Literature | High school » Romeo and Juliet, Act 1 Literary Elements

Romeo & Juliet, Act 1 Literary Elements 2016 (periods 1 & 3) DRAMATIC IRONY 1. Act 1 Scene 3: From line 101-108 Pg 33 Benvolio: "Tut, you saw her fair, none else being by, Herself poised with herself in either eye; But in that crystal scales let there be weighed Your ladys love against some other maid Tat I will show you shining at this feast, And she shall scant show well that now seems best." Romeo: Ill go along, no such sight to be shown, But to rejoice in splendor of mine own." Explanation: Benvolio says that Romeo will probably fall in love again with a different woman, but Romeo doesnt believe so. What Romeo doesnt know is that he will fall in love again just like Benvolio says, and we, the readers, know this. --2. Servingman says to Romeo, "Now Ill tell you without asking My master is the great rich Capulet, and, if you be not of the house of Montagues, I pray come and crush a cup of wine. Rest you merry" (Act 1, Scene 2, Line 85). This is an

example of dramatic irony because Servingman doesnt know that Romeo is a part of the Montague family, and he just told him about all the guests attending the party at the Capulets household. This is important information to Romeo because in the list it says that Rosaline, the lady who Romeo loves, is invited. METAPHOR 1. Act 1, Scene 1, Lines 197-198 Romeo: "Love is a smoke made with the fume of sighs. Being purged, a fire sparkling in lovers eye." This is an example of metaphor because it compares love to smoke without using "like" or "as." This example shows what Romeo thinks of love [that it can both fog and choke us up like smoke or put a sparkle in our eyes] and really ties into the story line because the story is about finding love. -2. Scene 5, Line 55 Romeo says about Juliet, “So shows a snowy dove trooping with crows.” Juliet stands out like a pristine white dove in the middle of some common crows 3. Scene 5, lines 104-117 Romeo and Juliets

first encounter: Juliet is compared to a saint and Romeo is compared to a pilgrim. Saints cant move and she is reserved and cautious. Romeo is a pilgrim because he is seeking her love This encounter is a sonnet as well, so an example of Rhymed Verse. SIMILE 1. Act 1, Scene 4, Line 25 Romeo says, “Too rude, too boistrous, and it pricks like thorn." What Romeo is saying is that from his point of view, love is harsh and harmful, and that it emotionally hurts and punctures emotions/feelings just like a thorn pricks human skin. This is important to the story because it shows the thoughts of Romeo early in the play, which gives the reader more understanding of the character. -2. Act 1, Sc 4, line 6 Benvolio: "Scaring the ladies like a crowkeeper" Translation + Context: Benvolio says they should not go in to the party apologetically and not scare all the women away like they are scarecrows and the women are like crows. FORESHADOWING 1. An example of foreshadowing comes

at 14118 Romeo says that he has a bad feeling about going to the party and he says that he fears for his own life. This foreshadows his death, which is also an example of dramatic irony because the reader knows that Romeo will die during the play. OXYMORON Act 1, Scene 1, Lines 176-186 Romeo: "Why then, O brawling love, O loving hate, O anything of nothing first create! Oh, heavy lightness, serious vanity, Misshapen chaos of well-seeming forms, Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick health, Still-waking sleep, that is not what it is." Use of oxymoron here makes complete sense. The conflicting descriptions match Romeo’s own conflicting emotions about love, about the strife in the community. PUN 1. Act 1, scene 1 on page 1 of the play "Gregory, on my word well not carry coals," "No, for then we should be collier," "I mean, an we be in choler, well draw," "Ay, while you live, draw your neck out of collar," -2. Act 1, Scene 4,

Line 15: "With nimble soles. I have a soul of lead" Meaning: Romeo is saying that Mercutio can dance, but when he refers to himself, he says his soul is heavy. This is because Rosaline doesnt return his love for her [Puns, continued] 3. "You are a lover Borrow Cupids wings and soar with them above a common bound" (lines17 - 18) "I am too sore enpierced with his shaft to soar with his light feathers and so bound" (lines 19 - 20) Explanation: This is a clever pun that Romeo throws in; he throws the words that his friend uses trying to get him to stop moping around (soar and bound) and uses them to whine some more. BLANK VERSE 1. Act1 Scene 4 lines 3-6 pg 42-43 Benvolio: The date is out of such prolixity. Well have no Cupid hoodwinked with a scarf, Bearing a Tartars painted brow of lath, Scaring the ladies like a crowkeeper. Translation: Entering the party in a big, noticeable way is not in fashion any more. We will not deceive people by putting paint on

our face like warriors. That will just scare the ladies as if we were scarecrows. RHYMED VERSE 1. Act 1, Sc 1, Ln 191-201 BENVOLIO At thy good hearts oppression. ROMEO Why, such is loves transgression. Griefs of mine own lie heavy in my breast, Which thou wilt propagate, to have it prest With more of thine: this love that thou hast shown Doth add more grief to too much of mine own. Love is a smoke raised with the fume of sighs; Being purged, a fire sparkling in lovers eyes; Being vexd a sea nourishd with lovers tears: What is it else? a madness most discreet, A choking gall and a preserving sweet. Farewell, my coz. It rhymes, the pattern is AABBCCDDEFF. Romeo says that thats what love does, it breaks hearts, that love is "madness." He is upset that Rosaline doesnt love him back. -- [Rhymed verse, continued] 2. Act1 Sc4 Line45 Mercurtio: I mean sir in delay/We waste our lights in vain, like Lights by day Take our good meaning for judgment sits/ Five times in that era

once in our five wits It is a rhymed verse because delay rhymes with day and sits rhymes with wits. It is also spoken by Mercutio, who is in a very high social class. It is important because he is talking about how they are wasting time when they could be crashing the party. -3. page 39-41-- starts on line 91 and ends line 100 Lady Capulet: "And what obscured in this fair volume lies Find written in the margent of his eyes. This precious book of love, this unbounded lover, To beautify him only lacks a cover." This is rhymed verse because Lady Capulet is a high power and she is talking. The rhyme pattern is A,A,B,B,C,C and so on. PROSE 1. 13 line 106-110 pg41 (13106-110) Servingman [to Lady Capulet]: "Madam, the guests are come, supper Served up, you called, my young lady asked for, the Nurse cursed in the pantry, and everything in Extremity. I must hence to wait I beseech you, Follow straight." These lines are in prose because the servingman is of lower social

status and what he is saying (basically, everyone is asking for you because the guests are here and the party is beginning) is not really important to character or theme development, it just moves the plot forward. -2. Servingmans speech on pg29; Act 1 Sc 2 "Find them out whose names are written here! It is written that the shoemaker should meddle with his yard and tailor with his last, the fisher with his pencil and the painter with his nets. But I am sent to find those persons whose names are here writ, and can never find what names the writing person hath here writ. I must to the learned In good times!" -3. Scene: 3 line: 66-67 Nurse: "An I might live to see thee married once, I have my wish." This line means that Juliets nurse wants to live long enough to see Juliet get married