a woman to take her husband's family name when she marries, but a man's family name is more important to him, more a part of his identity and self-image. Romeo could not change his name as readily as Juliet, even though he loves her just as much. Her littlesoliloquy about names is evidently to show her youth and naivete. It also shows Romeo that he can have her as his bride if he wants her and is willing to accept the problems that would go with a marriage between members of two rival families.

This scene is crucial to the play and the one most people remember best. The essence of the plot is that two young people fall in love regardless of the fact that their parents hate each other. This basic premise has been copied many times over the years, perhaps most successfully in an old play titled Abie's Irish Rose, in which a boy from an Orthodox Jewish family marries a girl from an Irish-Catholic family and creates an uproar between their respective parents. According to Wikipedia:

Although initially receiving poor reviews, the Broadway play was a commercial hit, running for 2,327 performances between May 23, 1922 and October 1, 1927, at the time the longest run in Broadway theater history.

While we might think the word "wherefore" means "where," it actually means "why." In this exclamation, therefore, the anguished Juliet is asking Romeo why he is Romeo, meaning, why is he a Montague?

Juliet has fallen in love with Romeo at this point, which is the balcony scene in act II. She understands, however, that his being of the house of Montague, with which her family is feuding, makes their relationship forbidden. She goes on, in her speech to Romeo, to express how senseless it is that she should be expected to hate someone she loves merely because of his name. She makes a distinction between a label, such as "Montague," and the reality of what the person is beneath the label, stating:

Tis but thy name that is my enemy;
Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.
What's Montague? It is nor hand, nor foot,
Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part
Belonging to a man.

She will then go on to make the famous statement about a rose by any other name smelling as sweet. She shows she is a person capable of thinking for herself.

The names "Romeo" and "Montague" stand for any names which obscure what is good under a negative label.

O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo

Juliet cries this into the night in Act II because she is so torn. "Wherefore" is a way of saying "why," so Juliet is saying, "Romeo, why are you who you are?" This means, why are you the man I fell in love with—and why are you a Montegue, the family my family is at war with?

Greg