“Only Your Name Is My Enemy”
(1594-95)
William Shakespeare “Romeo and Juliet”
O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo?
Deny thy father and refuse thy name.
Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,
And I’ll no longer be a Capulet.
5 ROMEO (aside) Shall I hear more, or shall I speak at this?
JULIET 'Tis but thy name that is my enemy.
Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.
What’s Montague? It is nor hand, nor foot,
Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part
10
Belonging to a man. O, be some other name!
What’s in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other word would smell as sweet.
So Romeo would, were he not Romeo called,
Retain that dear perfection which he owes
15
Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name,
And for that name, which is no part of thee
Take all myself.
ROMEO I take thee at thy word.
Call me but love, and I’ll be new baptized.
20
Henceforth I never will be Romeo.
JULIET What man art thou that, thus bescreened in night,
So stumblest on my counsel?
ROMEO By a name
I know not how to tell thee who I am.
25
My name, dear saint, is hateful to myself
Because it is an enemy to thee.
Had I it written, I would tear the word.
JULIET
JULIET
My ears have not yet drunk a hundred words
Of that tongue’s uttering, yet I know the sound.
30
Art thou not Romeo, and a Montague?
ROMEO Neither, fair maid, if either thee dislike.
JULIET How camest thou hither, tell me, and wherefore?
The orchard walls are high and hard to climb,
And the place death, considering who thou art,
35
If any of my kinsmen find thee here.
ROMEO With love’s light wings did I o'erperch these walls,
For stony limits cannot hold love out,
And what love can do, that dares love attempt.
Therefore thy kinsmen are no stop to me.
40 JULIET If they do see thee they will murder thee.
ROMEO Alack, there lies more peril in thine eye
Than twenty of their swords. Look thou but sweet,
And I am proof against their enmity.
JULIET I would not for the world they saw thee here.
45 ROMEO I have night’s cloak to hide me from their eyes,
And but thou love me, let them find me here.
My life were better ended by their hate
Than death prorogued, wanting of thy love.
SPEAKING
“Tis but thy name that is my enemy” : What do these words tell us about the two
young lovers?
• Open answer
GUIDED ANALYSIS
1. Focus on the setting.
Where and when does the action takes place ?
• It takes place at night: Juliet is on the balcony of her room. Romeo is hidden in the
garden.
2. Read Juliet’s monologue (lines 1-17).
It begins with an invocation and a question to Romeo.
a. Is Juliet really speaking to Romeo?
• No, she is speaking to herself
b. Does he really answer her in line 5?
• No, he is speaking to the audience.
c. What are the other invocations in the monologue?
• “O Romeo, Romeo” (l.1); “O, be some other name” (l. 10);
GUIDED ANALYSIS
2. Read Juliet’s monologue (lines 1-17).
d. What feelings do they show/betray?
• They show both love and consciousness of the difficulties implied in the situation
they are in.
e. From Juliet’s monologue we see how conscious she is that their two families
bitterly hate each other: underline the expressions that show this awareness.
• “Wherefore are thou Romeo?” (l.1);
• “Deny thy father .... Name!” (l.2);
• “Thou art thyself, though not a Montague” (l. 7);
• “O, Be some other name” (l.10);
• “So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call’d” (l. 13);
• “Romeo, doff thy name” (l.15).
GUIDED ANALYSIS
3. Now read to the end.
a. To be together, Romeo and Juliet have to forget their family names. Find the
expressions which underline this point.
• “I’ll no longer be a Capulet” (l. 4);
• “I never will be Romeo” (l.20);
• “Are thou not Romeo, and a Montague?” (l. 30);
• “Neither, fair maid, if either thee dislike” (l.31).
b. When Juliet’s monologue gives way to dialogue the conversation between the two
lovers turns around a question-and-answer pattern which points out the
communion between the two lovers . Give examples of
• question/answer pattern:
–
–
–
•
“What man art thou ... counsel?”/ “By a name ... who I am” (ll. 21-24);
“Are thou not Romeo, and a Montague?” / “Neither, fair maid, if either thee dislike” (ll. 30-31);
“How cam’st thou hither, tell me, and wherefore?” (l,32) / “ With love’s light wings ... walls) (l.36);
link between a final word or expression by one character and the following starting
word or expression by the other.
–
“Take all myself” / “I take thee at thy word” (ll.17-18).
GUIDED ANALYSIS
3. Now read to the end
c. The idea of death is always present in the play. Romeo and Juliet are the most
famous lovers in literature, but their love is marked by death from the beginning.
Juliet especially feels this strongly. What words of hers, or of Romeo’s, refer to
death or are a premonition of death?
• Images of death:
–
–
•
“And the place death, considering who thou art” (l. 34);
“If they do see thee, they will murther thee” (l.40);
Premonition of death
–
–
“Alack, there lies more peril in thine eye... (l.41);
“My life were better ended.../Than death prorogued” (ll. 47-48);
4. A recurrent metaphor in the play is “night”.
a. What role has night in this passage?
• “Night” is a positive image because it is favourable to the lovers; in fact it is the
only time they can meet safely, unseen by their families. Night is therefore the
moment for love.
GUIDED ANALYSIS
b. Is this image of night coherent with the traditional role night plays in Renaissance
poetry?
• No, because the usual Renaissance poetry contrasts day/light ( presented
positively) against night/darkness ( described negatively).
c. What expressions refer to night or nightfall?
• “bescreen’d in night” (l.21);
• “I have night’s cloak” (l.45)
GUIDED SUMMARY
5. Fill in the blanks with the words given below in scrambled order.
names words
die
obstacle
death
love
changed
True love is love between people, not abstract names; if one’s name is an obstacle to
Love, it can either be rejected or changed. If Juliet’s family discover Romeo, he may
die , but also not seeing Juliet is a kind of death for him. Why should lovers swear their
love is true ? True love doesn’t need many words.