Romeo And Juliet Quote Essay Essay, Research Paper

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 . I think it means that she will disobey her father so that she will no longer be a Capulet, which is said in And I ll no longer be a Capulet . The quotation also affects Romeo because while Juliet is speaking, to what she thinks is herself, Romeo is, in fact, listening. Romeo is willing to change his name for Juliet, now that he heard her say all those things about him. He has also realized that the strife between the households is absurd and that it is not the people they are fighting but their name.

The line That which we call a rose by any other word would smell as sweet. has universal meaning because in any language metaphors with similar meanings would create the same affect that Shakespeare wanted. In the line It is nor hand, nor foot, nor arm, nor face, [nor ant other part] belonging to a man the universal component is that his name does not make up his physical being. The idea in this is that every physical body is unique, and that is a universal concept. The line Tis but thy name that is my enemy. is universal because it is the same thing as prejudice and bias and these are found all over the world.

I discovered that the major theme of the play was contradiction, and I found two contradictions in the passage. Juliet keeps saying that Romeo s name is not what makes him an individual or himself, yet a lot of people believe that their name, race, ethnicity, or religion makes up who they are. Another contradiction is that the children are expected to mimic their parents by continuing with the feud but instead they fall in love. Other motifs shown in the passage were the botanical motif in That which we call a rose by any other word would smell as sweet.

I think that William Shakespeare wrote this passage with excellent use of imagery and metaphors, ideas of universal significance, contradiction, and one motif. Line 36-39 and 41-52 of Act two; Scene two are crucial to the understanding of Shakespeare s Romeo and Juliet because they show the overwhelming dilemma faced by the star-crossed lovers. That much pressure led them to suicide.