Paris

Question 1

1. Asking to marry Juliet (A1S2)
   “But now, my lord, what say you to my suit?”

Answer 1

• What: Formally asks Capulet for Juliet’s hand
• How:
• Metaphor of “suit” = legal, contractual view of love
• Formal tone = marriage as transaction, not affection
• Absence of Juliet’s name = objectification
• Repetition of possessive structure = entitlement
• Why: Highlights power imbalance → love as patriarchal arrangement
• Themes: love/relationships, social divide, gender, honour

Question 2

2. Capulet’s response about Juliet’s age (A1S2)
   “Younger than she are happy mothers made.”

Answer 2

• What: Argues Juliet is old enough for marriage
• How:
• Comparative structure → reduces Juliet to statistic
• Irony → “happy” will soon mean tragedy
• Objectifies youth → value = fertility
• Alliteration (“happy…mothers…made”) = superficial charm
• Why: Reveals societal obsession with early marriage, legacy, and control
• Themes: gender, social divide, love/relationships, generational divide

Question 3

3. Talking about Juliet’s grief (A3S4)
   “These times of woe afford no time to woo.”

Answer 3

• What: Says it’s inappropriate to court Juliet while she’s grieving
• How:
• Alliteration (“woe” / “woo”) = poetic irony
• Play on romantic vs tragic diction → blurred tone
• Ironic: presses marriage despite this statement
• Contrasts true love with social formality
• Why: Paris is well-meaning but blind → romantic norms override emotional reality
• Themes: time, gender, appearance vs reality, love/relationships

Question 4

4. Accepting sudden marriage proposal from Capulet (A3S4)
   “I would that Thursday were tomorrow.”

Answer 4

• What: Expresses eagerness to marry Juliet
• How:
• Impatience = symbolic of entitlement
• Wishes time away → desire overrides emotional readiness
• Irony → doesn’t know Juliet has other plans
• Childlike tone → naïve optimism
• Why: Contrast to Romeo’s emotional complexity → Paris = surface-level love
• Themes: love/relationships, time, impulsiveness, appearance vs reality

Question 5

5. At Juliet’s “deathbed” (A4S5)
   “Beguiled, divorced, wronged, spited, slain.”

Answer 5

• What: Laments Juliet’s “betrayal” through death
• How:
• Asyndetic list → overwhelmed by perceived injustice
• Legalistic diction = love as broken contract
• Victim language → dramatic self-centred grief
• Alliteration (“spited…slain”) = mourning becomes performance
• Why: Highlights Paris’s perception of love as entitlement, not mutual connection
• Themes: love/relationships, death, appearance vs reality

Question 6

6. Preparing for wedding (A4S1)
   “Happily met, my lady and my wife.”

Answer 6

• What: Greets Juliet possessively at Friar’s cell
• How:
• Irony → audience knows she is already married
• Triadic phrasing → “lady…wife” = idealised female roles
• Juxtaposition of politeness and ownership
• Tone = confident, but false sense of security
• Why: Appearance vs reality crystallised → Paris = outsider to emotional truth
• Themes: appearance vs reality, love/relationships, fate, gender

Question 7

9. Seeing Romeo at tomb (A5S3)
   “This is that banished haughty Montague / That murdered my love’s cousin.”

Answer 7

• What: Confronts Romeo, fuelled by anger
• How:
• Tricolon of blame = “banished…haughty…murdered”
• Dramatic irony → doesn’t know Romeo = Juliet’s husband
• Repetition of accusation → emotion over clarity
• Tone = formal, yet fierce
• Why: Paris becomes part of the tragic web → blinded by partial knowledge
• Themes: conflict, death, fate, appearance vs reality

Question 8

10. Challenging Romeo (A5S3)
    “Condemned villain, I do apprehend thee.”

Answer 8

• What: Attempts to arrest Romeo at Juliet’s tomb
• How:
• Legal diction → turns love into crime
• Harsh fricatives (“villain”, “apprehend”) = bitterness
• Ironic reversal → Paris wrongly acts as law
• Juxtaposition → justice vs emotion
• Why: Even honourable intentions cause harm when based on illusion
• Themes: honour, fate, individuals vs society, conflict

Question 9

11. Paris dying (A5S3)
    “If thou be merciful, / Open the tomb, lay me with Juliet.”

Answer 9

• What: Asks to be buried beside Juliet
• How:
• Irony → thinks of her as wife, unaware of truth
• Euphemistic tone → “merciful” = passive surrender
• Desperate romanticism = echoes Romeo’s passion
• Tone shift → entitlement replaced with vulnerability
• Why: At death, Paris finally becomes tragic → mourns something never truly his
• Themes: love/relationships, death, fate, appearance vs reality