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#36929 07/29/01 06:38 PM
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Vixy Offline OP
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OK,we all know the line from Shakespeare
"Romeo,Romeo,wherefore art thou Romeo?"
but does anyone actually know what it means translated into modern-day English?Send me a private message with your answer.


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Wherefor private?


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Not sent privately:

I consider it to be "Of all the names you could have, why does it have to be Romeo!"

(I always did like the name Mercutio, but I've not the guts to try it on my children; I might give Lysander a try, though).


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... that "Vixy" not be taken at face value.


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Why not, AnnaS?..don't you believe in super-precocious 11 year olds? Remember Mozart! Welcome to the Board, Vixy, if you really are who you say you are! Or could this be another incarnation of the Great Mav-Arch, with a bio to go with it, yet?


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No, I *really think you are off target, here, guys! Check out Vicki's website, then answer her question with more respect [salute]


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It appears that nobody on the board so far is any better at understanding Shakespeare than vixy is.I haven't seen the text for sixty years. I wonder if she was expressing unhappiness that one was a Montague, and the other a Capulet.


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Dear Vixy: Have I got a site for you. (yours was nice.) I found a place where Romeo and Juliet is analzyed and explained for students. Turns out I was right about what Juliet's speech meant. So, here is URL to the site where you can learn more if you wish, with some pertinent parts of the analysis.

http://www.gradesaver.com/ClassicNotes/Titles/romeoandjuliet/act2.html



In the fifth scene the lover's share a sonnet which uses imagery of saints and
pilgrims. This relates to the fact that Romeo means Pilgrim in Italian. It is also
a sacriligeous sonnet, for Juliet becomes a saint to be kissed and Romeo a
holy traveler.

One of the remarkable aspects of the play is the transformation of both
Romeo and Juliet after they fall in love. Juliet first comes across as a young,
innocent girl who obeys her parents commands. However, by the last scene
she is devious and highly focused. Thus, she asks her nurse about three
separate men at the party, saving Romeo for last so as not to arouse
suspicion. Romeo will undergo a similar transformation in the second act,
resulting in Mercutio commenting that he has become sociable.

Romeo has meanwhile succeeded in hiding beneath Juliet's balcony. She
appears on her balcony and, in this famous scene, asks, "Oh Romeo, Romeo,
wherefore art thou Romeo?" (2.1.75). She wishes that Romeo's name did not
make him her enemy. Romeo, hiding below her, surprises her by interupting
and telling Juliet that he loves her.



#36937 07/29/01 11:21 PM
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Yes, Vicki, I am sure the other guys have parsed this correctly. She is saying (in literal translation to modern idiom) "Why, of all things, did you have to be Romeo..." [and therefore a Montague and my family enemy]...

This is, after all, the speech that goes on to examine "What's in a name? That which we call a rose/ By any other name would smell as sweet [.../...]Art thou not Romeo and a Montague?"

So she is trying to disentangle her attraction to this boy from the family antagonism and conflict his name represents.

But did you know all this anyway, and were just teasing us?


#36938 07/30/01 12:10 AM
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Vixy Offline OP
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yeah,I did know.I was just seeing if anyone else knew.and you're all right,she was lamenting the fact that he was a Montague.hey,thanx about the site.....im a novice but anyways.I'll check out that site!!!!!and by the way,I dont know all that much about Shakespeare.I get most of it from my friend.she really knows Shakespeare.....im into Einstein more.No,really!!!!!


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