Romeo and Juliet Quote Help

[ExD]

My cousin needs to know what these quotes means for his English project. Basically I think in simple English. I kinda understand it but not 100% sure about what I think they mean. Well, these are the quotes:

Where be these enemies? Capulet! Montague!
See, what a scourge is laid upon your hate,
That heaven finds means to kill your joys with love!
And I, for winking at your discords too,
Have lost a brace of kinsmen: all are punish'd


For never was a story of more woe
Than this of Juliet and her Romeo.


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

Thanks

[kesslari]

Where be these enemies? Capulet! Montague!
See, what a scourge is laid upon your hate,
That heaven finds means to kill your joys with love!
And I, for winking at your discords too,
Have lost a brace of kinsmen: all are punish'd

End of play. Juliet and Romeo are dead. Several others from each family are also dead.

The prince is saying "hey you dummies, all your fighting does is bring sadness on both of your houses. And love, which should bring joy, has been twisted by your violence to bring only more death and sadness. Meanwhile, I (the prince) have am partly responsible, because I didn't step in sooner and make you stop. You're all screwed. Knock it off."

For never was a story of more woe
Than this of Juliet and her Romeo.

Just what it says.

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

Also just what it says, but it has become an axiom of our language. Romeo is a Montague, and thereby forbidden to Juliet - loving him is wrong. But it is his name (says she), not he himself, who is wrong. If he were, say Romeo Jones and not Romeo Montague, he'd still be the same guy but she would be allowed to love him.

Make sense?

[MakiSupaStar]

Originally Posted by ExD

My cousin needs to know what these quotes means for his English project. Basically I think in simple English. I kinda understand it but not 100% sure about what I think they mean. Well, these are the quotes:



Thanks

I'll take a stab at this.

Where be these enemies? Capulet! Montague!
See, what a scourge is laid upon your hate,
That heaven finds means to kill your joys with love!
Of course, Romeo and Juliet is a bout a forbidden love affair. Forbidden because they both come from the two feuding families, Capulet and Montague. This is a commentary on how trivial this feud is. These two families fight and after time passes they forget why they fight, and this hatred of each other is weakened by a "scourge" which is another name for a disease. That scourge sent by the heavens (GOD) is the love of Romeo and Juliet. It's kind of funny because the speaker is calling love, a heaven sent love a disease.

And I, for winking at your discords too,
Have lost a brace of kinsmen: all are punish'd

This fighting and discord has also caused the speaker to lose faith in family, and bloodlines. He gives a warning that when you've lost your grasp of family, all are punished.

For never was a story of more woe
Than this of Juliet and her Romeo.

The story of Romeo and Juliet is a sad story because we all know how it ends. They both die.

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

Again. What is the worth of a family name. There's a lot of symbolism in a rose. Rose's are symbolic of love. Love between family, between lovers, and God's love, no matter what you call it, the sensation and pleasure derived from it would not be any less credible and significant.

Not a huge fan of Shakespeare, but I think this is pretty close. Others will probably be able to add to what I threw up here.

[ExD]

Alright, cheers mate

The 2nd quote was the only one I could understand. Not a big fan of Shakespeare either, glad it's not me doing the project

Funny how I've heard about the story so many times...but never knew they both died in the end

[Bard2dbone]

Willie the Shake's plays got a lot cooler once I reallized they were basically all about sex and violence.

[FL Knifemaker]

Ask Captain Pickard

[Tsal]

Originally Posted by MakiSupaStar

And I, for winking at your discords too,
Have lost a brace of kinsmen: all are punish'd

This fighting and discord has also caused the speaker to lose faith in family, and bloodlines. He gives a warning that when you've lost your grasp of family, all are punished.

I'd understand it that even the speaker, criticizing the violence, has been damaged, since now his kinsmen look down at him for going against the family.

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

Again. What is the worth of a family name. There's a lot of symbolism in a rose. Rose's are symbolic of love. Love between family, between lovers, and God's love, no matter what you call it, the sensation and pleasure derived from it would not be any less credible and significant.

This, I would assume, means that you should look at the quality of a man, not his name. I recall that the families feuding in Romeo and Juliet have had quarrels for ages, and the families are against the young couple just because they have been against the other family for so long they can't even remember why. Hence, the youngsters are being judged because of their name (family), not because of their own deeds.