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#SummerOfJuliet
Act 2 Sc 2 l.85-106
I love this speech. I love how long Juliet talks for, how she's a mess of desires and doubts, what a big soppy sugar-rush of love it all is.
I love how you can hear the voice in her head saying "stop talking!" all the way through.
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Act 2 Sc 2 l.85-106
I love this speech. I love how long Juliet talks for, how she's a mess of desires and doubts, what a big soppy sugar-rush of love it all is.
I love how you can hear the voice in her head saying "stop talking!" all the way through.
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Let's look at the last few lines:
"Therefore pardon me,
And not impute this yielding to light love,
Which the dark night hath so discovered."
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"Therefore pardon me,
And not impute this yielding to light love,
Which the dark night hath so discovered."
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Juliet is caught between living up to the expectations of a respectable young lady, and wanting to confess her love for Romeo.
That "pardon me" is said in the hope that Romeo won't get the wrong impression of her.
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That "pardon me" is said in the hope that Romeo won't get the wrong impression of her.
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#SummerOfJuliet
Act 2 Sc 2 l.62
JULIET:How camest thou hither, tell me, and wherefore?
The orchard walls are high and hard to climb,
And the place death, considering who thou art,
If any of my kinsmen find thee here.
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Act 2 Sc 2 l.62
JULIET:How camest thou hither, tell me, and wherefore?
The orchard walls are high and hard to climb,
And the place death, considering who thou art,
If any of my kinsmen find thee here.
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I like how WHEREFORE and THOU ART echo Juliet's previous speech, so her private thoughts spill over into her words to Romeo.
The high "orchard walls" can be seen as a symbol of the patriarchal control exercised over Juliet's life.
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The high "orchard walls" can be seen as a symbol of the patriarchal control exercised over Juliet's life.
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Thus begins a brilliant contrast between lovestruck Romeo and pragmatic Juliet, who repeatedly tries to warn Romeo of the danger he's in while he is waxing lyrical.
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#SummerOfJuliet
Act 2 Sc 2 l.58
JULIET: My ears have not yet drunk a hundred words
Of that tongue's utterance, yet I know the sound:
Art thou not Romeo and a Montague?
DRUNK and TONGUE take us back to the oral intimacy of R&J's kiss: "give me my sin again".
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Act 2 Sc 2 l.58
JULIET: My ears have not yet drunk a hundred words
Of that tongue's utterance, yet I know the sound:
Art thou not Romeo and a Montague?
DRUNK and TONGUE take us back to the oral intimacy of R&J's kiss: "give me my sin again".
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The word DRUNK is echoed at the very end of the play when Juliet wants some of Romeo's poison ("Oh churl! Drunk all and left no friendly drop..."). Some faint, but masterly, foreshadowing here.
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Juliet's speech is also a masterpiece of ASSONANCE with that repeated U sound:
drUnk, hUndred, tOngue, Utterance
it gives her words a quietly insistent, hungry tone that matches her desire for Romeo.
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drUnk, hUndred, tOngue, Utterance
it gives her words a quietly insistent, hungry tone that matches her desire for Romeo.
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#SummerOfJuliet
Act 2 Sc 2 l.38
JULIET: 'Tis but thy name that is my enemy;
Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.
There's something winningly childlike in J's speech here -- "oh why can't my boyfriend just be someone else but the same?" but also pointed and rebellious.
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Act 2 Sc 2 l.38
JULIET: 'Tis but thy name that is my enemy;
Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.
There's something winningly childlike in J's speech here -- "oh why can't my boyfriend just be someone else but the same?" but also pointed and rebellious.
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By suggesting that Romeo would be the same without being a Montague, Juliet is denying that she and Romeo are products of their family lineage. A challenging attitude from a child of a noble house.
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These two sides of Juliet -- the childlike and the knowing -- are also captured by the contrast between her innuendo of "ANY OTHER PART" and the sweeter image of a ROSE.
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#SummerOfJuliet
Act 2 Sc 2
The most famous lines in the play: let's get some value out of them!
JULIET
O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?
Deny thy father and refuse thy name;
Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,
And I'll no longer be a Capulet.
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Act 2 Sc 2
The most famous lines in the play: let's get some value out of them!
JULIET
O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?
Deny thy father and refuse thy name;
Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,
And I'll no longer be a Capulet.
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First, that tricksy word WHEREFORE. It means WHY, so why did Shakespeare choose this word instead of why, which does appear 38 times in the text.
WHEREFORE is more sighing. It's more musical. More deliberate. It echoes the parents of R&J asking where their children are.
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WHEREFORE is more sighing. It's more musical. More deliberate. It echoes the parents of R&J asking where their children are.
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These lines encapsulate the power (im)balance between Romeo and Juliet, and between men and women.
Throughout this scene, Juliet is consistent in setting the terms of their relationship:
If Romeo likes it, he's going to have to put the proverbial ring on it.
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Throughout this scene, Juliet is consistent in setting the terms of their relationship:
If Romeo likes it, he's going to have to put the proverbial ring on it.
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#SummerOfJuliet
Act 1 Sc 5
l.137
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.
The word "my" is interesting here.
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Act 1 Sc 5
l.137
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.
The word "my" is interesting here.
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Juliet is bred into deep-rooted, implicit hatred of the Montagues. It isn't really "her" hate, is it?
Interesting possibilities here: should we expand "The quarrel is between our masters and us their men" (1.1) to include the women of each house?
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Interesting possibilities here: should we expand "The quarrel is between our masters and us their men" (1.1) to include the women of each house?
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OR -- is Shakespeare establishing that Juliet echoes her parents' thoughts NOW, so that he can move her away from them later? I'll keep a close eye out as I read on.
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#SummerOfJuliet
Act 1 Sc 5
Here's a line I'm really obsessed with:
l.133
JULIET: Go ask his name. If he be married,
My grave is like to be my wedding bed.
Another absolute beauty of a quote to pick apart and revise.
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Act 1 Sc 5
Here's a line I'm really obsessed with:
l.133
JULIET: Go ask his name. If he be married,
My grave is like to be my wedding bed.
Another absolute beauty of a quote to pick apart and revise.
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- First of all, dramatic irony. Juliet's biggest fear is that she has fallen in love with a married man. But of course, it's "ask his name" that is going to cause her the problems.
(although, of course, she will be the secretly married one soon).
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(although, of course, she will be the secretly married one soon).
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- Next, the foreshadowing. Juliet's grave isn't *quite* her wedding bed -- she gets her wedding bedding in Act 3 -- but certainly R&J will only be united publically in death.
Dramatic irony again -- we already know from the prologue that their love is "death-marked".
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Dramatic irony again -- we already know from the prologue that their love is "death-marked".
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#SummerOfJuliet
Act 1 Sc 5
What's the most important line in Act 1 Sc 5, and therefore one of the most important in the play?
l.104
JULIET: Saints do not move, though grant for prayers' sake.
Let's look at why...
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Act 1 Sc 5
What's the most important line in Act 1 Sc 5, and therefore one of the most important in the play?
l.104
JULIET: Saints do not move, though grant for prayers' sake.
Let's look at why...
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So far in the sonnet from l.92 onwards, Juliet has coyly deflected Romeo's flirting, playing "hard to get" if you like. Whenever he offers his lips, she twists his imagery towards the hands, away from a romantic encounter.
In l.104 that changes.
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In l.104 that changes.
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I'm intrigued by the verb "move" and what it suggests in this line. MOVE is already a significant word in the play, in the sense of "incite an emotion or response". Think about 1.1 "A dog of the house of Montague moves me" or 1.2. "If looking liking move."
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#SummerOfJuliet
Act 1 Sc 5
Now let's get onto that famous joint sonnet between Romeo and Juliet.
A few ideas to upgrade your students' analysis:
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Act 1 Sc 5
Now let's get onto that famous joint sonnet between Romeo and Juliet.
A few ideas to upgrade your students' analysis:
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The imagery foreshadows the tragic end of Romeo and Juliet. The description of Juliet as a "shrine" foreshadows the golden statue that Lord M promises to erect as a tribute to her in 5.3.
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Similarly, the passing of their "sin" from one set of lips to the other foreshadows Juliet's attempt to consume the poison from Romeo's lips before her death.
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#SummerOfJuliet
Act 1 Sc 5
R&J's first meeting. A very familiar scene -- let's try to find some upgrade-worthy ideas.
Counter-intuitive as it seems, I'm going to start with the Montague and Capulet parents, and how this scene relates to them.
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Act 1 Sc 5
R&J's first meeting. A very familiar scene -- let's try to find some upgrade-worthy ideas.
Counter-intuitive as it seems, I'm going to start with the Montague and Capulet parents, and how this scene relates to them.
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I really recommend this article (bl.uk/shakespeare/ar…) from the British Library on Elizabethan relationships, especially this passage:
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This is the type of context I love to teach -- showing social norms as dynamic and changing, not the fixed ideas of "In Shakespeare's time people thought..."
And this scene speaks directly to both the young and old in Shakespeare's time.
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And this scene speaks directly to both the young and old in Shakespeare's time.
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#SummerOfJuliet
Act 1 Sc 3
The Meaning Of Weaning.
I'm always interested when Shakespeare lingers over a character or speech that could just as easily have been left out. The Nurse's "weaning" speech seems like one of these.
So what's going on here?
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Act 1 Sc 3
The Meaning Of Weaning.
I'm always interested when Shakespeare lingers over a character or speech that could just as easily have been left out. The Nurse's "weaning" speech seems like one of these.
So what's going on here?
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Shakespeare uses breastfeeding as a way to create intimacy between the Nurse and Juliet. At the moment of her weaning, Lord and Lady C were absent: "then at "Mantua".
The Nurse seems proud of this, later reiterating that she is J's "only nurse" (l.68).
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The Nurse seems proud of this, later reiterating that she is J's "only nurse" (l.68).
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The Mantua detail is significant: wet-nursing was standard among families of status in Shakespeare's time, so by itself I can't read it as an indictment of parental absence. So it's interesting that Sh. creates a more definite asbence by placing J's parents elsewhere.
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#SummerOfJuliet
Act 1 Sc 3
Juliet is young. Too young. Her sexual precociousness (precocity?) is provocative and disomfiting, but it's important to note:
Juliet is deliberately raised by Lady C and the Nurse into an early, sexualised adulthood.
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Act 1 Sc 3
Juliet is young. Too young. Her sexual precociousness (precocity?) is provocative and disomfiting, but it's important to note:
Juliet is deliberately raised by Lady C and the Nurse into an early, sexualised adulthood.
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l.2
NURSE: "By my maidenhead at twelve year old."
So the Nurse only claims to have been a virgin until 12; J is 13.
The punchline to N's "weaning" speech is a joke about how J is destined for sexual activity
l.43
NURSE: "Thou wilt fall backwards when thou hast more wit."
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NURSE: "By my maidenhead at twelve year old."
So the Nurse only claims to have been a virgin until 12; J is 13.
The punchline to N's "weaning" speech is a joke about how J is destined for sexual activity
l.43
NURSE: "Thou wilt fall backwards when thou hast more wit."
2/
Lady C reminds Juliet that she is old enough to have children:
l.72
LADY C: "by my count,
I was your mother much upon these years
That you are now a maid."
Surely "count" is a none-too-subtle pun, too.
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l.72
LADY C: "by my count,
I was your mother much upon these years
That you are now a maid."
Surely "count" is a none-too-subtle pun, too.
3/
#SummerOfJuliet
Act 1 Sc 3
The first thing is how Shakespeare plays with the roles of Lady C and the Nurse. LC's question "where's my daughter" echoes Lady M in 1.1 ("Where is Romeo?") -- in both cases creating a distance between parent and child.
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Act 1 Sc 3
The first thing is how Shakespeare plays with the roles of Lady C and the Nurse. LC's question "where's my daughter" echoes Lady M in 1.1 ("Where is Romeo?") -- in both cases creating a distance between parent and child.
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When Juliet asks who's speaking, having the *Nurse* be the one to say "your mother" blurs the maternal roles that both women play.
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When Lady C sends the nurse away before immediately calling her back, I wonder if she only feels comfortable talking to Juliet with the nurse there. Her and Juliet don't have the frank, honest rapport that the Nurse has.
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