| “Death….hath had no power yet upon thy beauty. Thou not conquered. Beauty’s ensign yet is crimson in thy lips and in thy cheeks” | Romeo said it to Juliet;Dramatic Irony because the audience knows Juliet isn’t really dead;He sees Juliet “dead” for the first time, and sees that she is still beautiful, even in death. He is still in love with her. |
| “….Hath Death lain with thy wife. There she lies, Flower as she was, deflowered by him. Death is my son-in-law, Death is my heir, My daughter he hath wedded. Life, living, all is Death’s” | Lord Capulet says this to Paris;He says this when he sees Juliet dead, thinking how his daughter and wife are both dead, and that death consumes him and follows him everywhere.;Personification since death cannot marry and dramatic irony since the audience knows that Juliet isn’t really dead |
| “Now by Saint Peter’s Church, and Peter too. He shall not make me there a joyful bride! I will not marry yet, and when I do, I swear it shall be Romeo, whom you know I hate, Rather than Paris!” | Juliet says this to her parents;Situational Ironic because she is already married to Romeo;She says this when her parents tell her to marry Paris, but she refuses outright. |
| “A plague a’ both your houses! They have made worms’ meat of me” | Mercutio said this to Romeo, Tybalt, and Benvolio;Foreshadowing;It is when Tybalt stabs him under Romeo, and says this because it is both Romeo’s and Tybalt’s fault that he is dying. |
| “She’ll not be hit with Cupid’s arrow, She hath Dian’s wit…” | Said by Romeo to Benvolio;Allusion;Talking about Rosaline, how she refuses to love and she’s as clever as Dian, the goddess of the hunt |
| “O she doth teach the torches to burn bright!” | Said by Romeo to himself;Talking about how Rosaline stands out against all the other women;Hyperbole because Romeo is exaggerating her beauty |
| “O brawling love, O loving hate…O heavy lightness, serious vanity…” | Said by Romeo to Benvolio;Talking about how Rosaline does not love him, but he loves her. Then how the fight of Capulets vs Montagues in act 1 was out of love, not hate; it is beautiful things muddled into a mess;Oxymoron |
| “Read o’er the volume of young Paris’ face, and find delight writ there with beauty’s pen” | Said by Lady Capulet to Juliet;She is saying the Juliet should find pleasure in Paris’s face, for she should marry him.;Metaphor because she is comparing Paris’ face to a book she should read |
| ” ‘Tis but thy name is my enemy. Thou art thyself, though, not a Montague. What’s Montague? It is nor hand, nor foot, nor face” | Juliet says this to herself;Personification because a name can’t be an enemy;Rhetorical Question because Juliet is asking herself what the name Montague is and why it should stop her and Romeo’s love;Says this after she kissed Romeo and after she realizes she is in love with him |
| “…the very pin of his heart cleft with the blind bow-boy’s butt-shaft…” | Mercutio says this to Benvolios;Means the center of his heart has been split by blind Cupid’s arrow: his heart is broken because Rosaline does not love him. They are just trying to tease Romeo so he will come out;Allusion because they are referring to Cupid |
| “Ask for me tomorrow and you shall find me a grave man” | Mercutio says this;Pun & foreshadowing;He says this when he is dying from Tybalt’s wound. Tomorrow, he will be underground in a grave and he will be very grave, as in serious |
| “Death has sucked the honey of thy breath, hath had no power yet upon thy beauty” | Romeo says this to Juliet;Saying that death has taken her sweet breath, but not her beauty when he sees her in the tomb;Dramatic Irony because the audience knows that Juliet isn’t really dead |
| “I do protest I never injured thee, but love thee better than thou canst devise” | Romeo says this to Tybalt;He is saying that he cannot fight Tybalt, for they are now family, and Romeo loves him.; Dramatic Irony because the audience knows that Romeo and Tybalt are now related but Tybalt doesn’t know |
| “Beautiful tyrant! Fiend Angelica! Dove feathered raven! Wolvish-ravening lamb!” | Lord Capulet says this to the Nurse;He is very excited that Juliet agreed to marry Paris, and sought forgiveness for every betraying them.; Oxymorons |
| “Tell me, that I may sack the hateful mansion!” | Romeo says this to Friar Lawrence;Romeo asks where in his body his name (Montague) can be found so that he can cut it out; he’s threatening to kill himself since he made Juliet upset and is calling himself a house |
| “More light and light- more dark and dark our woes.” | Romeo says this to Juliet;Situational Irony;Romeo had just spent the night at Juliet’s and he must leave early before anyone sees him. Juliet just told him that it was the morning lark that was singing so he must leave her room. Romeo makes the comment that since it is getting lighter and the day is starting, they must be apart, and it causes them more sorrow. |
| “A’ Thursday, tell her, she shall be married to this noble earl” | Lord Capulet says this to Lady Capulet;· Dramatic Irony because we know Juliet is already married;· Lord Capulet says this to Lady Capulet after having made wedding plans between Juliet and Paris |
| “These violent delights, have violent ends…” | Friar Laurence says this to Romeo;· Foreshadowing;· Friar Laurence and Romeo are having a conversation about Juliet and the Friar is trying to talk some sense into Romeo and warn him about marrying Juliet. The Friar says that something such as loving someone so passionately, so quickly, can only end badly. Though Romeo says no matter what bad things happen, being with Juliet is worth it, this is foreshadowing the terribly “violent” end to the lovers. |
| “Why he’s a man of wax… He’s a flower, in faith- a very flower” | Nurse says this to Juliet;· Metaphor;· The nurse is explaining her opinion of Paris, advising Juliet to marry him. By calling him a man of wax and a flower she is conveying her belief that he is very attractive (like a statue) and, therefore, a good choice for a husband. |
| “Take some new infection to thy eye, and rank the poison of the old will die” | Benvolio says this to Romeo; Metaphor; Here, Benvolio is comparing Romeo’s relationship with Rosaline, or falling in love, to an eye infection. Benvolio is trying to persuade Romeo to get over Rosaline by saying that if he meets a new girl and becomes lovesick about her, he will forget about Rosaline, much like how a new eye infection will flush out a previous one. |
| “It is the East, and Juliet is the sun! Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon, who is already sick and pale with grief” | Romeo says this to himself;· Metaphor;· Romeo is saying this too himself outside of Juliet’s balcony. He met her earlier at the Capulet ball and now sees her at her window. In awe of her appearance, Romeo compares Juliet to the sun, so beautiful and bright, that the moon is jealous and thus turns ugly and pale because of it. |
| “…thy love I bear thee can afford no better name than this: thou art a villain” | Said by Tybalt to Romeo;· Metaphor because Romeo isn’t really a villain;· Tybalt and Mercutio were arguing previously when Romeo entered. Tybalt is saying that he has no love for Romeo, and his feelings are summed up in the fact that he says Romeo is a villain, full of evil and bad choices. Romeo counters by saying that he loves Tybalt now that they are related, but Tybalt doesn’t really understand since he is not aware of the marriage between Romeo and Juliet. |
| “Methinks I see thee, now thou art so low, as one dead in the bottom of a tomb” | Juliet says this to Romeo;· Simile/Foreshadowing;· Juliet is saying goodbye to Romeo while he is on the ground and she is up in her room. She comments that she has a soul that can see evil things and when she sees him from so far away, it looks as if he is a dead person in a tomb. Romeo says it is that sadness of leaving that makes him look so pale. This could foreshadow the event of Romeo and Juliet actually being dead in a tomb at the end of the play. |
| “Hang thee young baggage! Disobedient wretch! I tell thee what- get thee to church a’ Thursday or never after look me in the face” | Lord Capulet says this to Juliet;· Metaphor because Capulet is calling Juliet baggage, or trash or foreshadowing because Lord Capult won’t see her face again after this;· Lord Capulet calls Juliet many insulting names after she refuses and pleads to not marry Paris the upcoming Thursday. He states that if she doesn’t he will disown her. |
| “Death lies upon her like an untimely frost upon the sweetest flower of all the field” | Lord Capulet says this to Lady Capulet and the Nurse;· Simile;· This is said when Lord Capulet is seeing Juliet “dead” for the first time. He notes how the death is untimely, right before the wedding. He compares her beauty, still present in “death”, to a beautiful flower. He might still think she is beautiful for the fact that she isn’t actually dead, just in a comatose state. |
| “O Fortune, Fortune! All men call thee fickle. If thou art fickle, what does thou with him that is renowned for faith? Be fickle, fortune” | Personification because fortune can’t be fickle;· Juliet is asking fortune why it has anything to do with Romeo since he is the opposite of fickle |
| “Affliction is enamored by thy parts, and thou art enamoured of thy parts, and thou art wedded to calamity” | Friar Laurence says this to Romeo;· Personification;· This is before Friar Laurence tells Romeo about his banishment for killing Tybalt. The Friar states that trouble, is enamored, or in love, with Romeo and that it always finds him. Since “trouble” isn’t capable of loving, Shakespeare was using personification. The Friar says that Romeo is wedded to calamity, or disaster. This could mean that Romeo always ends up being a part of disasters. However, the Friar could also be referring to Juliet, and Romeo’s marriage to her, as a disaster since it has caused a lot of distress. |
| “Earth hath swallowed all my hopes but she…” | Lord Capulet says this to Paris;· Personification;· Lord Capulet gives the Earth the human-like quality of being able to “swallow”. He is talking to Paris about him being a suitor of Juliet’s. He comments that the Earth has “swallowed” all of his hopes except for Juliet. This means that death has taken all of his children except for Juliet and he wants her life, and marriage specifically in his and Paris’ conversation, to be successful. For this reason, he tells Paris to try to impress Juliet and not rush their wedding. |
| “O serpent heart, hid with a flow’ring face! Did ever a dragon keep so fair a cave? Beautiful tyrant! Field angelical! Dove-feather’d raven! Wolvish-ravening lamb! Despised substance of divinest show!” | Juliet says this to herself;· Oxymorons;· Juliet yells this string of contradictions after she hears the news from the Nurse about Romeo killing Tybalt and Romeo being banished from Verona. These show her contrasting feelings over whether she should be sorrowful for the death of her cousin or heartbroken over the fact that her lover is exiled from the city. They show Juliet’s confusion and overall misery about the situation. |
Romeo and Juliet Quotes
July 15, 2019