Analysis

To help you look at any scene in Romeo and Juliet and begin to analyse it, it’s important to ask questions about how it's written and why.

Shakespeare’s plays are driven by their characters and every choice that’s made about words, structure and rhythm tells you something about the person, their relationships or their mood in that moment. You should always try and ask yourself, like actors do, why is the character saying what they are saying or doing what they are doing? What is their motive?

Just like Detectives, we need to look for clues to help us answer those questions each time and below you can find some interrogation techniques we use to analyse text, introduced by the actors that use them. 

  • Analysing Romeo’s Language

    Romeo is a young man in love. This is something which is demonstrated in the choices he makes but more importantly in the language he uses. You can see this when he explains to Friar Laurence why death would be better than banishment and being apart from Juliet in Act 3 Scene 3. Here, Romeo uses antithesis to try and explain his feelings.

    In this video Nia Lynn talks about how characters can use antithesis to make sense of their world. Nia and the actors use a speech of Juliet’s but see if you can use what you hear to understand Romeo.

    What can you find by looking at the same things in Romeo's speech?

    Shakespeare gives characters antithesis for lots of different reasons but characters are usually trying to work out something in their mind or resolve a confusing issue.

    Romeo
    ’Tis torture and not mercy. Heaven is here,
    Where Juliet lives, and every cat and dog
    And little mouse, every unworthy thing,
    Live here in heaven and may look on her,
    But Romeo may not. More validity,
    More honourable state, more courtship lives
    In carrion-flies than Romeo: they may seize
    On the white wonder of dear Juliet’s hand
    And steal immortal blessing from her lips,
    Who even in pure and vestal modesty,
    Still blush, as thinking their own kisses sin.
    This may flies do, when I from this must fly —
    And say’st thou yet that exile is not death? —
    But Romeo may not: he is banishèd.
    Hadst thou no poison mixed, no sharp-ground knife,
    No sudden mean of death, though ne’er so mean,
    But ‘banishèd’ to kill me? ‘Banishèd’?
    O friar, the damnèd use that word in hell,
    Howling attends it: how hast thou the heart,
    Being a divine, a ghostly confessor,
    A sin-absolver, and my friend professed,
    To mangle me with that word ‘banishèd’?

    Questions to consider

    Look at Romeo’s ‘banished’ speech and Friar Laurence’s response in the extract from Act 3 Scene 3 and think about these questions:

    • What type of opposites are mentioned? What do these tell us about Romeo’s state of mind?
    • What do we learn about Romeo’s perception of being within Verona and being outside of it? Why would he think or feel this?
    • How has Romeo used antithesis to make his argument? Does what he says make sense? Also, look at how Friar Laurence has used antithesis to counter Romeo’s arguments.

    Using Nia’s strategies we’ve started to look at what the language Romeo uses tells us about him in Act 3 Scene 3. See if you can complete the grid and finish four points which explain what this speech reveals about Romeo's character at this point in the play.

    Point

    Romeo is not in control of his feelings

    Evidence

    'how hast thou the heart, / Being a divine, a ghostly confessor, / A sin-absolver, and my friend profess'd, /To mangle me with that word 'banished'?'

    Explanation

    Romeo uses antithesis to describe his deteriorating relationship with the Friar, calling him both 'divine' and 'ghostly'. This could suggest he is much less confident in the Friar than he used to be and that he does not understand his own feelings towards his friend and confidant.

    Point

    Romeo does not believe that the Friar understands his feelings.

    Evidence Select an option

    Explanation Click text to edit

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    Point

    To prove his point, Romeo compares himself to other living creatures that may see Juliet whilst he may not.

    Evidence Click text to edit

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    Explanation Click text to edit

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    Point Click text to edit

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    What else can I do to explore Romeo’s language?

    • Try applying these same strategies to all of Romeo’s speeches to look at any changes in his language and behaviour. In what other ways has he used antithesis? Has he used it positively?
    • How does Romeo talk about love at the start of the play, when speaking about Rosaline? Is the way he talks to Juliet and about Juliet any different?
    • What other techniques does Shakespeare use in Romeo’s language? How does this affect the way in which we understand his character and journey through the play?
    • Keep a record of the images Romeo uses. Romeo uses nocturnal imagery a lot and you can find out more about this in the Analysing the Imagery section. Think about why this might be. Notice in the play when others also start to use the nocturnal imagery.

  • Analysing the Imagery

    As with all Shakespeare’s plays, there are lots of types of imagery used in Romeo and Juliet. It’s a great idea to keep a list of key quotes and examples of these types of imagery in each act and who uses them as you explore the play.

    Here are three types of imagery that occur a lot in Romeo and Juliet and are useful to look out for:

    Celestial Imagery

    • Both Romeo and Juliet compare each other to the sun, moon or stars at various points in the text. In Act 2 Scene 2 Romeo says ‘It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.' In Act 3 Scene 2 Juliet says ‘Take him and cut him out in little stars, / And he will make the face of heaven so fine / That all the world will be in love with night / And pay no worship to the garish sun.’ What does this tell us about how they feel about each other?
    • Romeo and Juliet are referred to as ‘Star crossed lovers’ in the opening prologue. Why do you think Shakespeare uses this image?
    • How many examples of celestial imagery can you find in the play? Which characters use them and what do they reveal about those characters?

    Religious Imagery

    • The world of Verona is one in which the church and Christianity is integral to society. In Romeo and Juliet’s sonnet in Act 1 Scene 5 he refers to her as 'a holy shrine'. In fact, this sonnet uses several religious images including 'saints', 'pilgrims', and 'prayer'.
    • Friar Laurence, a religious figure in the play, is given praise and veneration by several characters including Lord Capulet, who says 'this holy Friar, / All our whole city is much bound to him' (Capulet, 4:2), Prince Escalus and the Nurse, who praises his 'learning'. It is because of this that Juliet is so easily able to marry Romeo and plan her escape.
    • When Juliet refuses to marry Paris in Act 3 Scene 5 she swears on Saint Peter, saying 'Now, by Saint Peter's Church and Peter too, / He shall not make me there a joyful bride.'

    Nocturnal Imagery

    • In Act 2 Scene 2, Juliet wishes night (which has been personified as a ‘sober-suited matron’) to hurry up so she can see Romeo. Conversely, in Act 3 Scene 5 Romeo and Juliet wish night to stay so they can stay together.
    • Which scenes take place at night? What do you notice about what happens in them?
    • Apart from the wedding scene, all of Romeo and Juliet’s scenes together take place at night.

    Romeo
    If I profane with my unworthiest hand
    This holy shrine, the gentle sin is this:
    My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand
    To smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss.
    If I’ve offended you by touching your hand (which is like a holy place) with mine. My lips are ready to right that wrong with a kiss.
    Juliet
    Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much,
    Which mannerly devotion shows in this,
    For saints have hands that pilgrims’ hands do touch,
    And palm to palm is holy palmers’ kiss.
    A person who takes a pilgrimage, or journey, to a sacred place, for religious reasons.
    Romeo
    Have not saints lips, and holy palmers too?
    Juliet
    Ay, pilgrim, lips that they must use in prayer.
    In this first meeting both Romeo and Juliet use religious imagery to describe each other and their actions. How many examples of this can you find? How are we meant to feel about the two characters and their meeting?
    Romeo
    O, then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do:
    They pray, grant thou, lest faith turn to despair.
    Juliet
    Saints do not move, though grant for prayers’ sake.
    Romeo
    Then move not, while my prayer’s effect I take.
    Thus from my lips, by thine, my sin is purged.
    The last fourteen lines are a sonnet, shared by Romeo and Juliet. Sonnets are traditionally poems of love. Why do you think Shakespeare shares these lines between the two characters rather than one of them delivering the whole sonnet?
    Got rid of and made clean again.
    Juliet
    Then have my lips the sin that they have took.
    Romeo
    Sin from my lips? O, trespass sweetly urged!
    Give me my sin again.
    Romeo and Juliet share their first kiss in this meeting. Looking at the language they use to describe this moment, how do you think they both feel?
    Juliet
    You kiss by th’book.
    Expertly, by the rules.
    Nurse
    Madam, your mother craves a word with you.
    Romeo
    What is her mother?
    Nurse
    Marry, bachelor,
    Her mother is the lady of the house,
    And a good lady, and a wise and virtuous.
    I nursed her daughter, that you talked withal.
    I tell you, he that can lay hold of her
    Shall have the chinks.
    Her Mother is Lady Capulet, whose house you're in. She’s a good lady, very wise and respectable. I was her daughter’s nurse, the girl you were talking to; I’m telling you, the man that gets her will get a huge amount of money.
    Romeo
    Is she a Capulet?
    O, dear account! My life is my foe’s debt.
    Benvolio
    Away, begone, the sport is at the best.
    Romeo
    Ay, so I fear, the more is my unrest.
    Capulet
    Nay, gentlemen, prepare not to be gone,
    Capulet
    We have a trifling foolish banquet towards.
    Is it e’en so? Why then I thank you all.
    I thank you, honest gentlemen, good night.
    Come on, then let’s to bed
    It waxes late: I’ll to my rest.
    Juliet
    Come hither, nurse. What is yond gentleman?
    Nurse
    The son and heir of old Tiberio
    Juliet
    What’s he that now is going out of door?
    Nurse
    I know not.
    Juliet
    Go ask his name.— If he be marrièd,
    Juliet
    My grave is like to be my wedding bed.
    Nurse
    His name is Romeo, and a Montague,
    The only son of your great enemy.
    Juliet
    My only love sprung from my only hate!
    Too early seen unknown, and known too late!
    Prodigious birth of love it is to me,
    That I must love a loathèd enemy.
    The only man I am in love with comes from the only family I hate! I saw him before I knew and now it’s too late!
    Abnormal or likely to bring you bad luck.

    Thinking about Act 1 Scene 5 we’ve started to look at what the celestial imagery and word choices in the scene tells us about Romeo and Juliet and their burgeoning relationship.

    Take a look at the extract from Act 1 Scene 5. See if you can complete the grid and finish four points which explain what this language shows about their relationship at this point in the play.

    Point

    Romeo thinks Juliet is the most beautiful woman he’s ever seen.

    Evidence

    'Two of the fairest stars in all the heaven, / Having some business, do entreat her eyes / To twinkle in their spheres til they return.'

    Explanation

    In comparing Juliet's eyes to the stars Romeo suggests that her beauty is other-worldly. While he does describe Rosaline as being like 'Dian' in Act 1 Scene 1, the terms that he uses here suggest that his emotions and reaction to Juliet are much more powerful. This use of celestial imagery also creates the impression that Romeo is powerless to stop his feelings.

    Point

    Juliet is worried their relationship is happening too quickly and Romeo might change his mind.

    Evidence Select an option

    Explanation Click text to edit

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    Point

    Romeo suggests that Juliet is like an angel.

    Evidence Click text to edit

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    Explanation Click text to edit

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  • Analysing Juliet's relationships

    Other than her relationship with Romeo, Juliet has several other important relationships in the play, particularly with Lady Capulet and the Nurse. The dynamic between these three characters is explored in Act 1 Scene 3. Juliet has a different relationship with each of these two women and, in exploring the language they use with each other, there is a lot you can infer about Juliet’s childhood and situation before she meets Romeo.

    What can we tell about the relationships between Juliet, Lady Capulet and the Nurse by looking at the language in their first scene together?

    Look at the extract from Act 1 Scene 3 and think about the following:

    • The differences in the language between the Nurse and Lady Capulet. What kind of images does the Nurse use, as opposed to Juliet’s Mother?
    • The ways they address Juliet. Which of them seems more affectionate and how can you tell?
    Juliet
    Madam, I am here. What is your will?
    Lady Capulet
    This is the matter.— Nurse, give leave awhile,
    We must talk in secret.— Nurse, come back again,
    I have remembered me, thou’s hear our counsel.
    Thou know’st my daughter’s of a pretty age.
    Nurse
    Faith, I can tell her age unto an hour.
    Lady Capulet
    She’s not fourteen.
    Nurse
    I’ll lay fourteen of my teeth — and yet, to my teen be it spoken, I have but four — she’s not fourteen. How long is it now to Lammas-tide?
    Lady Capulet
    A fortnight and odd days.
    Nurse
    Even or odd, of all days in the year, come Lammas Eve at night shall she be fourteen. Susan and she — God rest all Christian souls! — were of an age. Well, Susan is with God: she was too good for me. But as I said, on Lammas Eve at night shall she be fourteen, that shall she, marry, I remember it well. ’Tis since the earthquake now eleven years, and she was weaned — I never shall forget it — of all the days of the year, upon that day, for I had then laid wormwood to my dug, sitting in the sun under the dovehouse wall. My lord and you were then at Mantua — nay, I do bear a brain. And since that time it is eleven years, for then she could stand alone, for even the day before, she broke her brow, and then my husband — God be with his soul, a was a merry man — took up the child, ‘Yea’, quoth he, ‘dost thou fall upon thy face? Thou wilt fall backward when thou hast more wit, wilt thou not, Jule?’ And by my holidam, the pretty wretch left crying and said ‘Ay’. To see now how a jest shall come about! I warrant, an I should live a thousand years, I never should forget it: ‘Wilt thou not, Jule?’ quoth he, and, pretty fool, it stinted and said ‘Ay’.
    Lady Capulet
    Enough of this, I pray thee, hold thy peace.
    Nurse
    And yet I warrant it had upon it brow a bump as big as a young cock’rel’s stone. ‘Yea’, quoth my husband, ‘fall’st upon thy face? Thou wilt fall backward when thou comest to age, wilt thou not, Jule?’ It stinted and said ‘Ay’.
    Juliet
    And stint thou too, I pray thee, Nurse, say I.
    Nurse
    Peace, I have done. God mark thee to his grace! Thou wast the prettiest babe that e’er I nursed. An I might live to see thee married once, I have my wish.
    Lady Capulet
    Marry, that ‘marry’ is the very theme
    I came to talk of. Tell me, daughter Juliet,
    How stands your disposition to be married?
    Juliet
    It is an honour that I dream not of.
    Nurse
    An honour! Were not I thine only nurse, I would say thou hadst sucked wisdom from thy teat.
    Lady Capulet
    Well, think of marriage now: younger than you,
    Here in Verona, ladies of esteem,
    Are made already mothers. By my count,
    I was your mother much upon these years
    That you are now a maid. Thus then in brief:
    The valiant Paris seeks you for his love.
    Nurse
    A man, young lady! Lady, such a man.
    Lady Capulet
    Verona’s summer hath not such a flower.
    Nurse
    Nay, he’s a flower, in faith, a very flower.
    Lady Capulet
    What say you? Can you love the gentleman?

    Questions to consider

    • Who do you think Juliet has a stronger relationship with? Why?
    • Both older women like the idea of Juliet marrying Paris. What are their different reasons for being pleased at the match? What does this difference reveal?
    • How do the relationships between these characters change throughout the play? What other scenes can you find to back this up?

    Using Act 1 Scene 3 and Act 2 Scene 5, look at the way the language is used to let us know about Juliet and the Nurse’s relationship. In Act 2 Scene 5 Juliet waits for the Nurse's return and news from Romeo. See if you can complete the grid and finish four points which explain what these scenes show about their relationship.

    Point

    Juliet feels comfortable in expressing her frustration to the Nurse, accusing her of being too slow.

    Evidence

    ‘O she is lame! Love's heralds should be thoughts, / Which ten times faster glide than the sun's beams, / ...Had she affections and warm youthful blood, / She would be as swift in motion as a ball’ (Juliet, 2:5)

    Explanation

    Juliet openly talks about how the Nurse has no ‘affections’ or ‘youthful blood’ and goes on to use antithesis to emphasise the difference in their age. This open way of talking mirrors the way in which the Nurse talks to Juliet and shows a relationship where Juliet feels free to speak her mind.

    Point

    The Nurse is open and honest with Juliet. While she teases her she seems to show genuine concern.

    Evidence Select an option

    Explanation Click text to edit

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    Point

    The Nurse seems to hold back information deliberately, suggesting that she feels in control.

    Evidence Click text to edit

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    Explanation Click text to edit

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    Point Click text to edit

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    Evidence Click text to edit

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    Explanation Click text to edit

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    What else can I do to explore Juliet’s language?

    • Try looking at the way Juliet addresses the characters around her, such as her mother and father. When does she use different types of language with different people?
    • What effect does this have?

  • Analysing the Themes

    As with all Shakespeare’s plays, there are lots of themes that appear in Romeo and Juliet. It’s a great idea to keep a list of key quotes and examples of these themes in each act as you go through the play, looking at where they come up and whose language reflects the themes.

    Here are three of the themes that can be seen a lot in Romeo and Juliet:

    Theme of Love

    • Romeo and Juliet explores ‘love’ in lots of different ways, looking at young love and ultimately love’s power to conquer hate. In the opening scene of the play, Romeo is pining for love of Rosaline saying to Benvolio he is ‘Out of her favour where I am in love’ (Romeo, 1:1). In the next scene Capulet tells Paris to ‘…woo her, gentle Paris, get her heart’ (Capulet, 1:2). Later we then see Romeo and Juliet fall in love at first sight and begin to analyse what love really is, particularly when they are forced to separate under difficult circumstances.
    • See if you can find a scene in the play that does not refer to love at all. What does this tell you? What are the different ways in which characters talk about love? What does this tell us about each of them?

    Theme of Fate

    • The fate of the ‘star cross’d lovers’ Romeo and Juliet is described in the prologue, before the play even begins. The idea that the lovers have a pre-destined fate that they have no control over is constantly referred to throughout the play and invites us to think about how much of our choices are free will and how much we are controlled by destiny. This can also be seen in Romeo’s dream before the Capulet ball where he sees ‘some consequence yet hanging in the stars’ (Romeo, 1:4).
    • See how many references to the play’s tragic ending and the death of the lovers can you find in Act 1. Why do you think Shakespeare would want to foreground this at the very start of the play? Can you identify any choices that Romeo and Juliet make where their decisions could have altered their fate? Why do you think they take the paths they do in those moments?

    Theme of Generations

    • The very first thing we learn about the world that Romeo and Juliet is set in is that there is ‘an ancient grudge’ and that ‘ancient’ disagreement between older generations of the Montagues and the Capulets will have an impact on two younger people who ‘mutiny’. This strained relationship between older and younger generations can be seen throughout the play, particularly in the interactions between Juliet and both of her parents as they try to arrange her marriage with Paris and, in the ending of the play, where the death of their children forces both families to change.
    • Think of any modern examples, where adults have made decisions that have affected you and your generation. How does that make you feel towards those who have made the decisions? Can you find any evidence from the younger characters in the play, such as Tybalt and Mercutio for example, that suggests how they feel about it? Tybalt seems more angry than Lord Capulet to find Romeo has come to the Capulet ball in Act 1. Why do you think that might be? Why do we see the young people fighting at the start of the play, when the disagreement is an ‘ancient’ one?

    Juliet
    Then, window, let day in, and let life out.
    Romeo
    Farewell, farewell! One kiss, and I’ll descend.
    Juliet
    Art thou gone so? Love, lord, ay, husband, friend,
    I must hear from thee every day in the hour,
    For in a minute there are many days.
    O, by this count I shall be much in years
    Ere I again behold my Romeo!
    Romeo
    Farewell!
    I will omit no opportunity
    That may convey my greetings, love, to thee.
    Juliet
    O think’st thou we shall ever meet again?
    Romeo
    I doubt it not, and all these woes shall serve
    For sweet discourses in our time to come.
    Juliet
    O God, I have an ill-divining soul!
    Methinks I see thee, now thou art so low,
    As one dead in the bottom of a tomb:
    Either my eyesight fails or thou look’st pale.
    Romeo
    And trust me, love, in my eye so do you:
    Dry sorrow drinks our blood. Adieu, adieu!
    Juliet
    Be fickle, fortune,
    For then I hope thou wilt not keep him long,
    But send him back.

    Thinking about Act 3 Scene 5, we’ve started to look at what the theme of fate in the scene tells us about Romeo and Juliet.

    Read the extract from Act 3 Scene 5 in which Romeo and Juliet see each other for the last time. See if you can complete the grid and finish four points which explore how Romeo and Juliet’s inevitable fates are referenced in this scene.

    Point

    Juliet foretells the death of Romeo.

    Evidence

    'Methinks I see thee, now thou art below, / As one dead in the bottom of a tomb'

    Explanation

    Juliet’s vision of Romeo dead in a tomb foreshadows his death but also creates a visual of how his death will unfold, in the family tomb. The fact that she can see this fate when looking at him emphasises how unavoidable it is at this point in the play.

    Point

    Both characters foreshadow their deaths by using imagery that refers to death or the loss of life.

    Evidence Select an option

    Explanation Click text to edit

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    Point

    Shakespeare uses dramatic irony when Juliet is saying goodbye to Romeo.

    Evidence Click text to edit

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    Explanation Click text to edit

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    Point Click text to edit

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    Evidence Click text to edit

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Teacher Notes

The following sheet provides further information on themes in the text.

Romeo and Juliet Themes

You can also print the PEE grids from each of the sections on this page to help students explore the language of central characters and some of the imagery used in more detail.