Romeo : Turn back dull earth, and find thy centre out
He has the impulsion to go to
Juliet, not caring about his
family's morals and values, and
shows rebellion. He knows that
he is the honourable man, and
therefore Juliet cannot take it
upon herself to continue the
relationship
He has to lead the relationship
between the two, and becomes
the alpha male, and shows
dominance, almost marks his
territory
Theme:
Possession/Male
Dominance
'Can my body go away
when my heart is here'
Earth - The human body
was traditionally said to
be made from 'the dust
of the ground' - Genesis
2.7
Centre - Heart
Benvolio: Blind is his love, and best befits
the dark.
Foreshadows the ending of the
play, has connotations of
hidden/forbidden or danger,
which also describes how they
died, and most of the
relationship relating to family
Many of Romeo and Juliet's
scenes happen in the dark,
signifies the relationship is
only a shadow of what it
could have been if they had
lived.
Shows irony, as Juliet is
compared to the sun in
the next scene
Theme: Love
Mercutio: If love be blind, love cannot hit the mark.
Links to Benvolio's quite just before,
as if their love is blind, it is encased in
darkness
Scene 2 (Balcony Scene)
The lovers are physically
separated, Shakespeare can only
show passion and love through
poetry, instead of real, visible
embraces
The entire scene is almost a
metaphor for rape/sex/consent, as
Romeo literally invades Juliets private
space, and continues to pursue her
and chases her like a predator - he is
there without her permission, and is
unwanted at first
Theme:
Possession/Male
dominance/Patriarchy
Romeo: But soft, what light through yonder window breaks? It
is east, and Juliet is the sun
A metaphor, builds on the idea that
Juliet is Romeo's guiding light, lifting
out of his previous, sombre mood
Also shows how dependent
Romeo is on other people, he
cannot be independent or
show power without someone
to guide him, like a spoilt child
Theme: Role of genders in society
Romeo: kill the envious moon
The moon is cold/inferior compared to the sun,
as the moon is only lit by reflecting the sun's
light, showing how Romeo and Rosaline's
relationship was Romeo's false perception of
love
Romeo: It is my lady, O it is my love
Objectifies Juliet as a
possession of Romeo's
although they had only just
met, he shows dominance
and patriarchy over her, but
romeo had invaded her
personal space and
thoughts
Theme:
Patriarchy/Male
dominance
Juliet: O Romeo, Romeo,
wherefore art thou Romeo?
Deny thy father and refuse they
name; Or if thou wilt not, but be
sworn my love, And I'll no longer
be a Capulet
She has little respect for
her family, and is
rebellious, enforces the
ideology at the time that
women were emotional,
irrational and led by their
hearts
She also agrees to
marriage before
she knows that
Romeo is watching
her
Theme: Family/Obedience
Juliet: What's in a
name? That which we
call a rose by any
other word would
smell as sweet
Iambic pentameter, shows
false certainty in Juliet's
thoughts
Words do not mean anything,
and do not have any link to the
identity of an object or person.
Juliet refuses to believe that
Romeo is a Montague, and is
willing to love him without any
social repercussions.
Juliet's use of language to
dismiss ideas of family will not
be feasible as Romeo and Juliet
are the only characters in the
play who are willing to
completely disregard their
families
The Nurse is
forced to accept
Juliet's beliefs as
she does not want
to lose her job
Theme: Family/Obedience
Romeo: I take thee at thy
word, Call me but love, and
I'll be new baptised;
Henceforth I never will be
Romeo
Even the potential 'power of
their love' cannot remove
their names, or identities
that they have created for
themselves, and that their
families have created for
them. They feed of each
other's ludicrous, unrealistic
and very optimistic and
naïve ideas about love
Theme: Family/Identity
Juliet: What man art thou
that thus bescreen'd in
night So stumblest on my
counsel?
Romeo shows dominance
over Juliet, by invading her
private/personal space,
shows impulsion and
irrationality, which is a
trait which is usually
related to women in this
period
Juliet: Swear by thy gracious self,
Which is the god of my idolatry
Blasphemous language,
relates to the amount of
religious language used to
describe each other,
including when Romeo
and Juliet first met
Theme: Religion
Romeo: O speak again,
bright angel, for thou art/
As glorious to this night
Juliet is described as a divine
being, links to the religious
imagery in the sonnet -
nearly blasphemous
Theme: Light and
Dark
Scene 3
Friar Lawrence: Virtue itself turns
vice, being misapplied, And vice
sometime by action dignified
If plants and herbs are used
improperly, it can lead to
misfortune and danger, which
foreshadows the ending, where
Romeo assumes that Juliet is dead
after taking the draft that the
Friar gave her
Theme: Death/Tragedy
Friar Lawrence: Posion hath
residence, and medicine power
Even in the plants, there
are two sides, a powerful
evil and a powerful good
force within them, this
relates to many of the
characters
Friar Lawrence: And where the
worser is predominant, Full soon
the canker death eats up that
plant
Where the good within the plant
is unbalanced by the evil power,
it will destroy anything in it's
way, and relating to Romeo and
Juliet, the evil may kill even the
'power of love' which they claim
to have found
Friar Lawrence: For this
alliance may be so
happy prove, To turn
your households'
rancour to true love
Although he is an adult, with a larger
perspective on life, and not wrapped
in a bubble of 'true love', the Friar
encourages Romeo and Juliet's
relationship, and therefore Romeo's
beliefs that he is in true love.
This suggests that the Friar becomes more
of a friend to Romeo than a trustworthy,
reliable adult because it seems like he is
only happy that romeo is out of his usual
melodramatic slump of overwhelming
sadness, and is therefore encouraging
those feelings to continue. The Friar seems
to be going out of his way to make sure
that romeo stays happy.
Or this could suggest that the Friar actually want to
take responsibility when the houses unite in harmony,
as he was the one who married Romeo and Juliet. He
may only want to marry them to receive credit and
therefore more respect and power from the houses,
since he was the one who encouraged these feelings
of love and passion
Scene 4
Mercurio: Now art thou
sociable, now art thou
Romeo
Now you are yourself, as when
Romeo was with Rosaline, he was
like an illness
Scene 5
Scene 6
Friar Lawrence: These violent delights have violent ends