Speaker: JulietContext: Juliet on the balcony with Romeo is very concerned with what will happen to RomeoMeaning: Juliet is afraid that Romeo will be caught and be killed by her father. “The orchard walls are high and hard to climb, And the place death, considering who thou art, if any of my kinsman find thee here” (2.2.63) Speaker: JulietContext: Juliet thinks that she heard RomeoMeaning: Juliet hasn’t even heard a hundred words yet from Romeo, and yet she knows it is Romeo. “My ears have not yet drunk a hundred words of that tongue’s utterance, yet I know the sound” (2.2.58) Speaker: JulietContext: Juliet is talking to herself on the balcony about RomeoMeaning: Romeo’s name does not equal the essence of what it is. “What’s in a name? that which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call’d, retain that dear perfection which he owes without that title” (2.2.48) Speaker: JulietContext: Juliet is on the balcony and wants Romeo to give up his name as a MontagueMeaning: Juliet doesn’t know why Romeo has to be a Montague, instead of a Capulet. “O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy father and refuse thy name and refuse thy name Or, if thou wilt not, be sworn my love, and I’ll no longer be a Capulet” (2.2.38) Speaker: RomeoContext: Juliet is on the balcony and Romeo wants Juliet to say another thingMeaning: Romeo thinks that Juliet is a beautiful as the sky. “O, speak again, bright angel! for thou art as glorious to this night, being o’er my head as is a winged messenger of heaven (2.2.27) Speaker: RomeoContext: Romeo is trying to tell Juliet how beautiful she isMeaning: Romeo thinks Juliet is more beautiful than the sun. “But, soft! What light through yonder window breaks? It is the east and Juliet is the sun” (2.2.1) Speaker: JulietContext: Juliet is explaining to Romeo how saints kissMeaning: Saints pray with their lips, but there lips are not for kissing. “Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hands too much, which mannerly devotion shows in this for saints have hands that pilgrims’ hands do touch, and palm to palm is holy palmers’ kiss” (1.5.105) Speaker: RomeoContext: Romeo is explaining to Juliet of how beautiful she isMeaning: Romeo is about to commit the gentle sin of replacing the rough touch of his kiss by kissing her. “My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand to smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss” (1.5.94) Speaker: JulietContext: Juliet is trying to explain to her mother in the simplest way possible that she doesn’t want to be involved in the relationshipMeaning: She wants to be an obedient daughter to her mother, but in a way that she never mentions love. “I’ll look to like if looking liking more: But no more will I endart mine eye than your consent gives strength to make it fly (1.3.101) Speaker: RomeoContext: Romeo is explaining Rosaline to his older brother, BenvolioMeaning: Romeo is heartbroken that Rosaline doesn’t love him and he doesn’t know what to do. Why, then, O brawling love! O loving hate! O anything of nothing first create!” (1.1.176) “Here’s much to do with hate, but more with love. Speaker: NarratorContext: Explaining what caused Romeo and Juliet’s deathsMeaning: Because of all the fighting, a Montague (Romeo) and a Capulet (Juliet) who are lovers, kill themselves. “From forth the fatal loins of these two foes a pair of star- crossed lovers take there life” (prologue) Speaker: NarratorContext: Explaining the events of what came before Romeo and Juliet’s deathMeaning: The two households, the Montague’s and the Capulet’s, are in feud that makes them fight and shed civilian blood. “From ancient grudge to new mutiny, where civil blood makes civil hands unclean” (prologue) Speaker: Lady CapuletContext: She is trying to explain why Juliet should marry ParisMeaning: Juliet is a beautiful thing for Juliet to have. “This precious book of love, the unbound lover, to beautify him only lacks a cover” (1.3.91) Speaker: Lady CapuletContext: Lady Capulet is trying to explain why Juliet should marry ParisMeaning: Paris is like a book and Juliet will be the cover that holds it together. “Read o’er the volume of young Paris’ face, and find delight writ there with beauty’s pen” (1.3.85). Speaker: RomeoContext: Explaining to his cousin that he is in loveMeaning: When she dies, she will cut off all beauty from future generations.

“O she is rich in beauty, only poor, that when she dies with beauty dies her story” (1.1.201). Speaker: RomeoContext: Romeo is explaining to his cousin, Benvolio, that he is in loveMeaning: Romeo’s love wishes to stay a virgin. “Well, in that you miss: she’ll not be hit with Cupid’s arrow” (1.1.194) Speaker: JulietContext: Juliet is responding to her mother’s question of ‘will you marry?’Meaning: Marriage is not something Juliet has thought of. “It is an honor that I dream not of.” (1.3.70)

Romeo and juliet death dream quotes