How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Act.Scene.Line). Line numbers correspond to the 2008 Norton edition of the play.
Quote #16
ROMEO
I would I were thy bird.JULIET
Sweet, so would I.
Yet I should kill thee with much cherishing.
(2.2.196-198)
Have you ever looked at a cute animal or toddler and said, "I want to eat you up?" Yeah. Wanting to love on something so hard that you destroy it may not be as weird as it sounds.
Quote #17
MERCUTIO
No, 'tis not so deep as a well, nor so wide as a
church door, but 'tis enough. 'Twill serve. Ask for
me tomorrow, and you shall find me a grave man. I
am peppered, I warrant, for this world. A plague o'
both your houses! 'Zounds, a dog, a rat, a mouse, a
cat, to scratch a man to death! A braggart, a rogue, a
villain, that fights by the book of arithmetic! Why the
devil came you between us? I was hurt under your
arm.
(3.1.100-109)
Mercutio doesn't bother blaming fate for his death—he places the blame squarely on the family feud. Is he right?
Quote #18
CAPULET
Ha, let me see her: out, alas! she's cold.
Her blood is settled, and her joints are stiff.
Life and these lips have long been separated.
Death lies on her like an untimely frost
Upon the sweetest flower of all the field.
(4.4.30-34)
That image of the "frost" killing the "flower" is particularly pertinent when you think about Juliet's birthday—Lammas-Eve, the night before the traditional harvest festival. She dies in bloom, before anyone can "harvest" her. (Well, so Capulet thinks—actually, Romeo's done a pretty good job of bringing the harvest in, if you know what we mean.)