Romeo and Juliet Quotes

“A plague o’ both your houses.”

(Act 3, Scene 1) (Mercutio)

Analysis

This is a quote from Mercutio, uttered as his last words, having been slain at the hands of Tybalt. He blames the feud between the two families for his death. This quotation holds true not only for Mercutio’s death but for all the deaths the audience witnesses throughout the play. However, this doesn’t absolve Mercutio; he did after all actively put himself in the situation that led to his murder. Nonetheless, all the deaths that occur in the play could have been avoided had the characters handled situations responsibly.

“For never was a story of more woe than this of Juliet and her Romeo.”

(Act 5 Scene 3) (Prince Escalus)

Analysis

These words are uttered by Prince Escalus at the end of the play—particularly, after the couple commits suicide. Referring to the sad demise of the “star-crossed lovers,” the Prince suggests that no other story could possibly match the sadness of Romeo and Juliet’s tragic affair.

“O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo? 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.”

(Act 2, Scene 2) (Juliet Capulet)

Analysis

This is Juliet’s famous balcony soliloquy. She laments the fact that Romeo is a Montague. She is aware of the many problems that will arise from loving a Montague. She says that if Romeo does truly love her, she would give up her identity as a Capulet. Soliloquies are typically used to convey characters’ inner thoughts to the audience. Interestingly, however, Juliet utters these words out loud for Romeo to hear.

“But, soft! What light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun!”

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose, By any other word would smell as sweet.”

“O, then I see Queen Mab hath been with you…She is the fairies’ midwife, and she comes, In shape no bigger than an agate stone, On the forefinger of an alderman, Drawn with a team of little atomi, Athwart men’s noses as they lie asleep.”

“From forth the fatal loins of these two foes A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life, whose Misadventured piteous overthrows Doth with their death bury their parents’ strife.”

“Oh, I am fortune’s fool!”

“Two households, both alike in dignity, In fair Verona, where we lay our scene, From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean. From forth the fatal loins of these two foes A pair of star-cross’d lovers take their life; Whose misadventured piteous overthrows Do with their death bury their parents’ strife. The fearful passage of their death-mark’d love, And the continuance of their parents’ rage, Which, but their children’s end, nought could remove, Is now the two hours’ traffic of our stage; The which if you with patient ears attend, What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.”

“Sin from thy lips? O trespass sweetly urged! Give me my sin again.”

“Do not swear at all; Or, if thou wilt, swear by thy gracious self, Which is the god of my idolatry, And I’ll believe thee.”