Romeo and Juliet Key Quotations and Analysis (OCR GCSE English Literature)

Romeo and Juliet Quotations and Analysis

The Romeo and Juliet question in your OCR GCSE English Literature exam asks for well-selected quotes that relate to themes, or characters, especially quotes that highlight relationships or attitudes. Here are eight top quotes that would work well in a Romeo and Juliet essay, and they are arranged by the following themes:

• Romeo and Juliet fate and religion quotes

• Romeo and Juliet honour and family quotes

• Romeo and Juliet love and gender quotes

• Romeo and Juliet conflict and violence quotes

Romeo and Juliet fate and religion quotes

What the quotation means

• Romeo, about to enter the Capulet ball, has a premonition in which he imagines that there will be unwelcome consequences to his actions

• He refers to fearing a death that comes “too early”

Analysis

• Shakespeare has Romeo, as tragic hero, demonstrate his fatal flaw (being impulsive) in this scene

• Despite Romeo’s instincts, which he attributes to fate here, he enters the Capulet house, which portrays him as impulsive regarding love as he dismisses the inevitable danger

• Romeo’s use of the metaphorical “hanging in the stars” refers to the idea that his future is yet to be decided by a more powerful force

• The audience has been alerted to Romeo’s doomed fate in the prologue and, thus, understands the significance of his premonition

• The audience understands, too, the risk of Romeo’s actions as they are likely to lead to conflict with Tybalt

• The tension created is called dramatic irony and, in this way, Shakespeare raises questions about fate and personal willpower

• You could argue that this is why Shakespeare uses a tragedy: to punish the tragic hero for his lack of personal accountability

What the quotation means

• When the friar discovers Romeo has taken poison before Juliet awakes, he tells Juliet that a greater force has interfered with and ruined (“thwarted”) their plans (“intents”)

Analysis

• The friar represents a religious figure in the play, yet Shakespeare portrays him as atypical, as he often goes beyond rules or established ideas:

  • Perhaps Shakespeare uses his character to represent dichotomies in the world

  • Certainly, the friar is wise and understands that every living thing has the power to do good or evil

• Here, in the tragic denouement, the friar appears to believe that, despite any attempt to control their circumstances, humans are powerless, subject to a “greater power”:

  • It is ambiguous whether he refers to a religious power or fate

• It is worth noting that earlier in the scene he says he fears some “ill unthrifty thing”, which again implies he believes there is an evil force at play
  

Honour and family quotes

What the quotation means

• Having just married Juliet (Tybalt’s cousin), Romeo says this to Tybalt to avoid a fight

• He says that, though he is a Montague, he values the Capulet name as if it were his own

Analysis

• Shakespeare uses dramatic irony to create tension in this scene:

  • Only the audience and Romeo are aware of the marriage that joins the families

• Romeo’s line surprises Mercutio and Tybalt because of the feud between the families:

  • Mercutio believes Romeo’s words are “dishonourable” and submissive

• Shakespeare’s tragic hero is perceived as weak for attempting to stop the feud:

  • Shakespeare perhaps highlights his isolated position in this scene to show the reason for Romeo’s failure to destabilise the status quo

  • Later in the scene, he is unable to avoid the conflict and, ultimately, becomes the most violent character in the play  

• This line ironically highlights the hatred between the families, and raises questions about the close relationship between family honour and conflict 

What the quotation means

• Juliet tells her mother that, while she understands that her marriage to Paris will bring the family honour and respect, it is not something that she desires

Analysis

• Juliet is introduced immediately as strong-willed and intelligent:

  • Here, she is polite to her mother as a dutiful daughter (she acknowledges it is an “honour”), while clearly stating her lack of interest in the marriage

• Juliet’s oxymorons throughout the play show connections between contrasting ideas:

  • This line presents the opposing relationship between dreams and family duty 

• She and Romeo consistently defy the establishment in their bid to find autonomy 

• Juliet’s defiance towards her family presents issues surrounding established traditions:

  • Within upper-class families, particularly within patriarchal structures such as the Elizabethan society, marriage is a contractual alliance that benefits the family

  • Shakespeare’s characterisation of Juliet portrays her sense of powerlessness in her world, especially later in the play when her parents disown her

Romeo and Juliet love and gender quotes

What the quotation means

• Friar Lawrence remarks on fickle love, suggesting Romeo’s earlier feelings for Rosaline were based on lust and physical attraction, rather than real love

• This comes as Romeo asks the friar to marry him and Juliet

Analysis

• In this scene (and elsewhere in the play), the friar draws attention to Romeo’s extreme and inconstant feelings, implying that “young men’s love” is often superficial or shallow:

  • The friar’s physical imagery connects “hearts” with “eyes” to highlight this humorous line, and raise the play’s ideas about true love

• In this way, perhaps, the friar highlights the presentation of Romeo as a typical Petrarchan lover, a male who displays an hyperbolic response to love or female beauty:

  • Shakespeare’s criticism of superficial, courtly love is evident in much of his work

• The friar’s warnings to “love moderately” highlight Romeo’s impulsive reactions to love and foreshadow the tragedy:

  • Nevertheless, the friar’s description of “young” men alludes to Romeo’s immaturity, which may highlight his innocence in order to convey the love as pure 

What the quotation means

• Juliet tells the friar in his cell that under no circumstances will she marry Paris

• This line follows a long list of terrible actions Juliet offers to undertake rather than marry Paris, such as leaping off towers and being chained with “roaring bears”

Analysis

• At this point of the play, Juliet feels powerless, seeing no way to avoid marriage to Paris

• Her desperation, as Romeo’s secret wife, is portrayed in this dramatic scene in which she lists a range of punishments she would choose to avoid her situation

• Here, Shakespeare draws attention to contemporary gender issues as it is made clear Juliet feels the only way to make a decision of her own is to take her own life

• Juliet’s determination to have agency in her life is perhaps presented through her love for Romeo as it defies the status quo and signifies free choice  

• Shakespeare characterises Juliet as strong willed and courageous here and throughout the play, which, arguably, gives their love significance:

  • The use of sibilance in “unstain’d” and “sweet” highlights Juliet’s love and respect for Romeo; she will do anything to ensure their marriage remains pure 
    

Romeo and Juliet conflict and violence quotes

What the quotation means

• The Prince of Verona tells the families that if there is another fight in public, the punishment will be death: the price they will pay for not keeping peace is their lives

Analysis

• Shakespeare introduces the theme of conflict in the first scene, showing a fight between the Capulet and Montague families:

  • Prince Escalus’s line foreshadows future conflict as a result of their feud

• His line is ironic: the audience have been told in the Prologue that there will be future conflict and that nothing but the “death-mark’d” love of their children will stop the feud

• The Prince’s words are severe: the placing of “peace” and “lives” together highlights the connection between conflict and death:

  • He uses language that connotes to personal loss (“forfeit” and “pay”), perhaps to connote to ideas about the cost of their hatred 

What the quotation means

• Romeo, discovering his friend Mercutio has been killed by Tybalt, becomes furious

• He exclaims that, from that moment onwards, he will behave with a fiery “fury” or rage

Analysis

• In this climactic scene, the tragic hero undergoes a dramatic change

• Here, his attempts to make peace between the families has failed and his friend has been killed as a result of his inaction

• Romeo’s anger is conveyed in his alliterative exclamation:

  • You may want to note that, from this point on, Romeo speaks in an entirely different way until the final scene, in which he returns to romantic language

  • For example, he shouts “I am Fortune’s Fool!”, another alliterative exclamation

  • That Romeo sounds more like Tybalt here is not lost on the audience: this is highlighted by the personification of “fury” (eyes like fire) connoting to hell

• This line emphasises Romeo’s change from romantic lover to violent murderer:

  • After he says this he kills Tybalt, and later, Paris

  • Shakespeare may be suggesting that an individual like Romeo cannot survive in such an environment (a society that promotes violence and conflict)

Sources

Shakespeare, William. Complete Works of William Shakespeare. Edited by Peter Alexander, HarperCollins, 1994. Accessed 26 March 2024.