Romeo And Juliet Soliloquy Analysis

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Soliloquy “But soft, what light through yonder window breaks?/ It is the east, and Juliet is the sun/ Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon/ Who is already sick and pale with grief/ That thou her maid art far more fair than she/ Be not her maid since she is envious/ Her vestal livery is but sick and green/ And none but fools do wear it. Cast it off!/ It is my lady. Oh, it is my love/ Oh, that she knew she were!” (Shakespeare II ii 2-11). When Romeo sees Juliet on her balcony, he is struck by her beauty and compares her radiance to the sun. In a soliloquy, as he is aware that Juliet does not hear him, he expresses love for her that outshines his love for Rosaline, the moon. Unlike the sun, the moon is cold and remote, symbolizing Rosaline’s …show more content…

Romeo taunts at how “none but fools do wear” their virginity, revealing that he is lustful towards Juliet. “ 'Tis but thy name that is my enemy/ Thou art thyself, though not a Montague/ What’s Montague? It is nor hand, nor foot/ Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part/ Belonging to a man. O, be some other name!/ What’s in a name? That which we call a rose/ By any other word would smell as sweet/ So Romeo would, were he not Romeo called/ Retain that dear perfection which he owes/ Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name/ And for that name, which is no part of thee/ Take all myself” (II ii 41-52). Unaware that Romeo is near her, Juliet reveals her infatuated love for him and expresses anger at the concept of their family names. She is not enemies with the Montague people, but with the name itself. Like a rose, if Romeo had a different name, he would be the the same person since names are only labels. However, with the Montagues and Capulets, the family name defines who someone is on either side of the long-standing …show more content…

This signifies their continuing hostility, which is not a result of actions but a result of association with one’s family name. Romeo and Juliet’s differing names are the biggest obstacle in their short-lived romance, as they must only see each other in the nighttime to avoid being caught. Paradox “My only love sprung from my only hate!” (I iv 139). At the Capulet feast, Romeo and Juliet’s first kiss is interrupted by the nurse, who warns that he is the only son of her family’s worst enemy. The contradictory ideas of “only love” and “only hate” are expressed in a paradox that signifies the grave consequences of Juliet’s love. Juliet’s only love would be Romeo, and her only hate would be the Montagues and the feud that exists between his family and her family. Because of this, there is stigma in Juliet associating herself with Romeo. It is a misfortune, as expressed in the paradox, that Juliet is in love with someone who she is expected to hate. “O serpent heart hid with a flowering face!/ Did ever dragon keep so fair a cave?/ Beautiful tyrant! Fiend angelical!/ Dove-feathered raven, wolvish-ravening lamb!/ Despisèd substance of divinest show/ Just opposite to what thou justly seem’st” (III ii

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