| ACT 1 | … |
| “What, drawn, and talk of peace? I hate the word as i hate hell, all Montagues, and thee” | Tybalt is asking Benvolio how he is keeping the peace yet he has drawn his sword to fight. Tybalt also says that he hates the word peace and starts listing other things that he hates. |
| “If you ever disturb our streets again, your lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace.” | The Prince warns that they will be put to death if any more fights occur. |
| “It is an honor that I dream not of.” | Juliet says this to her mother when her mother asks about her disposition to be married. Juliet’s response means that being married is an honor but she does not care much about it and never really thinks about it. |
| “I’ll look to like, if looking liking move…” | The nurse asks Juliet if she likes Paris and her response means that she’ll look at him with the intention of liking him, if simply looking can make her like him. |
| “I fear, too early; for my mind misgivesSome consequence, yet hanging in the starsShall biterly begin his fearful dateWith this night’s revels and expire the termOf a despised life, clos’d in my breast,By some vile forfeit of untimely death.” | Romeo fears that a terrible event caused by the stars will begin at the party. |
| “O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright!” | Romeo says this to himself about Juliet. Her beauty takes him aback and this quote means that she is brighter than torches. |
| “O, then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do!” | Romeo makes a comparison of his lips to pilgrims who have traveled to a holy shrine. Just saying that he wants to kiss Juliet. |
| “Is she a Capulet?O, dear account! My life is my foe’s debt.” | Romeo says that his life belongs to his enemy because Juliet is a Capulet. |
| “My only love sprung from my only hate! Too early seen unknown, and known too late!” | Juliet is saying that she fell in love with Romeo before she learned who he was. |
| ACT 2 | … |
| “But soft! What light through yonder window breaks?It is the East, and Juliet is the sun!” | Romeo sees Juliet at the balcony. For a moment he is speechless, but then he describes her beauty in glowing images. |
| “See how she leans her cheek upon her hand!O that I were a glove upon that hand,That I might touch her cheek!” | Romeo wishes that he could touch Juliet’s cheek. |
| “Deny thy father and refuse thy name!Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,And I’ll no longer be a Capulet.” | Juliet is saying that she will go against her father and marry Romeo so she will no longer be a Capulet. |
| “What’s in a name? That which we call a roseBy any other name would smell as sweet.” | Juliet tries to convince herself that a name is just a meaningless word that has nothing to do with the person. |
| “My name, dear saint, is hateful to myself,Because it is an enemy to thee.Had I it written, I would tear the word.” | Romeo is saying that he hates his name because his family is the Capulet’s enemy. |
| O, swear not by “the moon, the inconstant moon,That monthly changes in her circled orb,Lest that thy love prove likewise variable.” | Juliet is telling Romeo not to swear by the moon. |
| “Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow, That I shall say good night till it be morrow.” | Juliet is saying that it is sad to part from Romeo but it is good that she will see him tomorrow. |
| “Sleep dwell upon thine eyes, peace in thy breast!Would I were sleep and peace, so sweet to rest!” | Romeo is telling Juliet to sleep peacefully. |
| “For this alliance may so happy proveTo turn your households’ rancor to pure love.” | Friar Laurence is telling Romeo that his marriage to Juliet might settle the feud between the Capulets and Montagues. |
| “Wisely and slow. They stumble that run fast.” | Friar Laurence is telling Romeo to take things slow with Juliet. |
| ACT 3 | … |
| “Ask for me tomorrow, and you shall find me a grave man.” | Mercutio says this while he is dying. It means that if someone is looking or him tomorrow, he will be dead. |
| “Now, Tybalt, take the ‘villain’ back againThat late thou gavest me; for Mercutio’s soul Is but a little way above our heads,Staying for thine to keep him company.Either thou or I, or both, must go with him.” | Romeo is threatening that either he, Tybalt, or both of them would die. |
| “O, I am fortune’s fool!” | Romeo says this after he has killed Tybalt. It means that fate has made a fool of him. |
| “And for that offence Immediately we do exile him hence.” | The Prince says that he is banishing Romeo from Verona. |
| “What, rouse thee man! Thy Juliet is alive,For whose dear sake thou wast but lately dead.There art thou happy. Tybalt would kill thee,But thou slewest Tybalt. There are thou happy too. The law, that threat’ned death, becomes thy friendAnd turns it to exile. There are thou happy.A pack of blessings light upon thy back…” | The Friar tells Romeo to count his blessings instead of feeling sorry for himself. He lists the things Romeo has to be thankful for. |
| “These times of woe afford no time to woo.” | Paris is telling Lord and Lady Capulet that sad times are not good times for talking of marriage. |
| “Wilt thou be gone? It is not near day.It was the nightingale and not the lark…” | Juliet is telling Romeo that the nightingale sings at night and the lark sings in the morning. |
| “Night’s candles are burnt out, and jocund dayStands on tiptoe on the misty mountain tops.I must be gone and live, or stay and die.” | Romeo is telling Juliet that it is daytime and if he does not leave, he will be killed. |
| “O think’st thou we shall ever meet again?” | Juliet asks Romeo if she will ever see him again. |
| “I doubt it not; and all these woes shall serveFor sweet discourses in out times to come.” | Romeo tells Juliet that he doubts he will ever see her again but something good will come from their depart. |
| “I think it best you married with the County.” | The nurse is telling Juliet that since Romeo is banished, he is no good to her and Juliet should marry Paris |
| ACT 4 | … |
| “Death lies on her like an untimely frostUpon the sweetest flower of all the field.” | Capulet says this when he sees that Juliet is dead. It means that bad things can happen to innocent people. |
| “She’s not well married that loves married long,But she’s best married that dies married young.” | The Friar says this to comfort the family. It means that it is best to die young, when the soul is still pure, without sin. |
| ACT 5 | … |
| “Then I defy you, stars!” | Romeo is angrily challenging fate, which has caused him so much grief. |
| “My poverty but not my will consents.” | The apothecary says this to Romeo when Romeo asks to buy poison. She says that she is doing it for the money, not because she thinks it is right. |
| “I pay thy poverty and not thy will.” | Romeo is saying that he is paying for the apothecary’s poverty. |
| “Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die.” | Romeo says this when he is about to drink the poison. He is saying that the drugs are so quick, even if he presses his lips to the container he will die. |
| “Fear comes upon me. O, much I fear some ill unthrifty thing.” | Friar Laurence is saying that he is scared to go to the vault alone. |
| “O happy dagger! This is thy sheath; there rest, and let me die.” | Juliet is happy that she found the dagger and says that it is what will kill her. |
| “See what a scourge is laid upon your hate,That heaven finds means to kill your joys with love!” | The Prince tells Capulet, look at the punishment your hatred has brought you. Heaven has killed your children with love. |
| “A glooming peace this morning with it brings…For never was a story of more woeThan this of Juliet and her Romeo.” | The Prince says that today will have a peaceful morning and there will be no other story that has more woe than the story of Romeo and Juliet. |
romeo and juliet quotes- meanings
September 11, 2019