Juliet Character Quotes

And too soon marr’d are those so early made.
The earth hath swallow’d all my hopes but she,
She is the hopeful lady of my earth.

– William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet, Act 1, Scene 2. Juliet occupies a special place in Capulet’s heart and initially he refuses to marry her to Paris because she is too young. She is his last remaining hope of future generations of descendants, since his other children have died. His affection for Juliet is clear in this passage. Earth is personified because it has the human ability to swallow – it has "swallow’d" all Capulet’s children except Juliet.

LADY CAPULET: Speak briefly, can you like of Paris’ love?
JULIET: I’ll look to like, if looking liking move:
But no more deep will I endart mine eye
Than your consent gives strength to make it fly.

– William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet, Act 1, Scene 3. Juliet quibbles and refuses a straight answer when Lady Capulet asks if she can love Paris. Juliet’s mother wants her to agree to her father’s plan for her to marry the young nobleman. But in Juliet’s clever noncommittal response, she agrees to look at Paris with the intention of liking him, if looking can cause her to like him. She uses a Cupid-like metaphor to say that her eye won’t fly flirtatious darts of love at Paris beyond what her mother consents. She puts on the appearance of obeying her parents, but at the same time she is keeping her options open and in effect disobeying them.

Go ask his name: if he be married.
My grave is like to be my wedding bed.

– William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet, Act 1, Scene 5. Juliet tells the Nurse to ask Romeo’s name, dramatically declaring that she will die if he turns out to be married. This shows how much in love Juliet is with Romeo. The image of her grave being her wedding bed makes for a grim metaphor. It is also ironic, since no one would expect a person’s wedding bed, normally representing the happiest time of their life, to be their grave. Juliet is also unknowingly foreshadowing her own tragic fate soon after she marries Romeo. Juliet’s grave will become her wedding bed, when she and romeo lie together in her grave in the Capulets’ tomb.

My only love sprung from my only hate!
Too early seen unknown, and known too late!
Prodigious birth of love it is to me,
That I must love a loathed enemy.

– William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet, Act 1, Scene 5. Juliet says this when she finds out Romeo is a Montague. She is fated to love a "loathed enemy" of her family, the Capulets. "Too early seen unknown, and known too late" suggests that had Juliet known he was a Montague she wouldn’t have fallen in love with him, but now that she has there is no going back. With Juliet, as with Romeo, love is an irresistible force that a person cannot control.

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.

– William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 2. The first line is one of the most recognizable and famous in the play. In the balcony scene Juliet asks why Romeo is Romeo, a member of the Montagues who are the greatest enemies of the Capulets. She asks him to deny his family for the sake of their love, and if he does not she will give up her family name. She is on her bedroom balcony as she speaks these words, unaware that Romeo is standing below in the garden listening. This is an example of dramatic irony, since the audience knows that Romeo is there and she does not.

What’s in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet.

– William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 2. In one of Shakespeare’s most frequently quoted passages, Juliet uses flower imagery to illustrate how absurd it is that two people in love are unable to be together because of their family names. Using the metaphor of a rose for Romeo, she says that if a rose was called another name it would still have the same sweet smell. She is suggesting that no matter what Romeo’s family name is she loves him for who he is. Before these words Juliet says: "What’s Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot, Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part Belonging to a man. O, be some other name!" Juliet is saying that while Romeo may be Montague, his physical body and identity are his own. Her reference to a man’s body parts indicates that she is thinking of Romeo in a sexual way. We also see the theme of appearance vs reality in this passage.

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,
If any of my kinsmen find thee here.

– William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 2. Juliet asks Romeo how and why he climbed her family’s high orchard walls when he could be put to death if caught on Capulet property. The impulsive Romeo has risked his life to see his beautiful Juliet and she appears amazed by that. Their love is forbidden because of the feud between their families.

JULIET: By whose direction found’st thou out this place?
ROMEO: By love, who first did prompt me to inquire;
He lent me counsel and I lent him eyes.

– William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet, Act, Scene 2. When Juliet asks Romeo who told him how to find her bedroom, he says that love has guided him there. Love is personified by Romeo, who says that it helped him look for Juliet, while he lent eyes to love so that he could see Juliet – love is often said to be blind. Romeo has no free choice in the matter and has to be there because he is controlled by love.

I have no joy of this contract to-night:
It is too rash, too unadvised, too sudden;
Too like the lightning, which doth cease to be
Ere one can say "It lightens."

– William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 2. Juliet appears skeptical to Romeo’s first declaration of love for her in the balcony scene. In a simile she compares its rashness and suddenness to lightning, which flashes one moment and disappears the next. This image paints love as something unpredictable and even dangerous. Foreshadowed here is the play’s tragic ending for the two lovers. In this fledgling relationship Juliet appears to be the more cautious and mature one. She asserts her free will in this passage, wanting Romeo to slow down and not rush things. Romeo on the other hand wants to dive right in. Moments later he tells Juliet that he cannot be satisfied without an "exchange of thy love’s faithful vow for mine." Juliet’s words and her wanting to take a step back because everything is happening too fast also highlights the theme of appearance vs reality.

My bounty is as boundless as the sea,
My love as deep; the more I give to thee,
The more I have, for both are infinite.

– William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 2. Juliet tells Romeo that she has endless reserves of love for him. She uses a hyperbolic simile to compare it to the size and depth of the sea. Like Romeo, Juliet is too young and immature to understand the concept of love. She sees her all-consuming and passionate teenage infatuation with the young man she has just met as something "infinite" and "boundless." This will have tragic consequences.

Three words, dear Romeo, and good night indeed.
If that thy bent of love be honourable,
Thy purpose marriage, send me word to-morrow,
By one that I’ll procure to come to thee,
Where and what time thou wilt perform the rite;
And all my fortunes at thy foot I’ll lay
And follow thee my lord throughout the world.

– William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 2. Juliet says that if Romeo’s love is honorable and his purpose marriage, he needs to send word to her tomorrow and tell her where and when they will be wed. She promises to give him her fortune and follow him wherever he goes. Juliet is the first to mention marriage, and to a young man she has only just met. Defying traditional gender roles in courtship, Juliet is striking a blow for feminism by essentially proposing to Romeo. Her headlong rush into marriage hours shows that it’s not just Romeo who is impulsive and immature, but Juliet as well.

Tis almost morning; I would have thee gone:
And yet no further than a wanton’s bird;
Who lets it hop a little from her hand,
Like a poor prisoner in his twisted gyves,
And with a silk thread plucks it back again,
So loving-jealous of his liberty.

– William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 2. It is almost dawn and time for the young lovers to say their farewells. Juliet tells Romeo that she wants him to go – but not too far. In a metaphor she likens him a pampered person’s pet bird that is kept tied to a silk thread. She uses a simile to compare the bird (Romeo) to a "poor prisoner." The imagery shows Juliet’s desire to keep Romeo close to her so that he doesn’t fly away.

Good night, good night! parting is such sweet sorrow,
That I shall say good night till it be morrow.

– William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 2. At the end of the balcony scene Juliet bids goodnight to Romeo, because she doesn’t want to say goodbye. She uses an oxymoron when she describes the parting as "sweet sorrow." This indicates the bittersweet feeling of spending time with Romeo and then having to part with him. The play’s light and dark symbolism appears here, as Juliet acknowledges the division between day and night.
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