Love:
‘I have lost myself’ deeply in love with rosaline, ‘too fair’ repetition - superficial,
driven by physical attraction
‘Did my heart love til now?’ - sudden contrast shows transient quality and fickle
love
‘I would I were thy bird’ - infatuation, strips identity, romeo’s obsession and
impulsiveness is his hamartia
‘Juliet is the sun’ - celestial imagery, purity of young girls. - light of his life,
unrealistic, also she’s on balcony, unattainable and on pedestal
‘Death had no power upon thy beauty’ even in death, can’t look beyond
pulchritude
‘My only love sprung from my only hate’ - paradox encapsulates love and
hate intertwined in this play. ‘Only’ showing prominence in her life. Reflects how
her love defies social constraints.
‘Violent delights have violent ends’ - antithesis poses as a warning from fl
‘my lord’ reverence, slightly blasphemous to audience contrasting with:
‘It is too rash, too unadvised, too sudden’ tricolon, J’s moments of caution
contrast R’s impetuous passion. Shows she is aware but is still so immersed in
love. Critiques youthful impulsiveness
‘Under love’s heavy burden do i sink’ shake presents romeo as sensitive and
prone to depression, subverting gender stereotypes, young men pressures
Fate
By revealing end in prologue, shows how fate controls the tragedy. ‘star -crossd’
- elizabethan belief in astrology and creates sense of dramatic irony
‘He who hath steerage of my course, direct my sail’ nautical metaphor
emphasising he is surrendering to fate and imperative ‘direct’ - fatalistic attitude
‘Some consequence yet hanging in the stars’ - he is foreshadowing. However,
despite being aware/ warned by fate he still attends ball where he meets Juliet,
showing his reckless actions.
‘I am fortune’s fool’ shakespeare toys with idea of how much is predetermined
and how much is due to their rash actions. fricative alliteration shows frustration.
Contrasts with romeo’s earlier ‘either thou or i must go with him’ ,
‘I have lost myself’ deeply in love with rosaline, ‘too fair’ repetition - superficial,
driven by physical attraction
‘Did my heart love til now?’ - sudden contrast shows transient quality and fickle
love
‘I would I were thy bird’ - infatuation, strips identity, romeo’s obsession and
impulsiveness is his hamartia
‘Juliet is the sun’ - celestial imagery, purity of young girls. - light of his life,
unrealistic, also she’s on balcony, unattainable and on pedestal
‘Death had no power upon thy beauty’ even in death, can’t look beyond
pulchritude
‘My only love sprung from my only hate’ - paradox encapsulates love and
hate intertwined in this play. ‘Only’ showing prominence in her life. Reflects how
her love defies social constraints.
‘Violent delights have violent ends’ - antithesis poses as a warning from fl
‘my lord’ reverence, slightly blasphemous to audience contrasting with:
‘It is too rash, too unadvised, too sudden’ tricolon, J’s moments of caution
contrast R’s impetuous passion. Shows she is aware but is still so immersed in
love. Critiques youthful impulsiveness
‘Under love’s heavy burden do i sink’ shake presents romeo as sensitive and
prone to depression, subverting gender stereotypes, young men pressures
Fate
By revealing end in prologue, shows how fate controls the tragedy. ‘star -crossd’
- elizabethan belief in astrology and creates sense of dramatic irony
‘He who hath steerage of my course, direct my sail’ nautical metaphor
emphasising he is surrendering to fate and imperative ‘direct’ - fatalistic attitude
‘Some consequence yet hanging in the stars’ - he is foreshadowing. However,
despite being aware/ warned by fate he still attends ball where he meets Juliet,
showing his reckless actions.
‘I am fortune’s fool’ shakespeare toys with idea of how much is predetermined
and how much is due to their rash actions. fricative alliteration shows frustration.
Contrasts with romeo’s earlier ‘either thou or i must go with him’ ,
