.
Nurse
1. She's dead, deceased. She's dead, alack the day! (ACT4 SC5)
  1. The nurse has to repeat "she's dead" for it to fully sink in and her to come to terms that the family and girl that she helped raise has just died
2. No faith, no honesty in men. All perjured, All forsworn, all naught, all dissemblers.[...]Shame come to Romeo! (ACT4 SC2)
  1. She totally turns on Romeo after hearing about him killing Tybalt, and groups him with ALL men as she tries to pursuade that romeo is just like ALL of them and she should leave him
Friar Lawrence
1. Holy Saint Francis, what a change is here! [...] Young men's love then lies Not truly in their hearts, but in their eyes. (ACT2 SC2)
  1. Friar Laurence is crossing his fingers a union between Romeo and Juliet will force the feuding families to reconcile.Romeo and Juliet's love does eventually bring the two families together—but only after a double suicide.
2. In one respect I'll thy assistant be, For this alliance may so happy prove To turn your households' rancor to pure love. (ACT 2 SC3)
  1. Friar Laurence doesn't believe that Romeo's love for Juliet is authentic . BUT the Friar believes that a marriage between a young Capulet and a young Montague might be able to put an end to the long-standing family feud.
3. These violent delights have violent ends And in their triumph die, like fire and powder (ACT2 SC6)
  1. ho is worried about the long-term consequences of Romeo and Juliet's marriage, foreshadows Romeo that his and Juliet's intense passion may end suddenly and violently, like the flash of gunpowder.
4. A greater power than we can contradict Hath thwarted our intents. (ACT5 SC3)
  1. The Friar tells Juliet that a "higher power"—either God or fate—has ruined their plans. It seems like the Friar doesn't want to take any responsibility for the part he played in the couple's tragedy.
5. You shall not stay alone Till Holy Church incorporate two in one.(ACT2 SC6)
  1. Friar Laurence is talking about how the marriage of Romeo and Juliet will be performed in and by the "holy church." He's also referring to the biblical idea that a marriage between a man and woman unites them into "one flesh" (Mark 10:8)
Lord Capulet
1. O brother Montague, give me thy hand (ACT5 SC3)
  1. The young lovers' deaths unite the warring families and put an end to the feud (just as the Chorus promised back in the first Prologue), the efforts of the Capulets and the Montagues are too little too late.
2. Let him alone [..] Verona brags of him To be a virtuous and well-governed youth. (ACT1 SC5)
  1. Capulet himself doesn't seem to mind that a Montague is in his home. In fact, Capulet says that Romeo is basically a nice kid so Tybalt should just calm down and leave him alone. It seems like the family feud is much more important to the younger generation.
3. My child is yet a stranger in the world. She hath not seen the change of fourteen years. Let two more summers wither in their pride. Ere we may think her ripe to be a bride. (ACT1 SC2)
  1. When Paris asks for thirteen-year-old Juliet's hand in marriage, Capulet responds that she's way too young to be a "bride.". He also talks about Juliet as though she's a piece of fruit that isn't yet "ripe,"
4. Death lies on her like an untimely frost Upon the sweetest flower of all the field. (ACT4 SC4)
  1. That image of the "frost" killing the "flower" is particularly pertinent (Revalent) when you think about Juliet's birthday, Lammas-Eve (the night before the traditional harvest festival.) She dies in bloom before anyone can "harvest" her. This happens after Lord Capulet is infuriated that she will not marry parris and calls her "Carrion" which shows that that outbreak of anger was just tempory and now he is back to caring and loving his "Sweetest"
5. Out, you green-sickness, carrion! Out, you baggage! [..] Hang thee, young baggage, disobedient wretch! I tell thee what: get thee to church o' Thursday, Or never after look me in the face. [..] My fingers itch (ACT3 SC5)
  1. Juliet's father seriously flips out when Juliet refuses to marry Paris and treats his daughter like a piece of property that he can just give away to another man (Paris). So, what happened to his earlier stance that Juliet should marry for love, when she's ready? "Baggage" (Excess weight, not needed, property) "Carrion" (Rotting flesh)
Prince Of Verona
1. What, ho! You men, you beasts, That quench the fire of your pernicious rage With purple fountains issuing from your veins: [..} Throw your mistempered weapons to the ground. (ACT1 SC1)
  1. When the Prince calls the Capulets and Montagues a bunch of "beasts," he implies that their hatred doesn't seem to have any rational cause – it is simply the result of passions they refuse to restrain. We also notice that there's never any real explanation of what caused the feud or why it even continues.

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R+J Character Quotes

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	Created by Luke Hurst over 6 years ago