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1:1 setting-up play

‘Romeo & Juliet’: Study Notes

 ‘low’ servant’s bawdy humour, full of sexual innuendos: focus on physical i
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“pretty
piece of flesh” to describe his appearance (especially his sexual organ) & threat to “cut
off the heads” of maidens, sinister meaning virgins will be raped; talking tough
 Macho males seeking to outdo one another in vulgar banter seething with violent hatred
& dangerous, unfulfilled sexual desire; thumb-biting symbolizes foolishness of feud
 Romeo’s false and exaggerated unrequited love for Rosaline, self-indulgent clichés
designed to show-off: “Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick health” 1:1:173)
 Sets-up contrast between words & actions, feelings learned out of a book vs
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 Romeo needs to broaden his horizons: “I will make thine swan seem like a crow”
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” (inherit estate)
 As only daughter & heir, particular object of father’s concern: “Day, night, hour, tide,
time, work, play, Alone, in company, still my care hath been To have her matched
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 Entertaining Mercutio’s alternative vision of the grand tragedy that is Romeo and Juliet:
suggests all desires & fantasies are as nonsensical, fragile & basically corrupting as Mab
 Superficial, down-to-earth view of reality, discussion with Romeo about truth & whether
this can be conveyed in dreams or premonitions, mocking his friend’s gullibility: “I talk of
dreams / Which are the children of an idle brain, / Begot of nothing but vain fancy”
 Filled with joie de vivre , an uncomplicated, cheerful enjoyment of life, too busy having
fun to worry about future or weird sensations: “prick love for pricking, and you beat
love down”; refusal to be tamed or downcast by rejection; bold & defiant assertion of self
which cannot be conquered & will always emerge triumphant; urges Romeo to take the
initiative & fight back against fickle, outrageous fortune
 A “gentleman” who “loves to hear himself talk” – clever, witty entertainer but also
earthy & coarse; enjoys playing with language, particularly when he can infuse words with
sexual double meanings; intense friendship for Romeo & strong sense of male honour

1:5 Romeo meets Juliet – love at first sight

 Fearfully broods on future, just before Capulet’s banquet: “my mind misgives/ Some
consequence yet hanging in the stars
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 Immediately attracted to her beauty, a new shining light driving out all previous memories
of Rosaline, enthusiastic exclamation: “O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright!”
 Sees & sets-up new pinnacle of female excellence, exactly as predicted by Benvolio: “for I
ne’er saw true beauty till this night”
 Even Capulet acknowledges Romeo’s outstanding reputation in Verona as “a virtuous and
well-governed youth”, meaning he is generally self-controlled & well-behaved
 Tybalt’s angry, hate-filled tirade against Montagues warns of dangers & violent context:
“this intrusion shall/ Now seeming sweet, convert to bitterest gall
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slavishly follows
 Love associated with purity & passion of divine through extended Christian metaphor of
pilgrim worshipping at shrine; J describes R as “god of my idolatry” (effectively installing
Romeo in God’s place in her own personal religion), blatant blasphemy as all-consuming
desire that drives out all else (i
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suicide ban forgotten), fundamentally unbalanced
 Romeo soon realises the impossibility of his position: “my life is my foe’s debt
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”
 Totally at ease in each other’s company & drinking in every second of bliss, Romeo happily
waits on Juliet “forgetting any other home but this”
 Extreme reluctance to part & engrossed in each other’s company, rhyming couplet;
wonderful moments snatched together as hour of their double suicide draws closer:
“Parting is such sweet sorrow, That I shall say good night till it be morrow
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‘hate’ contrast
 Juliet struggling to understand, cousin murdered by newly-wedded husband (3
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roused from self-pity by Nurse, “For Juliet’s sake… rise and stand” & Friar’s rebuke (“A
pack of blessings light upon thy back”) reassurance that banishment only temporary;
worrying impulsiveness: “thy wild acts denote / The unreasonable fury of a beast
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5 forced marriage – loyalties tested

 Preceded by beautiful romantic night (“joy past joy”) together where couple consummate
their wedding vows, seals commitment to one another & continue to promise undying
devotion: “all these woes shall serve for sweet discourses in our time to come”
 Frequent premonitions of tragic fate: after being persuaded to disregard the light of dawn,
Romeo declares “Come, death, and welcome! Juliet wills it so
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”
 Ironically, this could have been her chance to run away with Romeo to Mantua & declare
their marriage, which would have (with the benefit of hindsight) been the safer option,
though likely to provoke her family’s most severe wrath
 Immediately forced to play part of Capulet daughter desiring vengeance against Romeo,
secretly revelling just in saying his name & imagining seeing him again, whilst pretending
to wish his life ended: “I never shall be satisfied with Romeo till I behold him – dead”
 Labels his daughter a “disobedient wretch” & “hilding” (meaning slut or whore),
possibly suggesting that he knows or suspects she has taken another lover (Romeo)
 Threatens to completely disown her if she defies his will & makes him look foolish: “you
be mine, I'll give you to my friend; And you be not, hang, beg, starve, die in the streets!”
 Contrast from previous, more reasonable attitude, “yet a stranger in the world” & “let two
more summers wither in their pride, Ere we may think her ripe to be a bride”; haste
caused by Tybalt’s untimely death & need for distraction from mourning (denial of reality)
 Mother completely unsympathetic, cold & angry: “I would the fool were married to her
grave”; ironically foreshadowing the play’s actual outcome
 Even feels betrayed by nurse who recommends easiest option, forgetting Romeo and
disparaging him with “that same tongue” which praised him as “above compare”; vows
that she will no longer confide in her oldest friend & surrogate mother, “Thou and my
bosom henceforth shall be twain”, emphasising her increasing isolation
 Paris, related to Prince Escales, has a very high status in Verona, making Capulet
particularly keen on this socially advantageous match, which will elevate them above
the Montagues & repair the damage done by Tybalt’s brawling

4:3 Juliet risking everything - bravery
 Sanctity of her marriage vows: “God join’d my heart and Romeo’s”; whatever is required,
regardless of terror or difficulty, Juliet is totally determined: “I will do it without fear or
doubt, To live an unstain'd wife to my sweet love
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” (ironically echoes Jesus’ parable of the
Prodigal Father but with a totally different subtext where child is forced to comply)
 Decision to bring forward marriage reduces time available to properly inform Romeo
 Absolutely desperate, thrown into despair & panic by arranged marriage, against her
wishes, especially as she has barely met this suitor: “Love give me strength”
 Begging the Friar for help & ready to kill herself if forced to abandon Romeo to marry Paris,
compromising her integrity: “Give me, give me! O tell me not of fear
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3
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” – echoes frequent references to human mortality
 Dramatic irony where audience knows more than actors – Juliet is actually still alive!
 Friar’s solemn warning: “The heavens do low’r upon you for some ill”, meaning they have
incurred divine wrath for wrong-doing & should seek to remedy the situation; rosemary is
a herb of remembrance that was used at weddings & funerals

5:3 neither can live without other – death-defeating love?
 Pleasant dream & more optimistic mood only intensifies anguish when he hears devastating
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news; imagined Juliet finding him dead, but able to breathe ”such life with kisses in my
lips / That I revived and was an emperor
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”
Willing to make the ultimate (though possibly futile & tragically unnecessary?) sacrifice
Opposition of light & dark climaxes in this scene as Romeo sees Juliet’s beauty flooding the
unrelenting night of the tomb with brilliance: “her beauty makes / This vault a
feasting presence full of light”; even seeing her again, fills him with happiness
Juliet abandoned by Friar, best consolation offered is “I’ll dispose of thee / Among a
sisterhood of holy nuns” & fearful of being captured; purposefully stabs herself – symbolic
as she is slain by weapon epitomising hostility & lethal violence of families’ feud
Tragedy: “all run with open outcry toward our monument” (consequences of feud)
Romeo’s mother also taken by death: “Grief of my son’s exile hath stopped her breath”
Friar uses adjective “true” to describe Romeo who is supremely faithful to Juliet
Divisions healed: “what a scourge is laid upon your hate”, punished by children’s death to
open their eyes to consequences of feuding on the innocent & correct their attitude
Capulet offers his hand & with Montague promises to raise statues “in pure gold” for the
lovers, making “glooming peace” as they acknowledge “Poor sacrifices of our enmity!”
Addresses him as “brother”, explaining handshake symbolises “my daughter’s jointure” –
groom’s father traditionally gave money to compensate bride’s family on lost young maiden
Profound mourning summed by Prince’s concluding rhyming couplet: “For never was a
story of more woe Than this of Juliet and her Romeo”

Key theme – love versus hate
 Romeo & Juliet’s love constantly threatened by a society full of hate; although both lose

their lives as a result of the feud, their relationship ultimately transcend the bitter divides
of Verona & brings healing to the warring Mafiosi
 Love, in masculine society, about domination (i
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macho Capulet servants joke violently
about sex); contrasts with selfless R&J, equal in love & willing to die for each other
 Contrast Mercutio’s coarse, vulgar mockery: depicts Rosaline as an “open-arse” or “medlar”
(slang for female sexual organs & apple-like fruit) & Romeo as a “pop’rin pear” (pear from
Flanders shaped like a penis); “If love be blind, love cannot hit the mark” – joking about
the inability of supposedly blind Cupid to aim his arrows to the target (or sexual climax)
 Refuses to heed Friar Lawrence’s wise advice: “love moderately, long love doth so”;
sees human society as battle between “grace and rude will” (divine virtue & human

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passions) where if selfishness is “predominant”, then “soon the canker death eats up that
plant”; self-centredness results in evil if love starts to disappear
“a rose / By any other name would smell as sweet” (2
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– capacity of objects & relationships to be morally neutral, depending on how they are
applied i
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flower with power to act as “medicine” or “poison” (“stays all sense with the
heart”), depending on whether “smelt” or “tasted”
Romeo’s “doting” on unobtainable Rosaline wrecks happiness & relationships, but
“heart’s dear love” set on equally enthusiastic Juliet brings protagonist to life
Friar’s sincere hopes that “this alliance may so happy prove / To turn your households’
rancour to pure love”; union does achieve reconciliation but only posthumously
Progresses through stages: Anticipation (both have potential romantic partners, but
neither is satisfied), Dream (immediately falling in love); Frustration (from rival families
in bitter blood feud); Nightmare (Romeo banished & marriage to Paris arranged for
Juliet); Destruction (pretend death as part of dangerous plan become real)
Generation gap: R believes Friar should not “speak” of what he does not “feel”
Romeo compares Juliet to the rising
“sun” & her eyes as “two of the
fairest stars in heaven”, emphasising
how he sees her as heavenly &
angelic – non-human, unobtainable &
virginal
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Romeo – name means ‘pilgrim to Rome’, hinting
at character’s ardent devotion not to Catholicism,
but the religion of love
Juliet – meaning ‘youthful, Jove’s child’, suggests
her relative inexperience or naivety & small, cute
figure (as connoted in the ‘et’ suffix to ‘Julie’);
Jove was another name for Jupiter, the Roman’s
supreme god & is a fitting symbolic name for
Romeo’s adoration as he subsequently compares
her to a “holy shrine” and describes his lips as
“two blushing pilgrims” ready with a “tender kiss”
Mercutio – related to ‘Mercury’, Roman
messenger god, & mercurial, meaning to have an
unpredictable & fast-changing mood
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He chose Aphrodite as the
“fairest” goddess & received the
beautiful Helen as his reward
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He killed Achilles
with an arrow to the heel, but was
ultimately defeated
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