Quotations Flashcards
(13 cards)
Speaker: Mercutio
Context: What he says when he gets stabbed by Tybalt
Meaning: Both houses will have something bad happen to them.
‘A plague o’ both your houses’
“Here’s much to do with hate, but more with love”
Romeo recognizes the close connection between love and hate, foreshadowing the tragic love between him and Juliet stemming from their family feud.
For I ne’er saw true beauty till this night”
Romeo’s impulsive change of heart after seeing Juliet reveals his fickleness and obsession with courtly love, traits which lead to his downfall.
“My only love sprung from my only hate”
Juliet Capulet, Act 1, Scene 5
Juliet’s paradoxical line expresses her tragic realisation that she loves Romeo, in spite of her family’s hatred of the Montagues.
“What’s in a name?”
Juliet Capulet, Act 2, Scene 2
Juliet’s rhetorical question challenges the cultural value placed on family names and honour, defying the conventions of the time
‘Sad hours seem long’
- a sense of sadness in Romeos tone of language, his mood contrasts with his reaction to Juliet later in the play. This makes us question weather he knows what love really is- makes Romeo seem immature.
’ These violent delights have violent ends’- Friar.
There’s juxtaposition of vocabulary.
Violent has connotations of aggression and anger.
The overall tone is ominous.
‘ Violent ends’ foreshadows the ending of the play, and their deaths.
My child is yet a stranger to the world’
By saying this Lord Capulet is subverting the traditional role of a father, as he is saying to Paris that Juliet is still too young to get married, whereas a father in the 16th Century would encourage a marriage between his daughter and a suitable suitor
To strike him dead, I hold it not sin’ - Tybalt
Demonstrates Tybalts belligerent nature and he thinks killing a montague is not sinful as they are his sworn enemy. The audience at the time were quite religious meaning that killing someone would be sinful to them
I do but keep the peace’
- Benvolio
Shows Benvolio is a neutral character and is one of the only level headed character in the play.
‘a pair of star-cross’d lovers take their life’
This is mentioned in the prologue and sets the stage for dramatic irony throughout the play because the audience is already informed that Romeo and Juliet will die so it leaves them questioning how exactly they will die throughout the play and creates a sense of suspense.
Romeo - ‘O, I am fortune’s fool’
Romeo says this immediately after the death of Tybalt to suggest that fate or fortune is responsible to Tybalts death, not romeo. Romeo references the prologue here because the audience already know that Romeo and Juliet are destined for misfortune.
‘Then i defy you stars’
When Romeo hears from Balthasar that Juliet is dead , her says: ‘I defy you stars!’. He does have a plan to make sure that he and Juliet end up together despite the stars. The irony here is that his death has already been determined by the stars: ‘Star-cross’d lovers take their life’. This is ironic, as whilst Romeo believes he is defying destiny, he isn’t, he’s actually just living up to destiny
