Romeo and Juliet Quotes Flashcards
(15 cards)
Context: After the double suicide.
Themes: Justice, conflict, tragedy.
Analysis:
- Universal consequence — not just Romeo and Juliet suffer.
- Suggests society’s failure: families, church, state all to blame.
- Shakespeare’s critique of generational hatred.
“All are punished.” (Prince, Act 5 Scene 3)
Context: Romeo drinks poison beside Juliet.
Themes: Love, death, tragedy.
Analysis:
- Monosyllabic line slows the pace — simplicity in finality.
- “Kiss” contrasts with death — love is his final act.
- Echoes how passion and impulsiveness lead to death.
“Thus with a kiss I die.” (Romeo, Act 5 Scene 3)
Context: Juliet prepares to kill herself.
Themes: Love, death, tragedy, fate.
Analysis:
- Oxymoron: “happy” and “dagger” show death is now seen as a reunion.
- Death is romanticised — love and death become one.
- Reinforces how love has become self-destructive.
“O happy dagger!” (Juliet, Act 5 Scene 3)
Context: Capulet reacts to Juliet refusing Paris.
Themes: Family, gender, power, control.
Analysis:
- Insults dehumanise Juliet — she’s “baggage” to be disposed of.
- Reflects patriarchy and power dynamics.
- Sudden change from caring father to abusive tyrant.
“Hang thee, young baggage! Disobedient wretch!” (Capulet, Act 3 Scene 5)
Context: After killing Tybalt.
Themes: Fate, impulsiveness, guilt.
Analysis:
- Alliteration links Romeo’s fate to theatricality — like a puppet of destiny.
- He sees himself as powerless, despite choosing to fight.
- Reinforces fate as a tragic force beyond control.
“O, I am fortune’s fool!” (Romeo, Act 3 Scene 1)
Context: As Mercutio dies after being stabbed by Tybalt.
Themes: Conflict, fate, tragedy, honour.
Analysis:
- Repetition of the curse reflects bitterness and loss of faith.
- Mercutio blames both families equally — turning point in the play.
- Introduces death as a result of family pride.
“A plague o’ both your houses!” (Mercutio, Act 3 Scene 1)
Context: Before marrying Romeo and Juliet.
Themes: Fate, love, tragedy.
Analysis:
- Foreshadowing: intense emotions lead to destruction.
- Juxtaposition of “delights” and “violent” — beauty and death are linked.
- Reflects the Friar’s awareness of their dangerous passion.
“These violent delights have violent ends.” (Friar Laurence, Act 2 Scene 6)
Context: Romeo climbs into the Capulet orchard.
Themes: Love, risk, determination.
Analysis:
- Metaphor of “light wings” shows love defies physical and social barriers.
- Links to the theme of youthful recklessness.
- Echoes the idea of love empowering and blinding simultaneously.
“With love’s light wings did I o’erperch these walls.” (Romeo, Act 2 Scene 2)
Context: Juliet questions Romeo’s identity.
Themes: Love, family, identity, conflict.
Analysis:
- Metaphor of the rose shows Juliet’s rationality and maturity.
- Challenges Elizabethan ideas of family honour and social structure.
- Shows Juliet’s readiness to abandon her name for love.
“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” (Juliet, Act 2 Scene 2)
Context: Romeo sees Juliet for the first time.
Themes: Love, beauty, light/dark.
Analysis:
- Hyperbolic metaphor — Juliet is brighter than light itself.
- Light imagery makes her divine, pure, and radiant.
- Contrast to darkness throughout the play — love in a violent world.
“O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright!” (Romeo, Act 1 Scene 5)
Context: Juliet finds out Romeo is a Montague.
Themes: Love, conflict, fate, family.
Analysis:
- Antithesis (“love” vs “hate”) captures the tragedy of their love.
- Irony: she’s fallen for someone she should despise.
- Suggests she is already torn between desire and duty.
“My only love sprung from my only hate!” (Juliet, Act 1 Scene 5)
Context: Upon seeing Juliet at the Capulet ball.
Themes: Love, fate, impulsiveness.
Analysis:
- Rhetorical question shows love as overwhelming and superficial.
- Forswear = swear off — he completely dismisses Rosaline.
- Links to youthful impetuosity and Shakespeare’s critique of romantic idealism.
“Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight!” (Romeo, Act 1 Scene 5)
Context: Romeo laments unrequited love for Rosaline.
Themes: Love, conflict, confusion.
Analysis:
- Juxtaposed oxymorons mirror the chaos of Verona and Romeo’s emotions.
- Highlights Romeo’s immaturity and melodrama.
- Love is shown as painful and violent — foreshadowing later events.
“O brawling love, O loving hate!” (Romeo, Act 1 Scene 1)
Context: The Chorus introduces the play’s ending.
Themes: Fate, love, tragedy.
Analysis:
- “Star-crossed” implies fate and cosmic misalignment — doomed from the start.
- Shakespeare uses the sonnet form to elevate love to poetic tragedy.
- The prologue spoils the ending to shift focus from what happens to why.
“A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life.” (Prologue)
Context: Concluding couplet of the play.
Themes: Tragedy, fate, love.
Analysis:
- Iambic pentameter finishes the play like a final poetic judgement.
- “Juliet and her Romeo” — Juliet is named first, highlighting her arc.
- Emphasises that love and loss define their legacy.
“For never was a story of more woe than this of Juliet and her Romeo.” (Prince, Final Line)
