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The relationship between parents and children in Romeo and Juliet
The relationship between parents and children in Romeo and Juliet
The relationship between parents and children in Romeo and Juliet
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Act 2; Scene 2; Lines 36-39 and 41-52
36 O Romeo, Romeo wherefore art thou Romeo?
37 Deny thy father and refuse thy name,
38 Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,
39 And I’ll no longer be a Capulet.
41 ‘Tis but thy name that is my enemy.
42 Thou art thyself, thou not a Montague.
43 What’s Montague? It is nor hand, nor foot,
44 Nor arm, nor face, [nor any other part]
45 Belonging to a man. O, be some other name!
46 What’s in a name? That which we call a rose
47 By any other word would smell as sweet.
48 So Romeo would, were he not Romeo called,
49 Retain that dear perfection which he owes
50 Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name,
51 And, for thy name, which is no part of thee,
52 Take all myself.
Lines 36-39 and 41-52 of Act 2; Scene 2, are significant to me because they have distinct levels of understanding and meaning to the play. Line 41 goes back to the original conflict that Romeo and Juliet are from feuding houses, the Capulets and the Montagues. It shows that Juliet does not want her family to fight the Montagues, and that she believes it is ridiculous because it is not the people they hate and fight it is their name, Montague. The section I chose reveals that the kids, Romeo and Juliet, feel that they can not have what they want because of the parents’ feuds. It makes you feel as helpless as they are, because you know that with their parents’ permission to get married, they would be happy.
William Shakespeare uses an analogy in the line “It is nor hand, nor foot, nor arm, nor face, [nor any other part] belonging to a man.'; to say that Montague is not any part belonging to a man, and that it is just a name. In the line “That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet'; there is a metaphor for explaining why the name is not important, that it is the person or thing that is what counts. These are both examples of imaging used in the lines I chose.
This excerpt affects Juliet because she is finally admitting that her parents are not always right, mostly about the feuding, but also about selecting her a husband. She is showing an indication of rebellion in the line “Deny thy father and refuse thy name'; by saying “deny thy father';.