romeo and juliet act 1

Quotes

Character(s)

Explanation

“Why then, O brawling love! O loving hate!
O any thing, of nothing first create!
O heavy lightness! serious vanity!
Mis-shapen chaos of well-seeming forms!
Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick health,
Still-waking sleep, that is not what it is!
This love feel I, that feel no love in this.”

Romeo

“O, she is rich in beauty, only poor,
That when she dies, with beauty dies her store.”

Romeo

“O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright!
It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night
Like a rich jewel in an Ethiope’s ear;
Beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear!
So shows a snowy dove trooping with crows,
As yonder lady o'er her fellows shows.
The measure done, I’ll watch her place of stand,
And, touching hers, make blessed my rude hand.”

Romeo

“Did my heart love till now? forswear it, sight!
For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night.”

Romeo

Quotes

Character(s)

Explanation

“Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight!
For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night.”

Romeo

“Then move not, while my prayer's effect I take.
Thus from my lips, by yours, my sin is purged.”

Romeo

“Alas, that love, so gentle in his view,
Should be so tyrannous and rough in proof!”

Romeo

Quotes

Character(s)

Explanation

“underneath the grove of sycamore … so early walking did I see your son”

Benvolio

Sycamore is a tree associated with sad and lonely lovers. Since Benvolio saw Romeo there, he is then being associated with the tree and hence referred to as a ‘sad and lonely lover’, painting a melancholic, grieving image of him.

“with tears augmenting the fresh morning’s dew, adding to clouds more clouds with his deep sighs”

Lord Montague

“private in his chamber pens himself”

Lord Montague

“Shuts up his windows, locks fair daylight out”

Lord Montague

“And makes himself an artificial night”

Lord Montague

“But he, his own affections’ counselor,
 Is to himself”

Lord Montague

“Ay me, sad hours seem long.”

Romeo

“Not having that which, having, makes them short.”

Romeo

“Griefs of mine own lie heavy in my breast,
 Which thou wilt propagate to have it pressed
 With more of thine. This love that thou hast shown
 Doth add more grief to too much of mine own”

Romeo

“This love I feel, that feel no love in this”

Romeo

“Love is a smoke made with the fume of sighs”

Romeo

“I have lost myself; I am not here:
This is not Romeo, he’s some other where.”

Romeo

Quotes

Character(s)

Explanation

“I’ll look to like, if looking liking move;
But no more deep will I endart mine eye
Than your consent gives strength to make it fly.”

Juliet

“It is an honour that I dream not of.”

Juliet

“Madam, I am here. What is your will?”

Juliet

Quotes

Character(s)

Explanation

“It is an honour that I dream not of.”

Juliet

“My only love sprung from my only hate!
Too early seen unknown, and known too late!
Prodigious birth of love it is to me,
That I must love a loathed enemy.”

Juliet

“I'll look to like, if looking liking move;
But no more deep will I endart mine eye
Than your consent gives strength to make it fly.”

Juliet

“You kiss by the book.”

Juliet

“If he be married,
My grave is like to be my wedding bed.”

Juliet

Quotes

Character(s)

Explanation

“I do but keep the peace: put up thy sword,
Or manage it to part these men with me.”

Benvolio

“Away, be gone; the sport is at the best.”

Benvolio

“Part, fools!
Put up your swords; you know not what you do.”

Benvolio

“Here were the servants of your adversary,
And yours, close fighting ere I did approach:
I drew to part them: in the instant came
The fiery Tybalt, with his sword prepared,
Which, as he breathed defiance to my ears,
He swung about his head and cut the winds,
Who nothing hurt withal hiss'd him in scorn.”

Benvolio

Quotes

Character(s)

Explanation

“Faith, I can tell her age unto an hour.”

Nurse

“Thou wast the prettiest babe that e’er I nursed:
An I might live to see thee married once,
I have my wish.”

Nurse

“A man, young lady! Lady, such a man
As all the world—why, he's a man of wax.”

Nurse

“For then she could stand high-lone; nay, by the rood,
She could have run and waddled all about;
For even the day before, she broke her brow.”

Nurse

“What, lamb! what, ladybird!”

Nurse

“And then my husband—God be with his soul!
He was a merry man—took up the child:
‘Yea,’ quoth he, ‘dost thou fall upon thy face?
Thou wilt fall backward when thou comest to age.’”

Nurse

“Go, girl, seek happy nights to happy days.”

Nurse

Quotes

Character(s)

Explanation

“If love be rough with you, be rough with love:
Prick love for pricking, and you beat love down.”

Mercutio

“You are a lover; borrow Cupid’s wings,
And soar with them above a common bound.”

Mercutio

“True, I talk of dreams,
Which are the children of an idle brain,
Begot of nothing but vain fantasy;
Which is as thin of substance as the air
And more inconstant than the wind, who woos
Even now the frozen bosom of the north,
And, being anger’d, puffs away from thence,
Turning his face to the dew-dropping south.”

Mercutio

“O, then, I see Queen Mab hath been with you.
She is the fairies' midwife, and she comes
In shape no bigger than an agate-stone
On the forefinger of an alderman.”

Mercutio

“Sometime she driveth o'er a soldier's neck,
And then dreams he of cutting foreign throats,
Of breaches, ambuscadoes, Spanish blades,
Of healths five fathom deep; and then anon
Drums in his ear, at which he starts and wakes,
And being thus frighted swears a prayer or two
And sleeps again.”

Mercutio

Quotes

Character(s)

Explanation

“What, drawn, and talk of peace! I hate the word,
As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee:
Have at thee, coward!”

Tybalt

“This, by his voice, should be a Montague.
Fetch me my rapier, boy. What! dares the slave
Come hither, cover'd with an antic face,
To fleer and scorn at our solemnity?”

Tybalt

“Now, by the stock and honour of my kin,
To strike him dead, I hold it not a sin.”

Tybalt

“Patience perforce with wilful choler meeting
Makes my flesh tremble in their different greeting.
I will withdraw: but this intrusion shall
Now seeming sweet convert to bitter gall.”

Tybalt

“Fiery Tybalt”

Benvolio

Quotes

Character(s)

Explanation

“Unless good counsel may the cause remove”

Lord Montague

“O, where is Romeo? Saw you him today?
 Right glad I am he was not at this fray.”

Lady Montague

“Both by myself and many other friends”

Lord Montague

“Could we but learn from whence his sorrows grow,
 We would as willingly give cure as know”

Lord Montague

“I would thou wert so happy by thy stay
To hear true shrift”

Lord Montague

Quotes

Character(s)

Explanation

“My child is yet a stranger in the world;
She hath not seen the change of fourteen years:
Let two more summers wither in their pride,
Ere we may think her ripe to be a bride.”

Capulet

“But woo her, gentle Paris, get her heart;
My will to her consent is but a part.”

Capulet

“He shall be endured:
What, goodman boy! I say, he shall: go to;
Am I the master here, or you? go to.”

Capulet

“You'll make a mutiny among my guests!
You will set cock-a-hoop! you'll be the man!”

Capulet

“I would not for the wealth of all the town
Here in my house do him disparagement:
Therefore be patient, take no note of him.”

Capulet

Quotes

Character(s)

Explanation

“Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight!
For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night.”

Romeo

“Then move not, while my prayer's effect I take.”

Romeo

“My only love sprung from my only hate!
Too early seen unknown, and known too late!”

Juliet

Their sharing of a sonnet in their first meeting

Romeo and Juliet

Quotes

Character(s)

Explanation

“What sadness lengthens Romeo's hours?”

Benvolio

“Be ruled by me, forget to think of her.”

Benvolio

“By giving liberty unto thine eyes:
Examine other beauties.”

Benvolio

Quotes

Character(s)

Explanation

“O, then, I see Queen Mab hath been with you.
She is the fairies' midwife, and she comes
In shape no bigger than an agate-stone.”

Mercutio

“If love be rough with you, be rough with love:
Prick love for pricking, and you beat love down.”

Mercutio

“You are a lover; borrow Cupid's wings,
And soar with them above a common bound.”

Mercutio

Quotes

Character(s)

Explanation

“What, lamb! what, ladybird!”

Nurse

“Thou wast the prettiest babe that e’er I nursed:
An I might live to see thee married once,
I have my wish.”

Nurse

“Go, girl, seek happy nights to happy days.”

Nurse

Quotes

Character(s)

Explanation

“How stands your disposition to be married?”

Lady Capulet

“It is an honour that I dream not of.”

Juliet

“My child is yet a stranger in the world;
She hath not seen the change of fourteen years:
Let two more summers wither in their pride,
Ere we may think her ripe to be a bride.”

Capulet

Quotes

Character(s)

Moment

Explanation

Sampson: “Gregory, o' my word, we'll not carry coals.”
Gregory: “No, for then we should be colliers.”

Sampson and Gregory

Brawl in Act 1 Scene 1

While Sampson intended to convey that they won’t bear insults, Gregory twists the word and makes it more literal. He say that they’ll be “colliers”, making a pun to alleviate the situation and from preventing it into breaking out into something more dire.

Sampson: “I will show myself a tyrant: when I have fought with the men, I will be cruel with the maids, and cut off their heads.”
Gregory: “The heads of the maids?”
Sampson: “Ay, the heads of the maids, or their maidenheads; take it in what sense thou wilt.”

Sampson and Gregory

Brawl in Act 1 Scene 1

“Now, by my maidenhead, at twelve year old, I bade her come. What, lamb! what, ladybird!”

Nurse

The Nurse’s conversation with Juliet and Lady Capulet

“Nay, gentle Romeo, we must have you dance.”
Romeo: “Not I, believe me: you have dancing shoes
With nimble soles: I have a soul of lead
So stakes me to the ground I cannot move.”
Mercutio: “You are a lover; borrow Cupid's wings,
And soar with them above a common bound.”

Romeo and Mercutio

Romeo and Mercutio’s conversation

“True, I talk of dreams,
Which are the children of an idle brain,
Begot of nothing but vain fantasy;
Which is as thin of substance as the air
And more inconstant than the wind.”

Mercutio

Romeo and Mercutio’s conversation (Queen Mab)

Quotes

Character(s)

Moment

Explanation

“I will bite my thumb at them; which is a disgrace to them, if they bear it.”

Sampson

Brawl in Act 1 Scene 1

“What, drawn, and talk of peace! I hate the word,
As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee:
Have at thee, coward!”

Tybalt

Brawl in Act 1 Scene 1

“Rebellious subjects, enemies to peace,
Profaners of this neighbour-stained steel—
Will they not hear?”

Prince Escalus

Brawl in Act 1 Scene 1

“Griefs of mine own lie heavy in my breast.”

Romeo

Conversation with Benvolio about Rosaline in Act 1 Scene 1

“Here’s much to do with hate, but more with love.
Why then, O brawling love! O loving hate!”

Romeo

Conversation with Benvolio about Rosaline in Act 1 Scene 1

“Love is a smoke raised with the fume of sighs;
Being purged, a fire sparkling in lovers' eyes;
Being vexed, a sea nourished with loving tears.”

Romeo

Conversation with Benvolio about Rosaline in Act 1 Scene 1

“O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright!
It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night
Like a rich jewel in an Ethiope's ear.”

Romeo

Capulet Feast

“Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight!
For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night.”

Romeo

Capulet Feast

“Then move not, while my prayer’s effect I take.”

Romeo

Capulet Feast

“This, by his voice, should be a Montague.
Fetch me my rapier, boy.”

Tybalt

Capulet Feast

“I will withdraw: but this intrusion shall,
Now seeming sweet, convert to bitter gall.”

Tybalt

Capulet Feast

“Patience perforce with wilful choler meeting
Makes my flesh tremble in their different greeting.”

Tybalt

Capulet Feast

Quotes

Character(s)

Moment

Explanation

“I fear too early; for my mind misgives
Some consequence yet hanging in the stars
Shall bitterly begin his fearful date.”

Romeo

Before the Capulet Feast

“By some vile forfeit of untimely death.”

Romeo

Before the Capulet Feast

“He that hath the steerage of my course,
Direct my sail!”

Romeo

Before the Capulet Feast

“Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight!
For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night.”

Romeo

Romeo and Juliet’s meeting

“My only love sprung from my only hate!
Too early seen unknown, and known too late!”

Juliet

Romeo and Juliet’s meeting

“O dear account! My life is my foe's debt.”

Romeo

Romeo and Juliet’s meeting

“I'll go along, no such sight to be shown,
But to rejoice in splendor of mine own.”

Romeo

Before the Capulet’s feast - Free Will

“At this same ancient feast of Capulet's
Sups the fair Rosaline whom thou so lovest;
With all the admired beauties of Verona:
Go thither; and, with unattainted eye,
Compare her face with some that I shall show,
And I will make thee think thy swan a crow.”

Benvolio

Before the Capulet’s feast - Free Will

“If he be married,
My grave is like to be my wedding bed.”

Juliet

Romeo and Juliet’s decision

“Then move not, while my prayer’s effect I take.”

Romeo

Romeo and Juliet’s decision

“Is she a Capulet?
O dear account! My life is my foe's debt.”

Romeo

Romeo and Juliet’s decision

Quotes

Character(s)

Moment

Explanation

“Do you bite your thumb at us, sir?”

Abraham

Brawl in A1S1

“What, drawn, and talk of peace! I hate the word,
As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee.”

Tybalt

Brawl in A1S1

“If ever you disturb our streets again,
Your lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace.”

Prince Escalus

Brawl in A1S1

“Welcome, gentlemen! I have seen the day
That I have worn a visor and could tell
A whispering tale in a fair lady's ear.”

Capulet

Capulet Feast

“Content thee, gentle coz, let him alone.”

Capulet

Capulet Feast

“You'll make a mutiny among my guests!”

Capulet

Capulet Feast

Quotes

Character(s)

Moment

Explanation

“Out of her favour, where I am in love.”

Romeo

Romeo’s infatuation with Rosaline

“Why then, O brawling love! O loving hate!”

Romeo

Romeo’s infatuation with Rosaline

“Love is a smoke raised with the fume of sighs;
Being purged, a fire sparkling in lovers' eyes.”

Romeo

Romeo’s infatuation with Rosaline

“This, by his voice, should be a Montague.
Fetch me my rapier, boy.”

Tybalt

Tybalt’s rage

“He shall be endured:
What, goodman boy! I say, he shall: go to;
Am I the master here, or you?”

Capulet

Tybalt’s rage

“I will withdraw: but this intrusion shall,
Now seeming sweet, convert to bitter gall.”

Tybalt

Tybalt’s rage

“Then move not, while my prayer’s effect I take.”

Romeo

Romeo and Juliet’s love

“You kiss by the book.”

Juliet

Romeo and Juliet’s love

“My only love sprung from my only hate!
Too early seen unknown, and known too late!”

Juliet

Romeo and Juliet’s love

Quotes

Character(s)

Explanation

Quotes

Character(s)

Moment

Explanation