Benvolio Quotes

What, drawn, and talk of peace! I hate the word,
As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee:
Have at thee, coward!

– William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet, Act 1, Scene 1. Juliet’s short-tempered and impetuous young cousin Tybalt calls Benvolio a coward when he tries to keep the peace between the Capulets and Montagues – "I do but keep the peace: put up thy sword, Or manage it to part these men with me." Fiery Tybalt expresses total hatred for all Montagues, illustrating the extent of the bad blood between the two houses. His rash and impulsive behavior helps stir up a big brawl on the streets, causing damage and disturbances and angering Verona’s ruling Prince.

One fire burns out another’s burning,
One pain is lessen’d by another’s anguish.

– William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet, Act 1, Scene 2. Benvolio is trying to get the lovesick Romeo to forget about Rosaline, by encouraging him to look at another girl. He uses the image of quenching one metaphorical love fire by starting another. There is irony and foreshadowing here, since Romeo will be replacing his heartbreak pain over the loss of Rosaline by another pain – his doomed love for Juliet.

I pray thee, good Mercutio, let’s retire:
The day is hot, the Capulets abroad,
And, if we meet, we shall not scape a brawl;
For now, these hot days, is the mad blood stirring.

– William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet, Act 3, Scene 1. In the scene’s opening lines Benvolio tries to persuade Mercutio to go home with him in order to avoid running into the Capulets. If they meet a brawl is inevitable, he predicts – correctly, as it turns out. He uses the metaphor of "mad blood stirring" during the hot weather, to suggest the escalating tensions between the rival Capulets and Montagues. Benvolio’s words foreshadow the fights between Mercutio and Tybalt, and Romeo and Tybalt, resulting in the deaths of Tybalt and Mercutio.

We talk here in the public haunt of men:
Either withdraw unto some private place,
And reason coldly of your grievances,
Or else depart; here all eyes gaze on us.

– William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet, Act 3, Scene 1. Benvolio shows the peacemaker side of his character once again when he says this to Mercutio and Tybalt. In an attempt to lower the temperature and remove their quarrel from the public street, he asks them to take their grievances to a private place and discuss, or else go home. He is mindful of Prince Escalus’s warning that those involved in street brawls would be put to death.
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