Romeo and Juliet Irony Quotes

Indeed, I never shall be satisfied
With Romeo, till I behold him – dead –
Is my poor heart for a kinsman vex’d.

– William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet, Act 3, Scene 5. Juliet uses verbal irony here in speaking to Lady Capulet. Not wishing to lie to her mother, she appears to be saying that she wants to see Romeo dead. But if you examine the punctuation, what she is actually saying is that she will never be satisfied until she sees Romeo again, and her heart is dead over Tybalt’s death.

Well, well, thou hast a careful father, child;
One who, to put thee from thy heaviness,
Hath sorted out a sudden day of joy,
That thou expect’st not nor I look’d not for.

– William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet, Act 3, Scene 5. Lady Capulet tells Juliet that her "careful" father has arranged a "day of joy" that will get her out of her depression. Lady Capulet is being unintentionally ironic and out of touch with reality regarding her daughter’s real feelings. The wedding to Paris planned by her not-so-careful father will bring misery and not "joy" to his daughter. Unknownst to her parents Juliet is already secretly married to Romeo and loves only him.

Marry, my child, early next Thursday morn,
The gallant, young and noble gentleman,
The County Paris, at Saint Peter’s Church,
Shall happily make thee there a joyful bride.

– William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet, Act 3, Scene 5. Lady Capulet announces to her daughter Juliet that Lord Capulet has arranged for her to marry Paris on the following Thursday. Her words that Juliet will be a "joyful bride" are ironic, although that is not her intention. The theme of appearance vs reality is also illustrated here. Lady Capulet is not aware that Juliet is already married to Romeo and being Paris’s bride would be anything but joyful for her.

He shall not make me there a joyful bride.
I wonder at this haste; that I must wed
Ere he, that should be husband, comes to woo.
I pray you, tell my lord and father, madam,
I will not marry yet; and, when I do, I swear,
It shall be Romeo, whom you know I hate,
Rather than Paris.

– William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet, Act 3, Scene 5. Juliet reveals her love for Romeo in this speech to Lady Capulet. She says that she will not marry Paris and would rather marry Romeo, the man from the hated Montague family who killed her cousin. She is being ironic when she tells her mother that Romeo is the man "whom you know I hate," since she strongly does not hate Romeo and has secretly married him. Juliet’s mother thinks what she is saying is that she so dislikes her parents’ plan for her to marry Paris she would rather marry Romeo. Lady Capulet is not aware that she has actually married him. The double meaning in Juliet’s words emphasizes the theme of appearance vs reality, a theme found throughout the play.

Well, thou hast comforted me marvellous much.
Go in: and tell my lady I am gone,
Having displeased my father, to Laurence’ cell,
To make confession and to be absolved.

– William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet, Act 3, Scene 5. Juliet pretends to take the Nurse’s advice to marry Paris, her father’s choice of a husband for her. With irony and hidden sarcasm she tells the Nurse that she has been a great comfort to her. Juliet asks her to inform her mother that she has displeased her father and has gone to Friar Laurence to make confession and seek absolution. This implies that Juliet has agreed to her father’s demand to marry Paris. But Juliet’s message is meant to mislead her parents. In reality she is going to Friar Laurence so that he will marry her and Romeo.

Immoderately she weeps for Tybalt’s death,
And therefore have I little talk’d of love;
For Venus smiles not in a house of tears.

– William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet, Act 4, Scene 1. Paris is saying that he is having a hard time courting Juliet, because she is preoccupied with crying over Tybalt’s death. The passage contains an allusion to Venus, the goddess of love who doesn’t smile on a grieving family. Little does Paris know that most of Juliet’s tears are for her banished secret husband Romeo – however, the audience does, making this dramatic irony.

Her father counts it dangerous
That she doth give her sorrow so much sway,
And in his wisdom hastes our marriage,
To stop the inundation of her tears;
Which, too much minded by herself alone,
May be put from her by society.

– William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet, Act 4, Scene 1. Paris explains to Friar Laurence why he and Juliet must marry quickly. Her father Lord Capulet sees the marriage as a means of snapping Juliet our of her grief over her cousin Tybalt’s death. This passage is an example of dramatic irony. The audience knows that Juliet’s tears are not for Tybalt, but are the result of her separation from the exiled Romeo whom she has secretly married.

Where I have learn’d me to repent the sin
Of disobedient opposition
To you and your behests, and am enjoin’d
By holy Laurence to fall prostrate here,
And beg your pardon: pardon, I beseech you!
Henceforward I am ever ruled by you.

– William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet, Act 4, Scene 2. Juliet repents her disobedience to her father and assures him that she will obey him and marry Paris. But the reality is very different, something the audience is already aware of. Juliet is lying to her father here. We know that she has joined with Friar Laurence in a plan to drink a sleeping potion to fake her death. This is to get out of marrying Paris, which she has absolutely no intention of going through with.

Now, afore God! this reverend holy friar,
Our whole city is much bound to him.

– William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet, Act 4, Scene 2. A delighted Lord Capulet says that the city owes Friar Laurence a debt, because he wrongly thinks that he is on board with Juliet’s marriage to Paris. But Capulet is not aware that that the Friar has already married Romeo and Juliet without her parents’ blessing. Laurence has also come up with a plan enable Juliet get out of a forced marriage to Paris. Dramatic irony and the theme of appearance vs reality are found in this passage.

No, madam; we have cull’d such necessaries
As are behoveful for our state to-morrow:
So please you, let me now be left alone,
And let the nurse this night sit up with you;
For, I am sure, you have your hands full all,
In this so sudden business.

– William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet, Act 4, Scene 3. When Lady Capulet asks her daughter is she needs any help for her wedding preparations, Juliet says no. Juliet asks to be left alone, because she plans to drink a sleeping potion that induces a death-like state, so she won’t have to marry Paris. This is an example of dramatic irony, because the audience knows of her plan.

Go waken Juliet, go and trim her up;
I’ll go and chat with Paris: hie, make haste,
Make haste; the bridegroom he is come already:
Make haste, I say.

– William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet, Act 4, Scene 4. Old Capulet has the last word in the scene as he orders the Nurse to waken Juliet and get her ready for her wedding with Paris. Capulet is very much the organizing force in his daughter’s wedding arrangements in this scene. This passage and the scene are an example of dramatic irony used to create suspense, because the audience knows that the Nurse will be unable to waken Juliet.

O me, O me! My child, my only life,
Revive, look up, or I will die with thee!
Help, help! Call help…
Alack the day, she’s dead, she’s dead, she’s dead!

– William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet, Act 4, Scene 5. Lady Capulet reacts with desperation and shock to Juliet’s death. She pleads with her to come back to life and calls out for help. Her repetition in the last line emphasizes a mother’s shock at losing her only daughter. There is dramatic irony here, because Juliet is sleeping and not dead.

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.

– William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet, Act 4, Scene 5. Capulet is in disbelief that Juliet is dead. He uses a simile to compare her death to that of a beautiful flower killed by an early frost. Capulet’s language about his daughter has changed considerably since Act 3, Scene 5, when he angrily labeled her a "disobedient wrench!" Now to Capulet Juliet is metaphorically the most beautiful flower in the field. The passage is an example of dramatic irony since the audience knows that Juliet is not dead, but sleeping.

Death, that hath ta’en her hence to make me wail,
Ties up my tongue, and will not let me speak.

– William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet, Act 4, Scene 5. The personification of death here emphasizes the extent of Lord Capulet’s grief at the apparent death of his daughter. His comment about being speechless with grief is ironic, since before this he was insulting and verbally abusing his daughter. We also have situational irony in this passage and scene, as the Capulet family was meant to be celebrating Juliet’s wedding, not mourning her death. Juliet is in reality not dead but sleeping.

O son! the night before thy wedding-day
Hath Death lain with thy wife. There she lies,
Flower as she was, deflowered by him.

– William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet, Act 4, Scene 5. On discovering Juliet apparently dead in her bed, Capulet imagines "Death" as someone who stole into his daughter’s room on the night before her wedding and "deflowered" her. Juliet is metaphorically likened to a flower, while death is personified and given human attributes. While Capulet’s sexual imagery seems inappropriate, it actually foreshadows what will happen to Juliet when death finally sleeps with her. Capulet’s words are also ironic, since he is not aware that Juliet has already lost her virginity to Romeo after she secretly married him. This scene is very much concerned with the theme of appearance vs reality, Juliet’s family being unaware that she has taken a sleeping portion to fake her death to avoid marrying Paris.

Beguiled, divorced, wronged, spited, slain!
Most detestable death, by thee beguil’d,
By cruel cruel thee quite overthrown!
O love! O life! not life, but love in death!

– William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet, Act 4, Scene 5. A distraught Paris looks at what he believes to be Juliet’s corpse on the bed and says that he will love her in death. He angrily reviles and personifies death, protesting that it cruelly tricked Juliet and deprived him of his one love. Unknownst to Paris, Juliet has taken a sleeping potion to avoid marrying him. This entire scene is filled with dramatic irony and also situational irony for the Capulets and Paris, who thought they would be celebrating a wedding and not a funeral.

Dry up your tears, and stick your rosemary
On this fair corse; and, as the custom is,
In all her best array bear her to church:
For though fond nature bids us an lament,
Yet nature’s tears are reason’s merriment.

– William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet, Act 4, Scene 5. As Friar Laurence bids the Capulets and Paris to dry their tears and get on with Juliet’s funeral arrangements, everything is not as it appears. The audience knows that the Friar has given Juliet a sleeping potion to simulate death which will wear off in 42 hours. So he is anxious that the body be brought to church and the funeral held before she wakes up. The rosemary, a symbol of fidelity and also remembrance, will now be used for her funeral instead of her wedding. Nature is personified in this passage.

Uncomfortable time, why camest thou now
To murder, murder our solemnity?
O child! O child! my soul, and not my child!
Dead art thou! Alack! my child is dead;
And with my child my joys are buried.

– William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet, Act 4, Scene 5. Time is personified as Capulet challenges time and fate, asking why did they have to destroy their celebration of Juliet’s wedding day. Grieving for his daughter, Capulet exclaims that his child is now not his child because she is dead. He doesn’t realize that she has taken a potion to enable her to fake her own death.

All things that we ordained festival,
Turn from their office to black funeral;
Our instruments to melancholy bells,
Our wedding cheer to a sad burial feast,
Our solemn hymns to sullen dirges change,
Our bridal flowers serve for a buried corse,
And all things change them to the contrary.

– William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet, Act 4, Scene 5. Capulet’s speech contains situational irony, as wedding celebrations turn into a funeral and all things meant to make it a happy day will be used to mourn. "Melancholy bells" is an example of personification.

If I may trust the flattering truth of sleep,
My dreams presage some joyful news at hand.

– William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet, Act 5, Scene 1. We have an example of dramatic irony as happy-in-love Romeo talks about his dreams and expectation of joyful news while in the streets of Mantua. Romeo believes Juliet to be well, but Balthasar is about to tell him of Juliet’s "death" – she lies in the Capulet tomb having taken a sleeping potion that makes her appear dead, an event that will push Romeo to suicide.

Sweet flower, with flowers thy bridal bed I strew, –
O woe! thy canopy is dust and stones; –
Which with sweet water nightly I will dew,
Or, wanting that, with tears distill’d by moans.

– William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet, Act 5, Scene 3. Paris visits the Capulet tomb where Juliet is lying, presumed dead, and he uses metaphors to compare his bride-to-be Juliet to a "Sweet flower" and her grave to a "bridal bed." He places flowers on her grave and promises to sprinkle water and tears on it each night. While Juliet appears to be dead, appearances are deceiving. Juliet faked her death to avoid her father’s arranged marriage to Paris. Paris believes she is dead, but the audience is aware that she is not, an example of dramatic irony. The quote also demonstrates Paris’s love for Juliet.
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