Friar

Question 1

2. Shocked by Romeo’s sudden shift from Rosaline to Juliet (A2S3)
   “Young men’s love then lies / Not truly in their hearts, but in their eyes.”

Answer 1

• What: Accuses Romeo of lust, not love
• How:
• Antithesis (“hearts” vs “eyes”) = love vs lust
• Monosyllabic phrasing → sharp, cutting judgement
• Generalisation → reflects societal view of youth
• Irony → Friar still agrees to marry them
• Why: Challenges sincerity of Romeo’s love → foreshadows love’s fragility
• Themes: love/relationships, appearance vs reality, youth, impulsiveness

Question 2

3. Agreeing to marry Romeo & Juliet (A2S3)
   “For this alliance may so happy prove / To turn your households’ rancour to pure love.”

Answer 2

• What: Hopes the marriage ends the feud
• How:
• Irony → “happy” alliance leads to death
• Juxtaposition (“rancour” / “love”) = idealistic hope vs harsh reality
• Alliteration of ‘h’/‘p’ = hopeful, harmonious tone
• Proleptic irony → foreshadows reversal of expectations
• Why: Shows flawed logic → good intentions built on naivety
• Themes: fate, individuals vs society, love/relationships, appearance vs reality

Question 3

4. Warning Romeo to slow down (A2S6)
   “These violent delights have violent ends.”

Answer 3

• What: Predicts that intense passion leads to destruction
• How:
• Epigrammatic tone → moral proverb
• Mirrored structure → cyclical nature of fate
• Paradox → joy contains the seed of destruction
• Alliterative violence → prophecy disguised as advice
• Why: Foreshadows tragedy → Romeo and Juliet’s love is unsustainable
• Themes: fate, love/relationships, impulsiveness, time

Question 4

5. Consoling Romeo after banishment (A3S3)
   “Thy tears are womanish; thy wild acts denote / The unreasonable fury of a beast.”

Answer 4

• What: Shames Romeo for his emotional reaction
• How:
• Zoomorphism → Romeo = beast-like, uncivilised
• Gender stereotyping → equates emotion with femininity
• Harsh consonants (“wild…womanish”) = sharp critique
• Juxtaposition of man/beast/woman → attack on identity
• Why: Reflects societal pressure on men to suppress emotion → leads to toxic decisions
• Themes: gender, youth, impulsiveness, love/relationships

Question 5

6. Trying to stabilise Romeo after Tybalt’s death (A3S3)
   “A pack of blessings light upon thy back.”

Answer 5

• What: Reminds Romeo of what he still has
• How:
• Metaphor of “pack” = burden of fortune
• Personification of blessings → fate as nurturing, not punishing
• Religious undertone → guilt + grace
• Light imagery → contrasted with Romeo’s darkness
• Why: Attempts to reframe tragedy as survival → missed by Romeo
• Themes: fate, love/relationships, youth, death

Question 6

8. Explaining potion’s effects (A4S1)
   “No warmth, no breath shall testify thou livest.”

Answer 6

• What: Tells Juliet the potion will mimic death
• How:
• Triadic structure → builds cold, lifeless image
• Absence-based imagery → death as negation
• Blunt physicality contrasts Juliet’s inner emotion
• Ironic foreshadowing → actual death will resemble this
• Why: Shows danger of blurring illusion & reality → death now indistinguishable from life
• Themes: appearance vs reality, death, time, fate

Question 7

9. After Juliet is found “dead” (A4S5)
   “Come, is the bride ready to go to church?”

Answer 7

• What: Arrives expecting wedding, walks into mourning
• How:
• Dramatic irony → unaware of chaos until this moment
• Juxtaposition of “bride” and “church” = wedding/death confusion
• Symbolism of church → place of both unity and burial
• Tone shift → comic misstep to tragic horror
• Why: Illustrates how love and death become entangled through his schemes
• Themes: love/relationships, death, time, fate

Question 8

11. Urging Juliet to flee the tomb (A5S3)
    “Come, come away. Thy husband in thy bosom there lies dead.”

Answer 8

• What: Urges Juliet to escape with him
• How:
• Repetition “come, come” → urgency + panic
• Euphemism → “lies” = death cloaked in gentleness
• Juxtaposition of intimacy & death (“bosom” / “dead”)
• Contrast with Juliet’s stillness → foreshadows her choice
• Why: Offers life, but Juliet chooses love through death → Friar’s failure complete
• Themes: death, love/relationships, fate, individuals vs society

Question 9

12. Explaining everything to the Prince (A5S3)
    “And if aught in this miscarried by my fault, / Let my old life be sacrificed.”

Answer 9

• What: Confesses, offers to die for mistakes
• How:
• Formal, sacrificial diction = echoes religious tone
• “Old life” → age as burden = contrasts youth’s death
• Irony → he survives while lovers die
• Syntax of submission → acknowledges moral responsibility
• Why: Represents failure of adult wisdom, plans, and intervention
• Themes: fate, honour, generational divide, love/relationships