Romeo and Juliet

In act 1, scene 2 of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, Lord Capulet, Juliet's father, tells Paris, one of Juliet's suitors, that Juliet "hath not seen the change of fourteen years" (1.2.9)....

In act 1, scene 5 of Romeo and Juliet, Tybalt reacts to Romeo's voice by calling immediately for his sword. He is furious to find a Montague at the feast, and his first thought is of physical...

In act 1, scene 2 of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, Romeo reluctantly agrees to go to the Capulet's party uninvited, and in act 1, scene 4, Romeo, Benvolio, and Mercutio are talking in the...

When Mercutio says, "Ask for me tomorrow, and you shall find me a grave man," he is indeed making a pun on the word grave, which means both serious and a hole in which a dead body is buried. I...

Mercutio: Nay, I am the very pink of courtesy. Romeo: Pink for flower. Mercutio: Right. Romeo: Why, then is my pump well flowered. Well, they aren't actually talking about pumps or flowers....

When Romeo first appears in act 1, scene 1 of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, he tells his friend, Benvolio, that he's in love with a woman whose name he won't reveal. Romeo says only, "I...

In this line, Mercutio uses a pun or double entendre, which is a word or phrase that contains two or more meanings. Ever the wit and wordsmith, Mercutio, though he is dying, can't resist indulging...

First and foremost, Juliet is worried that the powerful sleeping potion given to her by Friar Laurence might not actually work. Because then she'd have to yield to her parents' wishes and marry...

Romeo glorifies Juliet's beauty by comparing her appearance to objects and abstract concepts observable in nature. In his soliloquy in act 1, scene 5, Romeo compares Juliet to fire light, a star or...

Romeo's predilection for impulsive, irrational behavior is perhaps the tragic flaw in his personality which, more than any other cause, is responsible for the tragic fate he meets at the end of the...

This is an ironic passage: on their way to the party, Romeo insists to Mercutio and Benvolio that he is too heavy-hearted with unrequited love to participate happily in this party. Romeo believes...

First, Juliet is rebellious. We have the obvious example of her marriage without the consent of her parents. It's clear that to her father, Juliet's value is as an asset to cement an alliance...

This quote is spoken by Juliet in Act Three, Scene Two. As Juliet waits in the orchard for her Romeo to come to her, she is instead met by her Nurse, who is there to deliver some horrific news:...

In William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, the exact age of Romeo is never explicitly stated. Juliet's age is 13, and she is almost about to turn 14. Based on puberty (girls hit puberty around...

Puns are a play on words for comic effect. Shakespeare was no stranger to puns, particularly in Romeo and Juliet. Before Romeo kills Tybalt, much of the play resembles a traditional romantic...

One moral in Romeo and Juliet is that it can be disastrous to try to control others' lives. The Capulets and Montagues held tight to their "ancient grudge," and their children knew that they had to...

These lines are spoken by Friar Laurence to Romeo, in act 2, scene 6, just before Romeo and Juliet get married. Friar Laurence is warning Romeo not to be too rash, reckless, or extreme in the way...

Lord Capulet, Juliet's father, is one of the most interesting characters in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet because he undergoes what seems to be a dramatic and unexpected change. In the...

Romeo says this line in Act I, before he has met Juliet. The subject of the speech it is part of, copied below, is what we might call the "upsides" and the "downsides" of love. Romeo here...

At the beginning of Romeo and Juliet, Romeo is distraught by the ending of his relationship with Rosaline; however, once he meets Juliet, Rosaline is completely forgotten. At their first meeting,...

As Friar Laurence approaches the tomb to sit with Juliet, he uses the literary device of imagery, description using any of the five senses of sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell, to express his...

Romeo is endlessly the impulsive teenager, caught up in the intense whirlwind of whatever his emotions at the moment happen to be. He transfers his love from Rosaline to Juliet in a flash and...

Lord Capulet is obviously embarrassed and conflicted by Paris's request to marry Juliet. On the one hand, Capulet could not ask for a more perfect suitor for his daughter's hand. Paris is rich and...

The quotation is actually a very profound one. It suggests that a name is simply a label to distinguish something from another. It does not create worth nor does it create true meaning. What is...

In Act 5 of Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet," there are a significant number of metaphors and similes used, along with other literary elements like personification, irony and imagery. In the...

In the context of the prologue given by the Chorus at the beginning of William Shakespeare's romantic tragedy Romeo and Juliet, the entirety of the play is an example of dramatic irony in that the...

The use of allusion is definitely worth noting in acts 1 and 2. An allusion is when a writer makes an indirect reference to a person, a place, or an object without actually mentioning it by name....

In Romeo and Juliet, the feud between the two families has been going on for some time. The Capulets hate the Montagues and vice versa, so when Romeo and Juliet fall in love with each other it...

The main conflict in the play is undoubtedly that between the two warring Verona families, the Montagues and the Capulets. These noble houses have been at each other's throats for years and there's...

Many readers are shocked to find that the tragic events in Romeo and Juliet span over the course of only five days, Sunday through Thursday. 1. On Sunday, Romeo and Juliet meet and fall in love....

When Romeo is in Juliet's garden and she speaks from her balcony (not yet knowing he's there), he says she should speak again because she is "As glorious to this night" as is "a winged messenger of...

Romeo and Juliet are alike in being young people who fall quickly and passionately in love, are impatient to get married, and are willing to ignore the feud between their families to be together....

In act 1, scene 5, Romeo beholds Juliet for the first time at the party hosted by the Capulets. In a room crowded with people and with much hoopla around him, Romeo notices his soon-to-be wife and...

In act 2, scene 2, Romeo provides some of the most quoted lines in English literature, his words full of figurative language: But soft, what light through yonder window breaks?It is the east, and...

In the prologue, Shakespeare identifies fate as the culprit responsible for Romeo and Juliet's death, calling them "star-crossed lovers." The feud between their families is also largely responsible...

In act 2, scene 3 of William Shakespeare's romantic tragedy Romeo and Juliet, Romeo goes to Friar Laurence early in the morning to tell him about Juliet, the new love in his life, and to ask the...

Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy, but it does have episodes of humor, particularly in the first two Acts. In fact, if the play had ended after Act II, Scene 6 it would be labeled as a...

Note that Mercutio does not say this famous phrase—"A plague o' both your houses"—once as an isolated statement. Rather, he voices the sentiment repeatedly as he lies dying. Remember, in act 3,...

The Prologue merely refers to the feud between the Montagues and Capulets as an "ancient grudge" with no further explanation as to why the two families hate each other. We learn too that the feud...

This is a quote by Tybalt in Act 1, scene 1 of “Romeo and Juliet”. In the very beginning of the play, servants of the Capulet house and those of the Montague house are arguing over which family is...

Juliet speaks here. She has just asked her nurse to identify a certain young man she finds attractive. He is attending the Capulet ball, but she doesn't know who he is. The nurse tells her that he...

Act III, Scene 5 of Romeo and Juliet shows us a few things about Juliet's relationship with her parents.The first we see is that Juliet does not trust her mother in the same way that she trusts her...

In this quote, Juliet uses a series of seeming oxymorons to describe the contradiction she now perceives in her lover, Romeo. Her language is metaphorical: she lays out several scenarios in which...

As other answers have noted, the friar states that he agrees to the hasty and secret marriage in the hopes it will end the feud between the two families. He understands, the level of feuding has...

In Act 3, scene 5, Juliet pleads with the Nurse for guidance. Romeo has been banished and Juliet's parents are trying to make her marry Paris. The Nurse says to Juliet: I think it best you married...

To translate this quote into Modern English, Juliet is saying, "My only love springs from my only hate! I saw him too early when I didn't know him, and now I realize who he is too late! This is a...

Generally speaking, Juliet simply does not seem very interested in marriage at all, let alone marriage to the Count Paris, a man about which she knows little, aside from his position and that he...

The death of the two infatuated lovers is truly tragic and illustrates how impetuousness can lead to rash decision-making with disastrous consequences. Because Romeo and Juliet were caught in the...

In Act II, Scene 1, Mercutio is joking with Benvolio about Romeo's love-sickness for Rosaline, saying, I conjure thee by Rosaline's bright eyes.By her high forehead and her scarlet lip,By her fine...

Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is not based on a real story, but it is not original to Shakespeare either. An important source is the Roman writer Ovid's Metamorphosis. One of the stories in Ovid's...