Act 2 Scenes The Prologue: Shakespearean Sonnet –Chorus gives a preview of the plot. –Shakespearean Sonnet Octave: How will they make this work? Sestet: Passion is power and youth gives time. Mercutio: “Blind is his love and best befits the dark.” –Romeo is infatuated (blind passion) and so it makes sense that he is seeking Juliet in the dark. R’s Soliloquy: “But soft…that cheek!” –Celestial & Astronomical imagery and metaphors –Petrarchan: flatters lovers with exaggerated comparisons unlike Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 130” J: “What’s in a name?...take all myself.” –A name is arbitrary. Romeo is “perfect” and a name should not be a reason to keep us apart. J: “I have no joy in this contract tonight…thy purpose marriage, send me word tomorrow.” –Tonight’s way too soon for marriage!!! Let’s try tomorrow.

Act 2 Scenes Scene 3 Fr: “Within the infant rind…that plant.” –Smelling one particular herb revives the human body (“grace”) but eating it kills the body (“rude will”) Symbol & Foreshadowing Fr: “Holy Saint Francis!...in men.” –Your “love” is visual (infatuation), not sacrificial. Women will fall when men are unstable. Foils: –Romeo is “hasty” and calls his feeling “love,” but the Friar is more cautious and calls Romeo’s love “doting” (infatuation). Lines 90-92: –The Friar will marry them because it might bring peace to their families. Scene 4 Full of Elizabethan wordplay and allusions! The Nurse speaks in prose with malapropisms (words that sound like the intended ones but are completely wrong) –Characterization: She is foolish and lower class

Act 2 Scenes Scene 5: The Nurse delays Romeo’s response as Juliet grows more and more impatient. (They are also Literary Foils!) Foreshadowings in Scene 6: –Fr: “…afterhours with sorrow chide us not!” –R: “…love-devouring death do what he dare…” –Fr: “These violent delights have violent ends…” Friar’s Advice: Love moderately; proceed cautiously. Rising Action in Act 2! –R & J pledge their love to each other. –Tybalt sends the Montagues a letter. –Friar Lawrence marries R & J!