Romeo and Juilet

Imagery

Light Imagery

"It is the East, and Juliet is the sun"
-Romeo (Act 2, Scene 1)

"She speaks, yet she says nothing...
to twinkle in their spheres"
-Romeo (Act 2, Scene 1)

Here Romeo says that Juliet's eyes
speak for her.
They are like stars - close to heaven,
twinkling

twinkling - they show signs of light,
signs of showing hope and love, just like
their relationship is right now.

Her eyes, like stars, speak-
reference to fate and the stars:
you can't control what they say, it's up to fate... like love

This light represents their love;
it gets rid of any kind of darkness
or struggle.
It gives hope.
Juliet later speaks about the fued
between families, this light could
get past that.

Hand Imagery

"God joined my heart and Romeo's, thou our hands"
-Juliet (Act 4, Scene 1)

In Romeo and Juliet's relationship,
hands make decisions.
They are powerful because they can be
destructive; they join hands in marriage, Juliet takes a dagger into her hand

"let lips do what hands do"
Romeo (Act 1, Scene 5)

This is an implied stage direction because Romeo and Juliet
join hands here as they are talking

Foreshadowing

"A plague o' both your houses"
-Mercutio as he dies (Act 3, Scene 1)

Forshadows Friar John's mistake
Foreshadows the tradgedy of both lovers

Dramatic Irony

"Here's to my love... thus with a kiss I die"
-Romeo (Act 5, Scene 3)

Here, Romeo kills himself because he loves Juliet so much
This draws the audience in because they know the truth, but Romeo doesn't
This also shows that love is destructive, because Romeo kills himself for Juliet, even though she is alive, but his love had blinded him.

Montague

Romeo

Lord Montague

Lady Montague

Benvolio

Abraham

Capulet

Juilet

The Nurse

Tybalt

Lord Capulet

Lady Capulet

Sampson

Gregory

Peter

Other

Friar Lawrence

Mercutio

Paris

Prince Esclaus

Friar John

Rosaline

The Apothecary

Family

Juliet and Lord Capulet

Juliet begins as an obedient child, and Capulet loves her
Juliet then becomes rebellious to her father's wishes, causing him to fly into a rage and seeming disown her

Capulet only loves Juliet if she obeys him, but once she
goes against his wishes, he does not love her anymore

Shows the controlling nature of Capulet, as he wants to
protect his family name and does not want to lose power over his own daughter

Juliet and Lady Capulet

Lady Capulet cannot talk to Juliet without the presence of the Nurse

Although Lady Capulet is Juliet's mother, their relationship is not good enough to even talk to each other by themselves

The nurse is the closest thing Juliet has to a mother, but the Nurse is far from the perfect motherly character

Romeo and Lord/Lady Montague

When Romeo is sad about Rosaline in the beginning
of the play, his parents are worried, but do not go and
help Romeo themselves, they ask Benvolio to help Romeo

This shows the lack of personal connection between Romeo and his parents, as they must ask his friend to make sure he is feeling alright

This distancing between Romeo and his parents is also mirrored in Juliet's relationship with her parents, as Lady Capulet cannot talk with Juliet unless the Nurse is also present

This is one of the main messages of the play,
since the children who have no parental figure
in their life end up making poor descisions

Lord and Lady Capulet

Their relationship seems to be unhappy, as Lady C. calls Lord C. an 'old man'

Lord and Lady Montague

Unlike the Capulets' relationship, the Montagues seem to at least care for each other, since Lady M. prevents Lord M. from going to battle for fear of his safety

Lady Montague and Romeo

When Romeo is exiled, Lady Montague dies of a broken heart

This suggests a deeper connection is present between the two than Juliet and her mother, or at the very least Lady M. cares for her son very much and does not want him exiled

MERCUTIO

Mercutio's character changes dramatically throughout the course of the play

He constantly changes between a happy and depressed mood, which loosely represents the mood of all characters in the play at the time

Contrast

"and therefore women, being the weaker vessels, are ever thrust to the wall. Therefore I will push Montague's men from the weall and thrust his maids to the mall" (Act 1, Scene 1)

The prologue just detailed a tragedy that will occur,
which is immediately followed by silly, sexual humour
that intrigues the audience, and makes them wonder when this tragedy will happen.

"brave Mercutio is dead"
"and Tybalt slain"
-Benvolio (Act 3, Scene 1)

"Give this ring to my true knight"
-Juliet (Act 3, Scene 3)

This contrast is tone of the play causes the
audience to be pulled in, because they know
something bad it going to happen, but they
don't know when

Conflict

"Thou art thyself, though not a Montague"
Juliet (Act 2, Scene 2)

Here Juliet speaks about the family feud. She means that love is bigger than this feud.

Marc Antony, was a Roman politician and general who played a critical role in the transformation of the Roman Republic from an oligarchy into the autocratic Roman Empire.

Mark Antony and Cleopatra

Despite Marc Antony’s marriage, he carried on a love affair with Cleopatra and bore 3 children with Cleopatra.

Unfriendliness caused between Antony and Octavian by Antony’s relation with Cleopatra caused a civil war between Antony and Octavian.

Octavian declared a war on Cleopatra and proclaimed Antony a traitor.

Defeated Cleopatra and Antony fled to Ireland Egypt, where they committed suicide.

Similarly, Romeo and Juliet commit suicide at the end of the play.

Abelard and Heloise

-Heloise was a french nun that was known for her love affair with Abelard and for the tragedy that separated them.

-Abelard was a philosopher and Heloise was his student.

Abelard was 22 years older than Heloise.

There is a similarity between this love story and the love story of Romeo and Juliet according to the age factor. In this play, it is unusual for a man that old to marry a girl much younger than him. Similarly, in Romeo and Juliet, it is unusual for the characters that young to marry each other (According to modern world).

-Abelard quickly becomes intrigued by Heloise’s and intelligence

-Intellectually gifted Heloise, who strives for knowledge, truth and the answer to the question of human existence.

-When Heloise becomes pregnant, they realize it is not safe for her to remain in Paris. They flee for Brittany, Abelard’s place of birth.

-A secret marriage is arranged between Heloise and Abelard.

Romeo and Juliet also marry each other secretly as well.

Literary Archetypes

Pyramus and Thisbe

The hero's journey - They are both considered heroes of love

Tristan and Isolde

Tristan represents archetype of a hero

-Similarly in Romeo and Juliet there is a conflict between Montagues and Capulets but in a different context.

He won Isolde.

He fights for the kingdom.

He journeys to Ireland

Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal

Shah Jahan caught a glimpse of Mumtaz Mahal when he was 14 years old and fell in love with her.

This connects to Romeo and Juliet as Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal were young lovers like Romeo and Juliet.

He went to his father and declared that he wants to marry her.

The match got solemnized in 1612 when Shah Jahan was 19 years old.

Romeo and Juliet also get married at this age.

In memory of his beloved wife Shah Jahan built a magnificent monument for Mumtaz Mahal as a tribute which is known as “Taj Mahal”.

It took 32 years for building of Taj Mahal.

Star-crossed lovers - The two lovers care about each other but cannot get together due to their circumstances.

Romeo and Juliet are both star crossed also as they cannot get together due to their circumstances (conflict between families).

Loyalty

Loyalty can change when your feelings do.

Honour: a lesson is learned from that one should always honor their neighbours and citizens and conflict between the citizens and neighbours could lead to destructing or tragic consequences.

Love

Love is intense passion that could lead to tragic consequences.

Chain of Being

Disturbance in the chain of being creates suspense in the play.

Romeo and Juliet fall in love despite the conflict between their families and face the consequences later.

Romeo talks about defying stars, which is not appropriate to do because it is not good to challenge suprnatural powers

"Is it e'en so? Then I defy you, stars!"

The two lovers can only express their love when they are
alone
-forbidden love