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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 lady's 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:
I'll 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 doesn't believe so. What Romeo doesn't 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 I'll 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 doesn't know that Romeo is a part of
the Montague family, and he just told him about all the guests attending the party at the
Capulet's 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 lover's 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 Juliet's first encounter:
Juliet is compared to a saint and Romeo is compared to a pilgrim. Saints can't 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 boist'rous, 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 1.4.118.
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 we'll not carry coals,"


"No, for then we should be collier,"
"I mean, an we be in choler, we'll 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 doesn't return his love for her.
[Puns, continued]

3. "You are a lover. Borrow Cupid's 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.


We'll have no Cupid hoodwinked with a scarf,
Bearing a Tartar's 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 heart's oppression.

ROMEO Why, such is love's 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 vex'd a sea nourish'd 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 that's what love does, it breaks hearts, that love is "madness." He is upset that
Rosaline doesn't love him back.

--
[Rhymed verse, continued]

2. Act.1 Sc.4 Line.45


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. 1.3 line 106-110 pg.41 (1.3.106-110)
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. Servingman's speech on pg.29; 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 Juliet's nurse wants to live long enough to see Juliet get married.

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