"Romeo and Juliet Prologue"
by: Dylan Maready, Hannah Gschwind, and Kaleigha Roach
Prologue
"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."
What is the sonnet about?
Description of Sonnet
Phrases:
"Two households, both alike in dignity,
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,"
Meaning:
The Montagues and Capulets are two families that live in Verona. Both families have a lot in common with each other.
Phrases:
"From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean."
Meaning:
The two families have been fighting for generations. Romeo fought for Juliet.
Phrases:
"From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life;"
Meaning:
From two enemies comes a love by their children, and due to their families hatred, they are forced to end their lives to be together and end the feud.
Phrases:
"Whose misadventured piteous overthrows
Do with their death bury their parents' strife."
Meaning:
Since they knew they couldn't be together alive, Romeo and Juliet killed themselves so they could be together in death.
Phrases:
"The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love,
And the continuance of their parents' rage,"
Meaning:
The Montagues and Capulets were angry that the children had fallen in love with each other. Romeo and Juliet's romance was doomed from the start.
Phrases:
"Which, but their children's end, nought could remove,
Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage;"
Meaning:
The hatred between the two families grew when the Montagues and Capulets found out Romeo and Juliet were in love with each other. Now this is all that is on the mind of both families.
Phrases:
"The which if you with patient ears attend,
What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend."
Meaning:
If you listen, you'll see how Romeo and Juliet worked hard to save their love. If you don't listen, you'll miss out on everything.
Visual Representation
Who is the speaker? What is the speaker's tone?
- The speaker is William Shakespeare, who was an English poet, writer, actor, and playwright. He is most famous for his plays such as "A Midsummer Night's Dream," "MacBeth," "Othello," and "Romeo and Juliet."
- William Shakespeare conveys a beautiful, tragic romance between Romeo and Juliet. Their love was forbidden and doomed from the start. The two star-crossed lovers would rather die than live without each other, which conveys much passion. Nothing can end the feud except the lovers deaths, which presents tragedy.
- "From ancient grudge break to new mutiny"
- "Do with their death bury their parents' strife"
- "The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love"
Figurative Language
Metaphor
- "Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean."
This implies that people's hands were made dirty, but in reality, they were not really dirty.
- "Do with their death bury their parents' strife."
This implies that their deaths buried their parents' strife, but their deaths did not really bury their parents' strife.
Imagery
- "In fair Verona, where we lay our scene"
Presents the idea of a nice, clean city where they live.
Poetic Techniques
Alliteration
- "From forth the fatal loins of these two foes"
This is an example of alliteration because the letter F continues at the beginning of closely connected words throughout the sentence.