Some of the speeches have been split in two because they have a lot to annotate.
Key quotations are underlined but not always separately explained.
Use the glossary to add to annotations.
Some annotation refers to the whole text
Juliet:
Wilt thou be gone? it is not yet near day: It was the nightingale, and not the lark,
That pierc'd the fearful hollow of thine ear; Nightly she sings on yond pomegranate tree: Believe me, love, it was the nightingale.
nightingale
A bird that sings during the evening.
A bird that sings in the morning.
lark,
Romeo:
It was the lark, the herald of the morn,
No nightingale: look, love, what envious streaks Do lace the severing clouds in yonder east:
Night's candles are burnt out, and jocund day Stands tiptoe on the misty mountain tops.
I must be gone and live, or stay and die. morn ,
A pun on the words morn and mourn?
Romeo’s language is just as eloquent as Juliet’s; it is poignant, lamenting his dilemma.
Juliet:
Yond light is not daylight, I know it, I: It is some meteor that the sun exhales To be to thee this night a torch-bearer And light thee on the way to Mantua:
Therefore stay yet, thou need'st not to be gone.
Romeo:
Let me be ta'en, let me be put to death; I am content, so thou wilt have it so.
I'll say yon gray is not the morning's eye, 'Tis but the pale reflex of Cynthia's brow;
Romeo is willing to die so he can stay with his bride.
Cynthi a
A nickname for Artemis, the Greek goddess of the moon.
Nor that is not the lark whose notes do beat The vaulty heaven so high above our heads: I have more care to stay than will to go.
Come, death, and welcome! Juliet wills it so. How is't, my soul? Let's talk; it is not day.
Juliet:
It is, it is! Hie hence, be gone, away!
It is the lark that sings so out of tune,
Straining harsh discords and unpleasing sharps. Some say the lark makes sweet division;
This doth not so, for she divideth us:
Some say the lark and loathed toad change eyes; O, now I would they had chang'd voices too!
It is, it is!
She admits it is, realises she’s placed Romeo in danger – shows maturity.
division ;
dividet h
Since arm from arm that voice doth us affray, Hunting thee hence with hunt's - up to the day. O, now be gone; more light and light it grows.
Romeo:
More light and light; more dark and dark our woes!
The rhyming couplets that end this section mirror each other, demonstrating the bond
between the lovers.
Nurse: Madam! Juliet: Nurse? Nurse:
Your lady mother is coming to your chamber: The day is broke; be wary, look about.
The short, simple words and lines here
contrast with the flowery language Romeo and Juliet had been using previously. It completely
Juliet:
Then, window, let day in, and let life out.
Romeo:
Farewell, farewell! one kiss, and I'll descend. let day in, and let life
out.
Romeo is everything to Juliet, his leaving is compared to that of her life – a premonition?
Farewell, farewell! one kiss, and I'll descend.
Juliet:
Art thou gone so? my lord, my love, my friend! I must hear from thee every day i' the hour, For in a minute there are many days:
O, by this count I shall be much in years Ere I again behold my Romeo!
my lord, my love, my friend!
Romeo is all things to Juliet.
For in a minute there are many days:
Juliet feels as though each minute will pass as slowly as a day while she is apart
Romeo:
Farewell! I will omit no opportunity
That may convey my greetings, love, to thee.
Juliet:
O, think'st thou we shall ever meet again?
Romeo:
I doubt it not; and all these woes shall serve For sweet discourses in our time to come.
When Juliet asks Romeo if he thinks they’ll meet again (a premonition?) he tells her he has
no doubt, that everything that has happened will be something they will talk about in the
future.
Juliet:
O God! I have an ill-divining soul!
Methinks I see thee, now thou art below, As one dead in the bottom of a tomb:
Either my eyesight fails, or thou look'st pale.
Juliet has a premonition – that Romeo will die. These are the final moments that the lovers will spend together alive and they take place on
Romeo:
And trust me, love, in my eye so do you:
Dry sorrow drinks our blood. Adieu, adieu!
Romeo believes that Juliet too looks pale, but he attributes this to her sorrow at their
Juliet:
O fortune, fortune! all men call thee fickle: If thou art fickle, what dost thou with him
That is renown'd for faith? Be fickle, fortune; For then, I hope, thou wilt not keep him long But send him back.
A soliloquy – Juliet is speaking her thoughts while no-one else is on stage. She laments the
unpredictability of fortune, that it is good then bad – she and Romeo found each other and have been parted. She hopes her luck will change once
Lady Capulet:
[Within.] Ho, daughter! are you up?
Juliet:
Who is't that calls? is it my lady mother? Is she not down so late, or up so early?
What unaccustom'd cause procures her hither? [Within.]
We know the actor would be
offstage because Juliet questions who is speaking.
Lady Capulet: Why, how now, Juliet? Juliet: Madam, I am not well.
Again, the short, simple language contrasts with the eloquence of the lovers’ previous
Lady Capulet:
Evermore weeping for your cousin's death?
What, wilt thou wash him from his grave with tears?
An if thou couldst, thou couldst not make him live; Therefore have done: some grief shows much of love;
But much of grief shows still some want of wit. Lady Capulet believes Juliet is ‘not well’ because she still grieves for Tybalt. She is cold, telling her daughter that she is wasting
her time and that although grief shows her love for her cousin, too much of it shows a lack
Juliet:
Yet let me weep for such a feeling loss.
Lady Capulet:
So shall you feel the loss, but not the friend Which you weep for.
Juliet begs her mother to let her grieve, although she doesn’t correct her assumption that it is over Tybalt’s death. Her mother reminds her that her
grief will not bring him back.
The next four lines are spoken without interruption; mother and daughter finish
Juliet:
Feeling so the loss,
I cannot choose but ever weep the friend.
Lady Capulet:
Well, girl, thou weep'st not so much for his death As that the villain lives which slaughter'd him.
Lady Capulet is more angry that the ‘villain’ who killed Tybalt is still alive than she is sad over
Juliet: What villain, madam?
Lady Capulet: That same villain Romeo.
Lady Capulet has no idea about Romeo and
Juliet’s relationship and her daughter hides her feelings well, feigning ignorance at the identity
Juliet:
Villain and he be many miles asunder.
God pardon him! I do, with all my heart;
And yet no man like he doth grieve my heart.
This is an aside, i.e. her mother doesn’t hear her. We know this because her mother does not react.
God pardon him! I do, with all my heart;
Juliet has forgiven her husband for killing her cousin
Lady Capulet:
That is because the traitor murderer lives.
Juliet:
Ay, madam, from the reach of these my hands. Would none but I might venge my cousin's death!
Juliet declares that she alone would have the power to avenge Tybalt’s death, something we
Lady Capulet:
We will have vengeance for it, fear thou not: Then weep no more. I'll send to one in Mantua, Where that same banish'd runagate doth live, Shall give him such an unaccustom'd dram
That he shall soon keep Tybalt company: And then I hope thou wilt be satisfied.
runagat e
Law-breaker.
Shall give him such an unaccustom'd dram That he shall soon keep Tybalt company:
Lady Capulet wishes to poison Romeo, another example of dramatic irony as that is how he
Juliet:
Indeed I never shall be satisfied
With Romeo till I behold him – dead -
Is my poor heart so for a kinsman vex'd: Madam, if you could find out but a man To bear a poison, I would temper it,
Juliet’s superior intellect is evident in this speech. She appears to her mother to be
That Romeo should, upon receipt thereof, Soon sleep in quiet. O, how my heart abhors To hear him nam'd, and cannot come to him, To wreak the love I bore my cousin Tybalt Upon his body that hath slaughter'd him!
O, how my heart abhors To hear him nam'd, and cannot come to him,
Lady Capulet:
Find thou the means, and I'll find such a man. But now I'll tell thee joyful tidings, girl.
Juliet:
And joy comes well in such a needy time: What are they, I beseech your ladyship?
joyful tidings,
needy time:
The wedding between Paris and Juliet is intended to raise spirits in the wake of
Lady Capulet:
Well, well, thou hast a careful father, child; One who, to put thee from thy heaviness,
Hath sorted out a sudden day of joy
That thou expect'st not, nor I look'd not for. thou hast a careful father,
In Elizabethan England, the father arranged his daughter’s
Juliet:
Madam, in happy time, what day is that?
Lady Capulet:
Marry, my child, early next Thursday morn The gallant, young, and noble gentleman,
The County Paris, at St. Peter's Church,
Shall happily make thee there a joyful bride.
It does not enter Lady Capulet’s mind that Juliet would not want to marry Paris.
Juliet:
Now by Saint Peter's Church, and Peter too, He shall not make me there a joyful bride. I wonder at this haste; that I must wed
Ere he that should be husband comes to woo.
Up to this point, Juliet’s language towards her mother has been very respectful, calling her ‘Madam’ and ‘your ladyship.’ The shock at the
realisation of what is being forced upon her changes both her demeanour and language.
She cannot hide her true feelings. She is amazed that she is being forced to marry a man who
Juliet:
I pray you, tell my lord and father, madam, I will not marry yet; and when I do, I swear It shall be Romeo, whom you know I hate, Rather than Paris. These are news indeed!
I will not marry yet;
Juliet refuses to marry Paris, going against her father’s wishes which is something she has
never done before.
Juliet says she would rather marry Romeo, another example of dramatic irony as we know
Lady Capulet:
Here comes your father: tell him so yourself, And see how he will take it at your hands.
Lady Capulet does not react to her daughter’s outburst, telling her that her father will deal
Capulet:
When the sun sets, the air doth drizzle dew; But for the sunset of my brother's son
It rains downright.
Capulet remarks that when the sun sets the air create drizzle, but when Tybalt’s sun set, i.e.
How now! a conduit, girl? what, still in tears? Evermore showering? In one little body
Thou counterfeit'st a bark, a sea, a wind:
How now! a conduit, girl? what, still in tears?
Capulet asks if Juliet if she is still upset.
For still thy eyes, which I may call the sea,
Do ebb and flow with tears; the bark thy body is, Sailing in this salt flood; the winds, thy sighs;
Who, raging with thy tears and they with them, Without a sudden calm, will overset
Thy tempest-tossed body. How now, wife! Have you deliver'd to her our decree?
Capulet remarks that Juliet has much emotion, she is, after all, a teenager.
Have you deliver'd to her our decree?
Lady Capulet:
Ay, sir; but she will none, she gives you thanks. I would the fool were married to her grave!
Lady Capulet, very matter-of-factly, tells her husband that Juliet has refused to marry Paris.
Capulet:
Soft! Take me with you, take me with you, wife. How! Will she none? Doth she not give us thanks? Is she not proud? Doth she not count her bles'd, Unworthy as she is, that we have wrought
So worthy a gentleman to be her bridegroom?bridegroo m
Bridegroom = bride. In the sixteenth century the
word could be used for either partner.
wrought
persuaded
Take me with you
Let me understand you
Capulet is amazed that Juliet has
Juliet:
Not proud you have; but thankful that you have: Proud can I never be of what I hate;
But thankful even for hate that is meant love. Juliet denies that she is proud, she claims that she is thankful for the request as she
believes it shows her parent’s love for her. However, the use of the word ‘hate’ shows her
Capulet:
How now, how now, chop-logic! What is this?
‘Proud’, and, ‘I thank you’, and ‘I thank you not’; And yet ‘not proud’: Mistress minion, you,
Thank me no thankings, nor proud me no prouds, Capulet picks up on the repetition of the word
‘proud’ and rages over it. He repeats Juliet’s words to her, chides her, scolds her and tells her
he does not want to hear what she has to say.
Notice that he does not pick up on her use of the word ‘hate’. Has he listened to her?
chop-logi c
But fettle your fine joints 'gainst Thursday next To go with Paris to Saint Peter's Church,
Or I will drag thee on a hurdle thither.
Out, you green-sickness carrion! out, you baggage! You tallow-face!
Out, you green-sickness carrion! out, you baggage!
Capulet’s rhythm, which has been at a steady ten
beats per line (iambic pentameter), changes here, showing his rage. Or I will drag thee on a hurdle thither.
Capulet threatens to drag Juliet to
Lady Capulet:
Fie, fie! what, are you mad?
Juliet:
Good father, I beseech you on my knees,
Hear me with patience but to speak a word. Fie, fie! what, are you mad?
Who is Lady Capulet talking to?
Good father, I beseech you on my knees,
Hear me with patience but to speak a word.
Juliet begs her father to listen to her.
Notice the emotion of this scene. Imagine the worst argument you’ve ever had with your
Capulet:
Hang thee, young baggage! disobedient wretch! I tell thee what, get thee to church o' Thursday, Or never after look me in the face:
Speak not, reply not, do not answer me; My fingers itch.
I tell thee what, get thee to church o' Thursday, Or never after look me in the face:
Capulet tells Juliet to get married or be disowned
Speak not, reply not, do not answer me;
Capulet will not listen to Juliet, he does not allow her to have an
opinion on her own marriage. My fingers itch.
Capulet threatens
Wife, we scarce thought us bles'd
That God had lent us but this only child; But now I see this one is one too much, And that we have a curse in having her: Out on her, hilding!
That God had lent us but this only child;
Elizabethans believed that
children belonged to God, that He ‘lent’
them to adults. Capulet wishes Juliet had never been born.
She is a curse hilding!
Nurse:
God in heaven bless her!
You are to blame, my lord, to rate her so.
Capulet:
And why, my Lady Wisdom? hold your tongue, Good prudence; smatter with your gossips, go. God in heaven bless her!
You are to blame, my lord, to rate her so.
The Nurse tries to stand up for Juliet, something Lady Capulet
doesn’t seem to have done.
And why, my Lady Wisdom? Hold your tongue, Good Prudence; smatter with your gossips, go.
Capulet dismisses the Nurse, insults her and tells her to be quiet. The man of an Elizabethan would
Nurse: I speak no treason. Capulet: O, God ye good-en! Nurse: May not one speak?
Capulet: Peace, you mumbling fool!
Utter your gravity o'er a gossip's bowl, For here we need it not.
Lady Capulet: You are too hot.
Capulet continues to lambast and criticise the Nurse, who sticks up for herself here, claiming
she did not say anything that wasn’t true.
Capulet:
God's bread! it makes me mad:
Day, night, hour, time, tide, work, play,
Alone, in company – still my care hath been
To have her match'd, and having now provided A gentleman of noble parentage,
Capulet believes he has done a lot for Juliet, taken care to choose a suitable husband for
Of fair demesnes, youthful, and nobly train'd, Stuff'd, as they say, with honourable parts, Proportion'd as one's heart would wish a man, And then to have a wretched puling fool,
A whining mammet, in her fortune's tender,
Capulet lists all the assets of Paris, that he has money, good breeding, is good looking and
To answer, 'I'll not wed, I cannot love, I am too young, I pray you pardon me:‘ But, and you will not wed, I'll pardon you:
Graze where you will, you shall not house with me: Look to't, think on't, I do not use to jest.
Capulet cannot believe Juliet has the nerve to refuse his order to marry Paris. He tells her that
if she does not she will be thrown out of the house. In a time when women could not earn
money this was like a death sentence; Juliet would have to resort to begging, stealing or selling her
Thursday is near; lay hand on heart, advise: And you be mine, I'll give you to my friend; And you be not, hang, beg, starve, die i' the streets,
For, by my soul, I'll ne'er acknowledge thee, Nor what is mine shall never do thee good: Trust to't, bethink you, I'll not be forsworn.
Juliet’s situation is clear, obey her father and marry Paris or disobey and be disowned.
Juliet:
Is there no pity sitting in the clouds, That sees into the bottom of my grief? O, sweet my mother, cast me not away! Delay this marriage for a month, a week; Or, if you do not, make the bridal bed
In that dim monument where Tybalt lies.
Juliet cannot believe what has happened. She begs her mother for help and tells her if the
marriage cannot be delayed she will die – a cry for help or a threat, one that comes true.
Delay this marriage for a month, a week;
Lady Capulet:
Talk not to me, for I'll not speak a word; Do as thou wilt, for I have done with thee.
Lady Capulet offers no sympathy for Juliet. She refuses to speak to her own daughter, telling her to do as she wishes as she no longer
Juliet:
O God — O Nurse! How shall this be prevented? My husband is on earth, my faith in heaven;
How shall that faith return again to earth, Unless that husband send it me from heaven By leaving earth? Comfort me, counsel me.
Juliet turns to her most trusted companion, the woman who has loved her since she was born.
O Nurse!
Alack, alack, that heaven should practise stratagems
Upon so soft a subject as myself!
What say'st thou? Hast thou not a word of joy? Some comfort, nurse.
Juliet does not see herself as being strong.
Nurse:
Faith, here 'tis; Romeo
Is banished; and all the world to nothing
That he dares ne'er come back to challenge you; Or if he do, it needs must be by stealth.
Then, since the case so stands as now it doth, I think it best you married with the county.
The Nurse states the facts, that Romeo is
banished and cannot come back to Verona unless he does it ‘by stealth’. As a result of this she
O, he's a lovely gentleman!
Romeo's a dishclout to him; an eagle, madam, Hath not so green, so quick, so fair an eye
As Paris hath. Beshrew my very heart,
I think you are happy in this second match, For it excels your first: or if it did not,
Your first is dead; or 'twere as good he were, As living here, and you no use of him.
Juliet:
Speakest thou this from thy heart?
Nurse:
And from my soul too;
Or else beshrew them both.
Juliet: Amen! Nurse: What?
Look at the simple language here, Juliet is in shock at her Nurse’s revelation.
beshrew
beshrew = curse Speakest thou this from thy heart?
Amen!
Juliet approves the Nurse’s curse on her
Juliet:
Well, thou hast comforted me marvellous much. Go in; and tell my lady I am gone,
Having displeas'd my father, to Lawrence' cell, To make confession and to be absolv'd.
Look at the lack of emotive language here compared to that used earlier in the
scene.
Juliet knows exactly what she needs to do. She has lost everything: her husband has gone to Mantua, her parents have disowned her and her
Nurse:
Marry, I will; and this is wisely done.
Juliet:
Ancient damnation! O most wicked fiend! Is it more sin to wish me thus forsworn,
Or to dispraise my lord with that same tongue Which she hath prais'd him with above compare So many thousand times?
Juliet lets her true feelings be known about the Nurse’s ‘betrayal’. She doesn’t know whether she’s more upset that the Nurse has abandoned
Go, counsellor;
Thou and my bosom henceforth shall be twain. I'll to the friar to know his remedy;
If all else fail, myself have power to die.
Juliet knows she has only one place to go for help, to the man who married her and Romeo.
If he cannot help she will kill herself. Thou and my bosom henceforth shall be
twain.
Twain = two, Juliet separates herself from the Nurse. Instead of being one, unified,
