Ancient Quarrel, New-Found Grief
Montague: Who set this ancient quarrel abroach?
Montague: Thou villain Capulet! – Hold me not, let me go.
Lady Capulet: A crutch, a crutch! Why call you for a sword?
Montague:
Away from light steals home my heavy son,
And private in his chamber pens himself.
Could we but learn from whence his sorrows grow,
We would willingly give cure as know.
Lady Capulet: Thou knowest my daughter’s of a pretty age. She’s not fourteen.
Here in Verona, ladies of esteem,
Are already made mothers.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Lady Capulet: I beg for justice, which thou, Prince must give:
Romeo slew Tybalt, Romeo must not live.
That same villain Romeo.
Montague: His fault concludes but what the law should end,
The life of Tybalt.
Lady Capulet: We will have vengeance for it, fear thou not
Lady Capulet: Some grief shows much of love,
But much of grief shows still some want of wit.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Montague: What further woe conspires against mine age?
Lady Capulet: O me, this sight of death is as a bell
That warns my old age to a sepulchre
Montague: Alas, my wife is dead tonight;
Grief of my son’s exile hath stopp’d her breath
Montague: What manners is in this, to press before thy father to a grave?
My character poem pairs together Lord Montague and Lady Capulet. I purposefully chose lines that
could be manipulated and placed together to create a dialogue between the two powerful figures, leaders of
their households. It begins with Montague posing the question: “Who set this ancient quarrel abroach?”; this
is ironic because it is him asking who is starting up the fight again, when really he and Capulet have been
primarily responsible for maintaining it for many years. He then declares Capulet a villain directly after, and I
used Lady Capulet’s response (which was originally to her own husband) as a retaliation line – pointing out the
fact that he is old and past his fighting prime. Both characters are full of pride in the beginning of the play, but
also bitterness because of their family grudge. I then moved on to explore the characters’ emotions and
concern expressed over their offspring – Montague reveals that he is worried about his cherished son Romeo
and Lady Montague speaks of how her daughter is of an age at which many girls are already married and
having children. Despite the hate between the families, both treasure their young children and want them to
be happy and successful. The poem then switches to the drama of Tybalt being killed and Romeo banished –
Lady Capulet begs for justice and demands Romeo’s life; Montague declares that Tybalt should have died for
killing Mercutio. As a retort to Montague, I moved a line that Lady Capulet originally says to Juliet: “We will
have vengeance, fear thou not”. The poem concludes with Montague and Lady Capulet expressing grief after
the realization that Romeo, Juliet, and Montague’s wife have all died as a result of their ongoing hatred.