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This useful resource picks out a few important quotes from William Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliet' and provides a detailed analysis and breakdown of each part of the quote, along with useful background information.
Th...
"I fear too early: for my mind misgives,
Some consequences yet hanging in the stars,
Shall bitterly begin his fearful date
With this night's revels"
Helps establish the play as a tragedy.
In Greek tragedies, the tragic hero tries everything in their power to avoid their fate, but their Hamartia
[tragic/fatal flaw] ironically brings their fate closer.
But here, the hamartia is because of their hubris [pride before the gods]:
o Refuse to escape their fate => often seem to rush towards it [like Romeo]
o Romeo’s hubris is that he ignores fates warning and goes to the ball => Tragedy is Romeo's fault.
Language:
o “My mind misgives”: Alliteration emphasises the mistake he is making
o “Some consequences yet hanging in the stars”: Metaphor; we usually associate “hanging” with death.
“O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright!
It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night
As a rich jewel in an Ethiop’s ear;
Beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear!
So shows a snowy dove trooping with crows”
Romeo is seeing Juliet for the 1st time.
Although he celebrates her beauty, the imagery is also full of warnings of fate.
Another subtle way that Shakespeare is pointing out that Juliet’s fate and Romeo’s fate to die is begun by
Romeo.
Language:
o “She doth teach the torches to burn bright!”
Her beauty makes the torches burn brighter because she is so bright.
Comparing her to a torch’s light also invites us to associate her with a flame which will burn
too brightly and then die.
Alliteration “t” and “b” to describe Juliet’s beauty
o “As a rich jewel in an Ethiop’s ear”
An exotic figure like a rich Ethiopian would be in Elizabethan London.
But the Ethiopian would also be racially different
A symbol of conflict and not fitting in.
And a clue that their marriage would not be a good match.
Simile
o “For earth too dear!”
Implies that she will only find a home in Heaven.
Implies she is going to die.
o “A snowy dove trooping with crows”
The dove symbolises love.
Its whiteness symbolises purity in this image.
But death is also suggested:
The description of “snowy” implies something cold and wintry.
The symbolism of the crows.
o The crows also link the Ethiop’s blackness to death as well.
Sibilance can create a feeling of peace / a sinister threat.
“Sweet Juliet,
Thy beauty hath made me effeminate
And in my temper soften’d valour’s steel.”
After Tybalt had killed Mercutio and Romeo had decided to take revenge.
Structure:
o Massive turning point – else no banishment; potion; death.
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