Romeo and Juliet Sex Quotes

True; and therefore women, being the weaker vessels, are ever thrust to the wall: therefore I will push Montague’s men from the wall, and thrust his maids to the wall.

– William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet, Act 1, Scene 1. When Sampson says this to fellow Capulet servant Gregory, it illustrates the themes of violence, sex and gender roles found throughout the play. Men view women as the "weaker" sex, while the word "thrust" has both a violent and sexual meaning. Sampson boasts about attacking the Montague men and assaulting their women, including sexually. He demonstrates a sexist and misogynistic mentality.

SAMPSON: I will show myself a tyrant: when I have fought with the men, I will be cruel with the maids, and cut off their heads.
GREGORY: The heads of the maids?
SAMPSON: Ay, the heads of the maids, or their maidenheads; take it in what sense thou wilt.

– William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet, Act 1, Scene 1. Capulet servant Sampson boasts of how he will murder the Montague maids and forcefully take their virginity. When he says "cut off their heads" and "their maidenheads," that is a pun for taking their virginity. Sampson is equating fighting the Montague men to raping their women, believing this to be the manly thing to do. Sampson’s disturbing joke about what he will do with the Montague women shows a worrying level of misogyny in his attitude towards the female gender.

GREGORY: Draw thy tool…
SAMPSON: My naked weapon is out: quarrel, I will back thee.

– William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet, Act 1, Scene 1. As two from the house of the Montagues approach, Sampson draws his sword and asks Gregory to start a quarrel and provoke a fight. The pair exchange bawdy puns, with Gregory inviting the other to: "Draw thy tool." Sampson continues with the phallus imagery and also personification to describe unsheathing his sword – "my naked weapon is out." Comparing the sword to a penis is an example of the misogynistic mentality in a play where men like to exercise dominance over women. In this scene Sampson tends to talk big but is something of a boastful coward, wanting Gregory to pick the fight.

CAPULET: What noise is this? Give me my long sword, ho!
LADY CAPULET: A crutch, a crutch! why call you for a sword?
CAPULET: My sword, I say! Old Montague is come,
And flourishes his blade in spite of me.

– William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet, Act 1, Scene 1. The elderly patriarch of the Capulets shows himself to be confrontational and ready for a fight when he calls for his long sword. Lady Capulet suggests that her husband is too old for fighting, being more in need of a crutch. Capulet retorts that "Old Montague" (Lord Montague) is flourishing his blade at him. There is a certain amount of sexual innuendo in the references "long sword" and "flourishes his blade."
My maidenhead at twelve year old - Juliet's Nurse

LADY CAPULET: Nurse, where’s my daughter? Call her forth to me.
NURSE: Now by my maidenhead at twelve year old,
I bade her come.

– William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet, Act 1, Scene 3. The Nurse is Juliet’s caretaker since she was a baby and a secondary mother figure for her. From the moment she speaks her first line here, we can see right away that she is a bawdy and humorous character. When Lady Capulet asks her where Juliet is, she typically answers with a dirty joke, swearing by her virginity at twelve.

"Yea," quoth my husband, "dost thou fall upon thy face?
Thou wilt fall backward when thou hast more wit;
Wilt thou not, Jule?" quoth he;
And, pretty fool, it stinted and said "Ay."

– William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet, Act 1, Scene 3. The Nurse tells of a joke her husband made about Juliet at the age of three when she fell forward on her face and hurt her brow. He picked her up as if to console her, telling her that she would "fall backward" when she was older, to which the child replied "yes." There is a bawdy meaning to what the Nurse’s husband said to Juliet – a woman would "fall backward" to have sex. The Nurse finds it hilariously funny that little Juliet, who wouldn’t know this was a double entendre, innocently said, "Ay." The Nurse recounts the story twice to Lady Capulet and Juliet. The story of Juliet’s fall as a child is foreshadowing of her sexual awakening when she meets Romeo, and the pain that will also bring.

If love be rough with you, be rough with love;
Prick love for pricking, and you beat love down.

– William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet, Act 1, Scene 4. The playful and cynical Mercutio makes light of Romeo’s moaning about love being rough and pricking "like thorn." He uses pun and sexual innuendo to advise Romeo to have sex ("prick love" and "beat love down") to get over his sexual frustration ("pricking") because of Rosaline’s chastity vow. Mercutio personifies love as if it were a person who can be beaten down, speaking of it in aggressive and violent terms.

This is that very Mab
That plats the manes of horses in the night,
And bakes the elflocks in foul sluttish hairs,
Which once untangled, much misfortune bodes:
This is the hag, when maids lie on their backs,
That presses them and learns them first to bear,
Making them women of good carriage.

– William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet, Act 1, Scene 4. Queen Mab is portrayed as a mean-spirited, mischief-maker by Mercutio, using terms like "foul," "sluttish" and "hag." We hear how she tangles the hair of horses manes and brings dreams of sex to virgins. "Good carriage" has a double meaning, meaning women who can equally carry a man’s weight or a pregnancy.

Marry, bachelor,
Her mother is the lady of the house,
And a good lady, and a wise and virtuous
I nursed her daughter, that you talk’d withal;
I tell you, he that can lay hold of her
Shall have the chinks.

– William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet, Act 1, Scene 5. The Nurse tells Romeo that Juliet’s mother is the lady of the house and any man who marries her will be financially well off. “Chinks” are the sounds coins make when the knock against each other. But as “chink” can also mean a a small slit or narrow opening, this is an example of a bawdy pun by Juliet’s naughty Nurse.

I conjure thee by Rosaline’s bright eyes,
By her high forehead and her scarlet lip,
By her fine foot, straight leg and quivering thigh
And the demesnes that there adjacent lie,
That in thy likeness thou appear to us!

– William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 1. Mercutio calls out for Romeo, who has disappeared into the Capulet’s orchard in a mission to find Juliet. But Mercutio thinks that Romeo is still pining for Rosaline, not realizing that he is over her and in love with Juliet. Since the audience knows this, this is an example of dramatic irony. Since he is something of a joker Mercutio summons up the "dead" Romeo by Rosaline’s beauty and physical appeal. He uses sexual innuendo to talk about her trembling thighs and the parts that lie next to them.

If love be blind, love cannot hit the mark.
Now will he sit under a medlar tree,
And wish his mistress were that kind of fruit
As maids call medlars, when they laugh alone.
Romeo, that she were, O, that she were
An open et caetera, thou a poperin pear!

– William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 1. The cynical Mercutio sees love as more of a sensual and sexual experience. When Romeo breaks into the Capulets’ garden to find Juliet, Mercutio believes that his motivation has to do with sex rather than love. His speech is full of sexual meaning and pun. The medlar is an anus shaped fruit, the poperin pear is a pun on "pop her in" and suggests penis, while an "open et caetera" means an open vagina.

Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,
Who is already sick and pale with grief,
That thou her maid art far more fair than she:
Be not her maid, since she is envious;
Her vestal livery is but sick and green
And none but fools do wear it; cast it off.

– William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 2. Romeo speaks these lines in the passionate balcony scene, one of the most famous in all English literature. Juliet is leaning out of her bedroom balcony and a smitten Romeo is hiding in the garden below. With teenage hormones raging, his adoring words mark the beginning of the finest passages of poetry in the play. The sun represents a metaphor for Juliet who is transforming the darkness of the night into the light of day. The moon is personified as being "envious" and "sick and pale with grief." In mythology the moon represented virginity. Moon goddess Diana was patron of virgins in ancient Roman religion (for the Greeks she was Artemis). This passage tells us that virgin Diana is "envious" of Juliet’s radiance. Juliet is urged not to be Diana’s "maid" but to take her "vestel livery" and "cast it off," as only fools wear it. In this risqué metaphor, Romeo is wishing for Juliet to give up her virginity and be with him in the most intimate and physical way. The passage is also a good example of the light and dark motifs found throughout the play, with many scenes occurring in darkness and the motifs used to show contrast and conflict.

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

– William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 2. In one of Shakespeare’s most frequently quoted passages, Juliet uses flower imagery to illustrate how absurd it is that two people in love are unable to be together because of their family names. Using the metaphor of a rose for Romeo, she says that if a rose was called another name it would still have the same sweet smell. She is suggesting that no matter what Romeo’s family name is she loves him for who he is. Before these words Juliet says: "What’s Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot, Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part Belonging to a man. O, be some other name!" Juliet is saying that while Romeo may be Montague, his physical body and identity are his own. Her reference to a man’s body parts indicates that she is thinking of Romeo in a sexual way. We also see the theme of appearance vs reality in this passage.

Without his roe, like a dried herring: O flesh, flesh, how art thou fishified! Now is he for the numbers that Petrarch flowed in: Laura to his lady was but a kitchen-wench; marry, she had a better love to be-rhyme her; Dido a dowdy; Cleopatra a gipsy; Helen and Hero hildings and harlots; Thisbe a grey eye or so, but not to the purpose. Signior Romeo, bon jour! there’s a French salutation to your French slop. You gave us the counterfeit fairly last night.

– William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 4. It is the morning after the Capulets’ party. Mercutio makes some bawdy and sexually suggestive comments, as he teases Romeo about what he was up to the previous night. Using a simile, he likens him to a dried up herring that has spawned. Mercutio is suggesting that Romeo looks worn out from having sex with Rosaline. This is dramatic irony, because the audience knows that Romeo’s new object of desire is Juliet and she has replaced Rosaline in his affections. Mercutio mocks Romeo idea of romantic love by saying that he is about to break into love poetry like Petrarch. He suggests that Petrarch’s muse Laura is a "kitchen-wench" compared to Rosaline. He lists off other famous beauties from history and classical literature who were a "gipsy" or "harlot" compared to Rosaline. Mercutio is being verbally ironic when he describes these women thus. There is also foreshadowing of Romeo and Juliet’s fate, as these famous women were involved in tragic love stories which ended in death.

MERCUTIO: That’s as much as to say, such a case as yours constrains a man to bow in the hams.
ROMEO: Meaning, to court’sy.
MERCUTIO: Thou hast most kindly hit it.
ROMEO: A most courteous exposition.
MERCUTIO: Nay, I am the very pink of courtesy.
ROMEO: Pink for flower.
MERCUTIO: Right.
ROMEO: Why, then is my pump well flowered.
MERCUTIO: Well said: follow me this jest now till thou hast worn out thy pump, that when the single sole of it is worn, the jest may remain after the wearing sole singular.
ROMEO: O single-soled jest, solely singular for the singleness.

– William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 4. This scene between Mercutio and Romeo is full of sexual puns and wordplay. Mercutio thinks that his friend has spent a passionate night with Rosaline and doesn’t miss the opportunity to tease him about it. On the surface the two friends may seem to be talking about courteous behavior and shoes decorated with flowers. But "bow in the hams" can suggest the movement of a man during sexual intercourse. "Pink…flower" can be taken as a reference to the female genitalia. And "pump," while meaning shoe, can also refer to the male penis, with "well flowered" meaning that Romeo has deflowered a young woman. Mercutio is a quick-witted character who is not shy about bawdy jokes, and on this occasion Romeo seems to be playing along and entering into the spirit too.

Why, is not this better now than groaning for love? now art thou sociable, now art thou Romeo; now art thou what thou art, by art as well as by nature: for this drivelling love is like a great natural, that runs lolling up and down to hide his bauble in a hole.

– William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 4. Mercutio jokes that Romeo is back to his normal self again and is no longer miserable in love. Using a simile, he dismisses love as foolish, "like a great natural" means like a great fool. He believes that Romeo’s romantic yearnings for Rosaline were all to do with sexual frustration. The fool trying to "hide his bauble in a hole" is a double entendre suggesting sexual intercourse. Mercutio has a rather cynical view of love, seeing it more as sexual desire than Romeo’s idealized view of romantic love.

MERCUTIO: ‘Tis no less, I tell you, for the bawdy hand of the dial is now upon the prick of noon.
NURSE: Out upon you! what a man are you!

– William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 4. Mercutio engages in inappropriate behavior towards an older woman he doesn’t know, Juliet’s Nurse, when he makes this off-color joke. He is responding to the Nurse’s question about whether or not it is a good day. The Nurse is horrified at his double entendre and sexual puns. The round dial is a pun for the female genitalia, while the the hand standing straight at the "prick" of 12 o’clock is a double entendre for the erect male penis.

A bawd, a bawd, a bawd! so ho!

– William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 4. When Benvolio says that Juliet’s Nurse is inviting Romeo to supper, Mercutio makes fun of her by crying this out. A "bawd" is a word that hunters use for a hare or rabbit and "so ho" is a hunter’s call on spotting a hare. But "bawd is also a pimp or a madam, someone who gets clients for prostitutes. There is irony here in that the Nurse is a kind of go between, facilitating a meeting between two young lovers which will end up in sex and marriage. Mercutio’s crude and nasty remark also displays his sexism and a certain level of misogyny.

No hare, sir; unless a hare, sir, in a lenten pie, that is something stale and hoar ere it be spent.

– William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 4. This is Mercutio’s bawdy reply and wordplay, when asked by Romeo what has he seen as Juliet’s Nurse approaches Romeo. The literal meaning of the passage is: not a hare, except a hare in a lenten pie that would be stale and moldy before it is eaten – a person wasn’t meant to eat meat during Lent. But the passage is also full of double entendres and "hare" can also mean prostitute. So taking the bawdy meaning, Mercutio is saying that the Nurse is a prostitute who has grown too old and moldy.

An old hare hoar,
And an old hare hoar,
Is very good meat in lent
But a hare that is hoar
Is too much for a score,
When it hoars ere it be spent.

– William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 4. Mercutio sings this bawdy song making sexual jokes about the Nurse. It is full of double meanings and puns, with "hare" also meaning prostitute. "Hoar" means grey with age and sounds the same as "whore." The misogynistic Mercutio is taunting the Nurse by calling her an unattractive old whore who is a waste of money.

Scurvy knave! I am none of his flirt-gills, I am none of his skains-mates. [To Peter] And thou must stand by too, and suffer every knave to use me at his pleasure?

– William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 4. The Nurse is fed up with Mercutio making fun of her, pointing out that she is not one of his loose women or cut-throat companions. She scolds her servant Peter for not defending her. The Nurse and Mercutio are in the play to provide comic relief. In voicing her anger at Mercutio’s bawdy jokes, the Nurse herself unintentionally uses a few phrases with double meanings that make her even more a figure of fun. She complains that Peter allowed "every knave to use me at his pleasure." And immediately before this passage she says of Mercutio, "I’ll take him down." One can imagine sexually suggestive remarks like these raising a few laughs from the audience.
    • 1
    • 2
Close