Discussion Topic
Interpretation and literary devices in Romeo's line: "I fear too early, for my mind misgives some consequence yet hanging in the stars shall bitterly begin."
Summary:
In this line, Romeo uses foreshadowing to express his anxiety about attending the Capulet party. He senses that the events set in motion will lead to his untimely fate, as suggested by "consequence yet hanging in the stars." The line also employs personification, attributing human-like qualities to his mind and fate.
What is the interpretation and what literary devices are used in this quote from Romeo in Act 1, Scene 4?
"I fear too early, for my mind misgives some consequence yet hanging in the stars shall bitterly begin."
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 he is too depressed and too deeply in love with Rosaline to enjoy himself. Benvolio talked Romeo into attending this party as a way to cure his lovesickness by showing him how many other pretty girls are in Verona. Still, Romeo doesn't believe he could possibly be interested.
In this passage, Romeo expresses a sense of foreboding about this party, saying he feels fated for an untimely death. He mentions having had a dream but is diverted from telling it by Mercutio's long discourse on Queen Mab and dreaming.
Since Romeo does not expect to find love at this party, we can assume that his sense of dread arises from fear that Capulets will kill him in...
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a fight when they realize he, a Montague, crashed a Capulet party. Theirony arises from the fact that Romeo will fall in love and it will be that, not exposure as a Montague at the party, that is ultimately responsible for his death. The feud will lead to his death, but not in the way he thinks.
The sense of fear and foreboding Romeo experiences is an example of foreshadowing: he is fated to die and this path will "bitterly begin" at the party. His lines here have a poetic cadence, emphasizing their importance. "Mind misgives" and "bitterly begin" are forms of alliteration. The soft rhyme in "breast" and "death" further adds to the poetic cadence. Shakespeare also mentions stars, a recurrent image in the play. Romeo speaks of a "consequence yet hanging in the stars," by which he means he has a sense of fateful foreboding, but star imagery will also permeate the way Romeo and Juliet will refer to each other, so Shakespeare, characteristically, is using double entendre to indicate that both fate and Romeo's soon-to-be "star" Juliet will determine what is to come.
Romeo is responding here to Benvolio's comment that they are going to be too late for the Capulet party.
Romeo is saying that he is scared that they won't be too late, but too early as in they shouldn't go at all. He believes this because he has a gut feeling (his mind misgiving him) that due to going to this party, something bad is going to happen (the consequence).
This is foreshadowing the tragic events that will unfold due to the love between Romeo and Juliet. The love is a consequence of having met Juliet at this party which then leads to the deaths of many including Romeo and Juliet themselves.
What literary device does Romeo use in the line, "I fear too early for my mind misgives"?
Benvolio and Mercutio are attempting to convince Romeo to go with them to the Capulets' party. Romeo resists them because he is feeling really sad about Rosaline and the unrequited love he feels for her. After all this talking, Benvolio is afraid that they will arrive at the party too late to enjoy it. However, Romeo responds:
I fear too early, for my mind misgives
Some consequence yet hanging in the stars
Shall bitterly begin his fearful date
With this night's revels, and expire the term
Of a despised life closed in my breast
By some vile forfeit of untimely death.
But he that hath the steerage of my course
Direct my sail. (1.4.113-120)
Romeo says that he fears that something fated will be set in motion by his appearance at the party, and that this will end with his death. However, he still feels compelled to go.
The phrase "consequence yet hanging in the stars" is not literally possible, and so it makes meaning figuratively. Stars were believed to be connected to fate—as though one might read one's fate in the stars (e.g., Romeo and Juliet are described as "star-cross'd" in the Prologue)—and so the phrase "hanging in the stars" stands in for "awaiting me as part of my fate." This substitution of something associated with fate (the stars) for fate itself is called metonymy.
There is also alliteration in the phrase "the mindmisgives" as well as slant rhyme with the repetition of the "s" sound in "misgives," "some," "consequence," and "stars." Alliteration is the repetition of the initial consonant sound in consecutive and near-consecutive words. Slant rhyme refers to any kind of sound similarity (it isn't dependent on where the sounds occurs in the word, unlike alliteration).
Let's look at the full quote that you are referring to first, which occurs in Act One, Scene Four of Romeo and Juliet:
I fear too early, for my mind misgives
Some consequence yet hanging in the stars
Shall bitterly begin his fearful date
With this night’s revels, and expire the term
Of a despisèd life closed in my breast
By some vile forfeit of untimely death.
But he that hath the steerage of my course,
Direct my sail. On, lusty gentlemen.
First, this passage is an example of foreshadowing. Romeo is telling Benvolio that he fears that something bad will happen at the ball later that night which may eventually result in his death. This premonition is absolutely true: Romeo will meet his future wife, Juliet, the woman from the rivaling Capulet family who will later commit suicide with Romeo in the crypt.
The literary device that is used in Romeo's quote, "I fear, too early; for my mind misgives/ Some consequence yet hanging in the stars," (Act I, scene v, l. 106-107) is two fold.
"My mind misgives" is personification because it is giving the mind capability to perform a human action. It is also foreshadowing, because Romeo is hinting at a future occurrence that has yet to be discovered in the "some consequence yet hanging in the starts" portion of the line.