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Does Lady Capulet speak in iambic pentameter?
When a poem contains blank verse, the lines use iambic pentameter, but don’t always rhyme. The characters in higher social classes, including Romeo, Juliet and Lady Capulet, speak in verse.
Who uses blank verse in Romeo and Juliet?
In Romeo and Juliet, blank verse is sometimes juxtaposed with rhyming iambic pentameter and prose to emphasize differences in characters and class. For example, nobility such as Juliet’s parents and Romeo and Juliet themselves often deliver lines in blank verse.
Does Romeo and Juliet have poetry?
Romeo and Juliet contains several sonnets, a traditional form of poetry comprised of fourteen rhyming lines, usually about love. Shakespeare himself wrote sonnets, as did most of the major poets of his day. His poems famously compared love to religious pilgrimage, as Romeo and Juliet do when they first meet.
What characters speak in iambic pentameter in Romeo and Juliet?
Benvolio and Tybalt, however, speak in iambic pentameter, as do the Montagues, the Prince, and Romeo. The Capulets and Paris also speak in iambic pentameter. When Romeo speaks to the Servingman, he switches to prose—it would be pretty strange to have one character speaking in verse while the other does not.
Why are Romeo and Friar Lawrence speaking in rhymes?
The rhyme scheme serves two purposes. For starters, it points out the irony of a Catholic friar out gathering herbs at dawn for magic potions. Hence, while Shakespeare is not necessarily trying to make Friar Laurence look foolish, he is portraying the irony of his character with the intent of satirizing the Church.
Does Romeo speak in blank verse?
Like all of Shakespeare’s tragedies, Romeo and Juliet is written mostly in blank verse. The other reason Shakespeare uses verse in Romeo and Juliet is that he generally uses verse for the speech of high-status characters. Most of the characters in Romeo and Juliet are nobles, so they address each other in verse.
What is poetic language in Romeo and Juliet?
Shakespeare uses a large variety of poetic forms throughout the play. He begins with a 14-line prologue by a Chorus in the form of a Shakespearean sonnet. Like this sonnet much of Romeo and Juliet is written in iambic pentameter, with ten syllables of alternating stress in each line.
Who speaks the prologue in Romeo and Juliet?
the chorus
All right, let’s take a moment or two to review. The prologue to Romeo and Juliet is spoken entirely by the chorus. In Greek drama, the chorus consists of a group of people who serve to narrate throughout the play and provide more details of what the characters are thinking or feeling, and they often sing and dance.
What is the language in Romeo and Juliet?
English
Romeo and Juliet/Original languages
Shakespeare is written in Elizabethan English, highly poetic, and uses iambic pentameter. Iambic pentameter is an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. This can be evidenced in both his plays and notably in his sonnets.
How does Mercutio describe Tybalt?
He describes Tybalt as a master swordsman, perfectly proper and composed in style. According to Mercutio, however, Tybalt is also a vain, affected “fashionmonger” (2.4. 29).
Why do Romeo and Juliet speak in sonnet?
When Romeo and Juliet meet they speak just fourteen lines before their first kiss. The shared sonnet between Romeo and Juliet, therefore, creates a formal link between their love and their destiny. With a single sonnet, Shakespeare finds a means of expressing perfect love and linking it to a tragic fate.
When do the characters speak verse in Romeo and Juliet?
Most of the characters in Romeo and Juliet are nobles, so they address each other in verse. However, even low-status characters speak verse when the topic is serious enough. The Apothecary speaks verse as he sells Romeo poison, and the Nurse speaks verse when she recounts Juliet’s childhood, with its omens of Juliet’s tragic fate.
Why does Mercutio speak in prose in Romeo and Juliet?
The Nurse, Peter and the Musicians usually speak in prose, because they are comic and low-status characters. Mercutio and Romeo mostly use verse, but they often use prose when they are exchanging jokes.
When does the apothecary speak verse in Romeo and Juliet?
The Apothecary speaks verse as he sells Romeo poison, and the Nurse speaks verse when she recounts Juliet’s childhood, with its omens of Juliet’s tragic fate. Prose in Romeo and Juliet usually marks either comic speech or the speech of low-status characters.
Who are the main characters in Romeo and Juliet?
In the beginning of the play, Romeo pines for an unrequited love, Rosaline. To cheer him up, his cousin and friend Benvolio and Mercutio take him to the Capulets’ celebration in disguise, where he meets and falls in love with the Capulets’ only daughter, Juliet.