Enter Romeo, Mercutio, Benvolio, with five or six other Maskers, Torchbearers, and a Boy with a drum.
(They enter the scene with some other people, carrying torches and drums, setting up for a masquerade.)
ROMEO:
What, shall this speech be spoke for our excuse? Or shall we on without apology?
- Explanation: Romeo is wondering if they should make some formal apology for coming uninvited, or just go in without one.
- Analysis: Romeo is questioning the necessity of politeness in this situation, possibly hinting at his emotional state.
- Language Technique: Rhetorical question.
BENVOLIO:
The date is out of such prolixity. We’ll have no Cupid hoodwinked with a scarf, Bearing a Tartar’s painted bow of lath, Scaring the ladies like a crowkeeper, Nor no without-book prologue, faintly spoke After the prompter, for our entrance. But let them measure us by what they will. We’ll measure them a measure and be gone.
- Explanation: Benvolio dismisses any lengthy apologies or speeches. He criticizes the old-fashioned idea of pretending to be Cupid, and instead suggests they should be judged by their actions.
- Analysis: Benvolio is trying to be practical and straightforward, rejecting pretensions.
- Language Technique: Use of metaphor (“Cupid hoodwinked with a scarf,” “Tartar’s painted bow”), imagery (“scaring the ladies like a crowkeeper”).
ROMEO:
Give me a torch. I am not for this ambling. Being but heavy I will bear the light.
- Explanation: Romeo requests a torch, saying he doesn’t feel like dancing and would rather carry the light as he’s feeling heavy-hearted.
- Analysis: Romeo shows his melancholic mood, preferring to stay still than join in the lively atmosphere.
- Language Technique: Metaphor (“heavy” suggesting emotional burden, “bear the light” as a task).
MERCUTIO:
Nay, gentle Romeo, we must have you dance.
- Explanation: Mercutio urges Romeo to join in the fun and dance.
- Analysis: Mercutio is trying to cheer up Romeo, pushing him to shake off his sadness.
- Language Technique: Imperative tone (“we must have you dance”).
ROMEO:
Not I, believe me. You have dancing shoes With nimble soles. I have a soul of lead So stakes me to the ground I cannot move.
- Explanation: Romeo refuses to dance, claiming he has no energy to move because of his heavy heart.
- Analysis: Romeo uses the imagery of lead to describe his sadness, showing how deeply it affects him.
- Language Technique: Metaphor (“soul of lead”).
MERCUTIO:
You are a lover. Borrow Cupid’s wings And soar with them above a common bound.
- Explanation: Mercutio teases Romeo, saying that as a lover, he should be light-hearted and free, like Cupid.
- Analysis: Mercutio is suggesting that love should lift Romeo’s spirits.
- Language Technique: Allusion to Cupid, the god of love, implying freedom and lightness.
ROMEO:
I am too sore enpiercèd with his shaft To soar with his light feathers, and so bound I cannot bound a pitch above dull woe. Under love’s heavy burden do I sink.
- Explanation: Romeo explains that he’s been wounded by love’s arrow, making him feel too weighed down to be lighthearted.
- Analysis: Romeo uses metaphor to describe love as painful and burdensome.
- Language Technique: Metaphor (“sore enpiercèd with his shaft,” “love’s heavy burden”).
MERCUTIO:
And to sink in it should you burden love— Too great oppression for a tender thing.
- Explanation: Mercutio disagrees, saying love shouldn’t be so painful; it’s too much of a burden for something so delicate.
- Analysis: Mercutio’s view is more light-hearted, implying that love should be a joyful experience, not one of suffering.
- Language Technique: Personification (“tender thing” for love).
ROMEO:
Is love a tender thing? It is too rough, Too rude, too boist’rous, and it pricks like thorn.
- Explanation: Romeo questions the nature of love, claiming it is not gentle but painful and rough, like a thorn.
- Analysis: Romeo rejects the idea of love as sweet and soft, emphasizing its painful side.
- Language Technique: Simile (“pricks like thorn”).
MERCUTIO:
If love be rough with you, be rough with love. Prick love for pricking, and you beat love down.
- Explanation: Mercutio suggests that if love is painful, Romeo should fight back against it instead of letting it hurt him.
- Analysis: Mercutio encourages a more combative approach to love, reflecting his more carefree and humorous attitude.
- Language Technique: Rhetorical advice (“Prick love for pricking”).
Give me a case to put my visage in. A visor for a visor. What care I What curious eye doth cote deformities? Here are the beetle brows shall blush for me.
- Explanation: Mercutio talks about wearing a mask to hide his face, not caring how others see him because his brows (or personality) will be a cover for any faults.
- Analysis: Mercutio enjoys playing with appearances, using humor and wit to deflect deeper issues.
- Language Technique: Wordplay (“visor for a visor”), alliteration (“beetle brows”).
BENVOLIO:
Come, knock and enter, and no sooner in But every man betake him to his legs.
- Explanation: Benvolio urges everyone to get going, and once inside, everyone should start dancing.
- Analysis: Benvolio is encouraging them to be energetic and make the most of the party.
- Language Technique: Use of imperative (“Come, knock and enter”).
ROMEO:
A torch for me. Let wantons light of heart Tickle the senseless rushes with their heels, For I am proverbed with a grandsire phrase: I’ll be a candle holder and look on; The game was ne’er so fair, and I am done.
- Explanation: Romeo insists on just carrying the torch and watching the others, feeling out of place and uninterested in participating.
- Analysis: Romeo is resigned and disillusioned, making a reference to an old saying that fits his mood.
- Language Technique: Metaphor (“I’ll be a candle holder and look on”).
MERCUTIO:
Tut, dun’s the mouse, the constable’s own word. If thou art dun, we’ll draw thee from the mire— Or, save your reverence, love—wherein thou stickest Up to the ears. Come, we burn daylight, ho!
- Explanation: Mercutio mocks Romeo’s reluctance, calling him “dun” (a dull or defeated person), but promises to help him out of his sorrow.
- Analysis: Mercutio is playful, trying to snap Romeo out of his mood with humor.
- Language Technique: Wordplay (“dun’s the mouse”), metaphor (“stickest up to the ears”).
ROMEO:
Nay, that’s not so.
- Explanation: Romeo disagrees, likely because he feels his mood is too deep for Mercutio to lift.
- Analysis: Romeo is resistant to Mercutio’s attempts to cheer him up.
- Language Technique: Simple direct speech.
MERCUTIO:
I mean, sir, in delay We waste our lights; in vain, light lights by day. Take our good meaning, for our judgment sits Five times in that ere once in our five wits.
- Explanation: Mercutio explains that by delaying, they waste their time (light). He’s telling Romeo to follow their good intentions.
- Analysis: Mercutio uses the metaphor of light to describe time and their wasted efforts.
- Language Technique: Metaphor (“waste our lights,” “five times in that ere once in our five wits”).
ROMEO:
And we mean well in going to this masque, But ’tis no wit to go.
- Explanation: Romeo agrees they mean well, but he still thinks it’s not wise to go.
- Analysis: Romeo is still doubting the value of joining the event.
- Language Technique: Simple language to reflect his internal conflict.
MERCUTIO:
Why, may one ask?
- Explanation: Mercutio challenges Romeo, asking why he doesn’t want to go.
- Analysis: Mercutio’s tone is playful, pushing Romeo to explain himself.
- Language Technique: Rhetorical question.
ROMEO:
I dreamt a dream tonight.
- Explanation: Romeo shares that he had a dream, setting the tone for his unease.
- Analysis: Dream imagery often symbolizes something deeper or premonitory.
- Language Technique: Foreshadowing through dream.
MERCUTIO:
And so did I.
- Explanation: Mercutio mentions that he, too, had a dream, possibly indicating a shared experience.
- Analysis: This line builds curiosity, hinting at something significant.
- Language Technique: Short, simple reply.
ROMEO:
Well, what was yours?
- Explanation: Romeo is curious about Mercutio’s dream.
- Analysis: Romeo is engaged, trying to lighten his mood.
- Language Technique: Question.
MERCUTIO:
That dreamers often lie.
- Explanation: Mercutio jokes that dreams are often false, making light of the situation.
- Analysis: He dismisses the significance of dreams, contrasting with Romeo’s seriousness.
- Language Technique: Humor, irony.
ROMEO:
In bed asleep while they do dream things true.
- Explanation: Romeo argues that dreams can be truthful.
- Analysis: Romeo shows a more earnest belief in the power of dreams.
- Language Technique: Contrast to Mercutio’s view.
MERCUTIO:
O, then I see Queen Mab hath been with you. She is the fairies’ midwife…
- Explanation: Mercutio humorously describes Queen Mab, the fairy responsible for dreams, using an elaborate and fantastical image.
- Analysis: Mercutio’s long description shows his playful nature, mocking Romeo’s seriousness.
- Language Technique: Imagery, personification (“Queen Mab hath been with you”).
ROMEO:
Peace, peace, Mercutio, peace. Thou talk’st of nothing.
- Explanation: Romeo interrupts Mercutio, asking for peace, indicating his growing frustration.
- Analysis: Romeo is trying to end the conversation and return to his gloom.
- Language Technique: Imperative (“Peace, peace”).
MERCUTIO:
True, I talk of dreams, Which are the children of an idle brain, Begot of nothing but vain fantasy…
- Explanation: Mercutio continues explaining that dreams are meaningless, born from imagination.
- Analysis: He mocks the idea of dreams, again emphasizing their emptiness.
- Language Technique: Alliteration (“children of an idle brain”), metaphor (“vain fantasy”).
BENVOLIO:
This wind you talk of blows us from ourselves. Supper is done, and we shall come too late.
- Explanation: Benvolio urges them to stop talking and get moving, as they’re wasting time.
- Analysis: Benvolio is practical, trying to move things forward.
- Language Technique: Personification (“this wind blows us from ourselves”).
ROMEO:
I fear too early, for my mind misgives Some consequence yet hanging in the stars…
- Explanation: Romeo senses something bad might happen, feeling a foreboding about the night ahead.
- Analysis: Romeo believes fate or destiny will play a role in the events to come.
- Language Technique: Foreshadowing, metaphor (“hanging in the stars”).
BENVOLIO:
Strike, drum.
- Explanation: Benvolio signals to begin.
- Analysis: A simple command to move forward, shifting the focus back to action.
- Language Technique: Imperative (“Strike, drum”).
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