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| Romeo and Juliet |
| 作者Author / William Shakespeare 威廉．莎士比亞 |
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Study Questions
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Courting sonnet from Romeo and Juliet
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| Group Discussion and Journal |
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- This brief excerpt from the play is a poem by itself. What is the form of this poem? Notice that Romeo speaks the first quatrain, Juliet the second, and they alternate lines in the final six lines.
- In the first quatrain Romeo uses religious imagery when describing his relationship to Juliet. Romeo thinks that his hands may have treated Juliet too roughly, so what does he offer to do?
- In the second quatrain Juliet continues the religious imagery. How does she respond to Romeo's offer? What would she rather do?
- In line 101 Romeo repeats his offer, and in the following line Juliet again politely and teasingly rejects his offer. How does Romeo a third time try to persuade Juliet to kiss him?
- What decision do the two lovers make in the final couplet? Why does Juliet say "You kiss by th'book"?
Readings in Context:
a. Before the sonnet (their first conversation), Romeo, like Byron in "She Walks in Beauty," compares Juliet to light or jewels at night and describes her as "true beauty," "beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear" (I.5 ll. 43-52 video). What kind of love (at first sight) is this? Religious and pure? Rashful? Bear in mind that Romeo goes to the ball to find his girlfriend Rosaline, but not Juliet.
b. The use of religious metaphors, their tryst at night, as well as the fact that their love is forbidden, put Romeo and Juiliet in the tradition of religious and courtly love (Cf. Traditional Concepts of Love)
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| Application and Wild Association |
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Compare and contrast the ways Romeo courts Juliet in this sonnet with the ways used by the speaker respectively in Marvell's "To His Coy Mistress" and Donne's "The Flea." |
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