Romeo and Juliet GCSE English James Davison

Act 1

Act 1

"Both alike in dignity"

Introduces the idea of the importance of status in Shakespearean society and allows the audience to immediately see one of the key themes throughout the play.

"A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life"

The idea of pre-determined fate is immediately introduced. Additionally the antithesis of "lovers" and "take their life" puts an emphasis on the idea Shakespeare introduces of a good factor always having a bad factor to counteract it.

"Their death-marked love"

Dramatic irony is introduced here as the audience are told before the play starts that both the main character will die at the end. This makes the audience question the idea of fate and the control it takes over their lives. Additionally, the antithesis here places emphasis on the need for society to change as "love" should not be marked with "death".

"Their death bury their parent's strife"

Dramatic irony is used here in order to show how sacrifice is required to amend the feud between the two families. This not only prevents the audience from being interested in how the play ends but instead focuses their attention on what the lovers are forced to endure to reach such a brutal ending. This results in the audience questioning factors of fate, patriarchy and Elizabethan society itself.

"You men, you beasts"

The Prince can be seen dehumanising both the families here as he describes them as 'beasts'. This refers to their lack of morality in their relentless chase of the feud between their two families.

"Your lives shall pay the forfeit of peace"

This ominous warning emphasises to the audience at the start of the play that there will be great consequences to the families if they carry on fighting. As the family feud is never-ending as suggested by the Prologue, another fight is bound to break out giving the future acts a foreboding tone as the audience are seemingly waiting for people's live to pay the "forfeit of peace".

"My child is yet a stranger in the world"

Lord Capulet is attempting to discourage Paris from marrying his daughter. In Elizabethan society, Juliet would've been at a good age for marrying however Lord Capulet decides on a surprisingly liberal view in which he believes his daughter should mature first before then choosing to marry Paris. This creates surprise in the audience and perhaps gives them an example to follow which would've opposed the typical patriarchal arranged marriages at the time.

"Under love's heavy burden, do I sink"

Romeo is in love with Rosaline at the start of the play. At this point, love is an emotion which creates sadness in him and metaphorically seems to be a "burden". Despite this heavy burden of love, in the later parts of Act 1 and in Act 2, Romeo can be seen contrastingly feeling light due to his love for Juliet. This emphasises to the audience how true love is much healthier than arranged love and perhaps opposes the typical arranged marriages which would've taken place at the time.

"Now seeming sweet, convert to bitterest gall"

The antithesis of "bitterest" and "sweet" creates unease in the audience as Tybalt is known to be a volatile character who is easily swayed by his emotions. This warning from Tybalt mixed with his unpredictable behaviour makes the audience question what lengths he will go to in order to seek revenge on Romeo. This is especially concerning as Tybalt is from the same family as Juliet, the girl who Romeo has fallen in love with.

"If he be married, my grave is like to be my wedding bed"

Foreshadowing is used here to emphasise how being attracted to Romeo will cost Juliet her life. The comparison of Juliet's "grave" being her "wedding bed" almost exactly replicates the end of the play where the two lovers can be found laying together similar to how they did so in Juliet's bed in Act 3.

"My only love sprung from my only hate"

The repetition of "hate" shows the audience how despite Juliet's admiration for Romeo, the dignity of her family must come first. This would've made the audience question the role honour and status played in their society above love.

Act 2

Act 2

"Oh Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo / Deny thy father and refuse thy name"

The word "wherefore" means "why" which shows how Juliet is asking why the world must be so cruel as to place her true love in the one family her very own hates. Additionally, Juliet stating, "Refuse thy name" perhaps implies how she is willing to rid herself of her family just to be with the person she truly loves.

"Tis but thy name that is my enemy"

The creation of the image of just Romeo's "name" being Juliet's enemy shows how Juliet does not care for status but instead places love at a higher value. This perhaps sent a message to the audience at the time to carefully consider how they value status within their lives.

"These violent delights have violent ends"

The repetition of "violent" behind both "delights" and "ends" creates an antithesis in which violent means quick and deadly. This creates discomfort in the audience as they know that both lovers will die and are forced to realise that they will begin on their path to start dying after the wedding scene where the peripeteia will be found.

"It is the east, and Juliet is the sun"

This relation of Juliet to the "sun" is a metaphor for her beauty and also the light she brings Romeo. Additionally, many people use the sun to guide themselves by determining the direction of North, East, South and West. Juliet perhaps acts as a guide to Romeo of what he should try to be more like and this idea is represented through the idea of Juliet being the sun.

"With love's light wings did I o'erperch these walls"

In Act 1 Romeo can be seen describing how he was weighed down by love however he now believes love has given him "light wings". Not only do these wings make him feel like weight but he claims that they also allowed him to climb over "walls" to see Juliet. This not only shows Romeo's new found joy in love but also his dedication to Juliet and keeping her love in his life.

Act 3

Act 3

"Thou art a villain"

Tybalt uses a short blunt phrase to fully describe how he thinks of Romeo despite Romeo's positive words to Tybalt. This shows Tybalt's unenthusiasm to engage with the Mountagues due to the family feud and his dedication to honour. This also starts the chain of events which will lead to the turning point of the play.

"Good Capulet - which name I tender as dearly as my own"

This shows how Romeo has seemingly lost his toxic masculinity and would rather "tender" others as best as he can in order to avoid violence. This perhaps reflects how love has made him a different person to who he was before and would've shown the audience at the time that true love was much better than arranged love as one could be changed to a better person by such love.

"I do protest, I never injured thee"

This shows how Romeo has adopted a more peaceful behaviour and approach to situations as he refuses to fight without reason and place aside the family feud to instead pursue friendliness. Additionally, Romeo does not wish to injure Tybalt anymore showing how he has lost his sense for violence against the Capulets and therefore has seemingly matured.

"I was hurt under your arm"

Mercutio in this seen places all the blame of his death onto Romeo as Romeo attempted to stop the fight between Tybalt and Mercutio leading to Mercutio's death. It could be argued that the death of his close friend and the blame being passed onto Romeo is enough to destroy his new attitude and pushes him into a toxic masculine mindset in which he kills Tybalt.

"A plague on both your houses!"

This shows how Mercutio curses the households for starting a feud in which people outside the families are harmed by the families' fighting. This shows the audience how the family feud is a burden on society and how they should not treat status as seriously as they would've at the time as it would eventually lead to violence.

"I am fortune's fool"

The antithesis of "fortune" and "fool" emphasises how Romeo has been forced into a situation where he has achieved the perfect life he's always wanted and has ruined it with one action. This creates importance surrounding the idea of pre-determined fate.

"There is no world without Verona walls but purgatory, torture, hell itself"

This shows how Romeo sees no life without Juliet and being able to love her as he describes religious places such as "hell" and "purgatory" which have connotations of suffering. This suffering in the absence of Juliet places emphasis on his love for her and would've made it clear to the audience the importance of true love over arranged love.

"I think she will be ruled in all respects by me"

Lord Capulet in Act 3 seemingly changes attitudes drastically as Tybalt dies and the Capulet family seems like it may become lower in honour and status than the Mountagues. This shows both Lord Capulet's prioritisation of himself and the family's honour over Juliet, but also shows his disregard for Juliet's opinion in contrast to the start of the play. This places emphasis on the wrongs of Patriarchy and would've made the audience question Elizabethan society at the time.

"These times of woe afford no time to woo"

Despite Lord Capulet's attempt to make Paris marry Juliet he states that she is too full of "woe" to "woo". This shows how Paris at first also has a slightly liberal attitude which is then later replaced with a patriarchal attitude which would've showed the audience how patriarchy was flawed and cruel.

"I have an ill-divining soul"

The antithesis between "ill" and "divining" creates a sense of discomfort in the audience as it is made clear Juliet has a bad feeling about the events to come. As an audience, we know that both character will die at the end. This means Shakespeare uses dramatic irony in order to make the audience question fate's role in the play as a whole.

"Hang thee young baggage! Disobedient wretch"

The objectification of Juliet as "baggage" perhaps acts as a method to further show the cruel flaws of patriarchy. Additionally, the cruel language such as "disobedient" and "wretch" shows the little value Juliet's father sees in her apart from as a marriage tool. This would've emphasise to the audience the important to remove patriarchy from society due to its cruelty put on full display.

"Speak not. Reply not. Do not answer me."

The repetition of short blunt sentences telling Juliet to be quiet not only show how she is denied the right to speak but it almost treated like a servant or pet. These blunt sentences make it clear to the audience that Juliet is valued lowly which would've created a sense of confusion as Juliet is the daughter of Lord Capulet. The audience at the time would've wanted to value their children and not treat them so harshly perhaps leading to some of the audience not imposing such strict patriarchal views on their children.

Act 4

Act 4

"I long to die if what thou speak'st speak not of remedy"

The use of "die" and "remedy" in the same sentence foreshadow Romeo's unfortunate demise as he takes poison to kill himself so that he may lay with Juliet. This foreshadowing is almost ironic as Juliet fakes her death with poison only leading to Romeo killing himself with poison. This sick irony makes the audience question the role of fate in their lives.

"Death is my son-in-law, Death is my heir"

The repetition of "death" and its personification emphasises how despite his previously harsh treatment of Juliet, he is deeply moved by her death. Despite this emotive language, it could be argued that the repetition of language relating to heritage and family could suggest that Lord Capulet only truly cares about Paris not being able to join his family and increase his status.

"With my child my joys are buried"

The emotive language used to describe how Lord Capulet's "joys" have been removed entirely helps to show how he did see value in Juliet. Despite this, the value he saw in Juliet was most likely in the joy he would get from having more status than the Capulets rather than Juliet's existence herself.

"That almost freezes up my heat of life"

This foreshadows the death that Romeo will face as once he finds Juliet's dead body he drinks poison which almost instantly kills him. Additionally, this feeling is so convincing that it convinces Romeo that Juliet is dead leading to him actually killing himself.

"This borrowed likeness of shrunk death"

The idea of the fake poison being a "borrowed likeness of shrunk death" suggests the idea that it is not faking death but rather just coming near to it. This idea creates a sense of dread in the audience as there is a high chance the Friar's Plan will end up killing both lovers. This is reinforced by the Prologue making the audience feel further dread as they feel that the death of both the lovers is near.

"With this knife, I'll help it presently"

The amicable language surround the "knife" helps to emphasise how Juliet sees death as a happy option after she can no longer see or love Romeo properly. This pushes the Friar to go to extreme measure to allow the couple to be together ultimately leading to his plan which kills both Romeo and Juliet.

"Oh woeful day, oh woeful day"

This shows the Nurses care for Juliet as her repetition of "woeful" helps to emphasise how much sadness is created in her after Juliet's death. This also shows how the Nurse valued Juliet more than her parents did. This perhaps would've highlighted a common problem in Elizabethan society at the time where parents did not seem to love their children for who they were but rather what they could gain them in status.

Act 5

Act 5

"Her beauty makes this vault a feasting presence full of light"

This idea of 'light' and its plentiness emphasises how Romeo looks towards Juliet for guidance when he feels like he is in the dark. The tomb Juliet is laid in is presumably dark as it is underground however Romeo seems to see Juliet in her perfect beauty as he believes that she lights up the room so much.

"Oh happy dagger"

The antithesis of "happy" and "dagger" shows how Juliet's situation once Romeo has died is so dire that Juliet decides death is a much happier fate than living on without Romeo.

"All are punished"

The pronoun 'all' suggests how not just Romeo and Juliet suffer from the consequences of their society but rather the audience and all the characters. This encourages the audience to change their ways after they've watched the play as they wish to avoid the same dire fate as Romeo and Juliet.

"For never was there a story of more woe, than that of Juliet and her Romeo"

This final rhyming couplet of the play creates a real sense of tragedy surrounding the ending and emphasises to the audience that the ending was fated to happen. Additionally, it forces the audience to think of how to avoid such a fate and therefore hopefully adapt their ways to be more in line with Shakespeare's seeming ideas of less patriarchy and less reliance on fate.

"O brother Mountague, give me thy hand"

This shows the reconciliation between the two families at the end of the play and how sacrifice was necessary in order to amend the gap between the two families. The sacrifice required was large however which perhaps was in order to discourage feuding families and bloodlines from taking such solemness in their honour and instead reconciling with each other.

"Thus with a kiss I die"

The antithesis of "kiss" and "die" shows the dedication of each lover to the other as they can both be found on each other's death beds. Additionally, it shows how throughout their love they were forced to endure challenges which were imposed upon them by an overly harsh society. This would've hopefully changed the minds of the audience watching Romeo and Juliet in order to prevent more people from having the same fate as Romeo and Juliet.

"See what a scourge is laid upon your hate"

The layering of words symbolising hate such as "hate" and "scourge" emphasise the hatred the family feud has ensued and the hatred which Elizabethan society should've attempted to avoid by disregarding the importance surround status and dignity.

"Unsubstantial death is amorous"

The antithesis of "death" and "amorous" shows how even through death, Romeo and Juliet are romanticised. This idea of true love shows the audience of pure emotions in a relationship and would've at the time swayed many to allow for true love rather than arranged love in relationships.