Key quote: "Here's much to do with hate, but more with love"
Romeo Montague, Act 1, Scene 1
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Key quote: "Here's much to do with hate, but more with love"
Romeo Montague, Act 1, Scene 1
Analysis
Romeo recognizes the close connection between love and hate, foreshadowing the tragic love between him and Juliet stemming from their family feud.
Key quote: "Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight, / For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night"
Romeo Montague, Act 1, Scene 5
Analysis
Romeo's impulsive change of heart after seeing Juliet reveals his fickleness and obsession with courtly love, traits which lead to his downfall.
Key quote: "Under love's heavy burden do I sink"
Romeo Montague, Act 1, Scene 4
Analysis
Romeo metaphorically depicts love as a burdensome weight, showing his sensitivity and tendency towards depression.
Key quote: "Whose misadventured piteous overthrows / Do with their death bury their parent's strife"
The Chorus, The Prologue
Analysis
The Chorus foreshadows that Romeo and Juliet's failed rebellion against their families will end in their deaths and resolve the feud.
Key quote: "My only love sprung from my only hate"
Juliet Capulet, Act 1, Scene 5
Analysis
Juliet's paradoxical line expresses her tragic realisation that she loves Romeo, in spite of her family's hatred of the Montagues.
Key quote: "From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, / Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean"
The Chorus, The Prologue
Analysis
The Prologue introduces the theme of conflict stemming from an ancient family grudge, which leads to violent outcomes in the play.
Key quote: "What's in a name?"
Juliet Capulet, Act 2, Scene 2
Analysis
Juliet's rhetorical question challenges the cultural value placed on family names and honour, defying the conventions of the time.
Key quote: "A plague on both your houses!"
Mercutio, Act 3, Scene 1
Analysis
Mercutio curses both feuding families, foreshadowing the tragic consequences of their meaningless violence in the name of honour.
Key quote: "The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love"
The Chorus, The Prologue
Analysis
The Chorus employs dramatic irony by revealing the tragic fate awaiting the "star-cross'd lovers", linking their story to contemporary beliefs about destiny.
Key quote: "Methinks I see thee now, thou art so low, / As one dead in the bottom of a tomb"
Juliet Capulet, Act 3, Scene 5
Analysis
Juliet's premonition explicitly foreshadows Romeo's death, building tension through dramatic irony about their sealed fates.