Love makes Romeus and Juliet happy, generous, fearful, and brave. Each wants to do what is best for the other, and neither can imagine living without the other. Although their love will cause problems between their families, both Romeus and Juliet are willing to bear the consequences of their kinsmen's feud in order to honor the love they have for each other. For Romeus's part, "He thanks the Gods, and from the heavens for vengeance down he cries / If he have other thought but as his lady spake." With this Romeus tells Juliet that before daybreak, he will consult Friar Laurence, who is his mentor, about how they might be married. Juliet, for her part, is pleased and speaks to him lovingly: "She was contented well; else favour found he none / That night at lady Juliet's hand, save pleasant words alone." The love between the couple may have an inciting effect on their families, making them hate each other even more fiercely, or it may have a pacifying effect, making the families see that their hatred is useless and painful to a new generation.
Juliet asks Romeus to prove that his intentions are chaste--in other words, that his goal is to marry her.. Juliet says she is willing to put their families' feud behind her and leave her father's house if Romeus is intent on marrying her. "But if your thought be chaste, and have on virtue ground, If wedlock be the end and mark which your desire hath found, / Obedience set aside, unto my parents due, / The quarrel eke that long ago between our household grew, / Both me and mine I will all whole to you betake, And following you whereso you go, my father's house forsake." Romeus is thrilled by Juliet's words because his intentions are honest and completely in line with hers—"Then Romeus, whose thought was free from foul desire, / And to the top of virtue's height did worthily aspire, / Was filled with greater joy than can my pén aspire." A reasonable prediction would be that the couple will run away and get married, but their families will pursue them and try to separate them.
How would you describe the effect of love on Romeus and
Juliet is concerned that if her kinsmen harm Romeus, she would have nothing to live for. "In ruth and in disdain, I weary of my life, / With cruel hand my mourning heart would pierce with bloody knife. / For you, mine own, once dead what joy should I have here?" For his part, Romeus also says that he would rather be dead than live without his Juliet, "A sacrifice to death I would my wounded corpse betake." Romeus claims his life has value only because of his love of Juliet—"The love I owe to you, the thrall I languish in, / And how I dread to lose the gain which I do hope to win; / And how I wish for life, not for my proper ease, But that in it you might I love, you honour, serve, and please." The fact that both characters say that they would rather be dead than live without the other might foreshadow that they will commit suicide if future circumstances frustrate them.
his would be a reasonable expectation because Romeus is likely in more danger than Juliet. Romeus is careful not to approach Juliet's house during the daytime when he would be visible to Juliet's kinsmen, who are Romeus's enemies because of the feud between their families. Also, Juliet remains protected within her home, whereas Romeo is the outsider who would be seen as "invading" the family's home and grounds. The text makes it clear that, although Juliet fears for Romeus's life, he does not fear for hers—"While he nought doubteth of her health, she dreads lest he be dead." Later, Juliet warns Romeus of the danger he is in—"What if your deadly foes, my kinsmen, saw you here? Like lions wild, your tender parts asunder would they tear."
The first eighteen lines of the excerpt (lines 457 to 473) provide information about the emotional states of Romeus and Juliet, making it clear that each character is obsessed with seeing the other, but both fear seeing each other could be dangerous. Romeus avoids Juliet's house by day ("He doth keep back his forward foot from passing there by day"), but he returns there every night when it is safer because Night's "mantle black has spread" and because he is "Well armed he walketh there along" In hope of seeing her Romeus, Juliet changes the hour she looks for him—"for lovers keep an hour / When they are sure to see their love in passing by their bower." Both characters are eager to make contact, and after several weeks they finally spy each other and are overwhelmed with joy. The speaker comments that when Juliet "espied her love: her heart revivéd sprang; / And now for joy she claps her hands,…" According to the text, when Romeus finally sees Juliet, "Eke Romeus, when he saw his long desiréd sight, / His mourning cloak of moan cast off, hath clad him with delight." These lines advance the plot by bringing the protagonists together, which may lead to new actions or conflicts.
In lines 491 to 499, how does Juliet respond to the dangers that she knows Romeus faces? In lines 500 to 507, what is his response to her feelings? What do the characters' responses reveal about them, and how might these responses foreshadow later events? Highlight evidence from the text and make annotations to support your answers. CCSS: RL.9-10.1, RL.9-10.3
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Juliet tells Romeus that he is "beguiled" if he thinks he can get away with not marrying her. From the context, you can tell she means Romeus would be "mistaken" in thinking this, so beguiled probably means "mistaken or deceived." This meaning of the word is confirmed by analyzing the meanings of Latin prefix and the French root: "thoroughly tricked."
Try to answer each question on your own before revealing the answer. Write down answers in your notebook first and then click the arrow to reveal each answer.
Romeus walks past Juliet's bedroom window each night hoping to see her, and she looks out the window hoping to catch sight of Romeus. "By night he passeth here a week or two in vain…." Juliet changes the time that she looks for Romeus, hoping she will be able to determine the hour that he usually passes by. "Each day she changeth hours (for lovers keep an hour / When they are sure to see their love in passing by their bower)."