Romeo and Juliet: Key Quotes

Romeo and Juliet: Key Quotes

Conflict and Hatred

  • “From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.” This quote highlights the long-standing feud between the Montagues and Capulets.
  • “A plague o’ both your houses!” These words foreshadow the misfortune that the feud brings upon both houses.

Fate and Destiny

  • “O, I am fortune’s fool!” Romeo’s words here express his belief that he is merely a pawn of fate and not in control of his own actions.
  • “A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life.” Here, the chorus refers to the unfortunate fate that Romeo and Juliet are destined to meet.

Love and Passion

  • “But soft, what light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.” Romeo’s declaration symbolises the intense, overpowering nature of their love.
  • “My bounty is as boundless as the sea, My love as deep; the more I give to thee, The more I have, for both are infinite.” Juliet’s words signify the depth of her love for Romeo.

Tragedy and Death

  • “Death, that hath sucked the honey of thy breath, hath had no power yet upon thy beauty.” Romeo speaks these words over Juliet’s sleeping form, misunderstanding her feigned death for reality.
  • “For never was a story of more woe than this of Juliet and her Romeo.” The closing statement of the play underlines the tragic aftermath of their love story.

Identity and Self

  • “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet” This quote by Juliet challenges her own identity as a Capulet, expressing her wish to separate her love for Romeo from her family feud.
  • “O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?” Juliet’s famous soliloquy is a meditation on the conflict between her family identity and her love for Romeo.

Time

  • “I have night’s cloak to hide me from their eyes…” Romeo uses the concept of night as a cover to meet Juliet in secret, reflecting on the theme of time.
  • “Is love a tender thing? It is too rough, too rude, too boisterous, and it pricks like a thorn.” Romeo speaking of the fleeting nature of love often equating it to time.