Romeo and Juliet Quotes

O brawling love! O loving hate!

– Romeo, Act 1, Scene 1

• Conflicted about love and hate; noticing how love can cause pain and conflict.

• Oxymoron

a pair of star-crossed lovers

– Prologue

• Introduces Romeo and Juliet as fated to die; sets the tragic tone.

• metaphor of fate, foreshadowing

death-marked love

– Prologue

• Their love is doomed from the start; fate will end it tragically.

• juxtaposition 

Being vexed a sea nourished with lovers’ tears 

– Romeo, Act 1, Scene 1

• Romeo complains about unrequited love for Rosaline; exaggerated, poetic sadness  

• metaphor

rich in beauty

– Romeo, Act 1, Scene 1

• Describes Juliet’s attractiveness at first sight; admires her physical beauty.

• ????

it is the east, and Juliet’s the sun. arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon.

– Romeo, Act 2, Scene 2

• Balcony scene; Romeo compares Juliet to the sun, outshining everything else.

• celestial imagery  

Juliet, the county stays

go, girl, seek happy nights to happy days  

act 1, scene 3. two quotes comparing how the nurse and lady Capulet speak about Juliet when talking about marrying paris.

????

tis but thy name that is my enemy 

– Juliet, Act 2, Scene 2

• Juliet wishes Romeo could give up being a Montague, so they could be together.

• personification

wisely and slow, they stumble that run fast.

– Friar Lawrence, Act 2, Scene 3

• Warning Romeo to be careful; don’t rush love or decisions.

• dramatic irony 

love thou better than thou canst devise

-Romeo act 3, scene 1.

• Romeo talking to Tybalt about how he loves him, even if he may not understand, and that he won’t fight him

• uses paradox to highlight extreme emotions

take him and cut him out in little stars, And he shall make the face of heaven so fine 

– Juliet, Act 3, Scene 2

• Imagining Romeo in the sky; romantic, poetic vision of him as stars.

• celestial imagery

come, death, and welcome! if Juliet wills it so

-Romeo, act 3, scene 5

• Romeo welcoming death if that is what Juliet wants

• anthesis (welcome and death), highlights the depth of his love and the tragic nature of their relationship.

and with my child, my joys are buried.

– Capulet, Act 4, Scene 5

• Juliet “dies” and Capulet expresses grief; feels all his happiness is gone.

• antithesis, dramatic irony

the most you sought was her promotion

-Friar Laurence act 4, scene 5

• Dramatic irony is used as he says Juliet was promoted to heaven, but it could also mean her parents only cared about social advancement 

thus with a kiss I die.

– Romeo, Act 5, Scene 3

• Romeo’s final line; dies next to Juliet, showing tragic love

• paradox, dramatic irony 

my only love sprung from my only hate! prodigious birth of love it is to me, that I must love a loathed enemy.

– Juliet, Act 1, Scene 5

• Juliet realizes she loves Romeo. She syas how this love is fateful, prodigious and form hate

• antithesis, paradox, second bit is part of rhyming couplet!

for never was a story of more woe than this of Juliet and her Romeo.

– Prince, Act 5, Scene 3

• Final line; sums up the tragic story.

• hyperbole

where civil blood makes civil hands unclean

– Prologue

• The family feud spills into violence; society is affected.

• antithesis, foreshadowing, repetition 

as I hate hell, all Montagues and thee

– Tybalt, Act 1, Scene 1

• Tybalt expresses extreme hatred for Montagues; comparing it to hell

• simile

you men, you beasts!

– Prince, Act 1, Scene 1

• comparing the men fighting in the street to animals

• metaphor 

three civil brawls bred of an airy word

– Prince, Act 1, Scene 1

• Verona has had three fights caused by small arguments; tension in society.

• metaphor, alliteration, personification 

for this alliance may so happy prove, to turn your households' rancour to pure love.

– Friar Lawrence, Act 2, Scene 3

• Hoping Romeo and Juliet’s marriage can end the family feud.

• dramatic irony 

see what scourge is laid upon your hate 

– Prince, Act 5, Scene 3

• Blaming family hatred for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet.

• rhetorical question 

a glooming peace this morning with it brings The sun for sorrow will not show his head.

– Prince, Act 1, Scene 1

• After the fighting stops, peace comes but it’s sad; Verona mourns.

• oxymoron, antithesis 

"Hang thee, young baggage, disobedient wretch!"

– Capulet, Act 3, Scene 5

• Angrily insults Juliet after she refuses to marry Paris

• hyperbole 

some consequences yet hanging in the stars

– Romeo, Act 1, Scene 4

• Foreshadowing; feels something bad will happen at the Capulet party.

• metaphor, foreshadowing 

but he hath the steerage of my course. direct my sail

– Romeo, Act 1, Scene 4

• Surrendering to fate; letting destiny guide his actions.

• metaphor

so smile the heavens upon this holy act

– Friar Lawrence, Act 2, Scene 6

• Blessing the secret marriage of Romeo and Juliet; hope that fate supports them.

• personification

O, I am fortune’s fool!

– Romeo, Act 3, Scene 1

• Realizing fate is against him after killing Tybalt; tragic self-awareness.

• metaphor, personification 

can heaven be so envious

– Juliet, Act 3, Scene 2

• Laments cruel fate; wonders why the heavens are against him.

• personification, rhetorical question 

If all else fail, myself have the power to die.

– Juliet, Act 3, Scene 2

• Choosing death over life without Romeo; exercising free will.

• dramatic irony, emotive language

the heavens do lour upon you for some ill

– Friar Lawrence, Act 4, Scene 5

• Suggesting fate and divine disapproval caused Juliet to die (when she wasn’t actually dead)

• personification  

Then I defy you, stars!

– Romeo, Act 5, Scene 1

• Tries to rebel against fate; chooses to act rather than wait and defy fate.

• metaphor, symbol of fate

and shake the yoke of inauspicious stars

– Romeo, Act 5, Scene 3

• Again defying fate; wants to break free from destiny. he says this just before he drinks the posion.

• metaphor, personification 

that heaven finds means to kill your joys with love  

1. – Prince Escalus, Act 5, Scene 3

   • Explains to the families that fate (heaven) has destroyed their happiness through the children’s love.

   • antithesis,personification   

did my heart love till now? foreswear it a sight!

• Romeo, when first sees Juliet

• part of a rhyming couplet