Romeo and Juliet Personification Quotes

GREGORY: Draw thy tool…
SAMPSON: My naked weapon is out: quarrel, I will back thee.

– William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet, Act 1, Scene 1. As two from the house of the Montagues approach, Sampson draws his sword and asks Gregory to start a quarrel and provoke a fight. The pair exchange bawdy puns, with Gregory inviting the other to: "Draw thy tool." Sampson continues with the phallus imagery and also personification to describe unsheathing his sword – "my naked weapon is out." Comparing the sword to a penis is an example of the misogynistic mentality in a play where men like to exercise dominance over women. In this scene Sampson tends to talk big but is something of a boastful coward, wanting Gregory to pick the fight.

Rebellious subjects, enemies to peace,
Profaners of this neighbour-stained steel, –
Will they not hear? What, ho! you men, you beasts,
That quench the fire of your pernicious rage
With purple fountains issuing from your veins,
On pain of torture, from those bloody hands
Throw your mistemper’d weapons to the ground.

– William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet, Act 1, Scene 1. Prince Escalus storms into the play’s first scene, as the ancient feud between the Capulets and Montagues flares up into a violent street brawl. Verona’s authority figure threatens the culprits with violent punishment if they don’t lay down their weapons. He uses a series of metaphors to compare the fighters to beasts who quench the fire of their hate by spilling fountains of blood. In "mistemper’d weapons" we also have an example of personification.

But all so soon as the all-cheering sun
Should in the furthest east begin to draw
The shady curtains from Aurora’s bed,
Away from the light steals home my heavy son,
And private in his chamber pens himself,
Shuts up his windows, locks far daylight out
And makes himself an artificial night.

– William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet, Act 1, Scene 1. A worried Montague reveals the extent of his son Romeo’s depression. When the sun rises Romeo doesn’t just hide himself away in a room, but he shuts up the windows and locks the daylight out. Montague’s speech includes the use of personification in "all-cheering sun," while "draw the shady curtains" is a metaphor for sunrise.

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.

If love be rough with you, be rough with love;
Prick love for pricking, and you beat love down.

– William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet, Act 1, Scene 4. The playful and cynical Mercutio makes light of Romeo’s moaning about love being rough and pricking "like thorn." He uses pun and sexual innuendo to advise Romeo to have sex ("prick love" and "beat love down") to get over his sexual frustration ("pricking") because of Rosaline’s chastity vow. Mercutio personifies love as if it were a person who can be beaten down, speaking of it in aggressive and violent terms.

True, I talk of dreams,
Which are the children of an idle brain,
Begot of nothing but vain fantasy,
Which is as thin of substance as the air
And more inconstant than the wind, who wooes
Even now the frozen bosom of the north,
And, being anger’d, puffs away from thence,
Turning his face to the dew-dropping south.

– William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet, Act 1, Scene 4. The cynical Mercutio, on the way to the Capulet party with his dreamer friend Romeo, dismisses dreams as meaningless. In a metaphor, he tells Romeo that they are born like children from a lazy mind. He uses simile to say that they are an empty fantasy, which lacks substance like the air and is changeable like the wind. The wind is personified as being able to woo and get angry, while it also has a face.

Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,
Who is already sick and pale with grief,
That thou her maid art far more fair than she:
Be not her maid, since she is envious;
Her vestal livery is but sick and green
And none but fools do wear it; cast it off.

– William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 2. Romeo speaks these lines in the passionate balcony scene, one of the most famous in all English literature. Juliet is leaning out of her bedroom balcony and a smitten Romeo is hiding in the garden below. With teenage hormones raging, his adoring words mark the beginning of the finest passages of poetry in the play. The sun represents a metaphor for Juliet who is transforming the darkness of the night into the light of day. The moon is personified as being "envious" and "sick and pale with grief." In mythology the moon represented virginity. Moon goddess Diana was patron of virgins in ancient Roman religion (for the Greeks she was Artemis). This passage tells us that virgin Diana is "envious" of Juliet’s radiance. Juliet is urged not to be Diana’s "maid" but to take her "vestel livery" and "cast it off," as only fools wear it. In this risqué metaphor, Romeo is wishing for Juliet to give up her virginity and be with him in the most intimate and physical way. The passage is also a good example of the light and dark motifs found throughout the play, with many scenes occurring in darkness and the motifs used to show contrast and conflict.

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.

The grey-eyed morn smiles on the frowning night,
Chequering the eastern clouds with streaks of light,
And flecked darkness like a drunkard reels
From forth day’s path and Titan’s fiery wheels.

– William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 3. Friar Laurence uses striking imagery to paint a vivid picture of the dawn’s mixture of light and darkness, while reminding us also of the uncertainty and danger of the lovers’ situation. In the passage morn is personified as smiling and night as frowning. The departing darkness is compared in a simile to a staggering drunkard trying to get out of the sun’s path. "Titan’s fiery wheels" is an allusion to the Greek sun god who drove a chariot of fire.

So smile the heavens upon this holy act,
That after hours with sorrow chide us not!

– William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 6. Friar Laurence begins to harbor doubts about the wisdom of secretly marrying Romeo and Juliet and hopes that he is doing the right thing. He prays that the heavens, which he personifies, don’t punish them with misery. This is foreshadowing of the chain of tragic events that occur after the teenage couple rush into marriage. There is much irony in what Friar Laurence says with sorrow soon coming as a result of their union.

Conceit, more rich in matter than in words,
Brags of his substance, not of ornament:
They are but beggars that can count their worth;
But my true love is grown to such excess
I cannot sum up sum of half my wealth.

– William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 6. Juliet, about to get married to Romeo, speaks about the power of true love. In a metaphor she compares love to wealth. She contends that anyone who can count how much they have is poor, while she is so rich in love she cannot count half her wealth. Conceit is personified as a braggard and beggar.

Alive, in triumph! and Mercutio slain!
Away to heaven, respective lenity,
And fire-eyed fury be my conduct now!
Now, Tybalt, take the villain back again,
That late thou gavest me; for Mercutio’s soul
Is but a little way above our heads,
Staying for thine to keep him company:
Either thou, or I, or both, must go with him.

– William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet, Act 3, Scene 1. When Romeo sees his friend Mercutio slain by Tybalt, an impulsive Romeo allows his anger to take him over. He challenges Tybalt, determined to fight him to the death. In his rage he kills Tybalt, an impetuous act that leads to a reckless Romeo’s banishment from Verona. Romeo personifies his fury as "fire-eyed."

Spread thy close curtain, love-performing night,
That runaway’s eyes may wink and Romeo
Leap to these arms, untalk’d of and unseen.
Lovers can see to do their amorous rites
By their own beauties; or, if love be blind,
It best agrees with night.

– William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet, Act 3, Scene 2. In this sexually charged passage by Juliet, she yearns for the pleasure of her wedding night. Using erotically charged imagery and language, she looks forward to the "amorous rites" of lovers. Night is personified and curtain is used as a metaphor for darkness. Though only approaching her 14th birthday, Juliet is presented as a woman and a sexual one at that. This shows the very physical nature of Romeo and Juliet’s relationship. When it comes to strong physical desire and her longing to be "love performing," Juliet is Romeo’s equal. In the final two lines the motifs of light and dark are used – lovers can see by the light of their own beauty or, if love is blind, then it is best in the night.

Come, civil night,
Thou sober-suited matron, all in black,
And learn me how to lose a winning match,
Play’d for a pair of stainless maidenhoods.
Hood my unmann’d blood, bating in my cheeks,
With thy black mantle; till strange love, grown bold,
Think true love acted simple modesty.

– William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet, Act 3, Scene 2. Juliet calls on the night to help her win her love Romeo so that they can both lose their virginities, "a pair of stainless maidenhoods." The night is personified by being presented as a "sober-suited matron," who will help Juliet achieve her sexual fulfillment. A falconry metaphor is used, "hood my unman’d blood, bating in my cheeks," when Juliet asks the night to hide her nervousness and the blood rushing to her cheeks. In falconry an untamed hawk is controlled by hooding it so that it won’t beat its wings wildly and harm itself.

Come, night; come, Romeo; come, thou day in night;
For thou wilt lie upon the wings of night
Whiter than new snow on a raven’s back.

– William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet, Act 3, Scene 2. Juliet uses a metaphor to compare Romeo to "day in night," as she impatiently waits for him to arrive so that they can consummate their marriage. Romeo’s shining whiteness of "new snow" is contrasted with the darkness of the night. The night is personified as having "wings" that will carry Romeo to her.

Come, gentle night, come, loving, black-brow’d night,
Give me my Romeo; and, when he shall die,
Take him and cut him out in little stars,
And he will make the face of heaven so fine
That all the world will be in love with night
And pay no worship to the garish sun.

– William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet, Act 3, Scene 2. In a soliloquy full of passion Juliet addresses the night, personifying it as "gentle" and "loving." She urges it to "come" so that she can be with Romeo under cloak of darkness. Their love is forbidden because of the feud between their families, so the night offers protection. Juliet’s strong desire and longing for her wedding night with Romeo is expressed here in explicitly sexual and violent terms. In the play love and sex are intertwined with violence and death and are never far apart. Juliet’s repetition of "come" makes clear the physical union she yearns for with Romeo. Using a metaphor, she imagines Romeo dying and being cut into little stars to light up the heavens in an ecstasy of love. This image describes the sexual fulfillment she longs for with the young husband she secretly married. In Shakespeare’s time, "die" was Elizabethan slang for sexual climax. The passage’s opposing symbolism of light and dark reminds us that the light of the couple’s love glows most brightly in the dark.

Some word there was, worser than Tybalt’s death,
That murder’d me: I would forget it fain;
But, O, it presses to my memory,
Like damned guilty deeds to sinners’ minds:
Tybalt is dead, and Romeo – banished;
That "banished," that one word "banished,"
Hath slain ten thousand Tybalts.

– William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet, Act 3, Scene 2. Juliet believes that the banishment of her husband Romeo is worse than death. Torn between family and Romeo, she concludes that Romeo’s exile is worst than the death of ten thousand Tybalts, her cousin killed by Romeo. In a simile she describes how his banishment pushes its way into her memory like sins in a guilty mind. The personification of "banished" highlights her devastation at her separation from Romeo.
Close